Eye of the Hurricane

Posted on by Thor

In the eye of a hurricane there is quiet for just a moment. As I painted this, hurricane Isaias was downgraded to a tropical storm as it churns off the coast of Florida. The latest projections show it hitting the coast of Central Florida about 8pm tonight with winds of about 75 miles per hour making it a category one hurricane. Orlando is under a tropical storm warning for now.

With hundreds of people dying every day in the Sunshine State from COVID-19, this hurricane just seems like business as usual, a sign of global warming that is another disaster that can be ignored by those in power.

The latest of the COVID-19 front from Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House coronavirus task force is that we are in a “new phase” in the battle against the virus. She is urging all Americans to wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines. “What we are seeing today is different than from March and April. It is extraordinarily wide spread in both rural and urban areas.” she said in an interview with CNN. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb warned that the country could see 300,000 deaths by the end of 2020.

When you try to digest these huge numbers, then a category one hurricane seems just like a blip on the map of a far reaching tragedy. The death tolls will depend on how southern and western states respond to the outbreaks in the coming weeks. Birx pointed out that we need to stop super spreading events where the virus can spread like wildfire.

Testing facilities in Florida are being shit down because of the impending hurricane. Florida’s Division of Emergency Management said Wednesday in a news release that its testing sites simply can’t hold up to the threat of a potential tropical cyclone because they include tents and other free-standing structures. Orange county soon followed suit, saying all health department-run testing sites will also be closed into next week. Orange’s Health Department said sites there would be closed at least through Wednesday. So you can expect the case numbers to drop and politicians will use the lull as an excuse to claim all is back to normal. It is not.

Florida Governor Ron Disaterous signed an order Friday declaring “a state of emergency in every coastal county of Florida’s east coast, from Miami-Dade to Nassau counties,” he said. This is business as usual for him as he seems incapable of even admitting Florida is experiencing a health crisis that could surpass what New York went through in April. Floridians are more likely to die from COVID-19 than a tree limb breaking.

Pre-Pandemic: Selçuk Turkey

Posted on by Thor

Tourists relax in the upstairs lounge of Hotel Bella in Selçuk Turkey. Selçuk is a town near Izmir, in western Turkey. It’s the gateway to Ephesus, a vast, ancient city with the remains of a large theater and the Library of Celsus. South is the House of Virgin Mary, a domed chapel and religious shrine. Near Selçuk, a marble column is one of a few remains of the Temple of Artemis. The Ephesus Museum has more items from the temple, plus other artifacts excavated from the Ephesus site.

Hotel Bella is just a 3 minute walk to the Basilica of St. John. The Basilica was constructed by Justinian I in the 6th century. It stands over the believed burial site of John the Apostle and was modeled after the now lost Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.

Blip

Posted on by Thor

On July 14, 2020 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that “Florida has a COVID-19 BLIP.” He went on to say that Florida has had “a lot of different blips.” He stressed that “despite increased positivity rates, Florida was not comparable to other hot spots, like New York.”  However Florida has surpassed New York in the number of cases per day. On Friday July 30, 2020, 253 people died from the virus in Florida, a new single-day record for the fourth day in a row.Half of all the reported deaths in Florida happened in July. That is NO BLIP!

A blip is defined as “an unexpected, minor, and typically temporary deviation from a general trend.”  Physicians and nurses however are besieged by the surge of new cases filling the hospitals. Experts and medical staff fear the worst is yet to come.

Florida was one of the first states to relax COVID-19 restrictions and the results are becoming abundantly clear. DeSantis refuses to issue a state wide mandate that would require the use of masks when out in public. On Sunday, July 12, 2020 the Sunshine State recorded 15,300 new cases—more than all of Europe. The number of cases per day have continued to hover around 10,000 per day. Dozens of the state’s intensive-care units are at capacity. Miami has become the new Wuhan.

Memorial Hospital West hospital CEO Leah Carpenter said, “Our ICU capacity is beyond 100 percent.”As of Friday July 10, 2020, At least 52 Florida hospitals had no ICU capacity left at all. Rebekah Jones who created the Florida Department of Health COVID-19 dashboard was fired for not manipulating data to help in the re-opening plans. She said,  “Hospital staff have the hardest job in the world right now, more so than any of us scientists,” she said. “That most hospitals in Florida are at or near capacity frightens me. It should frighten everyone.” She now runs her own COVID-19 Community Dashboard which is meant to more accurately reflect what is actually happening in Florida. In Brevard County patients are being treated in the hallways. Some hospitals that are full are having to send patients to other hospitals.

The Harvard Global Health Institute recommended a number of states, including Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Louisiana, and South Carolina, institute a mandatory stay-at-home order to curtail severe outbreaks.

Carlos Migoya, president and CEO of Jackson Health System in Miami-Dade, said “You have people who are aggressively saying they don’t have to wear a mask and don’t have to do social distancing,” he explained. “Those are the kind of people spreading this disease. If we don’t get this under control and have too many more infections, we are going to have problems.”

At a ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington on July 24,2020 DeSantis discussed, an initiative – called One Goal One Florida that “encourages” the public to follow four guidelines: Protect the vulnerable, practice proper hygiene, practice social distancing and wear a mask if in close contact with another person. This is a BLIP of a service announcement, too little too late.

300

Posted on by Thor

300 Brevard County, Florida students of an outdoor graduation ceremony ere told to quarantine for 14 days after an attendee was diagnosed with COVID-19. Each student could invite 2 guests, so overall 900 people could be affected.

Bayside High School in Palm Bay, Florida, held an outdoor graduation ceremony for seniors last Saturday, an event that appeared to mostly adhere to safety guidelines. Students wore masks as did attendees in the bleachers and seats were placed almost 6 feet apart on a football field. When students walked out to the field however they clustered tightly together in a line. After the ceremony the students then clustered together in tight groups to chat which could be another chance for the airborne virus to spread.

The health department didn’t confirm whether the person who tested positive for COVID-19 was a student or adult. About 30 adult school and district staff were present at the event as well. Faculty wearing gloves and masks handed students their diplomas as they walked across the stage. Only speakers removed their masks when they took the podium. Anyone who attended the graduation ceremony was advised by letter from the Florida Department of Health, to self-quarantine and monitor their symptoms for 14 days. On student interviewed mentioned she had invited both her grandparents and her mom and dad. It would seem the two guest limit was just a suggestion.

Florida continues to set new records in COVID-19 cases and deaths as the state passes 450,000 cases. Over 6,300 residents have died, and this week, child COVID-19 hospitalizations rose 23%. Brevard County has a total of 5477 Cases of Covid-19 with 108 deaths. 13 people have died today July30, 2020. I am shocked that Florida school officials thought an in person graduation ceremony was a good idea at the height of the pandemic. Faculty and students around the country are finding creative ways to celebrate virtually. If only that creative spark existed here.

NBA Booble

Posted on by Thor

The 2020 NBA Bubble is the isolation zone with strict rules created by the National Basketball Association (NBA) to protect its players from the COVID-19 pandemic. 22 teams were invited to Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida to participate in eight games being held at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The bubble is a $170 million investment by the NBA to protect its season which was cut short by the pandemic. The bubble games will begin on July 30, 2020 inside the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

Lou Williams a Clippers guard was granted an excused absence for a family funeral. While on leave, he went to Magic City an Atlanta strip club where he was photographed by rapper Jack Harlow. Harlow quickly deleted the post from his Instagram story. Harlow tweeted Friday, “That was an old pic of me and Lou. I was just reminiscing cuz I miss him.” In the photograph, Williams is holding a drink and wearing an NBA mask given out on the Orlando campus.

Williams said he went to the strip club for dinner. He wrote in a tweet, “Ask any of my teammates what’s my favorite restaurant in Atlanta is. Ain’t nobody partying. Chill out lol. #Maskon #inandout.” Williams was tested for the COVID-19 each day that he was away from campus, a source told ESPN. Williams claimed he only went to the strip club for the wings. But you have to wonder if he was also drawn to the breasts and thighs. We all grieve in unique ways.

Players are subject to a minimum four-day quarantine after they leave campus on an excused absence. However, the re-quarantining time could be extended up to 10 days if recommended by the league’s infectious disease specialists. Of course Williams will need the full 10 days of quarantine and he will miss the first two games of the season because of his stripper joint stunt. He is paid about $58,000 a game so those were some pretty expensive wings. .

This incident makes it clear that the notion of playing ball in the midst of a raging pandemic isn’t the best idea and the best plans don’t work when players act stupid. At the beginning of the pandemic Rudy Gilbert made light of the virus when he touched every microphone at a press conference and he was infected by the virus. That stupidity canceled the game and shut down the league for four months.

The NBA bubble will likely burst before the season is through. I am amazed Williams will be allowed to play. The bottom line is that the games bring in a profit for the NBA. It reminds me of how professional wrestling was considered an essential business by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Despite several dozen positive COVID-19 tests in June 2020, for performers and staff, the wrestling league keeps churning out matches.

Half of the Miami Marlins Infected

Posted on by Thor

Major League Baseball has millions of dollars on the line, so they have every incentive to get the players on the field at the height of a pandemic.  The league created extensive protocols to try and play the game safely. No fans would fill the stands. The plan is to even fill the stands with computer generated crowds when the games are televised, much like the huge armies seen in the Lord of the Rings movies. The sound of fans shouting would be piped into the stadiums. The players travel would be cut down but they still would travel state to state. Players have been testing extensively and getting results within two days unlike the testing for everyday citizens that can take two weeks to get results.

One week into the season, two games were postponed because half of the Miami Marlins players and support team have tested positive for COVID-19. The Marlins had played a game in Philadelphia despite the fact that three of their players had tested positive for the virus. The team players had voted by text and decided to play despite the infections. 7 more players and two coaches then tested positive. 17 players and staff are infected as of July 28, 2020. They are now stuck inn Philadelphia quarantining.

It is truly Orwellian the way MLB executives believed that they could continue to play the game in the midst of a raging pandemic. They did not survive first contact. If they continue to ignore the beast, they will never complete the season without loosing lives. You can’t play games while the world burns all around you. The amount of control they are attempting is not possible.

MLB is a microcosm for all the failures happening all across the country as people blindly think they can control and subdue the virus. Schools are rushing to re-open, only without the same level of monetary resources. Washington Nationals pitcher Shawn Doolittle said, “Sports are the reward of a functional society.” We are NOT a functional society. Blind greed and ignorance have become more important than player safety.

Schools: Make Do

Posted on by Thor

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued an order saying schools must open 5 days a week starting in August. That order has made Florida a political battleground over schools and the COVID-19 outbreak as he followed the lead of President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy Devos, who are pressuring states to fill classrooms with students in the fall. President Donald Trump said “The people of our country should think of themselves as warriors. Our country has to open.”

DeSntis doubled down on his assertion saying, schools must,  “find a way to make do.” The state is preparing to reopen schools amid a pandemic that has shown no signs of slowing. He gave his six minute address from Tallahassee during a week that saw COVID-19 cases increase rapidly, with an average of 119 deaths per day. A 9-year-old girl from Putnam County was listed among the updated death count Wednesday, the fifth child to die in the state. It used to be that one child’s death was too many but now, children are just collateral damage in the rush to re-open the economy before the November election.

As hundreds of Florida residents are testing positive every day, school districts are working to create back-to-school plans that call for face coverings on students, social distancing “where possible”, and frequent cleaning of schools and buses. But they have received opposition from teacher groups and many parents, who say conditions are not yet safe enough for in-person instruction.

DeSantis acknowledged that some teachers are more vulnerable to the disease because of medical conditions, or might not feel comfortable in the classroom. “They should be given the option of working remotely,” he said. “Let’s just find a way to make do.” The Governor did not discuss any precautions state wide which could help stop the spread of the virus. Face masks will be required in schools in an effort to limit the virus’ spread.

Researchers have found, with some exceptions, kids are less likely to be infected with COVID-19 or experience serious, if any, symptoms if they do get it. A recent South Korean study, however, discovered children 10 years and older spread the virus just as much or perhaps  slightly more than adults, particularly at home.

Three school teachers in Arizona worked in the same classroom to teach students virtually for summer school. All three teachers caught COVID-19 and one died from the infection. They took every precaution with masks, sanitizing and social distancing, but became infected anyway. The virus can be a threat even with the best precautions. Florida is not the countries epicenter with more than 400,000 cases of COVID-19. Dr. Anthony Fauci called on hard hit states to pause their re-opening. Dr. Deborah Birx compared the outbreaks in the sunbelt state to be like three New Yorks. According to a recent poll, only 44% of parents are willing to send their kids to school.

Orange County Florida made the enlightened decision to have all students begin virtual learning starting August 10, 2020. This will of course also have it’s costs in that not every student has a computer or internet connections but the county is committed to make it work. I have been teaching virtually and challenges abound for instance Zoom meetings get cut off every half hour and students cut out occasionally. One students computer is very old and the audio makes her sound like an unintelligible robot but we make do with the chat feature. It is a brave new world and we are working out the kinks. I honestly love teaching virtually because the students can see me create a drawing stroke for stroke. I can share what I do much easier since every student can see what I am doing on their computers. Some students want instant gratification but art is a slow process of discovery and problem solving. Staying connected an engaged with every student is the new challenge in the digital world.

Hagia Sophia

Posted on by Thor

Hagia Sophia  was the first Christian Cathedral build by the Roman Empire in the Byzantine era. It has served as a Greek Orthodox cathedral, a Roman Catholic cathedral, and an Ottoman mosque over the course of its long history. It was once called the Church of Hagia Sophia and later, in 1943, Great Mosque of Ayasofya. In 1934 a presidential decree converted the building into a museum.  For 85 years it was a museum. That court ruling that granted the museum status was annulled on July 10, 2020 and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ordered the conversion of the city’s historic Hagia Sophia back into a mosque.

Hagia Sophia became UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985. UNESCO released a statement expressing that it “deeply regrets the decision of the Turkish authorities, made without prior discussion, and calls for the universal value of World Heritage to be preserved.” Ernesto Ottone, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Culture, said in the statement, “It is important to avoid any implementing measure, without prior discussion with UNESCO, that would affect physical access to the site, the structure of the buildings, the site’s moveable property, or the site’s management.”

The site will now be managed by the country’s Presidency of Religious Affairs, rather than the Ministry of Culture, CNN reported. “Since its status as a museum is changed, we are canceling the entrance fees,” said Erdogan in a speech on July 10, 2020 according to the Anadolu news agency. “Like all our mosques, its doors will be open to everyone — Muslim or non-Muslim. As the world’s common heritage, Hagia Sophia with its new status will keep on embracing everyone in a more sincere way.”

What will happen to the artifacts and art within it? Artifacts include, includes medieval mosaics depicting the Holy Family and images of Christian imperial emperors, which Muslims who make use of the building as a mosque are expected to cover up using curtains or lasers. It is not clear how the lasers would work. The Christian icons would be uncovered and be open to all visitors at other times.

Hagia Sophia will officially begin regular worship services beginning July 24, according to CNN.

My sketch done in 2015 is of the Tulip Festival that takes place in front of Hagia Sophia. The festival took place this year in April. In April, it was confirmed that COVID-19 had spread all over Turkey. On April 14, 2020, the head of the Turkish Ministry of Health, Fahrettin Koca announced that the spread of the virus in Turkey has reached its peak in the fourth week.

Burning It Down

Posted on by Thor

When Greta Thunberg came to the United Nations she sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. Prior to that trans-Atlantic trip she had been on a sail boat only one time before. When out in the middle of the ocean you are completely at the mercy of nature. You have to act accordingly. It puts life into a different perspective. You have to completely trust the scientific data and the weather models. You don’t take any unnecessary risks.  You don’t act irresponsibly. If you were cold you would not light a fire on the deck. We are a civilization in the middle of the ocean and we are right now setting fire to the boat. We have nowhere left to turn to.

This seems a very accurate view of how the present administration is burning the boat and seeking to profit as it sinks. Trump has failed the country at very turn. His constant gas lighting is infuriating. Things didn’t need to get this bad. He is still dismissing this virus as “the sniffles.” He wants to open schools with no plan for safety. He destroys all he touches, and he wants to take you down with him. While his campaign flounders, he is also diverting millions of dollars from donors into personal profit. He continues to rake in millions from his campaign, millions from the Republican National Convention, and millions from committees. What does he have to loose? The Senate has given him a license to steal. Since becoming president he has done everything in his power to hide his tax returns. The Supreme Court on Friday July 17, 2020 granted a Manhattan district attorney’s request to reject President Trump‘s claims of absolute immunity from a subpoena for eight years of tax returns. Those finding however will not become public until after the election in November.

For the next four months Trump will continue to divide the country and let it burn. He is a desperate man at a desperate time. He is capable of anything. After deploying unidentified troops to Portland he now plans to also send troops to Chicago with the excise of protecting statues. The Portland Mayor, Ted Wheeler, was tear gasses along with protestors in an unprovoked attack by Federal officers. Trump has warned he may order troops into other states and cities he deems insufficiently policed, even if governors and mayors in those places don’t ask for help. Trump’s campaign has turned to themes of violence and chaos as it seeks to falsely paint his Democratic rival Joe Biden as anti-police.

Meanwhile Trump waxed poetic about how good he did at a cognitive test intended to check for dementia. This is the man who plans to restore public safety for fear of protest, while thousands die every day from COVID-19. It is a strange distraction tactic. The United States COVID-19 cases have doubled in just the last 6 weeks to over 4 million. Deaths and hospitalizations continue to rise sharply in many states. Florida is poised to become the next epicenter for the virus. The U.S. death toll now exceeds 141,000. The country is engulfed in flames.

Crealdé in a Pandemic

Posted on by Thor

I have been teaching an Urban Sketching class at Crealdé School of Art for the past 3 Sundays. We have spent most of our time outdoors since there have been decent breezes and it hasn’t been too hot. I have four very talented students, each with their own style. I start each class with a premise and then we sketch on campus. I have been keeping classes outdoors since it is easier to social distance and enclosed spaces with recirculated air are the breading ground for the COVID-19 virus. The main focus of the class is to get out of the studio and explore the world anyway.

I rolled out a black board and used it so I could sketch large enough for all to see from six feet away. This class was about doing thumbnail sketches and basic ideas about composition and perspective. As my students explored the campus with their sketchbooks it felt good to sketch on location again myself. I had not sketched on location since the start of the pandemic. Instead I have been doing one illustration based on some story from the pandemic. Now that I am teaching I can no longer do a painting every day without burning out. I instead pace out each painting over several days. I feel pressure to get the paintings done fast because the news surrounding the pandemic keeps changing moment to moment.

The pandemic is the only story I keep tracking every day. Even doing thumbnails around Crealdé I focused my attention on the measures that were taken to try and make the campus more safe during the pandemic. Portable sinks were set up with foot pedals so that peoples hands do not need to touch faucets. Picnic tables were moved out from under the awning to allow six feet of space between tables. I carry a six foot stick as a visual reminder for students and myself to maintain social distancing. I also us the stick as a pointer when reviewing art work.

We made up the ill fated first class virtually. I am thankful I teach on a day where there are very few people on campus. I realized that the figure drawing class that usually happened next to mine was canceled. We might have to move inside once it truly gets hot.