In the midst of ever increasing cases of Covid-19, the ongoing crisis of a culture that can’t decide if the lives of certain segments of the society really matter, the debate over the relative importance of statues of dead confederates, 130,000+ lives lost to the virus, and lives crushed out by boots firmly applied to necks, I take a break to check out the local news in my quiet little town. I read, not surprisingly, that half of the local teachers, choosing life for themselves and their students, prefer remote learning. A man was charged in the stabbing of someone he was arguing with. The police were able to control a man who broke into a home and threatened the family with scissors. I read that three people enjoying a meal together in a local park were robbed at gunpoint by several men. And in the final local horror for the day, a newborn baby has been found in a trash can by someone who happened to be out walking her dog and heard the baby cry. The baby is in the hospital and still alive. I am going back to writing make believe for the rest of the day.
Lauris Burns 