Post 273 - December 9, 2020

Day 273…

These days are going by very quickly.

As we get deeper into the end of the year, the hours of daylight are getting shorter. Beyond that, we just seem to be going week to week to week at a much faster pace than we did even a short time ago.

It seemed inconceivable when all of this began that almost nine months later, we would still be in the throes of it.

We’ll be back in the summer everybody said. Maybe in September. By spring certainly.

There was all of that discussion about the ‘new normal’ - about how there was nothing about what we were experiencing that was normal. Well, these days, I have to say, this all feels pretty normal.

My body’s clock has changed. I’m going to bed later and then waking up later.

Michael has settled into his own busy which keeps him occupied for much of the day. He works all day then after dinner, he will work for another hour or two and then we will watch a couple of episodes of whatever show we happen to be following. (We only have eight more episodes of A French Village left. We are very sadly going to have to move onto something else after all this time.)

After that, I go to bed and read for a while. He keeps watching other things because he finally has a break. By the time he comes to bed, I am long out.

Michael has been teaching. And auditioning. Certainly not at pre-pandemic levels, but enough that it takes up his day.

Michael is also far more social than I am. He has a tolerance for Zoom meetings that I just don’t have.

Before this, I was the one who was always busy with work. Michael certainly worked a lot, but I was in what seemed like a permanent state of juggle.

As a stage manager, there were many varied things that I was called upon to do such as concerts, shows, press appearances. I tended to do them all at the same time.

As an actor, Michael usually plays certain kinds of roles. He has a ‘type’. That doesn’t usually hold true for the kind of work I have had over the years. I could potentially stage manage a production of Ain’t Misbehavin’. He could never perform in one.

So much of an actor’s job is the looking for work. Auditioning is an endless process. It’s painstaking, grueling and soul-sucking. More often than not it ends up with no response whatsoever from the prospective employer. Actors have to get used to that on some level so that they can just keep moving forward.

These days, while there are many different projects that Michael is being called upon to do, there are almost none for me.

The tide has turned.

The Republicans tried to get the Supreme Court to overturn the election results in Pennsylvania.

Republican Representative Mike Kelly claimed that a 2019 state law that allowed mail-in voting was unconstitutional so that all mail-in votes should be thrown out.

The Supreme Court was supremely uninterested in taking up the case. They tossed it out with one sentence, "The application for injunctive relief presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied." There was no indication of any dissent.

The State of Texas is suing the states of Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

The Republican Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, is attempting to block these sates from casting what he claims are "unlawful and constitutionally tainted votes" in the Electoral College next week. He is asking that the court push back the date by which all states need to appoint their electors which is December 14.

It is as baseless a suit as the other one was. Georgia’s deputy Secretary of State said yesterday, "Texas alleges that there are 80,000 forged signatures on absentee ballots in Georgia, but they don’t bring forward a single person who this happened to. That’s because it didn’t happen."

The Republicans, by perpetrating all of this nonsense, are firing up the President’s base with half-truths and outright lies.

The Arizona Republican Party retweeted a post by an activist named Ali Alexander who is part of an organization called Stop the Steal.

Alexander tweeted, “I am willing to give my life for this fight.” The Arizona Republican Party, the representatives of the entire national party in their state, reposted this tweet and added, “He is. Are you?” They then posted a clip from the Sylvester Stallone movie Rambo with the quote, “This is what we do, who we are. Live for nothing or die for something.”

A couple of days ago, Jocelyn Benson, the Michigan Secretary of State reported that her home had been surrounded by armed protestors who shouted obscenities into bullhorns as she and her family, including her 4-year-old son, finished decorating their Christmas tree.

Yesterday, Idaho public health officials had to stop a meeting. Anti-mask protesters had not only surrounded the building they were in but were also banging on the doors of some of their homes while their kids were inside. The Boise Mayor and Chief of Police called their actions a threat to public safety.

It is only a matter of time before somebody gets killed.

The right to protest peacefully is one of the foundations of our right to Freedom of Speech. The operative word in that sentence is ‘peaceful’.

During the George Floyd protests, the St. Louis couple who pointed their assault rifles at protesters as they walked past their home were out of line. If those protesters had come onto their property and banged on their door, then that couple might have been justified in their response. The protesters did no such thing. They walked by.

As Republicans continue to advocate violence and protest against the apparent fair and unbiased election and health mandates, we all become increasingly less safe. Republicans have got to stop supporting this President and, instead, support the United States and its Constitution.

By all real and measurable criteria, the Presidential election was not interfered with. Whichever way you look at it, Joseph Biden and Kamal Harris won.

We have just passed 15 million coronavirus cases in the country. Over 286 thousand people have died. It is long past the time to put on a f&%*ing mask.

Instead of going back to sleep this morning I got up to take advantage of the morning light.

Sitting around and waiting for the Republicans to do the right thing is a losing proposition. They are clearly not going to do anything of the sort. Their continued actions are going to do nothing but sow unrest and ensure that we will not be able to restart our businesses and professional lives for many more months to come.

It’s going to take months before the vaccine trickles down to all of us. Two people in the UK have experienced an allergic reaction to the vaccine already. There are going to be hiccups.

The new show that I was meant to start working on in March has been indefinitely postponed. Others keep getting pushed off. I can’t say that I am surprised.

This has gone on long enough, however, that I feel like rather than treading water before things restart, that I am actually living my life as it is.

Do I want to get back to work in the theatre? Of course, but I realize that recently I have stopped feeling like I am just filling time waiting for it to come back. I’m working. I’m living my life and I am making plans for the future regardless of whether or not Broadway is open.

When that day comes, it comes. I’m not counting off the calendar anymore. The only calendar that I am counting off these days is the great Advent calendar that a friend of ours gave us. It is a library and each day has a character in it. You have to figure out which book it’s from.

I’m glad that I got up earlier than usual today because I have a lot that I want to do.

There’s plenty to be done.

I might not be being paid for what I do with cash, but I’m getting something out of it, nonetheless.

I wonder where I left the hammer…