Good God Almighty! I haven’t written a stitch in my journal since July of last year, and a whole heck of a lot—hell of a lot might be a better description, because it feels that hell is nigh—a whole hell of a lot has happened since then.
First of all, Kobe Bryant is dead.
Yes, Marley, dead as a doornail. In a helicopter crash that killed nine people total…including his middle daughter, Gianna. What in the world? Like, why? I’m still asking because I’m STILL getting over that one.
It STILL hasn’t trickled down to that hardly disturbed gathering spot—the place where facts go once they actually make sense…or that other settled place where we accept that they won’t EVER make sense.
But still. It. Just. Doesn’t. Maybe it never fully will settle in.
I was working the editor’s desk at WTOP that Sunday morning, and it was a flurry of an afternoon. Seems like such a distant memory now–barely two months later…because LOTS has happened since. Including Super Tuesday (I worked the desk that evening, too—Lord—keeping track of all those states and American Samoa was a pleasantly exhilarating chore), Democratic presidential debates, and just life. I’m still working on my podcast–my free-time labor of love, Planet Noun, and have some pretty good interviews in the can, but now, this heifer named Rona is trying to steal my joy.
Rona’s not its real name. It’s COVID-19, also known as the novel coronavirus. It’s been traced back to Wuhan, China and it’s spread the globe, to nearly 200 countries. Once Wuhan was the epicenter, now Italy is the new epicenter. So many people have died there, and the death toll in the United States is also climbing. The number of cases in our area keeps rising, and each part of the DMV is reporting deaths. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.
I don’t know what else to do, but write out my thoughts so they don’t crowd my mind… and create stuff.
I wrote some darn-silly lyrics for Rona…First time I heard someone call this outbreak The Rona, Bobby Brown’s song Tender Roni immediately came to mind…
SneakyRona
Truth about The Rona
It’s a sneaky little virus
Don’t treat it right, fight it back don’t hold it tight.
Only sneaky Ronas can swirl around the world
A special pandemic where symptoms can even hide.
If you believe in health and all that it can do for you
Buy you some veggies
Buy some fruit tooo-oooo
And if you find that sneaky Rona has crept up on you
Make it official
Go get it a di-ag-noooo-ooo-sis
Chorus
My lungs…
Tryna stay clear from the Rona
It is not my love
My lungs staying clear of the Rona
It is not my love
Verse 2
Truth about Rona
It’s always on the move
Don’t matter what you look like-it can come for you…
So stay your hind parts home.
And cook you some food.
Netflix and chill and Amazon Prime too
(Just don’t order food)
If you believe in health and all that it can do for you
Eat you some veggies
Eat some fruit too.
And if you find that sneaky Rona has crept up on you
Make it official
Go get it a di-ag-noooo-ooo-sis
Chorus
My lungs…
Tryna stay clear from the Rona
It is not my love
My lungs staying clear of the Rona
It is not my love
Bridge
The truth about Rona—it’s a sneaky skank
Bout as sneaky a skank thats around the way
It makes the toughest homeboys get fever, dry cough.
Sore throat runny nose or-no-symptoms…
Wash your nassssy hands to keep that Rona out your life.
Cover your mouth
Don’t go out in a crowd
You don’t want the Rona cause the Rona ain’t right…
So getting toilet paper it might save your liiifffffeeee.
Chorus
My lungs…
Tryna stay clear from the Rona
It is not my love
My lungs staying clear of the Rona
It is not my love.
(Repeat 2x)
Sometimes foolishness is what saves us (read: me) from anxiety or panic. And panic and brawling over fibers used to clean hindparts is not what I’m about. But then again, sheer foolishness and selfishness is what leads some to do just that. Hoard and fight.
Rona Shopping
Made a Target run yesterday, and found toilet tissue. May make another run tomorrow morning for a few more things.
Things with this COVID-19 outbreak have totally upended he way we do things…folks staying at home, teleworking, San Francisco on lockdown, part of New Rochelle, New York on lockdown, gatherings of 50 or fewer banned—then that number squeezed down to 10 people or fewer.
I’m usually glad and content to stay home—but there’s the knowledge that I’ll get to go to the store and get what I need.
But just like Kobe Bryant’s death fractured the once secure lenses through which folks may have seen life, COVID-19 has tilted us into thinking that we may have to hunker down for a long time…that resources that were constantly stocked on supermarket and big-box shelves may be scarce. Yes, if everyone buys 80 packs of toilet paper each, yes, things will be scarce.
To make sure we all have what we need, we must be committed to being good humans and not moved by fear. And moved to thank our store clerks for their service along with medical teams, servicemen, firefighters, cops—and journalists who help us stay informed. As a journalist, I’m biased about that last one…But during that Target run, I made sure to tell staff members “Hey, I’m glad you’re here!”
I’m afraid all of this will be our new normal. Already, I’m longing for the halcyon days when I was getting over a bad breakup…or those days when I worked seven days in a row here and there—and the only thing I had to worry about was being a little tired.
It’s thrown many of us for a loop. And we’re just trying to navigate and deal, and adjust. It’s the human way.