China Camp, California.
As the heat descends, we found our way to the beach.
Recently I searched through my massive gmail account archive, which covers more than 16 years, looking for documents that might jog my memory about the sequence of certain events long past.
One message that popped up was the daily news summary from the N.Y. Times in 2012 and except for Covid, the headlines bore a striking resemblance to today's. It was a reminder that even though the details vary daily, the larger patterns remain.
The same is true in our personal lives, with the exception that the details are deeply personal. The news is what happens to everyone else. Whereas the huge perturbations of births, deaths, marriages, divorces, new jobs, lost jobs, illnesses, moves, legal matters and love reverberate within us like tuning forks.
To me love is the most fascinating life event -- why it happens when it does, between whom, why and how. Almost always, in my case, it came suddenly and without warning. I met someone and my entire world suddenly changed from black-and-white into color.
It reverberated.
I couldn't always act on the impulse when this happened but my instincts told me this was somebody I simply had to get to know better, regardless of the consequences.
Left to our own natures, we can and do love many people. But we can only fall in love so many times (social norms restrict the number). It is also highly possible and not uncommon to fall in love with somebody you've known a long time, but only now see in a fresh new light.
That all depends on the circumstances and what happens next. Does she feel it too?
These types of thoughts come to me whenever friends consult me on matters of the heart, which happens surprisingly often. As the pandemic restrictions are lifting, there is a new spirit in the air for single people, I think, whether or not they are conscious of it.
For example, one friend told me he is excited about what he anticipates is happening with somebody he's getting close to even though he has no idea whether it will work out, or how.
All I could offer by way of experience is this is the best moment -- when you start to believe it can happen but you're not sure. Every day feels bursting with potential.
I suppose that's one of the meanings of "living in the moment." Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is only an idea, today you are here and so is she. My advice: Go for it, dude!
It's magic.
And that reminds me that I, too, am single.
***
Among the current crop of books I'm reading is "1491" by Charles C. Mann, thanks to a friend who loaned it to me. It describes the vast, rich indigenous world that existed when Columbus arrived in the Americas.
Europeans were oblivious to this world as they dabbled in trade and other interactions along the coasts of the Americas, but the germs they carried quickly spread inland, wiping out entire civilizations at least as advanced as anything in Europe and in many ways far more advanced.
In recent decades the ruins of these cultures have started to gain more prominence among academics and the scope of what our ancestors unwittingly destroyed by pandemic is dawning on us.
Reading such a book at a sheltered beach in the north bay that has its own little-known history prior to the arrival of the Europeans and the Chinese for whom it is named is instructive. Coastal Indians, the Miwok, were hunters and gatherers here who harvested acorns from the local oaks, fished and gathered seafood from the bay.
But by the 1880s this site was a Chinese shrimp fishing settlement of about 500 people; the ruins that remain are from that era.
Today the area is a playground for local families sporting kayaks, boogie boards, beach tents, girls laughing in the gentle waves and folding chairs, in one of which sits a white-haired man in a Giants baseball cap reading a book titled "1491."
THE HEADLINES:
* Dispossessed, Again: Climate Change Hits Native Americans Especially Hard -- Many Native people were forced into the most undesirable areas of America, first by white settlers, then by the government. Now, parts of that marginal land are becoming uninhabitable. (NYT)
* The hottest day of an unprecedented and dangerous heat wave scorched the Pacific Northwest on Monday, with temperatures obliterating records that had been set just the day before. Seattle hit 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 Celsius) by evening — well above Sunday’s all-time high of 104 F (40 C). (AP)
* Canada sets record temperature of over 114 degrees amid heat wave, forecasts of even hotter weather -- Even in Vancouver, parks, beaches and pools have been flooded with residents eager to cool off. The high temperatures in the region have been blamed on a “heat dome” sitting over western Canada and the Pacific Northwest. (WP)
* Americans’ Hunger for the World’s Goods Drives Global Recovery (WSJ)
* Spread of Delta variant prompts new coronavirus restrictions worldwide (WP)
* The Delta variant is prevalent among new coronavirus cases in California. (Los Angeles Times)
* The Delta variant will cause 'very dense outbreaks' in these five states, expert says -- Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Wyoming (CNN)
* At least half of Mumbai's minors have COVID-19 antibodies (Reuters)
* Australia battles several clusters in new pandemic phase (AP)
* The Department of Justice accused Georgia of intentionally discriminating against nonwhite voters in a lawsuit attacking GOP laws that embrace Trump's lies about the election. “There are many things open to debate in America,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “But the right of all eligible citizens to vote is not one of them." [HuffPost]
* The doomed Florida condo building where nine people are known dead and 150 remain missing was days away from beginning $9 million in repairs. But it's unclear if the work would have addressed the catastrophic failures that led the 40-year-old beachfront tower to pancake in on itself. Rescuers are working around the clock, but no one has been found alive since Thursday, the day of the collapse. [AP]
* Tensions between landlords and tenants are rising as evictions return in full force in Memphis, a preview of what’s to come in the United States. (WP)
* Days after reemerging from his country club hideout for a revenge rally, Donald Trump issued an unhinged statement furiously denouncing two of his staunchest allies — Bill Barr and Mitch McConnell — after Barr told an interviewer that Trump's election claims were "bulls**t." [HuffPost]
* Helping Drug Users Survive, Not Abstain: ‘Harm Reduction’ Gains Federal Support -- Overdoses have surged during the pandemic. Now, for the first time, Congress has appropriated funds specifically for programs that distribute clean syringes and other supplies meant to protect users. (NYT)
* New York prosecutors could file charges as soon as this week against the Trump Organization following today's scheduled last-ditch attempt by Trump lawyers to talk their way out of trouble. The probe reportedly centers on employee fringe benefits that ducked tax laws. [HuffPost]
* Crossing the Red Line: Behind China’s Takeover of Hong Kong -- One year ago, the city’s freedoms were curtailed with breathtaking speed. But the clampdown was years in the making, and many signals were missed. (NYT)
* Hong Kong says it will ban all passenger flights from the U.K. starting Thursday as it seeks to curb the spread of new variants of the coronavirus. (AP)
* U.S. Carries Out Airstrikes in Iraq and Syria -- The attacks were against weapons storage facilities used by Iranian-backed militias that the Pentagon said had conducted drone strikes against places in Iraq where American troops, spies and diplomats were located. (NYT)
* Republicans are pushing legislation to ban public schools from teaching about systemic racism and white privilege. Teachers just want to teach the truth, explains Sarah Ruiz-Grossman. [HuffPost]
* 'Stop denying racism, start dismantling it,' U.N. rights chief says (Reuters)
* Johnson County, Iowa, Renames Itself After A Different Johnson -- The county was first named after a slave-owning former vice president who had no connection to Iowa. Now it will be named for Lulu Merle Johnson: the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in the state. (CNN)
* 20 million Americans still don’t have enough to eat. A grass-roots movement of free fridges aims to help. (WP)
* Thousands of Prisoners Were Sent Home Because of Covid. They Don’t Want to Go Back. -- Criminal justice advocates say the pandemic offers a case study for a different type of punitive system in America, one that relies far less on incarceration. (NYT)
* In Silicon Valley, experts and businesses envision a future in which fires are detected by artificial intelligence that dispatches firefighting drones to knock them down. (San Jose Mercury News)
* A New Era Dawns In College Sports, As The NCAA Scrambles To Keep Up -- Laws take effect this week in seven states that allow college athletes to be compensated for their name, image and likeness. It opens the door for collegians to make money off endorsement deals. (NPR)
* NCAA leaders recommend allowing athletes to profit off their personal brands (WP)
* Amish put faith in God’s will and herd immunity over vaccine (AP)
* Thing With Old Girlfriend Works With New Girlfriend (The Onion)
***
"Can't Take My Eyes off You "
Song by Frankie Valli
Songwriters: Bob Crewe / Robert Gaudio
Can't take my eyes off of you
You'd be like Heaven to touch
I wanna hold you so much
At long last, love has arrived
And I thank God I'm alive
You're just too good to be true
Can't take my eyes off of you
There's nothin' else to compare
The sight of you leaves me weak
There are no words left to speak
But if you feel like I feel
Please let me know that it's real
You're just too good to be true
Can't take my eyes off of you
And if it's quite alright
I need you, baby
To warm the lonely night
I love you, baby
Trust in me when I say
Oh, pretty baby
Don't bring me down, I pray
Oh, pretty baby
Now that I've found you, stay
And let me love you, baby
Let me love you
Can't take my eyes off of you
You'd be like Heaven to touch
I wanna hold you so much
At long last, love has arrived
And I thank God I'm alive
You're just too good to be true
Can't take my eyes off you
-30-
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