Who Changes the World

A recently published survey of students at the University of Michigan in the 1960s found that only two-to-three percent were active politically. To those of us who were in that slice of the student body, it felt much bigger at the time.

What started out as small protests grew into large, raucous demonstrations that shut down traffic and brought out police in riot gear. We assumed we were changing the world. To the extent that we did, maybe it started because we changed the hearts and minds of the 97 to 98 percent of students who did not choose to participate in the movement.

Although we didn't know it, well beyond the campuses we were also affecting a broad shift in public opinion to oppose the war in Vietnam and support the civil rights of African Americans.

At the time, the book "A Prophetic Minority" by journalist Jack Newfield chronicled the events in real time. He also made a profound observation about socially conscious journalists: "The point is not to confuse objectivity with truth."

In 2020, large crowds have once again filled the streets of our cities, calling for social justice and an end to police brutality and institutionalized racism. No doubt when the history of this era is written, it will have been another small minority who have led the way.

What starts out as a trickle can eventually swell into a mighty river that sweeps the old world away before our eyes. What's difficult to perceive in the moment is whether we are still in the trickle phase or the river phase -- or, has the river already crested and is now subsiding.

In that context, the federal suppression of the rebellions in Portland and Seattle and the sympathy protests in Oakland overnight must seem like war reports from distant provinces not under central government control.

They may represent a new phase in the movements to challenge federal authority.

So often in the past, what happens on the left coast has swept across the country west to east.

Overnight rebellions in Louisville, Austin, and Aurora, CO, suggest that that trend has already begun. The trickle may be broadening.

***

From the collective to the personal, I certainly picked a hell of a time to try and write my life story. Rather than living out a peaceful epilogue, retired from the bustle of everyday responsibilities, I'm caught up like everybody else in an unprecedented disruption of our routines.

We didn't even have time to develop new routines before Covid-19 hit and suspended our efforts in a time that now seems long gone.

As I reread the words of my memoir written before the pandemic took over, they seem almost childishly naive. Who is that guy who took freedom of movement for granted so casually?

My former life reads more like a novel now. And on the verge of the biggest story of my time, I stepped aside.

***

The point of all this is that none of us can really know yet what is going on here. The virus has proved far more resilient and dangerous than we'd hoped and that certain leaders assumed it would be.

Outbreaks flare up like fireworks shows, first here, then there, eventually pretty much everywhere.

As the numbers of the dead pile up in refrigerated trucks, our health-care workers are getting overwhelmed in key parts of the country. They are at great risk of infection, yet they work long hours day after day.

When people are exhausted, mistakes will be made. Is it even safe to go to the doctor's office anymore?

At the national level, we have a leader who is panicking that he will lose his re-election bid. His poll numbers are in the gutter, including in my original home state, Michigan, which may swing the election. Trump's behind by double digits there.

A sense of gloom has settled over the land, lifted only by the silent cheers of cardboard cutouts swaying in the wind at baseball parks where no actual human attendees risk to venture.

Don't you understand, what I'm trying to say?
And can't you feel the fears I'm feeling today?
If the button is pushed, there's no running away,
There'll be no one to save with the world in a grave,
Take a look around you, boy, it's bound to scare you, boy,
And you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

-- Barry McGuire

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Quiet Award Remembered

The pandemic canceled out the ceremony for this one...

SAN FRANCISCO — The James Madison Freedom of Information Awards recognize Northern California individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to advancing freedom of information and/or expression in the spirit of James Madison, the creative force behind the First Amendment. SPJ NorCal presents the awards near Madison’s birthday (March 16) and National Sunshine Week.

David Weir wins the Norwin S. Yoffie Career Achievement award. For 50 years, Weir has been a force for public interest journalism. He inspired a culture of investigative reporting at Rolling Stone and in 1974 broke “The Inside Story of the Patty Hearst Kidnapping,” still considered one of the magazine’s biggest scoops. He co-founded the Emeryville-based Center for Investigative Reporting and launched a diversity-in-journalism fund at San Francisco State University, named for his old friend Raul Ramirez.

More recently, Weir has mentored and inspired the next generation of investigative reporters as KQED’s senior editor for digital news. At KQED, Weir pushed to sue public agencies who preferred to conduct the people’s business in the shadows, resulting in a successful lawsuit against the city of Hayward that exposed questionable contracts funneled to the former police chief’s husband. Weir is not a boisterous advocate, but rather a soft-spoken editor who leads by example and whose work has had an outsized impact on local journalism. His award is named in memory of Norwin Yoffie, a former publisher of the Marin Independent Journal and co-founder of SPJ NorCal’s Freedom of Information Committee.

David Weir. (Photo by Laila Comolli)

A New Muse

An update on the intersection between non-profits and journalism. I first heard this parable about non-profit work years ago from the great Malaysian activist Anwar Fazal:

The story, as I recall it, goes like this. You are standing next to a river, when you notice a drowning baby being swept by the current, so you step in, grab her, dry her off, and place her safely on the ground next to you.

Just then, out of the corner of your eye, you spot another drowning baby. You save him, and then, you spot yet another...

The point of this story is that you can spend a lifetime saving drowning babies without ever getting the chance to move up-river and find out who the hell is throwing these kids into the river in the first place.

The duty of a journalist is to make it up-river and expose the culprit. This work is hard, and even when you do it well, you are more likely to make new enemies than friends.

***

From time to time during this pandemic my wandering mind has turned to love and I'm not sure why. It's not like I'm in the market for something like that, as far as I know. And even if I were, it would be like marketing one of those antique cars on Craigslist.

"Original parts in good working order. Lifetime guarantee or two years, whichever comes first."

That seems like a well-written entry for those dating sites, right? I've been reliably informed that 40 percent of all new relationships start online nowadays, and why not? We do just about everything else that way.

***

But first a review of the news:

* Sinclair Media Group has canceled its ridiculous conspiracy theory report claiming that Dr. Fauci created the coronavirus. It had been scheduled to appear this weekend.

* Trump Officials Push U.S.-China Relations Toward Point of No Return (The Times).

* Lucky Brand, Brooks Brothers, Muji and Sur La Table are among 21 major brands that have filed for bankruptcy this year. In 2019, 20 such bankruptcies occurred for the entire year.

* Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. have topped 1,000 four days in a row.

* As the pandemic assails Brazil, the virus is taking an exceptionally high toll on the Amazon region. (The Times)

* In a letter to the Justice and Homeland Security departments, four Oregon members of Congress likened the Trump administration's crackdown in Portland, involving officers pushing protesters into unmarked SUVs to tactics used in authoritarian countries.

* Seattle protesters threw large rocks, bottles, fireworks and other explosives at officers Saturday, and others set fire to a portable trailer and a construction site, police said.

* Millions of jobless Americans are anxiously waiting for Congress to decide whether to extend the $600 weekly boost to unemployment benefits that's been a key economic lifeline through the pandemic shutdowns. (CNN)

* Empty Towers, No Power Lunches: Ghostly Midtown Is Omen for N.Y.C. (The Times)

***

The lyrics playing in my head overnight are from a sweet love song about loving someone as they try to get over a lost love. That is one of those delicate shades of love fraught with peril for the parties involved. We all know that breaking up is hard to do; loving somebody trying to heal a broken heart is hard too.

To all the broken hearted people and those who love them:

I'm not Lisa, my name is Julie
Lisa left you years ago
My eyes are not blue
But mine won't leave you
'Til the sunlight has touched your face

She was your morning light
Her smile told of no night
Your love for her grew
With each rising sun

And then one winter day
His hand led hers away
She left you here drowning in your tears, here
Where you've stayed for years
Crying Lisa 
Lisa...

-- Jessi Colter

Decade by Decade

Among my extended family and friends, there are many more people who work in non-profit organizations than in the private sector. They generally earn less than they could in the private sector, given their educational and skill levels, but they feel much more satisfied about their work lives than others because they feel they are making a difference.

During this pandemic, many also are losing their jobs. NGOs by their nature usually have far less resources than the mega-corporations that rule our economy like the feudal lords of yesteryear. They rely on donations from individuals and foundations that are now hurting financially themselves. Thus the non-profits may not have the reserves to weather this storm.

The tragedy when NGOs start failing goes beyond the economic impacts and job losses. They may only constitute about 5 percent of our GNP, but the non-profit sector accounts for 95 percent of the socially conscious GNP.

There are minuscule efforts by the Fortune 500 to contribute to social justice and environmental causes, given their vast financial empires. They make a lot of noise abut how much good they are doing, but it is the NGO sector that stands between the rest of us and an unfettered capitalism that would destroy the planet simply to beat analyst expectations quarter-by-quarter.

The non-profit groups set expectations decade-by-decade.

***

Our overnight summary of the news cycle contains many disturbing reports:

* The afore-mentioned non-profit sector is in trouble. According to the Times, "Even as the economic crisis creates new demand for their services, organizations with millions of workers are resorting to layoffs as revenues dry up."

* Apparently bowing to Trump's pressure, the CDC is calling for schools to re-open regardless of the risks to students, teachers and -- by extension -- the rest of us.

* As part of its hate campaign against minorities, the Trump administration is pushing forward with plans to roll back transgender rights and protections.

* The dangerous use of federal troops in American cities continues under the Trump administration's blatantly political "law and order" campaign. Besides Portland, Seattle is now a target.

* Trump administration has put DACA applications ‘on hold’ -- The Post.

* The Sinclair Broadcast Group is airing a nationwide program on a conspiracy theory that Dr. Fauci may have created the coronavirus strain that causes Covid-19.

Those developments are certainly enough to ruin anyone's breakfast, so the remainder of this essay will wander off in a different direction.

***

Part Two of our Welcome Guide to the Newly Elderly is a guide to the politically correct vocabulary to use around aged people. Today, we present the words and phrases that are best avoided.

* It's to die for.
* You're killing it.
* You're killing me.
* One foot in the grave.
* 'Til death do us part.
* Death warmed over.
* A stiff.
* Dead man walking.
* Pushing up daisies.
* DOA.
* Skin and bones.
* RIP.
* Heavenly peace.
* Paradise.
* Happy hunting grounds.
* Zion.
* Promised land.
* Afterlife.
* Hell.
* Purgatory.
* Corpse.
* Sunset.
* The end.

Okay, there are many more, but you get the idea. Our language is thick with references to death and dying. As you enter the realm of the newly elderly, it's best to avoid such references unless you wish to walk the high wire between outrageously funny and falling off (in which case, you're most definitely history).

The End.

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Turn Bad to Good

Starting with the good news...The Imperial College of London reports that "The lack of human activity during lockdown caused human-linked vibrations in the Earth to drop by an average of 50 percent between March and May 2020. This quiet period, likely caused by the total global effect of social distancing measures, closure of services and industry, and drops in tourism and travel, is the longest and most pronounced quiet period of seismic noise in recorded history."

It seems like the earth is trying to tell us something. Although the global Covid-19 pandemic is painful individually, collectively we are living lighter on our planet.

For the past 25 years, some of the brightest people in Silicon Valley have been telling me they want to help find solutions to our most serious problems.

Well, here is their chance. There is no problem more serious than global climate change. What are your ideas?

We need to turn this short term evil into a longer term good.

The political will is there. According to LinkTV: "More than 40 mayors of major cities from Montreal to Medellin pledged on Wednesday to push for a 'green and just' economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The mayors, part of a global network of cities fighting climate change, said they are committed to investing in green jobs and low-carbon transport as part of efforts to stimulate economies flattened by virus shutdowns. A green recovery would be good for business, as well as for cutting planet-heating emissions, said the members of the C40 network of cities."

***

Those of us who have paid close attention to the pandemic's dangers and how it is affecting our daily lives  have been puzzled by President Trump's apparent lack of awareness or concern, no matter how bad the public health news gets.

This week, however, he has changed. Now he advocates wearing masks and calls that a patriotic thing to do. Yesterday, he abruptly cancelled plans for an in-person convention in Jacksonville, Florida next month.

"I looked at my team and I said the timing for this event is not right. It's just not right," Trump said. "To have a big convention, it's not the right time.There's nothing more important in our country than keeping our people safe," 

I've been quick to criticize the President many times during this crisis but today I applaud him. By taking these steps he will save lives.

***

Thursday and Friday are the only two back-to-back family birthdays all year. Yesterday one grandson turned 12; today another turns 11. These kids, like children everywhere, are getting used to virtual parties, and almost always staying at home as they grow up in the time of Covid-19.

Baseball season's Opening Day was yesterday. There were cardboard cutouts of fan's faces in the stands and piped-in crowd noise in lieu of the real thing.

Everything is so bizarre. Spitting is no longer allowed in baseball. It must be a bad time for the bubble gum, sunflower seed and chewing tobacco companies. The old-timers in the Hall of Fame wouldn't recognize the game today.

In the Giants-Dodgers game last night, a lone deflated balloon drifted onto the field. Where did that come from?

We're all a bit like that balloon by this point, unmoored and directionless, as we go wherever the  wind takes us.

Loving you
Isn't the right thing to do
How can I ever change things
That I feel

If I could
Maybe I'd give you my world
How can I
When you won't take it from me

You can go your own way
Go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day

--Fleetwood Mac

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Ye Olde Guidebook

NOTE: This essay is based on real facts. Only the facts have been changed.

It's time someone wrote a common-sense guide to growing old, so this is addressed to the newly elderly. Before generalizing, let's be specific.

Medicare. It's one of those systems you've been paying into your whole life, and now you've reached the age you qualify for it. But beware because it's going to cost you a lot of money.

It's a system that is as simple to understand as as knowing your ABCs. The only catch is it doesn't work the way ABCs did. It's more like the "new math" in the good old days. It goes like this: A,B,D,F,C,N,G.

There's no E, or any of the old letters between G and N. They've all retired.

Got that? Well, whichever letters you end up with, they cover doctors, hospitals, drugs, etc. But not 100 percent. It's more like 80 percent. I think that's where the supplemental plans (F, C, G, N) may come into play but I'm not sure about that.

Supposedly these supplementals cover all those little extras, like co-pays, deductibles and whatever else shows up in your mailbox.

Or, and don't forget dental. You'll need a special policy for that.

Need eye surgery for cataract removal? Well the good news is that is probably covered but you'll have to pay for the surgeon to insert new lenses so you can see properly once the cataracts are gone.

The really perplexing thing about Medicare is that not all doctors accept patients who have it.

There's also the "out of network" problem that we thought Obamacare might have taken care of. And remember "pre-existing conditions?" I think they're back.

Seriously, if you can get through to the Medicare help line, usually you will get very polite and well-informed customer service agents to walk you through all this. They usually say to check with your local medical provider, who says to check back with them.

Meanwhile beware! If somebody calls you asking for your Medicare number, they aren't from Medicare. That's because the folks at Medicare already know your number. To be clear, they've got your number.

So another part of becoming newly elderly is you have to watch out for scam artists. These days they are robotically calling you to offer Covid-19 cures and super-duper masks, not to mention testing kits and protective equipment like authentic NASA spacesuits. Just don't give them your Medicare number.

Besides, you'll know you qualify as a space cadet once you buy into one of those anti-gravity schemes that are floating around in your inbox.

BTW, you can always join AARP, which seems to cost about $16/year. They offer you discounts in case you plan to travel a lot and do other "retired"-type things, but I'm not exactly sure what else they do. They too have nice people who answer the phones.

Okay that's all the specific information we can offer, because we don't even pretend to understand how Social Security works. That's another entitlement you pay in over your whole life only to discover that you're not going to get all that much back.

Around here, those SS payments place you way below the poverty line.

On to the generalizations.

* They say older is wiser but so far in my experience it can be a rather long wait for the "wiser" part to show up. The wise-cracker may show up, but that's a consolation prize.

* You may not actually be old. You're only as old as you feel, and of course on some days you do feel *really* old.

* People readily make fun of old people within your earshot, but luckily, being elderly, you can't really hear what they are saying. "What?" is the right answer whenever people ask you things. Say it loudly.

* Many young people say they think you are "cute." That doesn't mean they want to date you, Just nod vaguely and pretend you get their dialect.

* Old people don't need as much sleep. Just get up at 2 AM with the rest of us and do what old people do. Knit, bake bread or try to find your glasses.

* Wandering off may become an issue. If you find yourself doing this, it might be time for you to get one of those cognitive tests they gave Trump. I think they found him wandering off to a church.

* Take a recent photo of yourself. Label it "recent photo." Place it in plain sight somewhere in case you wander off. They'll make a poster like they do for lost dogs and cats. If you see yourself on a poster, you're halfway home.

* Follow your bliss. This might involve wandering off. Go wherever your bliss takes you. I don't know what bliss is; I think it's a supplemental that makes you wander.

* Never look in the mirror. My older sister taught me that one.

* Don't keep up with the latest styles. Everything old comes around again anyway, so just wait it out.

* If you get stopped by the cops just say you were confused. Works every time.

* If you feel compelled to get a job, apply for something cool, like "self-driving car operator."

* Call everyone you meet "dear" -- it's endearing.

* Never use the phrase " I bet it's to die for" -- we'll be getting around to that in the next chapter.

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Where Hope Resides

The young climate activist Greta Thunberg says she will donate all of the $1.14 million she won this week for the Gulbenkian Prize to various causes, including to a group  fighting coronavirus in the Amazon. According to CNN,  "she'll donate $114,000 to SOS Amazônia, an environmental organization working to protect the rainforest that also works to fight the pandemic in indigenous territories of the Amazon through access to basic hygiene, food and health equipment."

I believe that the connection between the pandemic and global climate change may hold the key for overcoming the immediate crisis while we also formulate a coordinated strategy to address the larger existential threat facing us as a species.

One element of that strategy clearly will be converting our energy production system to green, sustainable technologies like wind and solar and away from diminishing fossil fuel reserves like oil and coal. Frankly, that is already long overdue. It will lead to new jobs that are needed given the severe economic damage wreaked by Covid-19.

In the process, as highlighted by Thunberg's Amazon gift, we urgently need to save the indigenous tribes that are being even harder hit by the new virus than the rest of us. Just as the common cold and the flu have wiped out native people in the past, the same tragedy is re-occurring in our time.

The good news is that this time we have a chance to get things right.

When we lose indigenous people, we lose centuries of knowledge about how to preserve critical parts of the ecosystem, such as the Amazon. Unless that vast rainforest is healthy, the planet will not be. So there is no choice in this matter.

The same goes for preserving and repairing the health of the oceans, including our coral reefs. We can't sustain life without them.

In this way, the environmental movement that started emerging in the 1960s in the U.S. with books by Rachael Carson, John Storer ("The Web of Life"), Wendell Berry,  Anne Morrow Lindbergh ("Gift From the Sea") and others, has been providing warnings for decades that all too often have gone unheeded. 

Now is the time for renewed action, as young leaders like Thunberg understand. And there are signs that big corporations are listening. Apple announced that its devices will be carbon-neutral by 2030. The company promised that “every Apple device sold will have net-zero climate impact.”

As to how it would accomplish this goal, Apple said it "aimed to reduce emissions by 75 percent in its manufacturing chain, including by recycling more of the components that go into each device and nudging its suppliers to use renewable energy. As for the remaining 25 percent of emissions, the company said it planned to balance them by funding reforestation projects. The company also said it planned to improve energy efficiency in its operations." (New York Times)

Amazon, Microsoft and Google are other big tech companies also announcing plans recently to cut their carbon footprints and engage in the battle for climate change. All of this is cause for hope, as are the reasons behind the changes.

It's just good business to be able to say they are eco-friendly, because that is the way they will be able to sell their products to the new generations that are gradually taking power.

Meanwhile, the old generation that is actually in power at the moment is splitting at the seams. Trump finally called on people to wear masks, roughly 140,000 deaths too late. Better late than never? Maybe.

But as his poll numbers tank, and Biden assumes a double-digit lead among registered voters, Trump's campaign is releasing dark ads depicting Democratic-run cities as dystopian nightmares. As a longtime resident of one of those cities, the one that has produced political leaders like Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris and Jerry Brown, I can attest that it hardly a nightmarish place to live. 

But Trump's campaign is desperate. He has failed to protect the country from Covid-19 and the economy is in ruins. Unemployment is at historic highs and there is no end in sight for the shrunken lifestyles Americans are being forced to endure.

It would be unfair to blame Trump for the virus; he didn't create it, but his failure has been to not have been able to limit its impacts, as leaders in many other countries have done. If he loses in November, that failure will have done him in.

***

Tomorrow marks the beginning of baseball season. America's pastime is returning, allegedly, for an attenuated season -- 60 games rather than the customary 162. Not to worry, for sports fans this represents a bonanza. We are checking our cable packages to make sure we can watch as many games as possible, since the sport has devolved into a made-for-TV only mode.

The fabulous "Hunger Games" books and movies presented a future world where everything revolved around a television show. It's hard to resist the impression that what we like to call "real life" is following suit, and not just with baseball.

I've long considered the Hunger Games to be a metaphor for global climate change. After all, the young are pitted against each other in a fight to the death in a world where limited resources mean only the strongest (or richest) will survive.

The young competitors need sponsors to have any chance of winning. Think Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon selling their green products if you will indulge my drift.

If all of this computes, there is then one huge question hanging over us all. Where is our Katniss Everdeen?

Greta Thunberg?

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