Friday, April 3, 2020 in Book Seven: Reconstruction 2020

One thing that hits me about living through unprecedented, meaning almost assuredly historic times in a digital age is… I’m worried the archaeologists were right. Back when I was in college and taking Anthropology for fun… there was a heated discussion about the history of PHYSICAL artifacts and writings that were able to be found and understood hundreds of years later. You see… if I chiseled a crude image of a bird and a man into a rock… which was found 1700 years later… people may not know what it means, but they’d HAVE them and be able to study them and try to understand. On the other hand, if I wrote a digital article on Hawaiian Petroglyphs that was saved onto DigitalArt.com… that’s another story.

But this is where the debate started. Because one side referenced things like InternetArchive which tries to store the digital history of the internet. Okay, but that is all still being saved to a digital library people can access via online. Start listing dystopians or dictatorship responses in the present. Internet severed. Rolling blackouts. Inaccessible information. Now take that extreme a mere two hundred years into the future. People don’t have electricity or access to the internet… everything is gone without physical copies or physical backups. OR take it in the opposite direction. Instead of dystopia and misery; technological innovation and rapid success. What if technology is invented where hydrogen molecules safely agitated in an outer space environment provides infinite energy and technology is then created that we can’t even comprehend. Do you think Lord Meepmorp is going to be able to access a Windows 95 document from his MonoGaggleVisionMaster99k (from Alphabet tm)? These are the things we genuinely need to discuss and debate as we attempt to document and preserve the history we’re living. Because there are civilizations throughout history that have lived, succeeded, thrived, and then disappeared… and we know little to nothing of them because they didn’t leave any historical record we could find/use or understand. We only know they exist because they are referenced by other cultures whose historical records we can find/use and understand.

In other news, I have decided to fight back in any small way against the push of misinformation and panic by doing a nightly “Good Night” facebook post. Every night, I update my facebook status with the current news coming from the Government Sphere and then end with something that attempts to be encouraging or meaningful. I don’t know if I’m succeeding in doing anything of value but… taking steps to distribute information feels like fighting against misinformation… and trying to be meaningful or encouraging feels like fighting against the creeping isolation issues people may be feeling.

For example, last night before bed- I was able to inform people that the Governor had moved the “School Open” deadline from April 13th to April 30th. Still no shelter in place order. Still no word from the Supreme Court, so currently Courts re-open April 20th.

HOWEVER, after I went to bed… more information. So tonight’s info will include the fact that the Supreme Court has now decided to take more decisive measures than the Governor herself. Civil Bench Trials won’t re-open until June 1. Civil Jury Trials won’t re-open until July 15. Criminal Trials won’t re-open until August 3rd. SO FAR. All of this is subject to change as information and cases fluctuate. (That is the news I’ll share).

Here’s the thing, though. Our Governor still hasn’t issued a Shelter In Place Order. There still, technically, is no order or requirement to stay home. And I’m torn about this. The areas most deeply affected are begging the Governor to put shelter in place. And they could certainly use it. The Governor is using a 12 point rubric to make the decision. Ultimately, what infectious disease experts have said about this rubric is that it treats the most vulnerable Iowans as the Canary in the Coal Mine. And unfortunately, it is not a “turn back when the Canary gets ill” but a “turn back when we run out of canaries” measure. They are… likely correct. What Iowa is doing, what many places that are not requiring Shelter In Place are doing, is viewing a preventative measure as a response to “too late”. Or as Stephen Colbert put it: It is deciding to use a condom after the sex. Shelter in Place is supposed to reduce the spread and stop additional cases. If you don’t put it in place until the spread and additional cases… it doesn’t make as much sense. And, yes… that IS what our Governor is doing. But due (almost exclusively, I’ll admit) to my own perspective on this? Our State is entirely incapable of operating a Shelter in Place order. That isn’t to say we don’t need it, or wouldn’t benefit from it. But we have no infrastructure or support that would allow us or help us implement anything of the kind. And yes… this takes me right back to discussing how Rural Iowa continues to shoot itself in the foot. (Again the following comes from my limited experience and may not accurately depict all people being referenced) Rural Iowa is dying. They treat Government like an insult to freedom. They take every opportunity to try to keep funding from going to the government and are staunchly opposed to government intervention. SO… if a Shelter In Place Order was issued… and we had to start ticketing people for disobeying? FUCK! Nightmare situation for everyone involved.

Not to mention… I’ve been thinking about this. Selfishly, I admit. We do NOT want to overwhelm the hospitals. I could not agree with that more vehemently. We absolutely do NOT want to overwhelm the hospitals!! But then… look at what’s going on with our branch of government. We will absolutely be overwhelmed. And that’s just a general, no matter what happens, truth. But IF Shelter in Place goes into effect and we have to deal with “Violation of Governor’s Orders” as a criminal matter? FUCK. ME. We’re already going to have to deal with FOUR MONTHS of trial backup… and that’s only if we’re back by JULY. If not? Keep adding the months up!! And it isn’t like crime is stopping. So trials set for March, April, May, and June will also be competing with the people who were committing crimes during March, April, May, and June. In many counties in Iowa, there is ONE County Attorney and that’s it. Some places are lucky and have TWO (like my area!) But that’s the majority of the State. There aren’t that many counties like Blackhawk, Lynn, Scott, Polk, Johnson, or Nevada that have ten or more attorneys on staff. So yeah… there’s going to be… quite the mountain already… if we do go Shelter in Place… that’s just going to add to it. Again, not that it wouldn’t potentially help.

Frankly, not that my life would be affected that much otherwise. True, I am in the office today for the second time in as many days. But I’m an “essential” part of the County Government. The only three things I do are
(1) Walk the Dog, which has to be limited now anyway to try to get her to heal
(2) Go to the Grocery Store once a week max. Which… for those in active Shelter in Place… can you still go to the store or not?
(3) THIS is the one that… I feel bad about. Just… anyway. Like… all the ways. Martha still comes over at least three times a week. Yes to see the dog, but also to hang out. See… in the current environment, we’re not exactly in a place to meet new friends and lovers and explore any of that. And technically… but for her getting her own place due to my insistence, we’d still be living together. So… it doesn’t feel that terrible that she still comes over. HOWEVER… here’s an interesting thing! Her coming over? Reminds me of why this was the right choice. SO… in lonely isolation, I reconsider what led me here. But spending time with Martha again? Oh yeah. Definitely made the right choice! Like… she wanted to watch a television show yesterday… so I turn on the show. She spends the entire time going through the Netflix Cue asking if I “really” still want to watch “fill in the blank” or can she just delete it. And the more she did that, the more angry I got. Like… you wanted to watch a show, you’re now actively not watching it, and instead are doing something I specifically told you I didn’t want to do right now? And I did call her out. But I also didn’t feel bad about the whole thing. I wasn’t chastising a wife that I was supposed to take care of and make happy… I was telling a friend that they were being annoying and stupid. And I didn’t feel like it was some heavy emotional issue dealing with anything. Gone was the “my marriage doesn’t work and she won’t have sex with me; so I have to try harder” feelings and present were the “okay, you can leave when you want, you know. This isn’t cool” feelings.

So… in some ways… still seeing Martha is good for me, I’m thinking. Because while I still find her cute and relatively physically attractive… I’m realizing exactly how much I don’t want that to be the personality/person I spend my life with. That being said, obviously, I’m not too thrilled that COVID has killed/postponed any opportunity for me to try to sow any oats. Whether I was going to succeed or fail… not being able to try at all seems more frustrating. Failing would have made me sad, enraged, and confused. Succeeding would have made me thrilled, elated, and confused. But this limbo just… feels familiar. Like every Limbo I’ve experienced in my marriage so far. The limbo between Marital Sex in 2011 and Marital Sex not again until late 2014 or early 2015. The limbo between graduating from law school and passing the bar exam. The limbo between passing the bar exam and getting a job. The limbo between realizing how terrible Tiny Town was and getting a new job. The giant nightmare of Chinese Firm. The limbo between telling Martha we weren’t going to continue without counseling and (a year later) accepting that Martha wasn’t actually actively participating in counseling. And here’s the thing… I absolutely expected this time to be a different kind of limbo. I expected this to be a limbo of “loneliness” and not being able to meet anyone whether that be for fun, for play, or for something more. But this? This limbo is far more the limbo of passing the bar exam and getting a job. A tense, hollow limbo full of hopes being dashed and no idea when the limbo will end.

Though, I do want to point out… April 1, 2018 I wrote this-
*”When last we left off, I was leaving The Firm for the last time. I was happy to be leaving and even on my last day, I received a great deal of reinforcement for that decision! All things considered, hooray for that! Leaving Nebraska came with doubts. Leaving Tiny Town came with doubts and some regret. I do not foresee such things happening here. Perhaps if the environment had been one more about growing, learning and improving. Perhaps if the monetary scheme was more generous. Perhaps if the time demands were more reasonable. But the abundant plethora of shit all added together? I give all of you expressed, clear, and unambiguous permission to absolutely let me have it should I ever begin to say “I should have stayed at The Firm.” Seriously. Don’t ever let me get away with that shit.”

And the truth is… I don’t feel like that at all. I do miss living in the Des Moines area. I have family there. I have a lot of friends there. I’m cut off from a lot of the places, events, opportunities, and people that really make me feel like ME. But people can be homesick in different ways and when this COVID shit ends, I can always visit. But even with missing home… if the options were “Stay here but keep working Chinese Firm, or move and do what you’re doing being where you are”… NO QUESTION I’d make the same choice. So that’s a good thing. That’s good news. That’s a victory to hold on to. Going from Chinese Firm to Here is the first professional choice I’ve made that I’ve never regretted. And I like that.


The below text is from KCCI Iowa News as reported at 3:33 Central Time on April 3, 2020

JOHNSTON, Iowa —
Gov. Kim Reynolds remains strong in her decision to not order a shelter-in-place. Dr. Anthony Fauci said he didn’t understand why every state hadn’t issued a shelter-in-place, in which Reynolds said he might not have all the information.

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and White House adviser, made the statement on CNN.

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“I don’t understand why (shelter-in-place is) not happening,” Fauci said. “But if you look at what’s going on in this country, I just don’t understand why we’re not doing that.”

When asked about Fauci’s recommendation, Reynolds said he may not have all the information.

“Maybe (Fauci) doesn’t have all the information,” Reynolds said. “You can’t just look at a map and assume that no action has been taken. That is completely false.”

She listed off the actions she has taken in her emergency proclamation since the first case came to Iowa.

“I would say to him, does he recognize that we have closed down schools,” Reynolds said. “Is he aware of the various businesses that have been closed, the restaurants and bars that have been closed through April 30. We have implemented no social gatherings of more than 10 people. That we have added additional closures to the orders that I have put in place based on data and metrics that we daily look at and move forward.”

On Friday the governor announced 85 new positive COVID-19 cases bringing the total to 699 positive cases and 11 deaths. For a map of the counties impacted, click here.

Iowa is one of five states that did not have a shelter-in-place including North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Arkansas.

Multiple Iowa medical professionals have asked Gov. Reynolds to order a shelter-in-place including the Iowa Board of Medicine who voted unanimously Friday to ask Reynolds to order a shelter-in-place.