Nurse Magneto

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Nurse Magneto appeared before an Ohio House meeting to claim that COVID-19 vaccinations cause people to become magnetized. She wedged the key in her cleavage and the tried to get the same key to stick to her neck. It refused to stick. It as a laughable fail, yet people believe this shit.

The CDC says that the vaccine cannot make you magnetic. “Receiving a COVID-19 vaccine will not make you magnetic, including at the site of vaccination which is usually your arm. COVID-19 vaccines do not contain ingredients that can produce an electromagnetic field at the site of your injection,” the CDC says. “All COVID-19 vaccines are free from metals such as iron, nickel, cobalt, lithium, and rare earth alloys, as well as any manufactured products such as microelectronics, electrodes, carbon nanotubes, and nanowire semiconductors.”

Get vaccinated folks. Less than half the people in Florida are smart enough to be fully vaccinated so far. The Delta variant first found in India is ravaging the state. An Israeli study found an amazing high rate of breakthrough infections. If you are fully vaccinated, you are about 64% protected against Delta which will be the predominant strain of the virus by August. If you aren’t vaccinated you are facing a highly virulent strain of the virus. The unvaccinated continue to die. Over 4 million people have died world wide from the COVID-19 virus. Get the shot.

After Pulse: Nancy Rosado

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Nancy Rosado was is native New Yorker. She is a retired sergeant from the New York Police Department. She was in New York City when 9-11 happened. She moved to Florida in 2008. She became involved in politics and community activism.

Sunday morning June 12, 2016 she got a phone call which woke her up. “Oh my god, 20 people are dead.” She turned on the TV an brought herself up to speed. Her partner said, “This is not going to be a good day.”  Nancy was immediately thinking ahead to the psychological effects on a marginalized community. It had been Latin night. It would have a huge impact on the Latino community.

On Sundays Nancy goes to church. She got ready for church. On the drive to church, she had to take a detour to the LGBTQ Center. She met friends and let others know how she could help moving forward. She did get to church for a minute but had to leave and she went to the hospital.

The mood a the hospital was like a funeral. Here people looked like her. She and a friend started talking to people inn the room in Spanish. People were so relieved. Everything as being said in English. Latino names were massacred. A politician and a police chief were in the front of the room. She asked why they were addressing people just in English. Both languages could be used. Most people in the room were Spanish. They asked everyone to move to the Hampton Inn. No one wanted to move to the Hampton Inn. Their loved one might be in the hospital. The police chief made the announcement to move to the Hampton Inn in Spanish and there was an audible sigh of relief in the room. She advised the politician to pray and you could hear a pin drop as everyone grew silent. It became a smoother process to move everyone to the Inn. There were a lot of cooks in the kitchen at that point. She left for a while but could not stay away.

She was hoping there would be some order when she returned and maybe she could help somehow. She returned later in the evening. A large group of her friends were there to help. They agreed that what was happening was culturally insensitive. It was also an LGBTQ issue.

She helped found Somos Orlando but once it was up and running, she stepped back. The four women founders had one mission in mind, that this was a crime committed against Latinos. 23 of this who passed away were Puerto Rican. 68 Latinos were injured. Where are the organizations to back these people up? The four founders remained behind after a press conference and realized their message could not end there. So Somos Orlando was born. It started as a hashtag. The Hispanic Federation gave money and it picked up steam. A huge office space was rented to build capacity in Orlando.

Nancy always wanted culturally and linguistically competent delivery of services to the community and most importantly mental health. Nancy has first hand experience about what happens when PTSD is left to fester. PTSD can pop up 5 years out or 10 years out. It could be the sight of something it could be the smell of blood, it could be anything. These marginalized communities do not have the resources to pay for mental health.

 

Capone’s

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Pam got tickets to Capone’s Dinner Theater and we went with her aunt and niece. Actors hinted that this was the first performance they had done without masks. We ended up at this amazing table right next to the stage which was perfect for sketching. Masks were required according to a sign, but few people wore them. I hope everyone was fully vaccinated. We wore our masks until we got to the table.

Capone’s used to have an open buffet but that changed when the pandemic hit. I ordered a pesto pasta dish and it was quite good. The performers were quite good especially the female lead who played a ditsy dame. The premise was that the entire audience was there for an evening of illegal gambling.

It was set up as a speakeasy and we had to wait for a knock at a secret doorway and give the password to get in. Mug shots were immediately taken upon entry. Later in the evening we were offered newspapers with the mugshots plastered across the front page.

This was the first indoor theater I have sketched in over a year. It felt good. The venue did a decent job of keeping tables separated. I ended up becoming part of the act when a male lead noticed me sketching during the intermission. In the second half of the show he asked to see the sketch and held it up for those audience to see. Then came a Bob Ross joke about how my hair had caught fire and burned off. This is actually not far from the truth. A week later the actor internet stalked me to inquire about the sketch. He asked another actor about the artist who sketches performances and I wasn’t hard to find. Not many artists are out there doing what I do.

The bottom line is this was a fun night of dinner theater. I would highly recommend it if you have guests looking for a fun night out.

Ghost Tour

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Pam and her niece booked a ghost tour in Saint Augustine for July 3, 2021. I was teaching virtually all day so we left for Saint Augustine after my last class let out. We stayed at an air B&B just minutes from Saint Augustine. Unfortunately that meant a 45 minute drive. I suppose anything under 60 minutes counts as minutes. We could have driven from Orlando just as well.

I used my iPad all day to teach and it was plugged in all day so I decided to use the iPad to sketch on the Saint Augustine trip. I decided to sketch the ghost tour guide as he waited for people to show up and pay. Within minutes of starting my sketch, the iPad died. I did not have a paper sketchbook on hand. The only answer was to do a sketch on my iPhone with my stubby finger.

The Incredible Shrinking Brain

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A new study based on data gathered by UK Biobank, found that COVID-19 survivors suffer from grey matter loss in the brain.

The long-term experiment, which involved 782 volunteers, compared brain scans of individuals before the pandemic. For an analogy between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic brain scans, researchers then invited 394 COVID-19 survivors to return for follow-up scans, as well as 388 healthy volunteers.

Researchers saw significant effects of the virus on human cerebral matter, with a loss of gray matter in regions of the brain. This incredible shrinking brain syndrome is particularly evident in the incoherent ramblings of the former president (45) who held a rally last weekend in Ohio. It has been nice not having to think about this psychopath for the last six months since Joe Biden was sworn in and oversaw a epic vaccination effort which surpassed several of it’s goals but might fall just short of the 70% hoped for by July 4, 2021.

Even die hard MAGAts got bored with the ramblngs of the ex-president and decided to leave the rally early while he was still droning on about the past. He was infected by COVID-19 in October 0f 2020 and clearly his brain has shrunk.

COVID-19 Mach Pit

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The Delta Variant of COVID-19 first identified in India now makes up over 25% of the cases in America. The variant is over 60 % more transmissible than the original. When anyone in a household gets the virus it quickly spreads to the whole family.

Health officials in Mesa County, Colorado, have been scrambling to contain the highly transmissible Delta variant of the novel coronavirus. May 5, 2021 the county, only had five cases. Within a month, with the vaccination rate in the area low, the variant positivity rate soared 2,500 percent.

The county is home of Country Jam, the state’s largest three-day music festival which sold over 50,000 tickets. The event headlining Carrie Underwood was held June 25, 25, and 26, 2021.  This potential superspreader pitted vaccine holdouts against an extra-contagious variant of COVID-19.

As of June 24, 2021 the Delta variant was approaching 300 cases, making it the dominant strain in the county and resulting in an uptick in hospitalization and deaths. There is an abundance of residents who have refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The primary reason health expert are concerned about the Delta variant in the United States is because of the unvaccinated population.” Both hospitals in Mesa County are nearing capacity. Only about 40% of Mesa County residents are fully vaccinated.

With Mesa County’s current COVID-19 surge, the festival asked that masks be worn at all times and for three feet of social distancing to be maintained. I can guarantee that did not happen. Those who attend will then return to their homes around the country to infect their family and friends on July 4.

With the rise of the Delta variant, the World Health Organization (WHO) has asked that people who are fully vaccinated to continue wearing masks. “People cannot feel safe just because they had the two doses. They still need to protect themselves,” said Dr. Mariangela Simao, WHO assistant director-general, during a news briefing Friday.

Teaching in a Pandemic

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This summer I am teaching art seven days a week. Most of those classes are virtual. Summer courses have begun at Crealde School of Art. I have seven students but only five have shown up the past several weeks.

The first class, last week I held outside in an event tent that had been set up behind the campus. The morning started great but the heat was picking up by lunch time. One student found herself sitting in the direct sunlight when the clouds parted. She was a trooper and stuck it out to finish her sketch.

For week two I decided to hold a class inside at Crealde for the first time. I left the door open to allow some outdoor air to blow in but we got to experience air conditioning as we worked. One student kept her mask on the entire time which I deeply respect. I wore my mask around my neck as I gave the lesson plans since I have been fully vaccinated.

I recognize that being fully vaccinated does not make me impervious to COVID-19. There are breakthrough cases particularly with the Delta Variant igniting around the world.  The percentages presented a month ago were that fully vaccinated individuals are 95% safe from infection. However a study conducted in Israel found that half the people becoming infected were fully vaccinated. That means that the chances of becoming infected despite the vaccine went up to about 75%. So I’ve decided students should remain six feet apart when possible. I also kept myself well separated.

Each table is six feet long. I folded up any extra chairs and stacked them against the walls to reduce the chances that students would sit close together. Each student had their own table. In my sketch I put two students sitting at the same table but that is an artistic fabrication. I just wanted to squeeze one more student into the sketch for the sake of the demo. I did walk around and offer one on one advice to students, but for that, I flipped my mask up over my mouth and nose. I use sketches to do most of the talking, but the sketches stay in my own sketchbook. It was rewarding to see the students start to apply the ideas I offered.

Florida averages over 1600 new cases a day. The Delta variant has been confirmed to be in Central Florida as well. I paid attention to the air vents as I included them in my sketch. The air would circulate over students and then down the wall behind me. We are living in a grey transitional time. The Delta variant which doubles every to weeks will be the predominant strain of COVID-19 in the United States by August 2021 and another surge in cases is likely. Every day is a new risk assessment. Florida managed to have the highest case rates of any state yesterday, so there must be quite a bit of vaccine hesitancy in the Sunshine State. I went mask free for much of this class but my comfort level could change week to week as the pandemic continues to play out.

My Portraits of Pulse

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The Orlando Gay Chorus and J.D. Casto presented My Portraits of Pulse in front of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts (445 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, FL)) on June 8, 2021.

The lawn in front  of the Center which was once covered in flowers and memorial items left behind after the massacre of 49 people  at Pulse Nightclub on June 12, 2016. The lawn is now covered with metal staging areas meant to promote social distancing for outdoor concerts and screenings. Food and drinks can be ordered by scanning a bar code and the orders are delivered to each table which avoids crowded lines at the concessions stand.

Three large screens were set up to project photos taken by J.D.Casto a local photographer. J.D. stood on stage talking about his perspective of what happened in Orlando following the shooting. That day he checked to be sure his camera batteries were charged and immediately went to The Center which became mission central for community outreach and a donations. In the Center a crowd was gathered watching TV and they all heard the official number of people who had died for the first time. Shock swept through the room. Photos taken that first day were largely of grief and sorrow.

National and international media flooded into Orlando and J.D. suddenly found himself shooting photos along side some of the best photographers in the world. His view of his self worth wasn’t that elevated, but he couldn’t stop taking photos and sharing them. The images captured slowly changed because along side all of the pain and grief, he saw a community filled with love. Many of his photos were used for a photo wall that is now part of the temporary memorial at Pulse. After each segment of his story, the chorus would stand and sing to a photo montage projected on the screens. The idea of telling the story of what happened after Pulse through the lens of one individual seems rather limiting, but the stories of thousands are also impossible to tell all at once.

 

Robot Hot Pot

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U & Me Revolving Hot Pot (12384 S Apopka Vineland Rd, Orlando, FL) required masks om entry though many guests did not have masks. The sign on the door said that temperature checks were required but none were done.

I had written an article about how restaurants were embracing robots to serve in the age of COVID-19. I learned about this robot hot pot restaurant and wanted to sketch. A shirt robot with a purple cap lead us to our table. Don’t get in the way of this robot however because it would rudely tell you to get out of it’s way. A chair from our table had slipped a few inched out into the aisle and that was enough to get the desert robot to have a melt down.

A conveyor belt circled the seating area offering dished full of vegetables and noodled that could be added to a broth that is boiled on four electric burners on each table. I ordered a pork broth from our flesh and blood server. He has a mom who is an artist and thus appreciated my sketching. The robots couldn’t give a flying fig. My mask came off to around my neck for the duration of the meal since my chance of getting infected by the Delta variant that is gaining steam in America is about 10% since I have had both vaccine shots. I have eaten out three times this week since Pam has family in town and it is a strange adjustment after over a year of isolation. The open all you can eat bar to our left was full of sea food and that is what I sampled the most myself.

A robotic recording sang happy birthday to a table behind us. D found a live worm in one of her bowls of vegetables which was less than appealing and fly’s did make the rounds to each table. I thought buffets had gone the way of the dodo bird on cruise ships and in restaurants. However ‘All you can eat’ is irresistibly American and worth the risk of possible infection and death.

Morimoto at Disney Village

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Pam had relatives visiting the theme parks in Orlando and we agreed to meet them for lunch at Morimoto in Disney Springs. Masks are required when entering the restaurant but they can come off once seated and eating at the table.

The table was round with a lazy Susan in the center making it convenient to order small dishes and share. However we all ordered separate dished due to the pandemic. The lazy Susan was relegated for art supplies. The kitchen was right behind out table visible through a glass wall. The place was bustling.

I ordered an Eel roll and it was convenient to eat while I sketched. I tried dipping one piece in soy sauce but it dripped on my sketch so I stopped dipping. As we all ate it began to pour outside. Lori is the artist in the family and she was seated beside me working on an intricate and beautiful sketch. She asked the waiter if he could get her some plastic to protect her sketchbook from the rain. He took he sketchbook back into the kitchen and wrapped it multiple times in Seran wrap. The sketchbook was waterproof.

Since my eel roll was rather small, I ordered desert and had a delicious tiramisu. That desert was in itself, worth the trip. Pam’s relatives paid the bill which was very much appreciated. We all masked back up as we left the restaurant. The rain died down and we were able to walk back to the parking garage with just a few sprinkles. Pam’s aunt was going to join us after her week in the theme parks and we met at a Disney gas station to get her bags into Pam’s truck. We have been eating out quite a bit this past week and it it a major change from our year of solitude and isolation. The pandemic isn’t over, but life is returning to a new normal.