Contagion: Is the Pandemic Over?

NYTImes

 

This week, as school started for me, it feels like life has real feel of pre-pandemic normalcy to it.  There are a lot of people out and about.  Traffic seems to almost what it was pre-pandemic.  Very few people are wearing masks in stores or in the classroom. 

Our university follows the CDC guidelines which have been reduced.  Masks are indeed optional.  We stopped offering Shield (PCR) testing on campus.  Rapid self-test kits are provided for anyone who wants them.  Reporting is encouraged and as a result will not be 100% effective.

So, is the pandemic over?  Are we at the point where Covid will be managed like the flu?  Instead of boosters, will we just call them annual Covid shots?  There hasn’t been much buzz about Covid in the news.

When I googled about Covid and Covid incident rates.  There was only one article I saw that gave any negative news and it was a local story to boot:   University of Illinois strongly recommending face covering use due to increased COVID spread.  Strongly recommend is not close to a mask mandate.  I wonder how the faculty and students have responded to the guidance.  While the incident rates have increased, Chancellor Robert Jones noted “…the positive cases this semester have generally been very mild or asymptomatic.”  This was really the only article I found that expressed anything moderately negative.

I hear of cases here and there, but to echo the Chancellor of the UofI, almost all the cases I hear of are “generally been very mild or asymptomatic.”  The New York Times graphic show a low level of incidence but not the lowest level.

The vast majority of people just want normalcy and are simply going about life not worrying about Covid.  People have said essentially that to me.  It doesn’t matter if they are fully vaxed and boosted or never vaxed.  There are a few that still worry and don masks everywhere they go.  They often have a concern about their own safety or that of a loved one due to a risk factor.  I hear no one arguing about masks and vaccinations at all these days. 

What made me think of this today?  It is a combination of two things.  Certainly, the normal pre-pandemic feel of the first day of school was a large part of it.  There was also a secondary reason.  While running an errand today, I drove by the commuter train station near my home.  I was surprised by the number of cars I saw in the parking lot.  It was the most I have seen there since the pandemic changed everything.   The lot was only about 75% as full compared the years before the pandemic.  But this is a new normal.  A lot of people who used to commute are probably working from home. 

What will the rest of this year and next year look like?  No one knows for sure.  I think, unless a scarier variant emerges or something new like Monkey Pox becomes a threat, people will keep acting like the pandemic is over.  I sure hope this is what the future holds.

Buying School Supplies

 

What was Sam's Drugstore

Tomorrow is the first day of classes at North Park University for the 2022-2023 Academic Year. 

I love the first day of school.  It is like New Years Day and the start of the Baseball Season rolled into one.  It is a fresh start.  Everything is optimistic.  The glass is more than half-full.  Everyone is excited to be back, well everyone that has been there in previous years.  For first years, transfer students, and new faculty, it may even be more exciting because they are at a new school and their expectations are as high as they will ever be for the place.

When I was in grade school, the excitement was something else.  We would meet new teachers and maybe new classmates.  We had new clothes.  And, of course, there were the school supplies.  A new loose-leaf binder was the central part of the supplies.  Back in the day, I recall they were powder blue canvas with no pockets and three rings.  The are a far cry from the fancy-schmansy binders of today.  We would buy like 2 pencils, the were #2 pencils as stated on the list and wooden.  Mechanical pencils were expensive and wonky back then.  Somehow two pencils sufficed for a whole school year.  I remember in later grades having to get one blue ball point pen.  The pen made the list about the same year the 8-pack of crayons were no longer required.  Yes, my era was only crayons, only Crayola would do.  I never had colored pencils or markers.  The organization in my looseleaf binder was provided by a pencil case that fit the rings and subject dividers.  We bought a package of lined looseleaf paper which lasted the whole year.  Some years I would by reinforcements but not always.  That was it. The lists were simple, proletariat, and fit our lower middle-class budget.

When I was at Burns Elementary in Detroit, there was only one place to go for school supplies:  Sam’s Drugstore on Fenkell and Ardmore.  Today, everyone gets their supply lists online basically a month before school starts and orders directly from the school or from Amazon at their leisure.  Back in the 1960s when I was at Burns, we got the list the first day of class.  That evening, everyone and I mean EVERYONE, would go to Sam’s.  It was jammed.  You could barely navigate the aisles and it was chaos… a kind of 1960s genteel chaos.  We saw kids and their parents that we knew.  But, there was no socializing.  We were all on a mission.  While others bought more than were on the list or superfluous doodads, we stuck to the list and bought basic functional supplies.  Education was the purpose not fashion.

The list would always call for an eraser.  Most people bought the Pink Pearl, still the basic eraser of choice for many.  I hated an extra eraser.  What was the bought of writing and correct with two items when the basic yellow wooden pencil had an eraser on the top.  It was much more efficient and easier to use from my perspective.  The problem was I needed to erase a lot.  I thought I erased more than other kids.  I talked my mother into getting those replacement erasers (a google search revealed they are called, duh, pencil-top erasers).  I loved those.  After the eraser that came affixed to the pencil by the ferrule (did not have to google this), I would pop another eraser on the pencil and it lasted for the rest of that pencil and probably two more after that.  Others bought those silly handheld pencil sharpeners.  Nope, not for me.  They were useless.  I liked the ones bolted to the wall in each and every classroom.  You could get a great point with those babies.

I don’t think I have any new school supplies this year.  I miss those days of everything being new on the second day of school.  

 

 

Planning and Project Management

 

I have often written about the ease of planning and the foibles of actually executing the plan.  Well, here I am again, expounding on the same thing again. 

I have been doing some planning the past few weeks.  Nothing grandiose like starting a company, building a skyscraper (do they still call them skyscrapers?), laying out the plan for the first manned mission to Mars.  No, my planning is more on the humble and tactical side of things.  I have just been thinking about and laying out my courses.  Classes start on August 29^th  and I am feeling pretty good about my plan.

This fall, I am teaching a class on Project Management.  I have taught this class several times, more frequently as late.  Project Management is all about planning first and then executing the plan to get the project done.  It is a skill parts of which can be taught and parts of which seem more innate, personality based if you will. 

The more complicated, resource intensive, and costly a project might be, the more important the planning becomes.  Planning is a dichotomous part of Project Planning.  While planning, it can look like nothing is being done.  It looks like no progress is being made on the project, especially if the project has a physical dimension to it e.g. building a new factory.  But, the overall length of a project can be shorter and it will be easier to manage if the more time is spent on quality planning per the graphic (somewhat exaggerated to illustrate the point).

Certainly, planning must be done at the beginning of any project.  But, planning alone doesn’t get the project done.  It is the actual work, following the plan, to accomplish the various component tasks to get the job done.  The plan should include deliverables and formal executive reviews and reporting to ensure the project is on-time and within the allocated budget. 

Planning also does not stop when the planning phase ends.  There are all kinds of minor issues that arise during a project that force projects to have to rethink and reconfigure their planning.  These kinds of minor changes include changes in personnel, tightening of budgets (which happens more than people might suspect), and other unforeseen random occurances.  There are also large issues which require serious replanning and rescoping of projects.  We lived through one of these recently:  the Covid Pandemic.  We are still dealing with supply shortages in every niche of business operation from personnel, chip, and transportation shortages.  I imagine every project manager was working on revising their Plan A to Plan B, C, or D since March of 2020 when the world changed.

A good plan is knowing when to do and when to do it.  Then, of course, is the actual doing.  A good project manager must be good at both.  Some people are naturals, others can be taught these skills.  A project manager also needs to master the people side of leading teams.  This includes motivation, building trust, problem solving, and resolving conflicts to mention a few.  They have to work with senior management and line workers with equal competency.  These softer skills can be taught but not with the same effectiveness as the others in my view. 

Well… that is my short spiel on Project Management.

Nichelle Nichols (1932 – 2022)

 

I recently posted a reflection on the passing of Bill Russell.  He died on July 31^st.  Nichelle Nichols passed away a day earlier on July 30.  At first, I was thinking about writing about both of them in one piece.  Obviously, that is not what I did.  The more I thought about it, Russell was more impactful and memorable in what he did.  I realize that might be a bit unfair, as every human life is to be valued and we are all created equal.  While this is true, some people achieve more and make more of an impact be it in business, the arts, politics, religion, or doing for others.  Think about it, there is a reason that the passing of every person that dies is not headline news.  I remember when Farrah Fawcett died on the same day as Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009.  Her passing was eclipsed by Michael Jackson’s even though she produced a documentary about her battle with cancer.

Some might be wondering who Nichelle Nichols was.  For folks of a certain age, there is no question.  She was the communications officer, Lieutenant Nyota Uhuru, on the Starship Enterprise on the original Star Trek series first aired in September 1966.  She played the same role in the first six Star Trek movies.  She was one of the first black women to have a prominent role in a television series.  It was also a first that she served on the bridge and was part of the leadership them on the Enterprise. On November 22, 1968 in an episode titled “Plato’s Stepchildren,” Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Lt. Uhuru kissed.  It was the first kiss between an Black and White American on TV per Ferris State University.   

At the end of the first year on Star Trek, she told the creator and producer Gene Roddenberry that she was going to leave the series.  Roddenberry asked her to think about it a bit more before committing.  The next weekend she went to an NAACP in Beverly Hills.  Nichols was approached and told her biggest fan wanted to meet her.  She agreed.  Here is her summary of that conversation from an interview of Nichols on NPR’s Tell Me More on January 17, 2011:

And I'm thinking a Trekker, you know. And I turn, and before I could get up, I looked across the way and there was the face of Dr. Martin Luther King smiling at me and walking toward me. And he started laughing. By the time he reached me, he said, yes, Ms. Nichols, I am your greatest fan. I am that Trekkie.

And I was speechless. He complimented me on the manner in which I'd created the character. I thanked him, and I think I said something like, Dr. King, I wish I could be out there marching with you. He said, no, no, no. No, you don't understand. We don't need you on the - to march. You are marching. You are reflecting what we are fighting for. So, I said to him, thank you so much. And I'm going to miss my co-stars.

And his face got very, very serious. And he said, what are you talking about? And I said, well, I told Gene just yesterday that I'm going to leave the show after the first year because I've been offered - and he stopped me and said: You cannot do that. And I was stunned. He said, don't you understand what this man has achieved? For the first time, we are being seen the world over as we should be seen. He says, do you understand that this is the only show that my wife Coretta and I will allow our little children to stay up and watch. I was speechless.

Some would say Nichols was objectified on Star Trek as she wore a miniskirt uniform on the TV series.  In her autobiography, Beyond Uhura, Star Trek and Other Memories, Nichols had this to say:

In later years, especially as the women’s movement took hold in the seventies, people began to ask me about my costume. Some thought it “demeaning” for a woman in the command crew to be dressed so sexily. It always surprised me because I never saw it that way. After all, the show was created in the age of the miniskirt, and the crew women’s uniforms were very comfortable. Contrary to what many may think today, no one really saw it as demeaning back then. In fact, the miniskirt was a symbol of sexual liberation. More to the point, though, in the twenty-third century, you are respected for your abilities regardless of what you do or do not wear.

Funny, I never thought of Lt. Uhuru as Black.  I thought she was a crew member doing her job and doing it very well.  Maybe is was the future setting with aliens and all that made the differences between the races of Earth meaningless.   Maybe it was masterful writing and acting.  After learning more about her, she certainly deserved a reflection solely on her.

----- o -----

I did not know that Nichols recorded two albums.  Here is a song from her 1967 album Down to Earth.

 

 

Megadrought

 

nature.com

I just heard the term “Megadrought” this week in the American West.

When I heard about this, I was driving and listening NPR for probably the first time since the 2021-22 school year ended in May.  The report I was listening to claimed that it is the longest drought for some crazy large number of centuries. 

I knew there have been an ongoing drought for years in the West and Southwest of this country.  It seems like almost every year there are stories about how little snowfall there is in the mountains.  They talk about the implications that will have for people, cities, and irrigation for crops.  Certainly, this lack of water flowing from the mountains and lack of summer rain has contributed to the unprecedented number of devasting fires we have seen in California and other states.  Lately, like this year, there has been a lot of photos, videos, and other graphics showing how low Lake Mead, created by the Hoover Dam, has gotten this year. 

The reports, using the photos of Lake Mead and the megadrought term, seem to have gotten more dire this year.   People that believe Climate Change science tend to be doomy and gloomy.  President Biden is in this camp and has pushed legislation to begin seriously dealing with this issue.  Those that don’t believe in it, claim it is all fake and the hubbub should be ignored or squelched.   President Trump was clearly in this camp. 

A google search revealed the following:

• Western ‘Megadrought’ Is the Worst in 1,200 Years – Scientific American
  An exceptionally dry year in 2021 helped break the record. Before last year, a previous megadrought occurring in the late 1500s was the only other drought known to be worse than today. A megadrought is typically defined as a severe dry period lasting at least a couple of decades.
  
  The current event has been strongly influenced by human-caused climate change, the study said. In fact, without the influence of global warming, today’s conditions probably wouldn’t be classified as a megadrought at all.
  
  
• Rapid intensification of the emerging southwestern North American megadrought in 2020–2021 – nature.com
  A previous reconstruction back to 800 ce indicated that the 2000–2018 soil moisture deficit in southwestern North America was exceeded during one megadrought in the late-1500s. Here, we show that after exceptional drought severity in 2021, ~19% of which is attributable to anthropogenic climate trends, 2000–2021 was the driest 22-yr period since at least 800. This drought will very likely persist through 2022, matching the duration of the late-1500s megadrought.
  
  
• Study finds Western megadrought is the worst in 1,200 years – NPR
  Western water managers were again hopeful for a change at the beginning of this winter. In December, California's Sierra Nevada had record-breaking snowfall, and big snowstorms blanketed the northern Rockies. But a hot, dry start to the year has since dropped snowpack levels to below average in many places.
  
  Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the country's two largest reservoirs, are filled at only about one-third of their total capacity. Communities, ranchers and farmers have depleted groundwater stores to meet demands.
  
  
• Water Week: How To Farm In A Drought – NPR 1A
  The western U.S. is in the middle of a 22-year-long megadrought and Greeley [Colorado] is just one of the towns where farmers are facing tough decisions over how to keep us fed when there's less water to go around.
  There is a minim transcript for this broadcast.  The 31-minute audio segment is worth listening to.  It profiles 2 farmers talking about the challenges they face in trying to keep their family farms/ranches going.

 

In reading the above excerpts, I can see people discounting this as scientific hoo-hah.  But with reservoirs, which we created to support the agriculture and the booming populations in the West, and ground water being depleted, I am not sure how we can keep putting our heads in the proverbial sands… which there seems to be more and more of these days. 

 

A comparison of Lake Mead Water levels
lasvegasnevada.gov

NASA Satellite Images nbcnews.com

BYD, Tesla, and the Changing NEV Market

 

WSJ

There was an article in today’s Wall Street Journal, Tesla Faces Crowded Field in China as New-Energy Car Market Booms.  The market for new energy cars (NEVs), which includes battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) is growing in China at an impressive rate.  At the same time Tesla year-over-year monthly sales in China declined for the first time.  Yes, the premier maker of electric cars is losing volume and share in the largest car market in world.  This doesn’t sound like good news for Tesla and the rest of the emerging electric car makers in the US.

Here are the facts.   Tesla sold about 32,800 cars in China in July 2021.  This year, Tesla sales dropped 14% to 28,217.  Three Chinese manufacturers outsold Tesla.  Geely sold 32,030 cars, SGMW sold 59,336, and at the top, BYD, with a whopping 162,214. 

Warren Buffet is a backer of BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams.  BYD was founded in 1995 in Xian.  The automotive subsidiary was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Shenzhen.  They built both gasoline and new-energy vehicles.  In March, they produced their last gasoline internal combustion engine vehicle.  They are focused only on new energy vehicles now.  And, to repeat, they are dominating the largest car market in the world.

Per the WSJ article:

Sales of new-energy cars have been doubling monthly for most of the past two years and they now account for 27% of the overall passenger-car market in China, according to data from the association. 

In the US, NEVs only account for about 10% of total vehicle sales.  We could be at 25% by 2025 per Bloomberg.  Where will the Chinese be by then?  Just using the same growth ratio, the Chinese NEV market could be 40%.

There was another WSJ article in January that reported that Tesla had either shelved or postponed new product development including an economic $25,000 BEV and their pick-up truck.  Meanwhile their competitors are developing pick-up trucks, SUVs, and more. 

It is almost like Ford in the early days of the automotive industry.  Ford made the Model T for everyman and the company dominated the market selling 15 million vehicles from 1909 to 1927.  It was the only model the company sold.  Ford was obsessed with manufacturing efficiency and not variety.  In 1909, he said "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants, so long as it is black."   GM under Durant created brands and segmented the market.  They offered variety and soon ate Ford’s lunch. 

Tesla only offers four models at this time.  Is Tesla on the brink for being overwhelmed with their competitors’ new products and variety of the rest of the automotive world is on the brink of launching?  Is what’s happening in China, a harbinger for what will happen in the US market?  There is certainly a parallel feel between Ford then and Tesla now and their iconic, innovative, and eccentric leaders.

BYD is making and selling EV buses in the US already.  When will they start selling the NEVs here.  It could be a big game changer.

 

WSJ

 

FBI Raid on Mar-a-Largo

 

ABC News

Just when I think the state of politics can’t get any more bizarre, news breaks that the FBI raids the estate of former President Trump at Mar-a-Largo including breaking into a safe on the premise.

My first thought was “This is unprecedented.”  When has the Feds last raided the house of a past President?  Nixon?  I cannot recall. 

My second thought was “Ugh!”  Just that.  Ugh.  Both extremes were going to have a field day with this.  The Democrats would be cheering and hoping that Trump will be arrested for breaking a law and get the conviction they believe he deserves.  The Republicans will scream that this is latest in the witch hunt to get Trump.  This will have implications on the 2022 and 2024 elections.

The press has taken two perspectives on this.  First, and this was when the news was first breaking, is that the FBI would not have made such a raid if they didn’t already have substantial evidence and perhaps even knew what they would find at Mar-a-Largo.  Today, there was an opinion that the FBI might have just solidified Trump’s supporters and guaranteed him the 2024 election. 

My own thoughts were a combination of these two perspectives.  If the FBI indeed has evidence to either put Trump away or just to keep him from running for office ever again, I fear that his supporters would take to the street in a wave of social unrest.  If the FBI is wrong, I do think Trump could easily be elected in the next election. 

I found an AP article, FBI’s search of Trump’s Florida estate: Why now?  I read it, thinking it would provide some insight.  It did not.  It just explored the question of why now. 

As I have eluded in previous posts, I have avoided national politics news since the January 6^th insurrection.  This new twist may lure me into that swamp.

I think about the Attorney General, Merrick Garland.  He was nominated by Obama to replace Antonin Scalia for the Supreme Court in May of the election year 2016.  I thought Garland, a left of center moderate, was a good candidate for the court.  The Republicans delayed the nomination using the argument that the next President should make the nomination.  Trump was the next President and promptly nominated Neil Gorsuch. 

I have no clue how Garland separates his emotions from how the Republicans treated him from and keeping a level head in the January 6^th and handling of the classified information investigations.  What I have read is that Garland is being meticulous and careful in both of these investigations.  Furthermore, the FBI is still run by the Christopher Wray, a Trump appointee. So, this all supports the argument that the FBI has something on Trump or they wouldn’t have executed this unprecedented raid on Mar-a-Largo.

Nothing less than the future of our democracy is at stake here.  I hope truth and justice prevail.  I am uncertain as to our recent track record in this regard. 

Crowd Funding a Bachelorette Party

 

Amazon.com

Being well on This Side of Fifty, trends among the twenty and thirty somethings are often unknown to me unless brought to my attention by my students.

Here is one, I kinda stumbled upon this one myself.

I went down to Wicker Park to meet with the Director of the University of Chicago Middle Eastern Music Ensemble (MEME) and a couple of other stalwart members to select songs for the next conference.  Our meeting was at 6 pm and my phone’s GPS said it would take 1:15 hours to get there from my home.  So, I left at 4:45 to trek the 23 miles.  The GPS either lied, was ill-informed, or, perhaps, was playing a practical joke on me.  The traffic once I got into Chicago was bumper-to-bumper and stop-and-go the rest of the way.  It took 1:45 to get there. 

Of course, as one might expect in Chicago neighborhood these days.  There was no parking to be found on the block where the Director had rented a studio in old industrial building converted to studios for music professionals.  The place and surrounding residential neighborhood had that cool urban vibe that is so Chicago.  I finally found a spot on North Avenue and used the Park Chicago app on my phone.

When I got back to my car after a most successful meeting and enjoyable time with my MEME friends, I noticed a card in my windshield wiper.  The card was advertising for me to buy a soon to be bride a drink for her bachelorette party.  The card included a small photo of the young lady and a QR code for the Venmo account for the bachelorette party.   Other text on the card included verbiage that said, “I like shots.  Buy me a shot.”

I was surprised but just for a second.  Then, I thought that this makes perfect sense.  Why not?  Given that a card was randomly put on my car, I am guessing a fair number of these cards were passed out.  They might be able to fund the bachelorette party in part or entirely this way.  On a pleasant evening as it was, the bachelorette party might have even turned a profit.

Then two other thoughts crossed my mind.

First, you could get guys to buy you drinks anonymously and not even have them being in the same bar or restaurant.  An advantage would be their funding of your special night out without having to deal with them, um, how do I say it?  Oh yeah, hitting on you.  This same phenomenon could be a disadvantage was well… no guys hitting on you which I am sure is part of what some ladies look for to some degree at a bachelorette party.  It is all a matter of perspective.

The second thought that crossed my mind?  Maybe there was bachelorette party at all.  Maybe it was just a scam to get people to Venmo them $5, $10, $20, or even more.  Maybe you print a couple thousand cards and go out every Friday and Saturday evening to a different part of the city and put them on cars parked around areas with teeming restaurants and bars.  People in a good mood find the card and think how cool and buy the bride to be a drink or six.  I could any number of my tipsy friends saying, “Dude!  I am going Venmo this bride $20!”  I would imagine if done with enthusiasm, you could next a couple to several hundred dollars on a good night.

Is it a scam or a real thing?

You can buy these cards are Amazon, Etsy, Zazzle, and other sites.  There are also stickers and buttons.  So, it must be a real thing.  While there was nothing about it being a scam on Google, it sounds too easy to do for the less than honest amongst us to take advantage of it.

Did I Venmo the bride to be any money?  Nope.  I don’t have Venmo.

Bill Russell (1934 - 2022)

 

1967 Wikipedia

On July 31, Bill Russell passed away at the age of 88.

Russell, of course, was the center of the Boston Celtics for 13 years from 1956 to 1969.  In his first year with the Celtics, they won their first NBA Championship in franchise history.  They went on to win 10 more.  From 1958 to 1966, they won the championship eight times in a row.  Russell was named Most Valuable Player 5 times and was an All-Star for every year but one during his storied career.  He was player/coach in his last years from 1966 – 1969 making him the first Black head coach of a professional sport team.

Notice, I did not say Russell led the Celtics to their first championship in his first year in the NBA any of the other 10 championships.  Red Auerbach was the coach and then general manager during Russell’s run with the Celtics.  He assembled the team that won the championships, made the right deals so he could recruit Russell, and motivated and coach the players in a team concept that achieved the stellar.  Russell embraced his role, as did his teammates, and the results show.

Out the 13 players with six or more NBA championships, 8 them were Celtics during Russell’s era.  Russell is alone with 11 followed by teammate Sam Jones with 10.  Note that Kareem Abdul-Jabber and Michael Jordan have 6 championships each.  Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant have 5 and Larry Bird has 3.  It would seem like a safe bet to claim no one will ever match Bill Russell’s in this category.

While Auerbach was a great strategizer and motivator of the team concept, it must be noted that he did this with some of the best players the NBA has seen:  Russell, Cousey, Heinsohn, Havlicek, and Sam and K.C. Jones.  Two of these were so good that the NBA implemented rule changes to diminish the advantage they gave the Celtics.  Cousey was a master dribbler and could eat minutes off the clock on demand.  Some claim the 24-second shot clock was implemented because of him and others.  Russell was such a dominant defensive player in the paint, the NBA expanded the width of the lane to diminish his lessen his (and Wilt Chamberlain’s) dominance.

While being a true team player, Russell had a reputation of being quite resolved in protecting his independence, privacy, and being his own man as a Black celebrity athlete in the early days of the integration of professional sports.  Other athletes like Jim Brown and Bob Gibson had similar traits each in their own individual ways.  Depending on the perspective, Russell viewed as anywhere from surly to fiercely independent.  He was also politically active support the Civil Rights movement of the era he played.  Upon his passing, Dave Davies of NPR’s Fresh Air re-aired a 2001 interview with Russell and set up the segment with these words:

Russell had an uneasy relationship with Boston fans. In 1987, his daughter wrote an essay detailing the racism Russell had faced, including racist vandalism visited upon the family home in 1960. Russell refused to sign autographs, and when his number was retired by the team in 1972, he insisted it be at a private ceremony at the Boston Garden. Russell was also active on civil rights issues. He joined the 1963 March on Washington and was in the front row for Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. He went to Mississippi after civil rights leader Medgar Evers was murdered. In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded Russell the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

I meet Bill Russell once in Cleveland, I am guessing in the 1970s when he was a spokesman for ATT.  They had the tagline, “Long Distance, the next best thing to being there.”  I got in the elevator and there was Bill Russell, in a turtleneck and sportscoat.  It was just the two of us.  I said something clever (or so I thought), “Being here is even better than long distance.”  Without missing a beat, Russell replied, “People always mistake me for him.”  I said, “Oh sorry, my mistake.”  I was not aware that he did not sign autographs and such back then, I just assumed he wanted privacy after working an NBA broadcast that evening and left it at that.  As he left the elevator, I wished him a good night and he responded, “You too.”

Sleep well Mr. Russell.

 

At the White House in 2011
Wikipedia