Social Distancing Part 30

June 1st - Monday

The past few days have been... disquieting, in many places. The death of George Floyd in the hands - or rather the knee - of the police seems to have been that "final straw" of police violence against persons of color. I get it. I do. I don't think racism is funny or right or even reasonable, and I don't like the prejudices that our nation continues to struggle with. I feel like our current president, Donald Trump, has done much to stir this particular pot, and many people now feel that racism is politically correct again. I also fear that he will use this unrest - as justified as it may be - to his own ends of creating a fascist state from our democracy and change the nation for ever. And not for the better of the common folk like me. It is a scary time, and not just because of pandemic, although I agree with my brother that because of the pandemic, there are a significant number of people who have nothing better to do, and not much - if anything - to lose, through rioting.

Here in Las Cruces, the protests are on a fairly small scale, and from the newspaper coverage, seem quite non-violent and even appropriately socially distant and the protesters were even wearing masks. Other places, there are curfews, and masses of police and national guard. Businesses have been vandalized, and looting has occurred. But, here, in Las Cruces, peaceful protest has been achieved.

Domesticity continues here in my household. I've got pinto beans and sausages in the crock pot. Kitchen cleaning is once again (perpetually) on the agenda. I've been sewing masks. It would seem a couple of hours is enough to put together 5 masks, and sewing them in groups of 5 satisfies my "production line" proclivities, while also creating a definite ending point for the day. 

Masks from yesterday's production line

I also have some garment sewing to do, and will probably start on some of that this week as well. In addition, I've been working on a cross stitch project that Carl asked me to make for him: The Last Supper. I picked a pattern that laid out the design in 18 panels, 3 rows of 6 columns. I have now finished 2 panels.

This is gonna take a while...

It is a good project for watching TV with.

Then there is school. I have gone through some papers, and culled out now unneeded copies. I still have more to go, but I'm going to have to space some out so they fit into the recycling bin, which we pretty much manage to fill up every couple of weeks, just in time for it to be collected.

So, here's Monday. The first day of June. I feel hopeful, as with all beginnings, but I also fear that we are living in that curse, "May you live in interesting times."