1 November 2020
[Above photo: On the Zambezi in 2018. I have an idea for her supper.]
This moment in time seems as important as, say, Pearl Harbor or Hiroshima. And for the future of the world, perhaps more important as our atmosphere thickens, Mother Earth warms, species vanish, weather becomes extreme, and human life becomes unsustainable in many parts of the world. Then there is racial oppression, etc. I don’t have the stomach to list all the ills we’ve been discussing so recently. Clearly this man who fosters greed, corruption, violence, and division must go or, like the course of the coronavirus in the US, suffering will increase.
Against that cheerful backdrop, I moved into much more felicitous digs on Wednesday. It took a bit to pack and unpack, but the movers arrived at 1:30PM and left Kelly’s at 3PM, a record. All I lost were some cheap ballpoint pens and a tiny stapler which I regretted ever buying in a drawer that I “forgot” to empty. Nothing broke, even the cheap champagne flutes. I again envied the Sioux and other migratory Native Americans: a teepee, perhaps a few gourds and pots, a knife, a bow and arrows, some buffalo robes, and they’re packed and ready. No lamps. No mattresses. No elliptical trainer. No suitcases of clothing. No computer or printer.
I’m sitting on my porch, saturated in green, surrounded by birds, squirrels, butterflies, and various flowers in bloom. It is a sunny day with numerous puffy white clouds floating by like thoughts in a meditation. While the humidity is 70, there is a breeze and the temperature is a mere 88, which is lovely. What a blissful day.
We enjoyed our elegant brunch from Shwe Sabwe, the cooking academy, at Jose and Irene’s home two houses away this morning. I am managing to tame their fierce, traumatized Ollie who lets me pat him if I move slowly. We chatted, of course, about the election, simultaneously moaning how over it we all were. We’ve all voted. I’ve given more money to this election than ever before, which doesn’t add up to virtue but simply underlines what a stupid and corrupt system we have. He who raises the most money has a huge advantage. The networks reap the rewards, as well as fat cats trying to keep their tax brackets low and government regulation of industry minimal. Curiously, as Mafia Don admitted in the Spring, if all the Democrats voted there wouldn’t be a Republican elected. All they can do is try to disenfranchise significant numbers of voters. And the poor and minorities are the easiest to pick on, since we have a precedent for it in poll taxes and they have felt the least able to fight it. Things may change this time around and, with luck, the System can be modified. Get rid of Citizens United, the Electoral College, and enable publicly-funded elections, none of it easy to do.
I am trying to establish a new role here, since my class has finished, I cannot return home and a new class won’t start as long as the virus keeps clinics closed. Part of me is ready to wrap it up and settle in Maine, but I’m not done here and my living situation has just improved significantly. Life’s choices, but enviable ones. I could buy a 30’ sailboat and cruise. I could throw myself into writing, enroll in a woodworking school, etc. I couldn’t successfully learn a musical instrument, at least not to my standards: too late, perhaps too lazy (I’m not even going to consider talent here). I cannot travel, because of the virus. However, I can continue to try to augment what I’ve already done here, which is probably the best choice for me.
Kelly plays tennis almost every day and it provides him with a social life of sorts with the tennis bunch. Since the American Club has been closed, they play at L’Opera, an Italian restaurant on Inya Lake run by 90yo Francesco and his Myanmar wife (I know neither of them.). I cannot play, because of my sore left shoulder, and in any case have not played for years. This morning before brunch while he was at play, I walked for 1 ½ hours up to Inya Lake and along it. It is green and manicured and quiet and pretty. There are a few older people out, carrying plastic stools on which to sit as they chat and look over the lake. The few shaded concrete benches are occupied by young couples hidden from the back by an umbrella, much as I saw on the overpasses downtown. It was a brisk walk and I’m happy to discover quiet places to go near home.
I imagine that I have a lot of free time but I seem to fill it up easily. Yesterday, trying to connect my computer wirelessly to my printer, I pushed the WPS button on the router, following instructions, and erased Kelly’s network. I can sit on my porch and use Jose’s internet, as I face toward his direction. But I spent fully 2 hours messing around with the computer/printer yesterday, futilely. We’ll get the network restored on Tuesday, as Monday continues Thadingyut holiday, the festival of light or fire or the Full Moon of Thadingyut, take your choice. It would be fun to go to Taungyi, in Shan State, where they loose a flock of paper balloons with small candles in the evening. The moon was certainly full last night. How dependent I am on the internet.
Ari is going to look at a couple of small two-story cabins, appealingly rustic, on 3 acres of land with a view of Stonington Harbor on Deer Isle. It is a different vision than I had for myself, in some ways, but very compact and appealing, with a cute town to walk in, a working harbor full of lobster boats, and a great piece of property. It’s pretty quiet in winter but Ari assures me there is a nice community. And by the time I am actually spending my winters there, I may be ready to hunker down with a few friends and read, write, look at the harbor, and put a log in the Jotul. I realized after I fainted during my presentation that it isn’t responsible of me not to have a back-up plan, in case I become ill. I do not want to burden my daughter by having no place to reside in the US outside of my summer camp on the Island. Something small, attractive, easily maintained, with acreage, and a wonderful view of a harbor seems very appealing to me.
I regularly remind myself not to hold my metaphorical breath. Will we rise to the challenge and come down on the side of healing divisions, environmental stewardship, true equal treatment and opportunity, and everyone gets a decent share of the pie? Or choose a scofflaw who fills our government with corrupt inepts, winks at his rich buddies, and refuses to accept responsibility for his failures and lies? How much clearer can the choices be? Holder vs. Shelby County (2013) tells us all we need to know about this Supreme Court, how it has become unconscionably politicized. With the latest hypocritical appointment, I see no choice but to restore some balance to it, even as that continues a degrading precedent.
A Psychiatrist in Myanmar 