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First:
Happy Solstice!
Executive Summary:
In response to the Pandemic, nothing much happened. At least on the outside, so we just went inside this year.
Intro:
One might assume that, given the events of this year, that I wouldn’t have much to say about what happened this year. After all, writing about a void is a challenge even for us Zen Buddhists. But if you think this that probably means that you’ve never gotten one of these missives before and don’t know that I can tell you a lot about nothing. Here’s the latest yearly attempt.
The Year So Far:
You know that part of the war movie where one person turns to the other and says,” It’s quiet. Too quiet. And I don’t like it.” That’s what the whole year has been like for us at 35 Amherst. Denise was able to go out to her studio during the shutdown (where no one is there except her), to the Costume Shop at the Huntington (where everyone is masked) since late summer, and occasionally out for necessities (food, meds, etc). Given my delicate medical condition, I’ve been inside with the cat for most of the year, so most of my contact with the outside world has been virtual. I’ve was just starting to make major social advances to go out to do things, like go to the library, when Omicron has shown up and it may drive me back to seclusion once again for an undetermined period of time. This is not a happy thought. I love the cat and he’s good company, but I do like to see my own species once in a while.
Health:
Everyone is okay here. I have been proclaimed a full-blown diabetic this year (“well controlled” as my smiling primary care doc says - I’m not smiling). I still have Graves Disease, but the medication that I’ve been taking must be controlling it since my hands are not shaking. And the heart condition that I’ve had for years seems stable. I’ve even lost a small amount on weight. So, besides the fact that I have to take many too many pills everyday, things are fine for a guy my age. So the main health challenge has been managing to to avoid the Covid that might just kill me given my immune profile. So far, so good.
Denise’s headaches have backed off considerably this year (she mainly wakes up with them) but they remain an annoyance. She has developed a number of way of heading them off before they become full blown migraines (coffee, Chi Kung, Reiki) so she doesn’t consider them a major problem. She certainly does better with them than I would.
The cancer (Mast Cell Disease) of Harry Blackstone Copperfield Spriggs’ (aka: Bingo, aka: Bubby, aka: Lorenzo, aka: The Boy) also seems under control, though he’s not all that happy about the fact that we have to shove pills down his throat three times a week. But, since we give him treats immediately after, he seems to forgive us within a reasonable amount of time and thereby immediately demands that we play with him. The vet says that he’s just fine otherwise, so we’re going with that.
Work:
As a retired person, by definition I’m not supposed to be working. But this is me we’re talking about. Sitting around binging on old sitcoms is pretty much a mild version of hell for someone like me.
So, since I have not been able to do things on the outside of the house, I’ve spent a goodly amount of time dealing with issues on the inside, and I’m not just talking about housework.. There’s been lots of reading (always a joy for me), a great deal of it on the topic Zen Buddhism and there’s also been lots of mediation with the Boundless Way Temple in Worcester via Zoom. I even participated in a “jukai” ceremony last December that made me a genuine, official Zen Buddhist and member of the tribe. I’ve also started a project of reading all those children’s books that I managed to miss as a kid. At the moment, I’m almost though “Winnie the Pooh” and I’m working my way toward “Harriet the Spy.” Good writing. I see why they have stood up for so long.
D returned to working at the Huntington Theatre Company in the late summer. The HTC has been putting on smaller productions this past fall at the Calderwood Pavillion in the South End while to old (100 years) large theatre and production space on Huntington Avenue has been torn down to the bones for renovation. The current plan is that the large space will be ready for use in the fall of next year and, at that time, D will have a brand new shop to work in. Until then she is working out of an office building in the South End with the rest of the HTC Costume Shop.
D has managed to expand her independent teaching over Zoom and Facebook this year and it has developed a distinct international flavor. From a freeform Fun Friday Millinery over Facebook that she ran over the spring and summer, she has expanded to actual courses in hat making. Her students come to her via Zoom from all over the world.
Arts:
Not much happening on my end this year, though I have been better at keeping a journal this year than I’ve done in the past. Small victories.
In contrast, D has had great success with the development of her painting this year - having finally had a long amount of time work on it last spring and summer. She had a show at a local ice cream parlor this fall and sold a goodly number of her works. But as she’s gone back to work at the HTC and she doesn’t have the time to paint that she had during the Pandemic. She’s hoping to get back to colors on canvas later next year.
Politics:
So, do you think that there will be any nut cases left to vote for Trump by the time that he runs for President again in 2024, they having effectively wiped themselves out by not taking the vaccine? Though I think that Covid will put a dent in the Trumpistas attempt to bring an American version of good olde authoritarianism to the USA, it probably won’t be enough to prevent them from making a good run at taking over the politics of the country and killing the fragile democracy that we enjoy (sic) at the moment.
I see this movement as fundamentally a resistance to change in the society and though, in some ways I sympathize with them, I don’t think going back to a mythical 1950’s is the answer either. Technology continues of evolve and history (and globalization) moves on.
Plus, I don’t know if the Democrats are up to dealing with scared and angry people who are fueled by lots of money from the one percent - they guys who actually control the economy and all our lives. We’ll know a lot more by the time I write you again next year. I’m not particularly optimistic.
The Future:
Looks like we’re going to be with different forms of Covid for a good long time. I can see variation after variation coming down the pike each with their own unique set of characteristics, none of which will allow me out of the house and into crowds. But, as I said, I’m not particularly optimistic - probably by nature.
The effects of climate change are now here - a sort of open secret that no one really likes to talk about, especially on the news. But weather is becoming more extreme, from firestorms in the west, to tornados in the midwest, to flooding happening in a seaside city by you. There are a great number of people working hard to keep the worst of it from becoming a permanent state (none of them working for the fossil fuel industries no matter what they say), but there is the question of whether this is too little too late or not. We’re probably going to have to lose a major city (my money is on Miami since they already have street flooding at King tides) before any sort of preventative things really get into gear. Such is the way that problems such as these are dealt with in America - problems that were there all along are currently “discovered” and we have to solve them while being in the hole that they created.
A Message:
A word to our brothers and sisters who still insist on not being vaccinated in the midst of the current plague:
If you want to kill yourselves with rationales such as vaccines interfere with your “Freedom,” I feel that you are entirely free to do so. Death wishes seem to be a large part of your movement. However, when you extend your “Freedom” to infect to me, other people who are immune-compromised, and to others such as babies under five years old because you’re “tired,” then I have to object.
If your fears of your world coming apart at the seams drive your life, I can’t do anything about this. You are going to have to deal with your fears in a way that is appropriate for you. But please deal with them in a way that you don’t make your fears my fears. Thanks.
Extro:
This is the Winter Solstice. Proof that the world continues to go around the sun and today the sunlight starts to come back to us as it has for millennia. It always does - Pandemic or no, climate change or no, dysfunctional politics or no. There are few things in the world that we can rely upon - at least over the short run. Let us be consolate in this simple fact. But we can count on the light returning and this is cause for celebration no matter what your religion.
Thanks Mom. And as always, I thank you for giving us yet another year of help and support. We could not have gotten here without you. And we appreciate your kindness. Please have a happy and healthy new year.
Much love,
Marshall Thomas Shin Ryo Spriggs
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