My Daily Struggle in the COVID-19 Lockdown

One hundred days. I have been doing this blog for 100 days, or 3 1/3 months, every day, non-stop. These days have certainly not been uneventful. There have been the closure of businesses, people not respecting restrictions, politicians and others abusing the restrictions, a great surge in cases, rampant death, missing church, a church being burned down for challenging the local government, a Black man being murdered by a police officer in broad daylight, protests, riots, destruction of monuments, the skin color of looters and arsonists, returning to church under social distancing, and then discrimination by possible churchians. Then, there have been my aunt's death, issues at work, my quadragintaphobia, and my visit to the monastery. We started with Phase 1, the growth of COVID-19, Phase 2, the most lethal stage, which is where everything non-essential was closed and there was an increase in unemployment, thereby necessitating the need for stimulus checks, and where so many peopl...

It's vacation time! I was even able to leave early today. Hurrah! It's also Juneteenth! I arose this morning, added the red, black, and green flag just below the American flag on my car antenna, and I said the African-American pledge of allegiance. I am sure people are wondering what the African-American Pledge of Allegiance is and why we have it. First, here is the the answer to the first question. The African-American Pledge of Allegiance We pledge allegiance of the red, black and green Our flag, the symbol of our eternal struggle and to the land we must obtain. As for the second question, such a pledge, which is one of several for the same purpose, is mean to unify people for the sake of a common need and a common identity. Alas, African-Americans have a rich culture that is different from African or even Caribbean cultures. There are certain things that African Americans understand about each other that are foreign to all others, while there are things ...

Well, the fun continues! Some overly sensitive people, in response to the riots, felt that it was time to retire two common American logos: Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben.They think that they are offensive and it is time to "evolve" their logos. Look at these. Do they look stereotypical? Do they look offensive? Of course, the origin of the titles Aunt and Uncle were offensive. In Jim Crow South, if a White person wanted to be "polite" to an elderly African-American man or woman, he would not call them sir or ma'am, so the only other option was to call the woman Aunt or Auntie and to call the man Uncle. Granted, Aunt Jemima's origins are racist. For generations, they have shown her logo looking like an ugly mammy. In fact, one logo showed her with the pancake flour on her face to make her look paler, while the one that stuck the longest had her with looking less stereotypical but with the same kerchief on her head and with mild blackface.         Since ...