Massachusetts & Covid-19

In the interest of self-quarantining, self-isolating and social distancing – and all the craziness this damn coronavirus requires – I send you this report from Massachusetts.

I admit I was caught flat-footed about this epidemic/pandemic two weeks ago due to a meeting and probably because I wasn’t paying much attention to Covid-19.  

After the meeting, I went to Shaw’s, the local grocer.  It was mobbed.  The entire town – population about 13,000 – was in a shark-like frenzy, snapping up whatever it could, from paper towels to toilet paper to cleaning supplies, especially sanitizing hand wipes.  It’s nearly out of eggs, and there was a substantial run on meat and pasta.

Up until yesterday, it was the same at every store – no toilet paper or paper towels and damn few cleaning supplies, even at Costco.  I was surprised to discover the local Target was out of printer paper.  So I went to Wal-Mart, where I found two boxes – totaling 10,000 sheets – for $60.00.  

There was a bright spot, however.  Wegman’s, another grocer, was selling paper towels and toilet paper on Friday.  To be sure, they put limits on how much customers could buy.  I snatched up one of each.

1984 or Ray Bradbury?

What’s worrisome is how much behavior has changed.  Several people wear surgical masks.  Where they once acknowledged one another with a friendly greeting, now it’s about avoidance in the aisles.  They scoot away, like sand crabs on a beach.

The state’s public K – 12 schools are closed until at least May 4 but, as I see it, the kids won’t see the inside of a classroom until late August or early September.  There’s some attempt at digital schooling but it’s limited to homework assignments sent via email.  There’s no such thing as video conferencing a class but word now is that's about to change.  I fear that high school graduation for many, including my sons, will be delayed by a year, maybe longer.

At least the liquor stores are open.  They’re deemed an “essential business” by the state’s government.  Although I'm suspicious about that.  I think state officials want us so drunk we won’t notice what they’re doing.

On Saturday, I noticed a blinking sign outside a town’s fire and police department.  It blinked, “Why are you out?” followed by “Go home.”

How is one supposed to take that message, especially if they work at a grocery store?  Or they own a liquor store?  Or, like a local baker, are holding onto to dear life to survive this crisis?

Will the fire and police department put them on their payroll or fund their businesses?

I'm also noticing civil disobedience.

A high school athletic field near me was closed in the middle of last week.  The week prior, it was filled with high school kids, parents and others as a place to stay in shape.  Then, it was shut down.  On Thursday and Friday, sunny days with temperatures in the 60s, a few people returned – despite the town’s order.  

Better yet, while driving on a house-lined street last Thursday, I saw a man, appearing to be in his 60s, sitting on a lawn chair in his driveway sipping a martini.  He was doing the same on Friday.  It seemed to be his way of telling the establishment to shove it. 

Those of us wishing to take a walk are likely to become Leonard Mead in Ray Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian.”  The police will arrest us because all we want to do is live.

Politics of You, Me and Us

My 12-year-old precocious son asked me about last night’s election results, just before he went off to school today.

In particular, he asked about my party affiliation.  When I was 18, I said, I registered with the Democrats but soon, thereafter, realized that was a mistake. 

“Because you thought they were a little nutty,” he asked.

“Maybe,” I replied. “But it didn’t make me run into the arms of the Republican Party either.”

Then I said I’m with the Democrats when they talk about civil and human rights but I’m with the Republicans when they talk about money.

“So, really, I’m more Libertarian,” I said.  

What I didn’t tell him – because time was running short – was that I also support same-gender marriage and women’s reproductive rights. 

Elections are pictures of a moment in time.  People vote for whom they vote for many reasons.

Part of it might be because they read up on the issues, deciding one candidate fits their views better than another.  Some of it, as Wall Street Journal op-ed columnist Joseph Epstein[i] suggests, might be due to circumstances few consider – family, parents, siblings, how they were brought up, where they live, what they do, the education they received.

So we might consider – outrageous as it might seem – that we’re all brainwashed or, if you prefer in this digital age, hardwired, for certain beliefs long before we leave the confines of where we grew up.

Matt Miller, a columnist I once syndicated, and a candidate himself recently for U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman’s seat, taught me one of the best lessons about why one politician is elected over another:  It’s all in the looks.

Turn down the television’s volume when they’re debating or when their ads appear, he said, and it’ll allow you to better study their facial features and expressions, telling you whether they’re happy or angry.

As I recall, he said, the happy ones tend to hold an advantage.  Not always, of course.  But often.

So perhaps it was Martha Coakley’s face that led to her second significant defeat in a statewide contest.  It’s narrow and constricted, not warm enough to win. 

And while you might think that’s sexist, Coakley’s facial disadvantage was the same one that hindered Charlie Baker four years ago when he tried to unseat Gov. Deval Patrick. 

I hope the politicians assembling in Washington and the country’s state capitals in January follow the lesson my mother taught me:  Hold any political view you want, but, remember, life’s solutions are found in the middle.

As for Matt Miller, unfortunately, he didn’t secure his party’s nomination for Waxman’s seat.

I came to know Matt during my time at Tribune Media Services and always found him to be one of the smartest commentators we syndicated.  He’s a centrist Democrat, a former Clinton White House staffer and would have been a solid operator not only for his party but also when it came to working with Republicans. 

His defeat sheds light on the kind of politics those elected must hold.  It illuminates us.

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[i] http://online.wsj.com/articles/joseph-epstein-after-the-midterms-virtucrats-still-rule-1415145309