The Prom Goes on (at Home)

Steve Rubenstein, who's my idea of the current Mark Twain, wrote about a shelter-in-place teenager having her prom at home, where she danced with her dad but shared the experience virtually with people all over the world. That reminded me of a scene in the movie "Contagion," where a father decorates the living room like a prom setting for his daughter, who can't go out because of pandemic. That prompted me to write new words to the Rodgers and Hammerstein song "Shall We Dance."

I’ve just read the report.

By brilliant Rubenstein.

Who shows how proms can still go on

If they go on online.

So many guys and gals

Aren’t in each others arms.

But there’s a way

Even today!

Tik Tok makes proms divine!

Shall we dance?

At six feet from each other

Shall we dance

At the prom?

Shall we show that our rituals can go on?

Or perchance,

When the whole world is watching from afar

Shall we all get together

With our virtual video sharing,

With our dad or mom on the floor?

I have now watched entrancing

Film “Contagion” with its dancing

Proms are here; Life’s no longer a bore!

Another Eloquent Letter-to-the-editor from Kathie Piccagli

Kathie Piccagli's  eloquent letter to the editor appeared in the SF Chronicle this morning, Monday, March 30.

Prep for climate crisis

It has been heartening to see the sense of community and caring about each other generated by the COVID-19 outbreak. Most of us are going to great lengths to try to ensure others can live and thrive. Why then are we so complacent about the ravages of the climate crisis? Climate change is already causing, and will continue to cause, great societal upheaval and widespread death.

Air pollution itself already contributes to significant health problem, as well as premature deaths that are likely to exceed the deaths caused by COVID-19. Yet, we continue to support and even subsidize with our own tax dollars the extraction and burning of fossil fuels fueling the climate crisis as well as air pollution. There’s a lesson here.

We need to look at the lack of preparedness that has exacerbated the COVID-19 crisis and do more to prepare for the climate crisis that we know is here and growing. And contrary to this current novel coronavirus, this will hit our children and youth the hardest.

Kathie Piccagli, San Francisco

MUNI and BART Fading Away

Maybe it's not true that "Earth is getting a rest.  Sometimes business as usual's not best."

We need to stop polluting, but now with the coronavirus, we're advised to take our cars out instead of using public transit, and look at today's headlines!

Today on a morning walk, I paid special attention to the MUNI buses and saw this:

Sing-along

Yesterday I sent new words I'd just written to both Cliff Louie, the leader of the Baby Boomers sing-along at the Anza Public Library, and to Dennis and Marsha, who agreed to sing it. 

To the tune of “Sing”  by Joe Raposo and sung by the Carpenters

Sing, sing a song

In the cosmic sense pandemics don’t last long.

Sing of brave Italy

Where they sing out from each balcony

Walk

At six feet

From the people that you smile at as you greet.

Remember when Louis Armstrong sings,

“What a Wonderful World” he brings

So sing, sing along

La la la la la la la la la we’re washing our hands

For twenty seconds—please expand.

Sing, sing a song

Let the whole world sing along

Earth is getting a rest.

Sometimes business as usual’s not best.

Sing, singing’s allowed.

People helping stand out (6 feet) from the crowd.

Remember that we’re together in

Whatever now comes along,

So sing, sing this song.

Just sing. We’ll come out strong.

Just sing, sing along.

Lalalalal a(spoken) we’re washing our hands

But of the virus, not of one another. 

A Walk to the Ocean to Stretch My Legs

After too much sitting at home, I walked back to the ocean to stretch out my legs, and it looks as if I really did! Notice how I'm keeping my social distance from the woman on the beach in the third picture. Sloth is still there at the ocean. 

Social Distancing in the Time of the Coronavirus--a Preview of What's to Come

This is a picture from today's SF Chronicle, commenting that--while this spacing was criticized initially--it may be the future.

And what about this in France?

Shelters Told to Skip Social Distancing

Heather Knight's column today revealed that Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing this week "circulated a directive among shelter operators instructing them not to move beds 6 feet apart from each other or to create isolation rooms for people who may have contracted the coronavirus."

This is what it said:  

“Please do NOT implement 6 feet social distancing guidance in shelter until instructed to do so."

However, a few hours after she posted this column on line, they received different instructions.