The store was offering free impossible situations!
There is no vaccination against agonizing
Be sure to not think about things. Like I do. Nothing good comes of it.
Well that headline seems like a bit of an exagger—
It’s true. Especially in stores.
Fine.
I live in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The state of Minnesota lifted its mask mandate a while ago but the city of Saint Paul kept the citywide mandate in place. But this week, after Minneapolis announced the end of its mandate, our mayor, Melvin Carter, grudgingly followed suit:
“While we are yet to reach the benchmarks set by local public health experts, the reality of a maskless Minneapolis limits the logic and efficacy of maintaining a masking order alone,” said Carter, in a written statement issued to the media at 7 p.m. “We are lifting St. Paul’s mask requirement and continuing to urge residents to get vaccinated as soon as possible.”
What’s a Minnesota announcement without a little passive-aggressiveness? Way to go, Mayor C.
So last night, because I needed something, I went to a store. Here was the layout:
Cashier without a mask
One customer without a mask
Three customers with mask
Me with more complicated emotions than I expected to have
I had no personal reason to wear a mask. I’ve been fully vaccinated for two months. The Pfizer vaccine has been proven to stop covid and proven to stop the vaccinated person from spreading covid. I posed no threat to myself or others.
So then, off comes the mask. We can be naked on this beach.
The maskless customer finished his transaction and said, “Good to see your face!” to the maskless cashier who mirthlessly laughed and said, “thanks.” Reader, I judged that customer. He was too happy about it. He gave off the vibe of someone who hasn’t been vaccinated, who sees the common sense teamwork of virus containment as a political affront, who’s a big baby, who caused this damn virus to live way longer than it should have. If I were maskless, I would be on that guy’s team. So keep the mask on.
But if I keep the mask on, then what am I saying? Despite the government of my state and my grudging mayor, despite being covid neutralized by a vaccine I trust and believe in, I am just going to put fabric on my face. And why? Well, mostly because I don’t want those three other, masked customers to make the same judgment about me that I made about that maskless guy who just got rung up. Those customers are at no risk from me but they don’t know that. And if I’m part of the group that wears a mask when it’s unnecessary, how are we going make any progress in dealing with the trauma of covid?
And yeah, of course, the trauma is what is making people wear masks when they need not do so.
If I wear a mask, I’m anti-logic, anti-science, anti-reason, and I’m denying myself this slice of human freedom that is, at last, mine to enjoy.
If I don’t wear a mask, I could be seen as selfish, anti-science, anti-vaccine, and someone who puts his own individual indulgence over the needs of society, despite me being none of those things. Despite those being the people I have the biggest problem with throughout this whole mess.
Option C, I guess, would be to not wear a mask but loudly announce repeatedly that I am fully vaccinated but then I am what science calls an “annoying weirdo.”
My ultimate decision: maskless. But not making eye contact, not looking happy, and floating suspended in anxious misery.
Frankly, I had expected a lot more parades and french kissing parties when this occasion finally came around.
From the New Yorker…
Fairy Tales, but with Accessible Mental-Health Care
Little Red froze, and out stepped a wolf holding a tempting basket filled with literature about a “restorative retreat” that he owned, where he offered breakout sessions on mindfulness, guided meditation, and forging your own path—a retreat conveniently situated on a shortcut to “wherever she was going.”
Meanwhile in Florida
Things are going in the wrong direction.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) made controversial budget cuts on Wednesday, notably removing $900,000 in funding for state programs geared toward serving the LGBTQ+ population, including one that provides mental health programs to survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting from 2016.
This comes on the second day of Pride Month and the upcoming fifth anniversary of the shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub, on June 12. DeSantis declared June 12 Pulse Remembrance Day in honor of the 49 people who lost their lives in the shooting.
QAmom
Filmmaker Sean Donnelly found that his mother, previously content with new age philosophy and crystals, had become a devout QAnon supporter. So he started filming it. Because he’s a filmmaker. Interesting and troubling 8-minute documentary here: