Day 98

June 17, 2020  It is day 98 in this pandemic journey.The latest news from the COVID-19 front lines in America: Florida, Texas and Arizona all set records for the most cases reported in one day in their respective states. The United States continues to lead all countries in number of coronavirus cases and resulting deaths.  In world news the president of Honduras has tested positive and an outbreak in Beijing is resulting in a new set of restrictions for the people.  This comes shortly after China had stifled the virus with strict safety orders.  It is a cautionary tale to all countries that the virus can sneak back anytime. In a continuing fight to slow down the death rate scientists at the University of Oxford discovered that  a commonly available steroid called dexamethasone has reduced deaths in patients with severe Covid-19, the illness caused by the virus. The data is small, but if the results continue it will be a treatment that can reduce death rates and save the lives of the those thought to have no chance of survival.
If you are looking for a new show to watch you may be interested in a series on Apple TV entitled "Dickinson".  It is a new take on the poet Emily Dickinson during her younger years.  She was an amazing poet, but not discovered until after her death.  She had extraordinary vision for a young woman living in the 1800's.  her father was well a established lawyer and businessman and also a writer.  He even wrote a piece on "The woman's place in the world". Needless to say he was not overly supportive of Emily's foray into the literary world.  She would eventually write over one-thousand-eighteen-hundred poems and after they were discovered and published her genius was well known. She influenced many young poets, myself included.  In 1998 I wrote this poem while living in Chicago, Illinois: "Destiny is my drowning. Water gave me life and it's sister is sin. I cannot detach myself except to ride America's highway into the soft night of my despondent soul."  Seventeen years later I would revise and revisit this poem and, with the help of my friends Peter Simon, Jim Ajemian, Tim and Wyatt DeShong, turn it into a short film. You can see the film here.