Yeah, I know. It is all getting hard to take. I intend to vote next week and get that irritating issue off the table. The rumble of the daily outrage will continue, of course, in a manner someone has orchestrated for timing. It is fun to deconstruct the various narratives. There will be the colossal conundrum around November’s official change date, and that will be fun, regardless of who you are supporting. My pals have their favorite on both sides, and emotion is running high. Cops are being shot in the streets. Fires are burning due to weather, natural lightning, decades of forest mismanagement, poor maintenance of legacy infrastructure and, of course, some arson and casualties. There a variety of conspiracy theories floating around that I don’t need to outline again- unless you have sealed yourself up, you know.

Some of them might happen. I know there are folks who are willing to do whatever it takes because their cause is just. That is nothing new, not just on the political operations side, but also on the basis of what most people will put up with.

I found a nice bit of ancient history the other afternoon. It was an account of how to manage an international travel itinerary that included places like Taiwan, Burma and both Koreas. I remember parts of it because of their vividity. What had passed was the connective tissue of papers and permits and airplanes. That all had to layered over what we all thought was normal at the time.

Getting old is a bitch, because the very nature of normalcy changes. Sometimes quicker than aging synapses can absorb.

In the interests of Public Safety, we are following common sense pre-cautions at Refuge Farm. Since March we have played it close to home, avoided close contact with other citizens, worn absurd masks when we could not, and leaned on sub-contract help for grocery shopping and the things we can’t order off the internet. And watching more TV than usual. I don’t know how you are doing it, but the restrictions we got used to are still around, even if the horrors of the pandemic appear to have receded.

Part of the TV thing was to get entrapped in the information campaigns managed in the media. I was prepared to just let it run, but other influential opinions favored watching DVD compilations of moderate age. Binging on a few seasons of a good series was a change, and illuminating. I never watched much when they were new. Too busy. We watched a series called “White Collar” over a couple days of rain. It was fun. You know, a handsome FBI guy and a reformed cute criminal guy interacting with exciting villains and really attractive ladies in once-cool outfits. Fun.

So, enjoying the parody of reality was mixed by the growing realization that we were watching something like the classic BBC depictions of ancient class structure in vast manor homes. I mean, in the pandemic era, wearing a white collar seemed as absurd as donning a white tie for dinner. Everyone’s hair was combed, and they all appeared to be heterosexual. All the people in charge, good or evil, were male. There was a small contingent of people of color, eager and talented, who clearly were being guided in growth by the patriarchs. It literally reeked of patriarchy, and the fact that there was no overseas presence probably conveyed a cloistered xenophobic agenda.

We were concluding a viewing of the last disc and second-to-last episode. We talked about what might be next for continued absorption. I leaned back in the power chair and realized I was stuck in time. All the stereotypes on the flat-screen TV were familiar and comfortable. Social cartoons, of course, but super accurate in conveying the reality of a time only a decade ago. Nothing unusual, except the growing feeling that what we saw was as weird as chain-watching a show like the Edwardian-themed “Upstairs Downstairs.”

There is talk that Hollywood is establishing a quota system to be in place for artistry to be viewed for Best Picture Awards in the Oscar shows. That is the unofficial means of announcing that times have changed, and there is a new normal. If they show it to us, continuously over time, it will become so.

I am not complaining- what good would it do? We all have seen things that work and don’t work in the societies that span our (Manufactured! Vile!) history. I will just keep my mouth shut and do what they want in the new reality that avoids pain. It is the new normal. helps me understand the whole aging thing, and the dislocation caused by seeing something familiar slip away. The next few weeks and the election will help us see what it is going to be like.

Could be fun! You never can tell…oh, wait. That was the old normal.

Copyright 2020 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com