March 2020 - Ramblin' with Roger

PLEASE take the 2020 census

not the usual place of residence

Please complete your Census 2020 form online, by phone, or by mail when your invitation to respond arrives. Visit my2020census.gov to begin. Most households received their invitation to respond to the 2020 Census between March 12 – 20. These official Census Bureau mailings included detailed information and a Census ID for completing the Census online.

In addition to an invitation to respond, some households will receive a paper questionnaire (sometimes known as the census form). You do not need to wait for your paper questionnaire to respond to the Census.

I had to leave my dorm!

College students living in on-campus housing are generally counted through their university as part of the Census Group Quarters operation. It tallies all students living in university-owned housing. In general, students in colleges and universities temporarily closed due to COVID-19 will still be counted as part of that process. “Even if they are home on census day, April 1, they should be counted according to the residence criteria that states they should be counted where they live and sleep most of the time.”

Census has asked schools to contact their students and remind them to respond. Per the Census Bureau’s residence criteria, students living away from home at school should be counted at school in most cases, even if they are temporarily elsewhere due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, I have been advised that “universities only need to provide what is allowed under FERPA.” The Bureau “will accept ‘incomplete’ responses from universities that are submitting through eResponse and Paper Data Collection.” I suspect that this will mean followup at home for a number of college students.

Second homes

For a Census Data Center discussion how to report for the 2nd home that it is unoccupied, Jeff Behler, Regional Director, Census Bureau provided this information:

After entering the ID or for Non-ID processing the street address, the respondent will be led to a screen that begins the Household Questions with the address of the housing unit.

Including yourself, how many people will be living or staying at 123 MAIN STREET on April 1, 2020?

If the housing unit is not the usual place of residence and no one is living there as their usual place of residence, then enter “0”

It will look as though the online form is rejecting that answer because it comes back with a response in red: Please include yourself when reporting the number of people.

This is a soft edit response to ensure you correctly entering “0”. Submit again and the response is:

On April 1, 2020, will you be living or staying at 123 MAIN STREET?

Enter the answer “No” and the next screen probes for the reason the unit is vacant

What is the primary reason why no one will be living or staying at 123 MAIN STREET on April 1, 2020? The unit will be –

For rent
Rented, not occupied
For sale only
Sold, not occupied
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use
For migrant workers
Other

Then the online form probes for where you will be living on April 1

Thank you for providing information for 123 MAIN STREET. Since you will not be living or staying at this address on Census Day, you do not need to provide any additional information for it.

Gotta have faith

As the Faithful Census folks note: Our faith teaches that every person has God-given dignity. Therefore everyone deserves to be counted in the 2020 Census. When everyone in our community is counted, we get the federal funds we need for our schools, hospitals, roads, and other essential programs like Head Start, food assistance, and affordable housing.

Responding to the 2020 Census has never been easier because you can choose to respond online, by phone, or mail– and it just takes 10 minutes to respond for your entire household.

And justice

Gayla Tillman, Civic Engagement Coordinator for Georgia Conservation Voters notes:

“The census matters because we need climate protections and solutions for all our communities. Black, Brown, and low-income communities disproportionately feel the effects of polluted air and water and utility burden. An inclusive census will not only tell decision-makers but also climate advocates how to best serve communities that have been traditionally hard to count.

“What’s more, as a descendant of people once lawfully considered property, I consider being counted in the census as personally and politically important to the fight for equity and justice… The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the many ways that working-class people and people of color are vulnerable to economic imbalance.

“The root of what our communities need is investment. That investment begins with knowing where and who people are — the census helps determine how resources are allocated in our country.”

Save your government some money!

If you fill out the form online or by mail, you save the governmental expense of folks needing to call you. If your information is there, no need for an enumerator to come to your house. In the age of COVID-19, no one wants THAT. Please fill out your form ASAP.

March rambling: 4-stage strategy

The Hammer and the Dance: What the Next 18 Months Can Look Like, if Leaders Buy Us Time

road-to-nowhere — From Wrong Hands Used with Creative Commons 3.0 license.

The 4-stage strategy.

Maps as propaganda.

The 1862 Binghamton Race Riot.

2020 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report.

The Accusations Were Lies. But Could We Prove It?

I am recommending the AmeriNZ blog always, but especially from January 10, 2020 to now, involving grief and moving.

Why hard work and specializing early is not a recipe for success.

You could watch Song of the South, the most controversial Disney movie RIGHT NOW.

What Can You Learn from Each U.S. Census? FILL OUT YOUR FORM!

She Came, She Saw, She Conquered: 8 Women Who Changed The World.

Dorie Miller, War Hero.

Muslim man running for Congress helped pay the medical debt of a man who sent him anti-Muslim tweets.

How’s the Water?

Rev. Joseph Lowery, ‘Dean’ Of The Civil Rights Movement, Dies At 98 .

“You think grown-ups have it all figured out? That’s just a hustle, kid. Grown-ups are making it up as they go along, just like you. You remember that, and you’ll do fine.” – Lawrence Woolsey (John Goodman), MATINEE (1993).

Why Doesn’t Disney+ Have More Muppet Stuff?

Biancolli: My week of hand gel and geek bliss on a Star Trek cruise.

Don Adams, Don Rickles in Midnight Cowboy parody.

Found! McLean Stevenson in a Raft on Cher in 1975.

Obstruction In Your Weasand?

Donnybrook

Tanking his own Presidency.

The Strange Case of A Psychological Reckoning.

Newest attack ad against him is scathing and it was done by Republicans.

The Coronavirus Is the Worst Intelligence Failure in U.S. History; It’s more glaring than Pearl Harbor and 9/11—and it’s all the fault of Donald Trump’s leadership.

Narcissist in Charge.

COVID-19

EarthCam live cam of Tidal Basin Cherry Trees, March 20, 2020. STAY HOME!

The Hammer and the Dance.

You Can’t Practice Social Distancing if You’re a Refugee.

Why it’s so deadly in Italy.

Americans Are Getting A Hard Lesson In Why Government — And Taxes — Actually Matter.

Without Mass Testing, It Will Keep Spreading.

Is $2 Trillion Too Little, Too Late?

How the US Botched Testing.

Stand Up America urges lawmakers to pass measure to extend vote-by-mail.

We Can’t Let It Drive Us Into Authoritarianism.

Economies Aren’t Built to Stop and Restart.

Historical Black Mondays in 1929, 1987, 2015, and 2020.

How student/athletes can cope with consequences of the pandemic.

Why You Shouldn’t Go To Your Friend’s House While Social Distancing.

Tech Tools to Help Your Library Cope.

Airline and Hotel Loyalty Program Changes.

Athena Says Its Cameras Can Detect 1,000 Infections an Hour.

How some cities ‘flattened the curve’ during the 1918 flu pandemic.

The Sudden Obliteration of Expectation– Hank Green.

What will the exhibition spaces do?

A Guide to Intimacy.

SOCIAL DISTANCE– A Randy Rainbow Song Parody.

The Oatmeal: How to be socially distant.

An Old ‘Scrubs’ Clip Is Going Viral Amidst Novel Social Distancing.

The Right Way to Kill Coronavirus. No, you should not be using vinegar.

How To Make Natural Moisturizing Hand Sanitizer.

Now I Know

Why We Don’t Chat Chit About Flop Flips and How Postage Almost Started a War and Capture the Flag and
Harry Potter and the Need for Fewer Casts and To Boldly Go Where You’re Really Not Allowed To Go and Neither Rain Nor Sleet Nor Crazy Address Will Prevent The Mail Delivery and The Grass With … Less Gas?

MUSIC

Murder Most Foul – Bob Dylan.

Piano Quartet No.3 in C Major– Beethoven.

Coverville: 1300: The Luckiest Episode and 1301: Cover Stories for Hozier, The Darkness and Black Eyed Peas.

Wannabe – Spice Girls (Vintage “Andrews Sisters” Style Cover) – Postmodern Jukebox.

K-Chuck Radio: The Evolution of Manu Dibango and Soul Makossa.

Happy Music.

Jump:Big Daddy in the style of Eddie Cochran; Van Halen; Aztec Camera.

Stoned Soul Picnic – The 5th Dimension.

Rebel Rebel – Rockin’1000 That’s Live Official.

This Too Shall Pass– OK Go.

Last Words of David- Randall Thompson, rehearsal video.

JB Scott’s 1979 – 1982. Photographs from the legendary Albany, NY Rock & Roll night club.

This Land is Your Land belongs to you and me…

COVID fix, professors, writing fiction

DNA/RNA

Diamonds and Rust Dan, the albanyweblog man, decided to confound me:

A Pharma Corporation called Inovid is trying to speed up production of COVID-19 vaccine. They take virus DNA, convert it to RNA, pick out the right bits of the RNA according to a computer program, then inject it into bacteria, which makes lots of virus DNA that can be used to stimulate antibodies in the human, thus making an effective vaccine. What I want to know is how do they convert the virus DNA to RNA on cue? They talk about this like it’s NBD.

As I understand it – and I REALLY DON’T –

So what’s COVID-19’s story? Is a hint in what normally binds the receptor?

Perhaps sometime in the past, a virus formed, or came to include, human DNA or RNA instructions for making an integrin, which is a protein that binds to ACE2. Integrins glue our cells to surrounding connective tissue. The viral spike masquerades as the integrin, grabbing our cells.
In other words, a viral epidemic may arise as an accident, of sorts, of biochemistry and evolution.

Vaccine!

One of the things I learned as a librarian is that sometimes I don’t understand what I’m passing along. It’s just beyond my comprehension. Check out this article, which may, or may not be useful.

Fiction

Carla, an old colleague of my wife’s, wants to know:

Roger, Have you ever thought of writing fiction; or do you write fiction?

I’ve thought to do it. But a long piece seems too hard. You have to have a consistent universe. See, e.g., this post by Jaquandor. And I haven’t loved the short pieces I’ve written.

But if I live long enough, I’ll probably write a roman a clef. Or two.

Kevin, from my home county and the Wind Sun News, wants to know:

Who was your favorite Professor at New Paltz?

Of the ones I had class with, probably Glenn McNitt in the political science department. He was very smart but easy going. I remember listening to Stevie Wonder at his house more than once. I also recall specifically hearing Simple Twist of Fate by Joan Baez from her Diamonds and Rust album. She did a wicked Dylan impression and I cracked up.

Of the ones I did not have, probably Pam Tate, the head of Innovative Studies. I knew her in part because I was on the Financial Council and some of our budget went to her program. I was the Education chair so her program was in my jurisdiction.

Mercy, Humanity, Making a Difference

Bryan Stevenson

Recently, folks at my church had a chance to hear a recording from Bryan Stevenson. He is a lawyer who is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. The organization has challenged bias against the poor and minorities in the criminal justice system.

He spoke at a medical conference in 2019 with a message of hope. In his address, American Injustice: Mercy, Humanity, and Making a Difference, he briefly discussed his concerns. There is too much unfairness in a system where over two million people are incarcerated, compared with about 300,000 a half century ago. This leads to a sense of hopelessness, especially in many black and Latinx communities.

Yet Stevenson put forth four principles of positivity:

There is power in being proximate

We need to commit ourselves to get proximate to those in need. There is a tendency to avoid those “bad parts of town.” He submits that we need to get closer to the communities of the marginalized.

He spoke of his beloved grandmother. She was a daughter of people who were enslaved. She would hug him so tightly that he thought she would hurt him. But she’d ask when she’d see him again, “Do you still feel me hugging you?”

He tells a story, which is shown in the Just Mercy movie how he, as a mere law intern, gave hope to a death row inmate. The law firm dispatched Bryan to tell the prisoner that he was not at risk of being executed in the next year. The grateful prisoner could then invite huis family to visit him.

There is power in being proximate.

Change the narrative

The misguided war on drugs should have been dealt with as a health problem, not a legal issue. Too often government traffics in the politics of fear and anger. This allows people to accept things we should not accept. This leads to mandatory sentencing, children treated as adults. Who’s responsible for this? WE are.

Stevenson believes the true evil of slavery is not the enforced incarceration or even dreadful conditions of servitude. The true evil was/is the narrative of slavery. Racial differences were made up to create an ideology of a people who are not aren’t fully human. This is the basis of white supremacy.

He contends, and I would agree, that slavery of did not end in 1865. It morphed into Jim Crow and ,mass incarceration. Some friend of a friend suggested that we’ve been living with terrorism since 9/11. au contraire: many black people grew up with terrorism. The refugees of racial terror in the South ended up in the refugee camps that are the ghettos of the mostly northern cities.

Amen

Black people often live with the presumptuousness of dangerousness and guilt. And IT IS EXHAUSTING. (Amen.) Stevenson told of being in a Midwest courtroom, well-dressed and middle-aged. The judge chastised him for being there, assuming he was a prisoner. When the judge was corrected, he laughed. The district attorney laughed. Bryan forced himself to laugh, so as not to disadvantage his client, who was on that day, a young white man.

Stevenson believes – and he is SO right – that there is too much of a simplistic celebratory narrative about the “civil rights era.” Day 1, Rosa Park refused to stand on the bus. Day 2, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a rousing speech. Day 3, racism was over. Ha!

But he has no interest in punishment. He wants liberation. He wants a process of truth and justice, truth and reconciliation. There is no justice, no reconciliation without truth. You see that in Rwanda, in South Africa, in Germany. There are no Hitler statues in Berlin.

Stay hopeful

Hopelessness is the enemy of justice. Hope is our superpower. It takes bravery be hopeful.

Do the things that are uncomfortable and inconvenient

We must do those actions that are witness to inequality. The vaunted Civil Rights era is filled with those examples, and those opportunities exist regularly today.

People are more than the worst thing they’ve done. The opposite of poverty is justice.

Kenny Rogers and the First Edition

You better count your money

The first time I knew the name Kenny Rogers was as a member of a group called The First Edition. Several people, including Thelma Camacho, Mike Settle, and Terry Williams, split off from a folk-music troupe, The New Christy Minstrels.

They had a big hit, Just Dropped In (To See What My Condition My Condition Was In), which got all the way to #5 pop in March of 1968. It was a quasi-psychedelic track later covered by Tom Jones.

After a couple flops, they released But You Know I Love You. They performed it on some variety shows, because I remember the applause at the dead-stop false ending. It went to #19 in early 1969.

Their next hit was Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town. By now, Kenny Rogers was receiving top billing. Read about the Mel Tillis song, which was not about the aftermath of the Vietnam war. It went to #6 pop and #39 country in mid-1969.

The follow-up, Reuben James, went to #26 pop, #46 country. The group had a few more hits, notably Something’s Burning (#11 pop). They even had their own syndicated show called Rollin’ in 1972. Kenny went solo in 1973. It took a while, but the hits eventually came.

His first country #1 was Lucille in 1977, which also went to #5 pop and went gold.

When the dealin’s done

If one knows only one Kenny Rogers song, it might be The Gambler. While it only went to #16 pop in 1979, it went to #1 for three weeks country. Moreover, there were at least three TV movies about it, starring Rogers. And it’s the only one of his songs ever quoted in this blog.

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run

In 1980, Kenny Rogers was the #1 pop artist, with massive crossover hits. Lady, written by Lionel Richie, for instance, was #1 for six weeks pop, #1 country, and #42 soul.

You probably have your own favorites, including duets with female artists. I count 20 #1 country hits among the 53 songs charting. His other #1 pop song was Islands in the Stream with Dolly Parton for two weeks in 1983.

He was a ubiquitous popular culture presence for decades, and I’m sorry about his passing.

Coverville 1302: The Kenny Rogers Tribute Cover Story.