1\ An urban legend that refuses to die is the idea that "BIPOC patients are more likely to die in childbirth" and that this must reflect systemic racism
This idea is taken so seriously that it's now the subject of proposed legislation:
1\ Been reading Gennep's "Rites of Passage", about the conserved forms of human ritual across time and space
One of the most primal concepts for the human brain is the "crossing of thresholds"
Thresholds are central to rituals of all types (birth, marriage, war, diplomacy)...
2\ And COVID-19 hygiene rituals are no different
This morning we breakfasted at a place where the Karens emerged from their cars already masked, walked masked to the hostess...then happily unmasked once past the door...
3\ After breakfast we went to a public playground with no obvious entry point or threshold. *Everyone* was masked on slide and swing
Later we drove to a private playground with an entry gate. Same Karen demographic, same masks, but they all unmasked once past the gate
Is the rabid zeal for other people to get vaccinated like anything so much as Old World missionaries dragging frightened natives into the sunlight and forcing them to kiss a holy book?
Andy Slavitt is the conquistador in shiny greaves spraying holy water on a virgin landscape and idly wondering where to put the silver mine
Gates is the earnest believer who erects a church on his encomienda and scrupulously counts out the royal fifth to be sent to Spain
1\ I just experienced a government clusterfuck so stupefying that, if I hadn't already watched the world shut down despite hospitals being empty, I wouldn't believe it was possible...
So, I need a PCR test for an upcoming int'l flight...
2\ Test can't be more than 72hrs old, but because our city is testing all school children multiple times a week, commercial labs can no longer do 72hr turnarounds
The lab tech helpfully suggested I check the airport
Turns out, the airport offers 48hr turnarounds on tests!
3\ Great! I even checked the airport website. It specifically advertises that tests are available for people who need them before they can depart