Last night’s 7:00 pm Cheer was lovely – as each night is. Even though we are settling into our evening routines of finishing or starting dinner, watching the evening news or just chilling, most everyone –- at exactly 7pm – steps outside ringing bells and chimes and faithfully clapping to honor our Essential Workers. One neighbor pops his head out the door and waves. Louie’s selected tune was “Chiquitita,” ABBA’s song of encouragement and hope. I was also touched by the number of people taking walks and joining us in the Cheer as they passed Victoria Lane clapping their hands.
I will never forget the words of Jacqueline’s kindergarten teacher who would always remind the children, “Use your brain.” Powerful words. So, why weren’t people using their brains when they embarked on Southern California beaches over the weekend? Aggressive Covid-19 will only be controlled if everyone continues social distancing and staying at home – a small sacrifice if it means stopping the spread and saving lives.
“Safer at home” should not be dreaded. I’m embracing this time of nowhere to go as a forced opportunity to enrich my brain.
Shakespeare’s monologue “To be or not to be” was the opening of the third episode of Cocktails with a Curator at the Frick. And it was easy to feel swept away as if on a personal tour with Curator Xavier Salomon as he appeared in a tile in the lower right corner of the screen sipping his gin cocktail and revealing the story behind Anthony Van Dyck’s portrait of Sir John Suckling. Suckling survived the plague in Sicily, but when he died young, he might well have been the victim of a future plague.
