Hello from Ghostville. Living a Sheltered Life

My reflections on Lockdown, Day One March 19,2020

Hello from Ghostville:
(March 19: Day One of The Sheltered Life)

by

Cindy Sheehan

I am an incurable walker---I walk to shop; I walk for fun; I walk to go visit; I walk to stay fit. I see the world at short 3.5 mph bits---usually not zooming by in a dino-mobile, texting while driving. I don't own a car, but even if I did, I can't see myself living a non-pedestrian existence. 

Long before this Covid-19 virus reaction, I have seen the seedy underbelly of my town, as well as the plight of our many homeless. However,  I have also learned of the peaceful places:--near creeks, or up in the hills. I have lived here in Vacaville since 1992---I have a son buried in the town cemetery which I have also gotten to know too well.

Anyway, I think the current crop of concerns began right before I was destined to take a three-city trip back east, leaving on March 6th. Even though there was not a lot of panic, yet, I decided it would be best to postpone this 10-day trip. "Corona refugees" had been taken to the nearby air force base and cruise ships were being quarantined in SF Bay.

Even with the ramping up of the hysteria, I have never stopped walking, but rest assured, I have never gone out and sneezed, or coughed all over people, nor am I a serial French kisser of strangers. Because I haven't had health insurance since 2005, I always try to stay healthy and limit risks to that very valuable health. I don't want to get sick at all, let alone get some random virus that no one really knows the true story. I think this confusion of information on social media and the corporate media is intentionally designed to keep us ill-informed, or fighting each other and staying away from people (no protests, or in-person gatherings, how convenient).

So, since the beginning of March, it appeared everything was pretty normal in my town. Everything was opened and people were still shopping, going to school, going to the gym and parks, and eating out in restaurants. Until Friday, March 13th when Governor Newsom closed all schools, then like moths to a flame, or locusts to a wheat crop: Costco, Target, Wal-Mart, grocery stores, mini-marts, etc, were cleaned out of toilet paper, some medicines, milk, bread and canned vegetables and fruit. I had my son's vehicle, so I was able to witness this frenzy, but not willing to participate in yet another Black Friday--where the goal was hoarding staples, not getting good deals on electronics or toys. 

Black Friday the 13th didn't not stop me from going out and I have been back to my strolls around town. Again, everything was open, the stores were packed---there were a limited stock of staples and most stores had FINALLY put limits on how much people could buy...

...until last night, when the Solano Health Department sent out a "Shelter in Place" notice, which also closed all gyms, bars, theaters, spas, and, if restaurants chose to stay open, they could only offer take out. We are told if we are over 65, to stay home. If under 65, then if we have to go out, we need to maintain "social distancing." Of course, if we are showing any symptoms, then we are strongly encouraged to stay home and stay in place until we have been symptomless for about a week. People who call the doctor if they sneeze, begging for some big-pharma "miracle" cure now are being told to "self-treat," unless it seems your symptoms are getting worse.

After the new order, I went out this morning and my town had transformed into a ghost town literally overnight. Even though Vacaville has all the chain restaurants and big stores, we actually have a very vibrant downtown: with a very low vacancy rate on Main Street. Main Street is only a few blocks, but it's always pretty busy and when it's nice, there are concerts in Andrews Park or Town Square. The lack of cars on the streets reminded me of early Sunday morning and the picture below shows a stretch of Main Street that at 8 AM would usually be filled with the parked cars of people going to Pure Grain Bakery or the popular breakfast spot: The Heritage House (fyi: not my favorite).

 Main Street at 8 AM: Usually bustling

I frequently walk through close by Andrews Park in the morning, and there could be at least 20 homeless there after the shelters kick them out for the day---I didn't see anyone in the park except two cop cars. I hope this bodes well for homeless people, since their main hub (phone charging, internet usage, weather avoiding) the Town Square Library (and all of our libraries) is closed. I saw some health department twit from a neighboring county recently say, "the homeless are exempt from these regulations, but they need to find shelter as soon as possible." What a stupid thing to say! As if our most vulnerable (every day of the year, not just during public health scares) will all of a sudden get the means and opportunities to find shelter. Then, when most people are out of work, they will find jobs to keep them housed? The handling of this crisis by the U.S. government is magnitudes worse than most other governments and maybe we shall get into a discussion of that in one of my future posts.

This brings me to another point. I follow many holistic health blogs, or practitioners and one of them had a Coronavirus Town Hall with about eight doctors, or other health specialists. I sat there watching in shock as they all bragged about how "lucky" they are to have months and months of essentials in stock and how happy they are now that they don't have to travel and they can spend more time with their children, and meditate, catch up on their reading, and just have a good old time during these urgent times that are very frightening for most people. I asked them "what about those of us that live paycheck to paycheck; or those of us that have immune issues, or other high risk factors--how can we look upon this disaster as "positive?" The answer was, "well, you can take time to re-evaluate your lives and be more prepared for the next disaster." LOL, I don't have time to listen to a bunch of elitists who weren't offering any of their toilet paper or medicine to anyone.

I don't watch a lot of corporate news, but I do read a lot of sites and, as usual, the Democrats and Republicans are using this issue as just another club to beat each other up. Sanders had something super-political to say recently: that the best thing for the Coronavirus issue would be for "Trump to shut up." Yeah, that'll do it Bernie! One thing I am surprised about in all the WashedUp, DeCeit efforts is that besides bailing out Wall Street and other wealthy industries, they are also talking about bailing us out, too. We'll see.

Los Reyes Restaurant on Main St

Even though it's apparently a crime against humanity for me to leave my house, since I am over 60, (but less than 65) I still plan to walk, walk, then walk some more. One Dr. recently said that those that sought osteopaths during the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 had lower mortality rates because they were told to get fresh air, sunlight, and exercise to keep their lymphatic systems flowing. Sounds like a good plan to me.

All of my children and their partners are off work because of the reaction to the virus, but the only thing that has changed for my activist work is that I am not traveling, and frankly, the break from airplanes is definitely a good thing for me. I am even going to update this blog every day from "A Sheltered Life." (I stopped after about 10 days because of the monotony).

I am also voluntarily sheltering myself from social media---it has just turned into a clusterf#ck of bad information and negativity. Not that I am saying there is nothing to be worried about, there obviously is, but most USAians just don't understand a few things:

1) The US government and its servants are never going to allow a "good crisis" to "go to waste." Rahm Emanuel---democratic politician

2) The USG and its servants will never tell you the truth and is, in fact, relishing in all of these police state measures they are forcing on us. I don't think we've seen the worst of the measures, unfortunately.

3) STRESS is the number one factor that will lead to chronic or serious illness. For me, to reduce this stress, I am curtailing social media for now and NOT social distancing myself from my close family who shares everything, including germs. A day without grandchildren is like a day without sunshine.

4) Constant arguing about every little damn thing is going to turn us into a nation of bitter trolls. Come out from under that bridge!

Me in front of my closed gym at 8 am

Usually, the parking lot would be full.

(Mask to make other people more comfortable)

 There are a lot of "stats" flying around out there and they all contradict each other, so these are my personal stats.

Me: Fine, never felt better

My family: Fine, no illness

My friends: Fine, no illness

My acquaintances: Fine, no illness

What I watched today:

Season One of Patriot (after 3 1/2 years I have no memory of this show, I may have to re-visit) the story of a depressed U.S. intelligence agent who gets into all kinds of trouble trying to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. It's very funny and surprising.

(Amazon Prime---sorry, I'm sheltered)

What I read today:

I finished The Boy from the Woods, the newest Harlan Coben book. (No review, just look it up) 4 stars from me.

Please be well and very soon we will again raise hell!

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