I’m not a Sociologist nor...

do I play one on Facebook or TV. 

BUT! I am an avid people watcher. As Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot by just watching."

Here’s what I’ve noticed.

Many of you have been withdrawing from other humanoids for decades. In some ways, the current social distancing has been prevalent (minus the six-foot physical spacing) for quite some time. 

Examples provided: 

The multitudes of people we see staring (in an opioid state) at a palm-sized inanimate object while the World goes by around them.

The rocket-like take off of texting over talking.   Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association states that 6 billion SMS messages are sent each day in the US, over 180 billion are sent each month, and 2.27 trillion are sent each year. According to Portio Research, the world will send 8.3 trillion SMS messages this year alone – 23 billion per day or almost 16 million per minute.Mar 6, 2017

All those Dudes and Dudettes wearing earbuds or headphones on streets, public transportation and wilderness trails. In 2013, 286 million headphones were sold worldwide. By 2019, the figure was 400 million. Source: Statista.com 

The explosion of “Emotional Support Animals” in the US. 

“In 2011, the National Service Animal Registry, a for-profit company that sells official-looking vests and certificates for owners, had 2,400 service and emotional support animals in its registry. Now the number is nearly 200,000.” 

Source New York Times.

On a similar note, there are many single folks who have unfurled the White Flag on finding a significant other. The reason? They are already in a deep relationship...with their dog!

The Facebook phenomenon where you can be whoever you want to be in front of 1000’s of “Friends”, many whom you have never met or will ever meet. 

Locally, I’ve noticed phantom neighbors who drive into their attached garages never to be seen again.

On a National scale, a demagogue won the Electoral vote on a campaign based upon fear, divisiveness and exclusion. 

No wonder people are turning inward. 

Now the Covid-19 virus has instilled a new kind of fear in all of us. 

We look at strangers as if they are malaria carrying mosquitoes. 

An innocent trip to the grocery store feels like we’ve walked into an armed robbery, masked intruders and all. Then you realize, you’re wearing a mask too. 

A little gimpy legged senior citizen like myself can now intimidate younger, stronger and larger men from approaching me. Some will avert their eyes as I pass by. I’m not a leper! 

I’ll admit it, I’m feeling isolated and lonely. A lot of folks are. Even a sociable hermit like myself enjoys the company of people every now and then. 

Many of my virtual acquaintances believe something positive will emerge from the current calamity. I think they imagine a worldwide group hug. I doubt it. A form of social distancing has been going on for sometime. Covid-19 has ramped it up to the next level.

Now being engrossed in an I Phone, wearing headphones or carrying an emotional support duck doesn’t seem so bad.

Is it summer yet?

Jeff

 

There are more Corvids than...

People now in Downtown Durango.

For the non-birders among you crows, ravens, jays and magpies are in the Corvid family. They are the  flying sanitation workers who glean what we leave behind. In these virulent times of social distancing, there’s less human detritus for them to feed upon. Covid-19 is even affecting the Corvids. 

Prior to the pandemic, Downtown Durango was a lively place. On a typical sunny Sunday morning, there’s couples strolling  the sidewalks while shlepping steaming cups of Java. There’s families  congregating outside of busy breakfast cafes before going to church. Cyclists baring “game faces” can be seen heading out of town to tackle the nearby hills.

Now even the panhandlers are gone. It’s a sad scene. Like everyone else, I hate this current situation. 

I’ve always had a lot of time to think and wonder. Now with a worldwide lack of distractions. (No Happy Hour, shopping, movies, March Madness, baseball ETC) I have even more time to ponder. I’m thinking I made a few very wise personal decisions and choices. 

Well? What are they, Jeffy?

A) I chose to give up the Homeless by Choice lifestyle right in the last sip of time. Being a single guy living in a white Van down by the river now? No thank you!

B) I chose going small instead of BIGLY by settling in Durango, CO (population 19,000) instead of returning  to Fort Collins, CO (population 168,000). I’m a mere five minutes from a brewpub and a mere three blocks from a trailhead. The best  of both worlds. 

C) I chose the right neighborhood. I moved into Parkside Terrace, a 74 unit townhouse subdivision squeezed into a few acres. My neighbors are at least two decades younger than I am. They are all in relationships with significant others. Their attitude toward me went from, “who is this guy?” to acceptance and eventually inclusion. Now they are kind enough to do welfare checks on me to see if I’m OK. One neighbor promised to take me fishing when this calamity passes. I think they might like me! 

D) I chose to join organizations who share my passions. I’m a dues paying member of the Friends of the Library, the San Juan Mountain Association, the Mountain Studies Institute and the Great Old Broads of the Wilderness. I’m a willing volunteer for all. 

So...back to Covid-19. Today I received this email from the Great Old Broads of the Wilderness. 

I’m known more as a whiner instead of a howler. But under these extenuating circumstances I’ll make exceptions. It can’t hurt. Right?

Hope to hear you howl! Who knows? Maybe the Corvids will be howling too.

Jeff

“Lions and Tigers and Rhinoceroses...

Oh My!”

On November 9th, 1874, The New York Herald’s front page headlines blared out, “Awful Calamity,” “The Wild Animals Broken Loose from Central Park,” “Terrible Scenes of Mutilations.” 

The eye catching and gut clenching article went on to describe in Pulp Fiction detail the mayhem wrought upon Gotham’s men, women and children when feral animals pull off a Great Escape. 

According to the news source 49 people had been killed and 200 more injured. Most readers dropped their newspapers and sought a safe refuse. Others grabbed their guns to try their aim at big game hunting. For the few who possessed a longer attention span, here’s what they read.

“Of course the entire story given above is a pure fabrication. Not one word of it is true. Not a single act or incident described has taken place. It is a huge hoax,”

We live in times of Fake News. Misinformation can now circle the globe faster than a speeding virus. There’s heaps of BS now being generated from the giants of social media.  Followers of these falsehoods can get sick or worse die. This is a good time to become a “Doubting Jeffy.”

I’ll use the social networking gargantuan Facebook as an example of how things can go awry. 

Remember it’s called Facebook, not Factbook.

You can be anything you want to be on Facebook. That being said, there’s folks who aren’t Doctors but play the role on Facebook. I’ll use the following FB post as an example.

Me being me, fact checked this report. (Remember the source is a Fox Fear Network station). I found this on the MedRxiv site. (A non profit preprint server for Health Sciences, which is supported by Yale University.) 

Basically, the above medical report has yet to be reviewed for accuracy and validity by fellow researchers. For now, don’t get worked up about the correlation of blood types and Covid-19.

Use common sense. Wash your hands, maintain social distancing and be civil and polite to your fellow humans from six feet away.

What we don’t need is someone in power referring to this malady as the “Chinese Virus. There is never an appropriate time for needless finger pointing. After all the 1918-1919 Spanish flu didn’t originate in the Land of Paella. 

https://www.livescience.com/spanish-flu.html

BTW. There’s been a surge of hate crimes directed towards Asian Americans.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/fbi-warns-potential-surge-hate-crimes-asian-americans/story?id=69831920

My dear readers, words and posts matter. Be truthful, be curious, be a seeker of fact and information. Worse comes to worse, you will bore people in conservations like I do! 

Check out this quote from James Gordon Bennett Jr. (Publisher of the New York Herald).

Lastly, folks we are going to be dealing with this for a long time. It won’t be over until Big Deborah sings.

Hang in there!

Jeff