And to Think That This Was Big News in March

 

ABC News

      Back in early March.  There was a lot of buzz about books by Theodor Seuss Geisel, more commonly known as Dr. Seuss.  There was a lot about racist undertones from one side.  The other side complained about the Woke and Cancel Cultures being out of control.  It was all the news and people were raging in praise and complaint for a few days.

Then, like many things we get all stirred up about it calmed down, became yesterday’s news, and went away.   

Part of the news was that some libraries had pulled some Dr. Seuss books off the shelf.  What really triggered it was an announcement that six Dr. Seuss books that will no longer be published because of offensive and hurtful images. 

I was compelled to write about this because book banning is dangerous under any guise.  At first glance, it appeared to be equivalent of a ban.  As usual, I had to read about this cessation of publication to get the full gist of what was happening.  In doing so, I found the issue to be less black and white than that first glance.

It seems Dr. Seuss Enterprises LP, an organization that manages the image and works of the beloved children’s author, called for these books to no longer be published.  The decision to cease publication and sales of the books was made last year after months of discussion, the company, which was founded by Seuss’ family, told AP.

“Dr. Seuss Enterprises listened and took feedback from our audiences including teachers, academics and specialists in the field as part of our review process. We then worked with a panel of experts, including educators, to review our catalog of titles,” it said. ~ Associated Press

Random House for Young Readers, the primary publisher of Dr. Seuss’s work, agreed last year to cease publication of the books.  It was announced to the public on March 2, which was the birthday of Dr. Seuss.

The books are:

• And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street
• If I Ran the Zoo
• McElligot’s Pool
• On Beyond Zebra!
• Scrambled Eggs Super!
• The Cat’s Quizzer

They, per Random House, are not the best sellers or the books Dr. Seuss is best known for.  I have only read two of these when I was a youngster:  And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street and On Beyond Zebra.  I could not recall any offensive images in the books, but then I last read them sixty years ago. 

I do recall If I Ran the Zoo but never read it.  The other titles I never heard of them.  Some of these are already out of print and only available in used book outlets and some libraries.

So, I googled some of the offensive photos.  Were the offensive?  Yeah, kinda sorta in my view.  Borderline.  But, being an older white male, I have been told I am incapable and not permitted to judge. 

I can see where the Seuss family might want to get ahead of any criticism and proactively trim the product line to preserve the overall health of the brand.  It is their right to do so.  It seems from this perspective to be a prudent business decision.  It seems before Dr. Seuss became a beloved children’s author, Theodore Seuss Geisel drew political cartoons that were definitely derogatory to blacks.  These cartoons are easily considered to be racist by today’s standards and probably even when he drew them. (I did not include any of these images here.  I will let this interested reader seek them out and make their own judgements.)

So, one could interpret a decision to no longer publish the books already out of print and those that sell very little as a way to protect the books that sell.  After all, Dr. Seuss is the top selling dead author having generated $32 million in sales last year.  That is a brand worth protecting. 

Even though this was all initiated by the organization established to manage the Dr. Seuss brand, there is still a taint of book banning.  

There was a video titled, The Woke Left Comes for Dr. Seuss.  I decided not to watch it.  Before I looked into this issue, I assumed that the woke left indeed came after Dr. Seuss.  I thought it was another case of political correctness run amok.  I no longer believe that.

There is an excellent article in Politico.com, Confront Dr. Seuss’ Racism, Don’t Cancel it.  There is another in the Los Angeles Times, Opinion, If ‘Mein Kampf’ can sell on EBay, why not discontinued Dr. Seuss books?, is a very balanced view showing the hypocrisy involved in some of this.  One in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, OPINION: Why schools should rethink Dr. Seuss, takes another point of view.  They are all worth reading and should help form or solidify your view on this subject.

Me?  I think maybe an even stronger force was at play here:  the free market.  Mein Kampf is still in print and sold because, duh…, people are still buying it.  This is disturbing but true.  These six Seuss books were being pulled from the market because, double duh…, they weren’t selling.

Books go out of print all the time.  That’s what happens when they don’t sell.  Ban a book and sales will skyrocket.  It actually happened in this case:  Dr. Seuss dominates USA TODAY bestseller's list amid controversy, takes six of Top 10 spots.  I was tempted to buy them, especially the two I remember reading, simply because I thought folks were telling me I couldn’t.  Heck, I never thought about buy a gun until there was serious talk about limiting my right to do so.

We have the interplay of two important tenets of this great country interacting here:  Free Speech and the Free Market.  We must vigilantly protect both.

One last thought here is that whatever controversy there was about this in March dissipated quickly and completely in a matter of days.

Social Media Advertising Revisited

Thingamabob
www.jimbodetools.com

There is a lot of buzz on how we are influenced or even manipulated by social media.  There is a rather intense and somewhat frightening Netflix video, The Social Dilemma, that I wrote about on in January of this year:  A January Potpourri.  I tend to agree with the theme of this video.  But social media can be inept or at least used to be.

Let’s say I was considering buying a specific product e.g. an adjustable desk or an electric mandolin.  I might have done a Google search and, more likely, an Amazon search for the product.  In short order, I would start seeing advertisements of the product on Facebook.  Clearly, there was some kind of sharing behind the scenes on my laptop or phone between Google with Facebook as well as Amazon and Facebook.  This I would say was a pretty smart and clever ploy of Facebook’s to generate focused advertising.  I was, of course, a bit offended by the Big Brother nature of them knowing what I was shopping for.  But, this was only mildly irritating. 

What I find even more irritating is when Facebook keeps advertising for an electric mandolin or an adjustable desk well after I actually bought one.  It’s a head scratcher to me.  If they were able to know that I was searching for an item, it would stand to reason that they should know when I bought one and stop pestering me with ads.

Lately, I have been getting advertisements from Amazon on Facebook that are different.  I use Amazon a fair amount, so I expect to get some targeted advertising from them.  About half of these newer ads are items related to items I have bought and would probably buy again, namely clothing and food.  Amazon Essentials is their clothing line and I get offers for pants and shirts of various types.  I am OK with these ads.  In the realm of music, I start seeing offerings that makes me wonder what their new algorithm is.  I play stringed instruments, specifically the oud and cumbus and less frequently the mandolin.  So, I have to wonder why I am getting ads for polymer tubas, trumpets with exceptional long bells, and a variety of musical electronic gizmos and gadgets most of which I have no use for and some of which I am not even sure what they are used for e.g. the phase shift thingamabobber, the active 4-channel whoziwhatsit, or even a rechargeable therbelometer with looping AI.

There is another class of products that really baffles me. I have no idea what the products in these ads are or  why Amazon and Facebook together think I may want or need them.  Here are a few examples:

 

·      Noyito PAM8302, 2.5W Single Cha…
What?  I had to click on it to find out in was a “2.5W Single Channel Class D Audio Power Amplifier Amp Development Board.” 
Well, it only cost $8.50 but I really needed the Class C or E, I am never clear about this.

 

 

 

·      Ancable 5-Pack F, Type Weather Ca…
OK then.  Again, I had to click on it to find out that these were F Type Weather Caps Outside Waterproof Dustproof Cover for Antenna Amplifier Booster Splitter F Female Connectors.  A 5-pack would cost me $4.99 and for only $2 more, they would send me a 10-pack.  Alas, I only needed 1.

·       Amazon Basics, No-Stud Low-Pr…
Had no idea what it was from the photo or the fragment of explanation until I clicked on it to find out that it was a “No Stud Low-Profile TV Wall Mount for 32-80 inch TVs up to 200lbs, fits LED LCD OLED Flat Curved Screens.”
Whew, here was something that I was familiar with but no from the photo the No-Stud Low-Pr… description.

·     Monoprice 113358, Multizone Source…
Yeah… no clue what this gizmo is.  But clicking on it told me it was a Multizone Source Keypad with Bluetooth Receiver.  I have some vague, really vague, idea of what this is.  Yeah baby, and for only $39.99.  Everyone needs a spare one of these.

 

 

 

So, they keep offering me things that I have no clue what they are and have to click on ad to maybe figure out what they are. 

Hmmm… they are making me click on ads. 

Aha!! They are getting me to click on ads and driving traffic to their website.  Clever of them!  I guess this is way cooler and cleverer than offering me items I have already bought.  You would think they would offer me things I have been looking for since my Boy Scout initiation scavenger hunt:  a bacon stretcher and a left-handed monkey wrench.

Djivan Gasparyan (1928 - 2021)

From the FB announcement from
his son that he had passed away.

I woke up yesterday morning and received the news that Djivan Gasparyan had passed at the age of 92.  It was sad news to hear and a great loss for not only the Armenian nation but for the world. 

Djivan was the master of the uniquely Armenian instrument:  the Duduk.  He was a treasure of Armenia in the Soviet times.  With the independence of Armenia, he brought the beautiful sound of the Duduk to the world.  He has recorded with the likes of Sting, Peter Gabriel, Lionel Richie, Brian Eno, Brian May, Erkan Ogur, and Hossein Alizadeh.

My good friend Ara Topouzian has posted a beautiful biography and selection of videos, The Great Duduk Master Has Passed, on his excellent Hye Times blog.  As he has done this, allow me to reflect on my personal experiences with the great Duduk Master and to post a few other videos.

I actually had a gig with Djivan Gasparyan.  It was during my time in Connecticut.  Another good friend and excellent accordion player, David Attarian called and send we were hired to play for a 40^th birthday party backing up Djivan, good friend of the family.  What?  Play with Djivan?  Dvijan Gasparyan?  Wow.  I was both excited and scared at the same time.  His talent was so far above mine.  While we were both Armenian, our repertoires were not the same.  I knew I would not be familiar with, as in probably never attempted to play, most of the pieces he would be performing.  David was less concerned.  Our drummer, Johnno Dolbashian, was not concerned at all. 

Djivan could not have been more cordial.  He was truly one of us.  He was truly a gentleman.  While we were warming up, he winked at me and starting play Al Aloukhus.  He knew that was a piece I probably knew and indeed it was.  I started playing along with him.  It was like he sensed that I was worried about playing with him.  I immediately felt more comfortable and realized that he was even a Greater and Grander Master than I had thought. 

When we started playing Djivan naturally led.  He played song after song expecting we would know the key and song.  He played, he sang, and we followed backing him up.  Well, we tried, really hard, to follow.  I was sitting next to David.  We would look at each and whoever figured out the key first told the other.  If I knew the melody or could figure it out, I adapted to the Master’s interpretation.  If the melody was not in my grasp, I droned to the chord progressions of the song taking David’s lead in this regard.  David and I were together, and we were either both right or both wrong.  I don’t think I ever concentrated so hard on a job.  But, we made it work to the best of our abilities.  And Djivan?  He never gave us a sideways glance or glare if we made mistakes or weren’t up to his standard.  And, I know I wasn’t up to his standard and most certainly made mistakes.   

We made it work.  He was fantastic.  The people in attendance were loved it and that is all that really

Djivan (center) at age 16 in 1944

matters.  At the end of the gig, he came to each of us, shook our hands, and said what a pleasure it was to have played with us.  I was amazed and honored.  Playing with Djivan Gasparyan and getting such an affirmation from him was one of the great highlights of my musical life.

A few years later, I had a chance to meet Djivan again.  I was asked to emcee an Armenia Fund fundraiser concert at Lincoln Center that featured both Djivan and Nune Yesayan.  It was a great honor to introduce both of them.  Needless to say, I was there a few hours before the event to go over everything and make sure I was well prepared.  Djivan came in shortly after I did and for exactly the same reason.  We chatted.  I was delighted and honored that he remembered me and the gig we played together.  He excused himself and went to his dressing room to practice.  While I was going over program and editing what I would be saying, Dvijan was doing scales and then practicing the pieces he would be playing to the packed house.  He prepared and practiced for longer before the concert than he actually performed on stage.

I am not naïve, I knew all the great musicians worked at their craft and followed a similar routine before such a concert.  I just had never seen it.  It was a treat to hear him prepare.  It was a concert before the concert.  Once again, I was inspired by this bigger than life wonderful man and world class musician.  This was Djivan and it is confirmed by the many people that met him and shared similar memories and impressions on Facebook.

We have lost a great one.  His memory will surely last through the recordings and videos of his virtuosity and also by kind and encouraging personality.

 

Here is a recording of Sari Gelin he did with the great Iranian musician and composer Hossein Alizadeh.  It features Djivan’s voice and duduk.

His collaboration with Erkan Ogur on the album Fuad is exquisite.  Djivan’s parents came from Moush and Erkan is from Kharpert.  Here is Siretsi Yaris Daran.

Here is are lively folk tunes from the Master, following a lovely introduction, Yes Bejour begins at 2:45 and Yerevan Bagh em Arel at 4:05.

Joni Mitchell's Blue

 

The Album Cover

As it is 2021, events of any note from 1971 are celebrating their 50^th Anniversary.  On January 2 of this year, I wrote about it being 50 years since I graduated from high school (1971 - 2021: 50 Years).  A few weeks ago, I heard on NPR that it was the 50^th Anniversary of the release of Joni Mitchell’s iconic album:  Blue.  I never heard the actual story but only that it was “coming up in the next hour.”  

I noted the anniversary, smiled as it is one of my favorite albums of all time, and made a mental note to listen to it again soon.  I did not give it any further thought until yesterday.  The New York Times devoted five full pages of the Arts & Leisure section to this anniversary.  Here is the link for the online version of the print article:  50 Reasons to Love Joni Mitchell’s ‘Blue.’

I was late coming to Joni Mitchell.  I loved the song Clouds.  It was a great folksy kinda song with, what I thought were, really poetic lyrics.  But, I made an error.  As Judy Collins, had a really good cover of the song, I thought the song was hers.  I probably confused Judy and Joni and, frankly, I was not paying enough attention.  So, I bought a Judy Collins album.  I liked it.  She is a really good singer but in retrospect she is not in the same class as Joni. 

Like a few of those that were interviewed in the NYT article, it was women that introduced me to Joni.  In my case, I noticed how popular Joni Mitchell was with the several of the Armenian girls my age.  I asked what it was about Joni that made them such devoted fans.  Note, that I was still confusing Collins for Mitchell and thus still not paying enough attention.  They said in one form or another that “She sings to my soul.”  They helped me realize my Judy and Joni confusion when I tried to participate intelligently in one of these conversations. Finally understanding my error, I went out and bought the Clouds (1969) album.  I loved it.  I then bought Ladies of the Canyon (1970) and then, finally, Blue (1971).  I bought them again on CD and have them in my iTunes library (no Spotify as yet… this being late to the party is a lifelong habit).

Side 1

Let’s be honest.  These days, listen to something like 500 Armenian, Turkish, Greek, Arabic, and Persian songs to 1 pop or rock song from my youth.  Back in 1971, it was probably closer to 1:1.  I still listen to Crosby, Stills, Nash (and Young), Jimi Hendrix, and Joni Mitchell.  I never tire of the three albums of Joni’s that I have mentioned.  They take me back to my youth and it is always a pleasant and reflective journey.  I play them when I work, stopping to listen more intently to this song or that.  Sometimes, I listen to listen to her.  I let her talent and words wash over me.  Her music and lyrics are both exquisite and timelessly fresh.

Here is another example.  In the movie, Love Actually, there is a couple Harry played by Alan Rickman and Karen, his wife, played by Emma Thompson have this exchange:

Harry: I can't believe you still listen to Joni Mitchell.
Karen: I love her. And true love lasts a lifetime. Joni Mitchell is the woman who taught your cold English wife how to feel.

  In reading the NYT article, I learned quite a bit about the songs on Blue.  She knew Crosby, Stills, and Nash.  She probably knew her Canadian countryman, Neil Young, as well though the article did not talk about this.  Joni lived with Graham Nash for a year.  She left him to travel around the world live, experience things, and write songs.  The result was this album, Blue.  David Crosby played on at least one track on the album.  James Taylor, with whom she also had an affair, played guitar on three cuts.  Joni and Judy Collins also knew each other, and Judy covered a few other of Joni’s songs.  Chaka Khan, Roseann Cash, and others gave beautiful testimonials.

Side 2

     Reading the observations of her peers and professional contemporaries was most interesting.  As I noted above, I let her music, her vocal and instrumental stylings, and lyrics wash over me.  I did not dissect them musically or her lyrics poetically.  I innately knew but never articulated anything about her amazing vocal range back in the day, her chord progressions, her skills on the dulcimer and piano.  I never really read or analyzed her lyrics either.  I just enjoyed her amazing talent en toto.

If you are a Joni Mitchell devotee, it is worth reading the NYT piece and the NPR broadcast, Her Kind Of Blue: Joni Mitchell's Masterpiece At 50.  The prose in both is beautiful and the praise so well deserved.

I tried to start another blog and titled it after one of Joni’s pieces:  Songs to Aging Children.  Read the first piece Aging Children, I am One and The Songs to Aging Children Project.  The concept never took off but I am still trying to figure out how to make it work.   I also wrote a poem acknowledging her impact on me and so many others.

 

Joni Lansing

 

i could write every poem

listening to joni mitchell songs

'a case of you' playing

like a winter long ago

up there in the east of lansing

trying not to fall in love

and trying to be brilliant

failing at both

kicking back...

thinking and writing

sipping a cup of mesmer

icing on the cake of this day

wondering what canada

i might have lived in musing

‘bout trying to live at living.

 

you make everything better

and angstful at the same time

 

you make poems just ooze

out of my natural self

what can i say but...

thanks

With Freedom Comes...

 

jagranjosh.com

It is the 4^th of July.

The country is as shut down as it gets these days, sans pandemic, to celebrate the 245^th Anniversary of declaring our independence. 

There are again parades.  There will be fireworks both on large municipal scale and from our neighbors on a small, annoying to some, scale.  There will be specials on PBS from Washington celebrating the day.  For certain, TCM will air the classic story of George M. Cohan, Yankee Doodle Dandy starring James Cagney.  People will cookout, mostly hot dogs and hamburgers. 

People, breaking out of the pandemic, have travelled in droves this weeken.  The airports are way busier than last year as are the number of people taking long car trips.  Are they as busy as 2019?  I haven’t seen any statistics in that regard.

What I did read yesterday, was the arrest of 11 people in Massachusetts.  These folks were part of a group, The Rise of the Moors, that were en route from Rhode Island to Maine to “train.”  They ran out of gas. (Who runs out of gas?)  They were seen standing around their cars on the shoulder of I-95 north of Boston and they were heavily armed.  They were toting what the press was reporting as long guns and pistols.  I am assuming that people in cars passing by were distressed by this and alerted the authorities who responded. 

The Moors did not confront the police but did inform them that they did not recognize the laws or authority of the United States.  They claimed to be the aboriginal people of this land and followed their own code and moral compass.  The police took a different view and imposed the authority of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the first United States, and arrested them. 

I am certain many people were shaking their heads when hearing about this event.  I certainly was.  I am sure the majority of us shaking their heads were concerned about the future of our country with splinter groups both right and left, revolutionary and reactionary, rising as it were and getting airtime in both the mainstream media and more so in their own social media outlets. 

Independence Day, July 4^th, is about celebrating our independence and the freedoms on which this nation was founded.  These freedoms include those in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  They include free speech, the right to bear arms, the freedom to worship as we see fit, and to pursue our own interests freely. 

At the founding of the country, these rights and freedoms were not equally and fairly granted everyone.  Blacks, Native Americans, and women were not really included.  Since then, we have come to include those that were originally left out.  It has been a struggle and it is a struggle still.  It is the responsibility of each generation to continue the process started 245 years ago.  We need to debate.  We need to enact laws.  We need to enforce laws both new and existing.  It is not easy.  Wonderful and horrible things have happened along this journey.

If we enjoy and value these freedoms, we have to keep defending them, improving them, and ensure that they are applied as evenly and fairly as possible.  This is a never-ending process that requires more of that Pioneer or American Spirit that has been supplanted by belief that the American Dream is an entitlement.

When I picked up today’s New York Times, I found three articles collectively titled as The Great American Languishing.  The subtitle sums up some of what I am trying to say here:

 

The United States used to be a country of dramatic invention and dynamic change.  Today our politics are sclerotic, our civic culture is in crisis, and our dreams are small.  What happened?

 

Sure, I am in interested in what happened but more importantly is how do we rise above it and revitalize and redefine that Pioneer or American Spirit for this modern era.  I believe we have to do this and also that we can.

Happy 4^th of July to one and all.

 

 

 

 

 

Random Photos

 

The most recent
random tree photo

     Occasionally, I will post a random photo of a tree or the sky on Facebook.  I have gotten to call them random tree photos or random sky photos.  I get some interesting comments when I do this.  Mostly, they’re questions of bewilderment.  They include:

What?
Why?
………………..
Are you OK?
Are you off your meds?
Gripping!
Wow!

Honestly, it is these kinds of comments, in part, that keeps me posting these kinds of photos.  I am amused by them.  I never respond to these comments except for “……………….”  My response was one word:  Exactly!  Another favorite was “This got me motivated to get up and do something meaningful today.”  Knowing the wonderfully positive demeanor of the lady that posted this comment, I took it as a thank for the inspiration.  From others, it could have easily been interpreted as a dig.   

The other reason I take and share such photos is a bit more realistic.  I simply like to gaze upon trees and the sky.  It is reveling in nature.  It is appreciating God’s creations.  I love the symmetry inherent in trees and leaves.  As for the sky, it is the always changing.  Both trees and clouds have a fractalness that is only found in nature.  Poets and artists have used both trees and the skies as subject matter for centuries.  So, I take photos of them.

Most recent
random sky photo

     Trees are beautiful.  They come in all shapes and sizes with a variety foliage.  Around where I have lived, with the exception of the appropriately named evergreens, they are without leaves for about half of the year.  In the spring, they bud.  In autumn, the leaves turn color and fall.  They are beautiful to look at in forests, clumps, groves, and, especially, alone in a yard or field where they can achieve the perfect shape of their species.  Fruit trees full of fragrant blossoms in the spring and laden with fruit in the fall.  When we lived in Connecticut, there were more trees there than anywhere else I have lived.  There were some of the oldest trees I have ever seen, with sturdy massive trunks and great gnarly limbs.  I wrote about the Glory of Fall back in 2007.  That Glory of Fall is mostly due to the glory of trees.  Hence, I post my tree photos.

The sky is truly God’s canvas.  From the pure azure clarity of a cloudless sky to the moving, swirling, clouds that includes the white cirrus wisps and cumulus billows to the dark ominous nimbus storm clouds.  Therefore, I post my sky photos.

People post all kinds of things.  We post photos of our meals just before we dig in.  I have several friends that will post a photo of a cigar, label showing of course, and whatever whisky they have paired with it.  Heck, I do the same.  Other friends post music videos either of them playing or something from YouTube that really grabbed their attention.  We post photos of wherever we may be or just a random selfie.  This is all good, I like to see what others are up to and Facebook keeps a tidy record of what I have been up to for me.

I have a cousin, Levon, who is a brilliant photographer of flowers.  He posts them on Facebook.  I tell him all the time that he should take the best of his work and make a beautiful coffee table book.  They are that good.  I am not the only one to compliment his skills, everyone does.  Being a bit of an amateur photographer myself (who isn’t anymore), I tried my hand at it.  My photos just are not of the same caliber, so I don’t post them.

Yet, I have no issues with posting tree and sky shots.  In fact, I rather enjoy it.  Curious.

Not that I needed vindicating about my random tree and sky photos, but there was a beautifully vindicative article in the June 12, 2021 WSJ a few days after my last random tree photo:  Why a Tree Is the Friend We Need Right Now?  Elizabeth Bernstein eloquently stated my case in this her well-written article.

And trees provoke awe—that emotional response to something vast that expands and challenges the way we see the world. It’s the perfect antidote to the way we’re feeling right now—a pathway to healing. Research shows that awe decreases stress, anxiety and inflammation. It can quiet our mental chatter by deactivating our brain’s default mode network—the area that is active when we’re not doing anything and that can get absorbed by worry and rumination, according to Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and faculty director of the university’s Greater Good Science Center, who studies awe. It can improve our relationships, making us feel more supported by and more likely to help others, more compassionate and less greedy.

I do believe I bait people for the comments I find so amusing simply by using the word random when I post these tree and sky photos.  If I were to say, “Here is a photo of a magnificent tree I saw on a walk” or “As I was leaving the house today, I just had to take a photo of the awesome clouds,” I think folks would be more accepting.  The word random implies that I am willy-nilly taking photos of trees and the sky because I have no life, or I am bored out of my gourd. 

My favorite response of all time was “You’re funny.”  Bingo.  This lady gets it.

Contagion: The Delta Variant

CDC

 

Life in the US is returning to the pre-pandemic norm… sort of.

As of July 1, per the CDC, 47% of the US population has been vaccinated.  By state, Vermont has the highest vaccination rate at 65.68% and Mississippi has the lowest at 29.84%.  My state, Illinois is at the average at 46.29%.  By age bracket, people 65 and older, the most vulnerable population is the most vaccinated at over 74%.

We have been talking about herd immunity and the magic vaccination number that had been bandied about since the start of the pandemic was 80%.  Yet, the 7-Day percent positivity rate is 2.22%.  Was the science off a bit?  Are the vaccines more effective than we thought?  While the overall vaccination rates were low, many they were at a higher rate where the virus was most likely to spread?  Maybe the answer is a little bit of all of these.  Science is exact eventually.  But the path to that exactness is a learning process of application and reiteration of the scientific method.  A case in point was at the very beginning of the pandemic when the experts all knew we the use of ventilators was the most promising treatment for the worst cases.  Now, we know that the use of ventilators was not effective and may have made matters worse. 

As state after state opened up in June, a lot more people are out and about after a year being homebodies.  Traffic congestion is back where it was.  Restaurants are open and bustling.   Schools and universities are looking to operate as close to the pre-pandemic normal as possible this fall.  People are traveling in droves this 4^th of July weekend. 

This is a bit like last year at the same time.  People were itching to get out and states began to open as the weather warmed.  Large numbers gathered due to social unrest and plain old weariness with the pandemic.  The infection rates shot up.  Here we are a year later, and more people will be mingling again especially this 4^th of July weekend.  While we are more vaccinated, the experts are a bit concerned about the more contagious Delta Variant of the COVID virus.  It is more contagious and is quickly becoming the dominant variant in new cases.  There are rumbles of again requiring masks in public gatherings to contain this variant.  A few other countries have already made this a requirement. 

I sure hope we don’t have to put too many of the restrictions we have just shed back in place.  It will certainly depress the people who are just starting to appreciate, actually reveling, this return to normalcy.  If we do have to take a step back, I hope we don’t become defiant and polarized as we experienced last summer with regard to masking and social distancing.  I am weary of this tiresome defiance of science and the conspiracy laden polarization that accompanies it. 

I am cautiously optimistic and looking for a return to the classroom, Michigan Football, and playing music for live audiences.