Page 1

Teddy Eisenhoover
The president will never overcome coronavirus blues, much of his own making, my friend acknowledges. The refusal to accept responsibility for failures in mustering up sufficient test kits.

After the virus is over
The Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 wreaked death and destruction which unsettled belief in a loving and benevolent God. I remember vividly how the dramatic shock of Pearl Harbor unified America’s resolve to fight the new enemy, even including former isolationists.

Community spread is perpetuating COVID-19
That was Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton speaking on March 12, when Ohio had only five confirmed COVID-19 cases. One percent of Ohio’s population would be about 117,000 cases. “Community spread” means that the virus was transmitted by someone from inside the community, not someone who brought it in from outside.

LETTERS
About 200 people a year in the U.S. die of lightning strikes, bee stings and aspirin reactions, so let’s say four or five die in Illinois from these adverse outcomes. Illinois is a state of 12.74 million people.

Lament for live theater
That’s all over for now. Gus Gordon, executive director of Hoogland Center for the Arts, reports, “We were having a great season. We employ 18 people and many of our 22 resident organizations employ staff, too. Normally our building is a beehive, with folks from six to 90 coming and going.

POP/PUNK FOR CHARITY
As the effects of COVID-19 spread, musicians have been hit especially hard but some area bands are getting creative. Local pop/punk rockers Hospital Job just released a new four-track EP of covers on their bandcamp with all funds going to Direct Relief USA, an organization for dealing with emergencies in the USA and worldwide.

A DOG’S LIFE
Let’s say you’re a black Labrador assigned to the courthouse, licking hands, giving folks something to pet and otherwise comforting victims and witnesses as they deal with the consequences of crime. Let’s also say that the courthouse has been largely shut down due to pandemic.

Community in the time of coronavirus
In recent days, coronavirus has “turned things upside down” for Jonna Cooley, who heads Springfield’s Phoenix Center. The center is the area’s premier LGBTQ community resource, providing support groups, housing, STD testing and other services. Normal routines have largely screeched to a halt as a result of efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Small local grocers navigate coronavirus
As a reporter, I’ve been hearing repeatedly that social distance is one of our best ways to stop the spread of coronavirus. Social distance was defined in the governor’s stay-at-home order as keeping six feet away from people while attending to necessary shopping trips, or going outside for exercise.

“It takes time”
A psychologist who coordinates care for transgender inmates in the Illinois Department of Corrections says he disagrees with the opinion of a federal judge who late last year questioned whether prison officials take seriously the needs of transgender inmates.

What were we thinking?
Our race and income determine how we feel about certain things, a lot of us struggle with daily living expenses, and we are a fairly trusting lot, unless you happen to be a politician. We also like it here, but maybe our young folks should move away..

Cooking your way through a crisis
There’s nothing like a pandemic to make us realize how fragile we are. It is quite unsettling to realize how unprepared our governing bodies and health care services were as they try to manage this crisis. We look to them for guidance and the best advice they are able to offer is to wash our hands and keep away from others.

THE CALENDAR
Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation services.

More playing now than before
Last week sure seems like a lot longer ago than just last week, but time is relative and it’s been in a relatively strange and peculiar mode as of late.