Reflections on films, politics, and everything else.

If COVID-19 is producing the stages of grief for most of us, then there should be a sixth stage by now – aggravation. I certainly don’t support the small, but loud, group of protestors, as I think states and cities have reopened too soon. We’ve already lost 100,000 people and surely won’t have a vaccine any time soon, regardless of what Agent Orange claims. For me it’s just the daily annoyances of what the new reality is that’s beginning to drive me crazy. While many of my fellow citizens are choosing to chuck their masks, I’m still holding firm. But now that it’s feeling like summer in the Midwest, even walking around in a mask is fairly unpleasant during much of the day. Yesterday, on a trip to the pharmacy I went through the drive-thru, and luckily noticed before leaving that there was an error. It seemed to make sense to me at the time to actually go inside, but that, I found out, required not just the mask, which I was already wearing, but also I’d ne...

Our state’s stay-at-home order, that was put in place back in mid-March, will expire on Friday. In essence, the governor has extended it, with some staggered loosening to begin. I both understand why, but also feel some tugs of frustration, wanting this to all be over. I’m certainly thankful our Republican governor doesn’t subscribe to the “Party of Stupid” mentality so many others, especially in the south, proclaim as the American way. I think it’s the loss of control over what we’re able to do that hit so many people so hard. There have been articles in The New Yorker and podcasts that have talked about how China was able to so quickly, after initial denials, get the virus under control (even if their published numbers may never be accurate). I can’t imagine Americans willingly doing what their citizens did to stop the spread; we are clearly not sacrificers. Here in Ohio, Governor DeWine first announced this past Monday that when retail operations opened back up in a few...