Today’s TV watching included the
documentary Who Killed Malcolm X, a documentary about a man whose retirement
project involved revisiting the assassination of the civil rights activist. According
to news reports, the series prompted the Manhattan District Attorney to
considering reopening the 1965 case.
OLGS had a special interest in watching, as the confessed
and convicted assassin, Talmadge Hayer, was one of his students in the late
1970s when he was teaching at Ulster County Community College, near New Paltz,
New York. The college ran the prison education
program at the Eastern Correctional Facility in Napanoch and OLGS was assigned
to conduct classes there. It was his first real teaching job, a kind of baptism
by fire.
No decluttering today. We are expecting a handyman to come tomorrow
to fix the walls in the basement. There is a plaster process called pargeting
that was very popular in the first half of the 20th century. The
material was more flexible than stucco and other hard surfaces, so it allowed
the foundation to shift. It was also permeable so that the moisture common in basements
could pass through the wall. It was not intended to last 100 years, so it’s
time.
We are trying to set things up so that we have six feet
between everyone as the work progresses. It’s a gamble, but handyman needs the
work and we need the walls fixed. Of course, if the shelter-in-place order comes
from the governor, this won’t happen or will stop shortly. We shall see.
Tomorrow’s plan includes finishing the last episode of Who Killed
Malcolm X, talking a walk, reading the last few pages of Leaving New York, and
making a shopping list. We haven’t decided whether we will do the shopping
ourselves or have our son go out for us. He is still employed, but son #2 in
Seattle has been laid off from both his jobs. Son #3 has a graduate student
stipend that will be paid through June. He had planned to pick up summer school
classes, but he doesn’t know whether those will happen.
So much is unknown. The gods must be laughing at our feeble
plans. Fortunately, we don’t have weddings to organize, parties to throw, or
festivals to plan. The big unknown for our household is whether we will be able
to drive to Maine in mid-May. We usually go through Canada, but that route is
now closed off. What if each US state does the same thing? Although summer in
Minneapolis is usually lovely, albeit hotter than it was 25 years ago, I would
prefer to be in Maine.
Everything is double-edged. A friend sent an article from
the Bangor Daily News that reported the very early arrival of summer people,
especially summer people from New York who were trying to get away from the
COVID19 explosion there. The article suggested that Mainers are not so wild
about this. Folks from away could bring the virus with them. They could use up the
few healthcare resources that exist if they become sick. The services that
summer people use are not in place yet—people from elsewhere usually don’t
arrive in Maine until after Memorial Day.
Although Mainers are generally very welcoming, they are right to view the early arrival of summer people as a mixed blessing. Who knows what we will bring? On the other hand, what if we never arrive? That's one more blow to an already shaky economy.
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