The wildfire won’t get us, its burning on the other side of the valley!

Posted on by Thor

In its selfish isolationist wisdom, the United States has hoarded vaccines allowing the virus to burn through other societies around the world. What politicians don’t think to understand is that if the virus is allowed to burn anywhere in the world, it will burn everywhere in the world. All it takes is one plane flight with an infected passenger for the wildfire to ignite in another country.

January 24, 2020 the 45th president said, “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”

January 30, 2020, “We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five — and those people are all recuperating successfully. But we’re working very closely with China and other countries, and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for us … that I can assure you,”

February 9, 2020,  “The flu, in our country, kills from 25,000 people to 69,000 people a year,” suggesting that it dwarfed the 15 cases of COVID-19 that had been reported in the U.S. at the time. He then predicted, the number would soon be near “zero.”

February 10, 2020, “By April or during the month of April, the heat, generally speaking, kills this kind of virus,”

February 27, 2020, “It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear,”

March 10, 2020, “Well, this was unexpected. This was something that came out of China, and it hit us and many other countries. You look at the numbers; I see the numbers with just by watching you folks. I see it — it’s over 100 different countries. And it hit the world. And we’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away,”

March 11, 2020, “To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days. The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight. These restrictions will be adjusted subject to conditions on the ground.”

Containing the virus in China was the one chance to eradicate the world widespread of the virus. That chance was lost in the first months. By the time any travel restriction took effect the virus had already spread world wide. All it takes is one infected passenger to step off a plane and a new wildfire will ignite in another country.

This wildfire series is inspired by @1goodtern on Twitter. Since the media has gone silent on pandemic coverage, I have turned to Twitter to stay informed.

Apologies to Lorraine Hansberry (You Too August Wilson)

Posted on by Thor

This play by Rachel Lynett, exists in a “historically inaccurate” world. The playwright asks the audience to imagine that after the election of President Trump in 2016 there was a second Civil War that segregated the country. A member of the all-Black state community raises concerns after a resident’s partner, who is Afro-Latinx, moves to town. This dynamic, funny, and heart-wrenching winner of the 2021 Yale Drama Series Prize was previously seen at Orlando Shakes as a part of PlayFest 2020. Now see this ground-breaking, fully produced production!

In the first act the play seems to do a hard restart with the author changing course and retelling the story from another angle. In every scene there is a sense of exuberance and joy with an underlying fear that the safety of the community can not last. A street party busted out with most of the audience getting up to join in the dancing. I was a stick in the mud since I kept sketching.

My favorite moment came when the author texted the actors and asked them to define what blackness meant to them. Every actor in turn offered a monologue from their personal experience of that blackness meant to them. It was incredibly heartfelt and moving. It has been a long time since I sat in a small theater and fell in love with an entire cast. I will not try and peel away all the layers of judgement and acceptance that made this cast such a joy to watch. I identified with the proud artistic spirits who rose despite never being encouraged to do so.

The show runs approximately one hour and 30 minutes, with no intermission. The show runs through October 30th in the Goldman Theater in the Orlando Shakes (812 E Rollins St Orlando, FL 32803). I highly advise seeing the show, just bring along your KN-95 masks.