CAPTAIN AMERICA CALLING

I dreamt I was Captain American last night. I was in NYC, and it was the NYC from when I lived there in the 1990s, but also NYC right now. Mostly in Manhattan. I got my shield in this building over in midtown, then went to an open call audition at this theatre complex that was sort of like ATA,  but  it had a little cafe. A bunch of actor friends, plus students I have had, were waiting to audition, while a few others we getting ready to go to class at a conservatory. I had reservations about the conservatory, and needed to check it out. Then I walked around town, looking for clues, ran into the Hulk, and got woken up by my dog, who of late has the habit of walking around our room at 4 in the morning.

I've always liked Captain America. Once of the first images that really stuck with me was the cover of a storyline where Cap was dead, and tied to a chimney on a New York rooftop. This was in the early 1970s, at the height of Viet Nam, Watergate, and the whole generation gap thing. It struck a chord when I saw it. I was at the local 7-11, where I went for slurpees and comic books, and there it was. I stared at it for a bit, and thought "that about sums it up".



Where is Captain America now? Do we all need to take up the mantle? It seems like some people are. Doctors and workers at stores, friends and families. Sadly, not at the White House. I think it odd that the leader of our country is so un-inspiring and divisive. Is he more like Chamberlin at the start of World War Two, or Johnson during the Viet Nam, Nixon whenever, or the Red Skull?

There is this twitter feed, called President Supervillain, that might answer that question. Go HERE to see it.

So, yesterday we took a very long walk, our meditation, a 6 minute work out from this article Lisa found on the NYTimes,  made breakfast for our neighbors who are older, in the middle of a move, and in need of some help. When I say we, I mean my wife. I carry things to the neighbors, and if needed act as chef's helper when I can. I read a long chapter in McKee, all about genre and structure,  did a load of laundry, worked on a few online teaching projects (mostly getting set up or trying to figure out how to set up, cleaned the house, read far too many stories on the stimulus bill (which seems more of a distraction than anything else and I think has taken our collective eye of the ball on things like more hospitals, ventilators, masks, etc.), and I can't even remember what else.

Isn't is strange how time has plasticized? Some days are eternal, others flash by at the speed of light.

Well, I think that's all. I do want to say I think it is just beginning, that there seems to be this false sense running around that we have hit the nadir with the shut downs, like this is the worst it will get, being cooped up. But I don't think that is the case. People we love getting sick and dying, grappling with a society that was ill prepared for this, an economy in the tank and massive unemployment, and who knows what else- those are things to come.

But still I have hope. Things have been worse in the history of the world, and will probably be worse again in the future. We just have to do the best we can.

Here is a song that seemed appropriate for today's entry.