We had a picnic dinner at the beach near Port Richmond on the bay once not so long ago. The steady breeze went down with the sun, and my grandchildren played at the water's edge. Some of them even swam. The water temperature was 55 degrees as the sun set, and the air was 62 degrees. I snapped a photo to remember for the future.
That future seems accessible very soon. The guidelines for a return to such activities are a bit ambiguous but we think it is, or soon will be, legal to take such outings again.
As is true of the waterfront all around the Bay Area, there are disintegrating concrete structures at that spot left over from World War II. In some places these include bunkers built to repel any aerial attack from the Japanese; near Port Richmond the buildings looked more like old manufacturing or loading structures.
This was a major center for Naval war and munitions ships during the war. Around 27 miles up this coast, then inland toward the Delta sits Port Chicago, site of one of the worst military disasters on the mainland in the war.
Some 320 people were killed and 390 injured in a massive munitions explosion that shook windows as far away as Oakland, some 40 miles away. Most of the victims were African Americans who had patriotically enlisted only to discover that they were precluded by entrenched racism from serving in combat zones and instead segregated into work teams such as that at Port Chicago.
A month after the explosion, hundreds of sailors and civilians staged a strike protesting unsafe working conditions and 50 were court-martialed, convicted of mutiny and imprisoned. Only in recent years have they been finally recognized as the heroes whose actions led the Navy to finally desegregate its forces.
I thought about all of this and remembered our work on digging out the history of Port Chicago at the Center for Investigative Reporting many years ago as I walked along the waterfront with my daughter on that recent night.
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Government authorities are gingerly experimenting with lifting some restrictions out here in California, where it increasingly feels like summer when we venture outside. No one wants to see the massive crowds not maintaining social distance as happened in Southern California and Florida, but it is going to be hard to convince everybody to stay inside much longer.
Californians are an open air lot. Many of us came here from elsewhere to escape the nastier weather in the East, North and Midwest.
All we can hope is that these relaxation moves do not unleash a new wave of illness and death from Covid-19, which has been relatively contained out here to date.
***
Most of the articles I read now are speculations about what will be like after this ordeal ends. A common assumption is that many things may change, both at work and in our everyday lives.
I doubt that.
In the past, when terrible pandemics struck -- polio, AIDS, various flus -- society seemed as if it would be fundamentally altered, but in fact it never was.
Once a cure or vaccine or both were established, life quickly went back to "normal." Before long, only the occasional person seemed to recall what had happened; the terror evaporated and the routines of daily life resumed.
One of the skills we've evolved is the power to forget. It's commonplace to hear women say that after giving birth they lose recollection of how painful the experience was, so they are able to go through it all again.
I'm living proof that is also true of jobs. The only gear I knew how to drive in for my many jobs was fifth gear, going all out for as long as it lasted. I didn't do things in a half-assed way. Rather, I was always on the hunt for the next big story.
When the moment came, and we were within shooting distance of the target, I could smell it like you can smell gunpowder during the practice shot.
Once we got what we were after, it was time to move on.
This may not be the most flattering description of journalistic practice but remember I was an investigative reporter, not your friendly weatherman.
For me, retired from that career, this thing is more of a dream-like experience, almost like living inside a novel. The story line is still weaving around in unpredictable ways that allow us to prolong our state of suspension between hope and despair, belief and disbelief.
We have scientists like no society in history has ever had. An example is Manu Prakesh, the brilliant Stanford bioengineering professor who is developing a new Corona-V mask out of scuba masks. (See an interview with Prakesh on KQED Newsroom, available online.)
I've met with Prakesh in the past and his has one of the most exceptional minds I have ever encountered. What's unique about him is how he devises new solutions to problems that are cheap enough for even the poorest of people to afford. Check him out.
With scientists like Prakesh, we will be getting through this crisis. I know it.
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