When I was young, I worked with an old man who said, "After the Fourth of July, it all goes by quickly." It took many years to lose my fight against that statement.
It is now September and Labor Day is passed, the unofficial end of Summer has come and gone. I honestly barely remember the past season because there was nothing similar to all the past Summers. Say what you may, but we are creatures of habit that pull on the past to navigate the present. But, like everything else this year since the middle of March, we are within a circular present that we have no reference for, simply inventing it as we go along.
The number of deaths since this started, 190, 589 people have died from the virus. We are headed for 200K very fast. The reason for this is because we have chosen to open colleges and schools. As an added bonus, the biker gathering in South Dakota caused a spread of about 250,000 cases.
Let's be clear here, the colleges have opened up for one reason and one reason only: money. Period. They knew that is they did not open up and have the students arrive for their classes, there would have been an outcry over the fact that the students could have gotten the same cyber-education via an online university for literally 1/6 the cost. What an I so sure of this? Simple: Princeton announced months ago that they would not have regular classes. (I think Yale and Harvard did the same.) How does this prove my point? If you graduate from Princeton, the cache of that institution holds value regardless if you do it online or by Morse Code. The people there KNOW that they have the name to carry the value. All other places, outside of perhaps a few more, know they do not and are charging insane sums for their "college experience". So, they took the students in like sheep to keep the cash. If someone gets sick and dies, they can go, "OHHHH OHHHH we TRIED to have classes but we can't and have to go online!! Sorry! You still owe all the tuition..." This is capitalism without a moral check valve using the youth as a commodity, a literal canary in the cash mine.
As for my own life, I was told about a place that is doing outdoor gigs and someone asked if I wanted to do it. I am, at best, very uneasy. I have been performing for well over half my life in situations that ranged from beyond hellish to silly to (very few) that were life affirming. I have realized over the years that, while I do love performing, I am not driven to perform like actors, dancers, or lead singers. yes, I WANT to perform, but......... what is the cost benefit analysis?
After having earned my stripes over decades of performing, I believe that I am a qualified worker just like a plumber, dentist, and welder. I have a craft, a vocation. And, just like everyone else, I believe I should be paid for what I do. I am not even sure of this gig even pays! It is a coffee shop so, at best, they will pay $30 for two hours work. I doubt it would be that much because there will be less people and they will be bleeding money from the months of being closed. So, I am to perform outside and sing and risk getting sick with a virus that can kill or make me violently ill and/or make someone I know the same way, for no money.
And please, before you jump down my throat for sounding like a capitalist pig who only cares about money as a creative person, I would ask you to reflect on why you believe the people in the creative field where you find enjoyment should work for free? This, my friends, is a capitalist society, and it shows respect via money. Period. If you don't like the painting, don't buy it. Same with Music and the rest. But if you like it, show respect and pay for it. By the way, Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and every other composer you listen to when you are in the mood wrote all that stuff because they were getting paid. It was their job. End of argument.
Also, it was a horrible life as a maker of original Music before all this started. What broke my back was a place that wanted three hour of Music fo no pay. And if you didn't have people show up, you didn't even get free coffee. Lovely. Like it was in the 1960's and 1970's, you could not find a place to do original Music. It was all cover bands. So, it was abysmal before this hit and now it is just obscene.
Time is doing what is can only do: move forward. The fading light that started on the first day of Summer can now be felt as it dwindled over the past two and a half months. Autumn is coming and with it the change of the seasons which has happened before humanity was around and after humanity is gone. I now realize what the man told me was something he never thought about. The light begins to fade in the middle of the candor of the year. On any calendar that is spaced three months or four months in a row, you can see the middle point of the of geometric space. Both in feel and visual representation, the first half is over.
The weight of passing time is hitting harder this year and, while gravity is a constant in physics, it seems much strong within this year of non-motion and anxiety.
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