The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes
Goddamn, y'all. I haven't looked at this blog in like 10 days, and it's really good to see what everyone is experiencing, feeling, processing. This shit is rough. (And Falcon I too am so sad about John Prine!)
Last week one of my neighbors killed himself. He lived two floors up from us, with his parents. He was a young man, in his 20s, who had been experiencing some pretty serious mental illness over the past few years. His parents had called the cops on him a number of times. He would get taken away, given some sort of injection, kept in some sort of holding tank for 24 or 48 hours, and then come home. He never got the treatment he needed. His father has just lost his job. His mother, horribly, is away, in their home country. I can't imagine what they're going through. We've been trying to raise some money for the family in our co-op. What trauma.
This morning I did story-time with my nieces in Philly. I read them my favorite feminist anti-racist commie children's book, "The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes," written in 1939. It's really beautifully illustrated and definitely worth a read. The 5-year-old lost interest pretty quick. The 8-year-old seemed into it, but maybe she was just being nice to me.
Before we started reading, the 8-year-old looked at me flatly and said, "I hate the coronavirus." It makes my heart hurt to think of all these kids having to deal with this shit. At least adults -- like Sam wrote -- can somehow process and communicate with friends in a more autonomous way. My hope is that these kids can come out of this, and this will have just been a weird blip of their childhood, maybe even a source of funny stories, in retrospect. Also -- it is insane what parents are having to do right now. I can't even wrap my mind around it.
In other news, I have to have surgery in three weeks. It's pretty routine and if all goes well I will go home the same day, but still I've never had surgery or gotten general anesthesia or even fainted so it kinda freaks me out. Mike and I went and met with the doctor Wednesday to learn all the details of how it's supposed to go down. One thing she said was that D.C. hospitals are doing okay with regards to covid-19 -- they are not overwhelmed, they have enough PPE, staff are doing okay. That was good to hear. Of course, I have to get tested for coronavirus two days before the surgery. So that will make me -- a person with no symptoms, obviously fine -- the only person I know to have gotten tested for this stuff. Absurd world.
One thing that is really giving me some hope these days is a tiny bit of tenant organizing I have dipped a toe into recently, through Stomp Out Slumlords/the D.C. Tenants Union. I've connected with these tenants in big building on 16th Street, and helped them get together a letter to send to their landlord (meaning, the faceless LLC that owns the building), saying that they just can't pay rent because of the crisis. Within like two days, they were able to get tenants from 41 of the 55 units to sign onto the letter. We mailed it yesterday, and sent copies to the Council. Now we just wait for a response. The tenants started a WhatsApp group that's currently blowing up with people expressing their hope that god will work shit out. Let us hope and pray. I think a lot if not most of these folks are undocumented and I really fuckin want them to not get screwed. Now one of the main leaders in the building wants to get organizing going in two other buildings nearby where she has friends. It's exciting. Part of me really is hopeful that some actual change could come from this crisis.
In other good news, I have been playing a lot of guitar. I miss shows so fuckin much and can't wait to get in a crowd with you all again as soon as humanly possible.
Love you guys!
Last week one of my neighbors killed himself. He lived two floors up from us, with his parents. He was a young man, in his 20s, who had been experiencing some pretty serious mental illness over the past few years. His parents had called the cops on him a number of times. He would get taken away, given some sort of injection, kept in some sort of holding tank for 24 or 48 hours, and then come home. He never got the treatment he needed. His father has just lost his job. His mother, horribly, is away, in their home country. I can't imagine what they're going through. We've been trying to raise some money for the family in our co-op. What trauma.
This morning I did story-time with my nieces in Philly. I read them my favorite feminist anti-racist commie children's book, "The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes," written in 1939. It's really beautifully illustrated and definitely worth a read. The 5-year-old lost interest pretty quick. The 8-year-old seemed into it, but maybe she was just being nice to me.
Before we started reading, the 8-year-old looked at me flatly and said, "I hate the coronavirus." It makes my heart hurt to think of all these kids having to deal with this shit. At least adults -- like Sam wrote -- can somehow process and communicate with friends in a more autonomous way. My hope is that these kids can come out of this, and this will have just been a weird blip of their childhood, maybe even a source of funny stories, in retrospect. Also -- it is insane what parents are having to do right now. I can't even wrap my mind around it.
In other news, I have to have surgery in three weeks. It's pretty routine and if all goes well I will go home the same day, but still I've never had surgery or gotten general anesthesia or even fainted so it kinda freaks me out. Mike and I went and met with the doctor Wednesday to learn all the details of how it's supposed to go down. One thing she said was that D.C. hospitals are doing okay with regards to covid-19 -- they are not overwhelmed, they have enough PPE, staff are doing okay. That was good to hear. Of course, I have to get tested for coronavirus two days before the surgery. So that will make me -- a person with no symptoms, obviously fine -- the only person I know to have gotten tested for this stuff. Absurd world.
One thing that is really giving me some hope these days is a tiny bit of tenant organizing I have dipped a toe into recently, through Stomp Out Slumlords/the D.C. Tenants Union. I've connected with these tenants in big building on 16th Street, and helped them get together a letter to send to their landlord (meaning, the faceless LLC that owns the building), saying that they just can't pay rent because of the crisis. Within like two days, they were able to get tenants from 41 of the 55 units to sign onto the letter. We mailed it yesterday, and sent copies to the Council. Now we just wait for a response. The tenants started a WhatsApp group that's currently blowing up with people expressing their hope that god will work shit out. Let us hope and pray. I think a lot if not most of these folks are undocumented and I really fuckin want them to not get screwed. Now one of the main leaders in the building wants to get organizing going in two other buildings nearby where she has friends. It's exciting. Part of me really is hopeful that some actual change could come from this crisis.
In other good news, I have been playing a lot of guitar. I miss shows so fuckin much and can't wait to get in a crowd with you all again as soon as humanly possible.
Love you guys!
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