Disclaimer for this blog: I am not making any declarative statements about what the State of Washington or the US Government should have done or should be doing. One of my goals in writing this blog is to promote looking at pandemic issues from a different perspective. So here’s today’s “thought experiment”: In looking at
You see a fair amount of signs on storefronts and in community spaces “we’re in this together.” The sentiment that we’ll get through difficult times because we are fellow community members, or citizens, or Americans is a great sentiment. I’m not going to put it down. But it’s also not going to be true unless
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve blogged about the pandemic. My past blogs were pretty focused. This blog is more a general “check-in” with the current state of affairs, first and foremost here in Washington state where I live. But the situation is the same many other places in America. The regular media (mainstream
Who remembers Covid-92? That was my first year of being a working musician full-time, teaching guitar and playing clubs in the Seattle area in the genesis of the Grunge Era. I taught music off of cassette tapes. The internet was mostly text, message boards, and free nets. When Covid struck, there were arguments, confusion and
I’m going to get more pointed with this Covid-19 blog, but my purpose is still primarily to discuss the way we talk about the virus, not draw social policy conclusions — though the data in this blog could definitely lead to some. Here’s a ridiculous hypothetical example I’ve created to illustrate the point I’m going
From the start of the State Government’s response to coronavirus here in Washington (back in March), its tagline was that Washington’s reopening was going to be “guided by science.” That sounded good and it sounded like something to take pride in. But around me I see an existential plank in many people’s eyes that makes
Fear is an Emotion. Risk is a Statistic. What we fear is typically not based on risk per se; as a species, we rarely fear things in proportion to their riskiness. For whatever reason we are hardwired to ignore commonplace risks but fear novel or dramatic ones. Two examples of dramatic fears: Dying in an
With this third entry I’m going to steer (somewhat) away from the Covid portion of this category’s title and more toward the topic of Social Discourse. Social discourse is not synonymous with social media, of course, but these days social media probably makes up the largest portion of it, at least if you’re counting volume
I promised in my first blog in the category “Social Discourse in the Age of Covid” I’d look at a “constellation” of factors, with the idea that understanding the cultural impact of Covid-19 is a multi-faceted endeavor. So let’s talk about “science.” The Washington State plan for reopening the local economy, sports and the arts
This is a brand new category in my Author blog, and certainly one that I could not have predicted even six months ago. Covid-19. The coronavirus. With the introduction of several of my blog categories, I’ve begun with an Apologia. A justification for my choice to write on the subject. There are a lot of