I don’t need to tell anyone how divisive things are politically in this country. This America. It’s not our day-to-day. It isn’t business as usual. It isn’t our best foot forward. I blame the majority of Republican politicians backing and including the President we like to call simply “Trump”.

It’s not like we’re fans of his. That we would shorten his name for shorthand in conversation is just a testament to how much we’re talking about how lousy the Commander In Chief is. I remember when we thought George W. Bush was lousy at the job. That was over a decade ago. But Bush was never interested in dividing the country on issues like racial equality, immigration laws, and boldly drawn party lines.

It wouldn’t even cross Bush’s mind to send armed services to US cities to stop a peaceful protest. Many of which turn violent immediately following the arrival of the military. But these days, it’s a Trump tactic. Not knowing how to fix a problem without taking money from it or throwing money at it, he throws his weight at it. You get the feeling that he tried tweeting about it, and is still trying but to no true avail.

What Trump is doing is out of hand, it is out of line, it has been creating a national divide between the political majority of 2016 and the rest of the country. It’s this majority that has tried to stick together since Trump was sworn into office that year. It’s the same group of people wearing Make America Great Again hats instead of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, refusing to believe in scientific realities and choosing instead to put their logic aside, listening to conspiracy theories that treat scientific data as if it were designed to bad mouth their leader.

This majority, The Trumpsters, with their TV diva leader, Trump himself, are steadily and confidently giving this country, this America, a bad reputation around the world. Read this excerpt from an article in The Guardian written by Simon Tisdall who spoke with a Harvard professor about Trump’s handling of the pandemic, the article itself is from April, 2020:

*

Call it the Trump double-whammy. Diplomatically speaking, the US is on life support.

“The Trump administration’s self-centred, haphazard, and tone-deaf response [to Covid-19] will end up costing Americans trillions of dollars and thousands of otherwise

preventable deaths,” wrote Stephen Walt, professor of international relations at Harvard.

“But that’s not the only damage the United States will suffer. Far from ‘making America great again’, this epic policy failure will further tarnish [its] reputation as a country that knows how to do things effectively.”

This adverse shift could be permanent, Walt warned. Since taking office in 2017, Trump has insulted America’s friends, undermined multilateral alliances and chosen confrontation over cooperation. Sanctions, embargoes and boycotts aimed at China, Iran and Europe have been globally divisive.

*

This is new to us. This is America. We’re used to the best Presidents, the best approach to global crises, the best we can be. What we’re experiencing is a multitude of worse and worse. We were spoiled rotten, like Honey Boo Boo. Now we’re falling off of the tree and being eaten by squirrels instead of picked by the usual farmers. There’s little interest in us until we have new leadership.

Is that true? Or are we as a people louder than the words of our monstrous leader and his group of followers?

I think we are. I think this November we are going to turn heads with how many vote against Trump. I believe in a New Majority. This population of people contains a high number of groups and individuals who will affect change in a manner that will banish Trump, his regime, and his Trumpsters from the power they only cling to.

The Old Majority of Trumpsters clung to their power and since they only sought to use it to their own advancement, will see only the fruits of such labor. In alienating the American people, I believe it will be increasingly difficult for someone to mention their support for Trump and be extended any degree of help or sympathy. It is clear that the utopian plan for Trumpsters is this society that supports them and their money.

After the Trump presidency there will indeed be a sort of fraternity or some other named club that perhaps includes a MAGA hat and a matching tie, a shadow society that will aid each other professionally. But it won’t be American. It will be a shadow republic, a cult led by a former president of the united states. Desperate for power, terrible at holding it, thumbs pressed to their smartphones waiting for the next conspiracy idea to hold them over until they can make America theirs again.

Emmanuel Williams

September 3, 2020

Pope Francis, in a tweet on August 22, 2020: “God does not love you because you behave well. He loves you, plain and simple. His love is unconditional; it does not depend on you.”

1

I believe in God the Father, Creator of existence, and King of Kings. Long ago in my youth, I heard talk of God and how faith without works is dead. Then I heard of “good deeds”. I put the two into a single ideal. One that had me chasing goodness and virtue.

But what if Pope Francis is correct? What if your actions didn’t change the way God felt about you? If he loved you the same when your actions were horrible and destructive? Just as he loved you when you were decent, good natured, humble, and respectful.

The concept of unconditional love from God came much later in my years. But it wasn’t explained well. Confused, I had questions. What is the meaning of “unconditional”?

Word of mouth told me that love had to be this way or it was worth leaving your relationship for someone who would care stronger for you. Who would love you in poverty and in wealth, sickness and… well, you understand.

As a writer, I see conditions as the spring board into conversations about setting, characters responding to their environment, from the “dark and stormy night” to the light of the morning. I focus mostly on the ability to adapt to conditions that may begin adversely, yet are conquered by good deeds in the end to restore peace with lessons learned.

With that definition, clearly no matter what the conditions, God loves you. Loves us all.

2

I can see how easily one can say that this is God’s blindspot. Where he turns his eyes and his back on the world and that love is just the policy of a sovereign entity. This is a mistake.

God is still affecting the universe.

In fact, consider the circle of life. Catastrophes that lay waste to life, home, and nature. Viral pandemics. Forest fires. School shootings. All of them test our character, pave the way for fresh creation, heighten human awareness, and bring renewal.

When our relatives die, we commit ourselves to higher ideals. With the ache to heal, we grow in our compassion for those who have pain to shed. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.

The pope is correct. The Lord does not stop loving you because you behave like an idiot or because you doubt him, or because you haven’t thought about him in a while.

When people die, they are loved in this life and the next. Death is a condition no mortal can deny. Neither does the love of God.

Of course, I cannot guarantee that the afterlife is anything like living. But if you’ll never feel the love of God once your senses leave you, why not now?

3

At the heart of the Pope’s words is forgiveness, which is a major wonder of God. The beauty of it is alive with Christ. Who died for the sins of mankind so that a sacrifice was made to forgive us of all wrongdoing. Christ himself forgiven for pushing the task away from himself. Praying before his death that his “cup” be taken away by the Father. There was a time our Savior didn’t want to die either.

In the end, Jesus Christ was crucified as an insurrectionist because his miracles took place on holy days, and his words offended high ranking clergy of the day. Man will punish you much worse than God will.

4

The death of Christ is where the love of God became a legend. The fact that he would give his only son (John 3:16) to guarantee eternal life for those who believe in him. Believing in Jesus is believing in God. The other third of the holy trinity is what visits churches every Sunday and invades worshippers of God when they get radical about Him.

The conditions for the Father’s presence is ultimately a divine mystery. For the son sits next to his father in heaven. But the spirit will visit you when you invite, nay, seek the presence of God.

5

There is no church building for some. For those of us without a word from a preacher we can agree with, there is still the word of God. The bible has not been replaced by kindest words from popes or flowery butter from politician rhetoric. One far outweighs the other, that being the former over the latter. Yet we that seek His face on our own are buoyed by tweets like Pope Francis’s. It is times like these we feel encouraged, aided, even taught, with so few characters.

6

The last part of the Pope’s words; “it does not depend on you” are perhaps the most thought provoking of the message. This is an invitation to stop worrying about the behaviors that give you so much guilt. It is for the realm of God, it is His kingdom, his territory to the merit of our lives, actions, decisions, or the conditions in which they occur.

It is His right alone to know all. He is an Ultimate Being. A supernatural entity. Whereas we are merely mortal men, women, and between fit for the use of free will, which is the foundation of humanity.

The love of God does not depend on His creation, it depends on Him. He has promised this love on countless occasions. A good sermon will remind you of these promises. Often.

7

I will end with this: behave as if you are loved no matter what.

Title: Beyond Actions

Genre: Religious

Ages: All

Word Count: 942

Author: Emmanuel Williams

Why it fits: Some are aiming for bookshelves, others are aiming for the stars, and may they at least find the Moon. I will be aiming for the Pulitzer Prize.

Hook: A picture of the Pope + the Title.

Synopsis: A Sunday-style message about the love of God.

Audience: Literally everyone.

Bio: Very humble beginnings. Penniless childhood led me to fear my peers and read from authors like Brian Jacques, Rowling, and Shakespeare as I hid in my bedroom. But since I’ve been reading Malcolm Gladwell and Carlos Ruiz Zafon- since I began to take writing seriously- and since I refuse to believe in a one-way path, I may write fiction here or there, but I will always have something to say, and the best way to say it is usually in essay form. I have yet to pen the full manuscript. But life isn’t over and nor is the dream.

Platform: Honor and Faith.

Experience: I’m a committed writer. Have always been told that I have a knack for the english language and I agree. In all humorous arrogance. But I have no experience reaching out to an agency for representation on any level. I have my mind, I have the talent, I can tell a story, and best of all, I have ambition. Come on, wink if you have ambition.

Personal Style: Ogre? Perhaps Hobbit? But mostly a benevolent elf, who makes grammar mistakes, sometimes isn’t humorous at all, but instead of tone, I give you words. Actual, individual, words themselves. My words shall speak for themselves.

Likes: Breaking records. And I like music. Rock to Hip Hop to Country to Radiohead. But I love Coldplay. As for hobbies, this is it. I write. And I love it too.

Hometown: Denver, Colorado.

Age: 32

Thank you, #Trident.

Pope Francis, in a tweet on August 22, 2020: "God does not love you because you behave well. He loves you, plain and simple. His love is unconditional; it does not depend on you."

1

I believe in God the Father, Creator of existence, and King of Kings. Long ago in my youth, I heard talk of God and how faith without works is dead. Then I heard of "good deeds". I put the two into a single ideal. One that had me chasing goodness and virtue.

But what if Pope Francis is correct? What if your actions didn't change the way God felt about you? If he loved you the same when your actions were horrible and destructive? Just as he loved you when you were decent, good natured, humble, and respectful.

The concept of unconditional love from God came much later in my years. But it wasn't explained well. Confused, I had questions. What is the meaning of "unconditional"?

Word of mouth told me that love had to be this way or it was worth leaving your relationship for someone who would care stronger for you. Who would love you in poverty and in wealth, sickness and… well, you understand.

As a writer, I see conditions as the spring board into conversations about setting, characters responding to their environment, from the "dark and stormy night" to the light of the morning. I focus mostly on the ability to adapt to conditions that may begin adversely, yet are conquered by good deeds in the end to restore peace with lessons learned.

With that definition, clearly no matter what the conditions, God loves you. Loves us all.

2

I can see how easily one can say that this is God's blindspot. Where he turns his eyes and his back on the world and that love is just the policy of a sovereign entity. This is a mistake.

God is still affecting the universe.

In fact, consider the circle of life. Catastrophes that lay waste to life, home, and nature. Viral pandemics. Forest fires. School shootings. All of them test our character, pave the way for fresh creation, heighten human awareness, and bring renewal.

When our relatives die, we commit ourselves to higher ideals. With the ache to heal, we grow in our compassion for those who have pain to shed. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.

The pope is correct. The Lord does not stop loving you because you behave like an idiot or because you doubt him, or because you haven't thought about him in a while.

When people die, they are loved in this life and the next. Death is a condition no mortal can deny. Neither does the love of God.

Of course, I cannot guarantee that the afterlife is anything like living. But if you'll never feel the love of God once your senses leave you, why not now?

3

At the heart of the Pope's words is forgiveness, which is a major wonder of God. The beauty of it is alive with Christ. Who died for the sins of mankind so that a sacrifice was made to forgive us of all wrongdoing. Christ himself forgiven for pushing the task away from himself. Praying before his death that his "cup" be taken away by the Father. There was a time our Savior didn't want to die either.

In the end, Jesus Christ was crucified as an insurrectionist because his miracles took place on holy days, and his words offended high ranking clergy of the day. Man will punish you much worse than God will.

4

The death of Christ is where the love of God became a legend. The fact that he would give his only son (John 3:16) to guarantee eternal life for those who believe in him. Believing in Jesus is believing in God. The other third of the holy trinity is what visits churches every Sunday and invades worshippers of God when they get radical about Him.

The conditions for the Father's presence is ultimately a divine mystery. For the son sits next to his father in heaven. But the spirit will visit you when you invite, nay, seek the presence of God.

5

There is no church building for some. For those of us without a word from a preacher we can agree with, there is still the word of God. The bible has not been replaced by kindest words from popes or flowery butter from politician rhetoric. One far outweighs the other, that being the former over the latter. Yet we that seek His face on our own are buoyed by tweets like Pope Francis's. It is times like these we feel encouraged, aided, even taught, with so few characters.

6

The last part of the Pope's words; "it does not depend on you" are perhaps the most thought provoking of the message. This is an invitation to stop worrying about the behaviors that give you so much guilt. It is for the realm of God, it is His kingdom, his territory to the merit of our lives, actions, decisions, or the conditions in which they occur.

It is His right alone to know all. He is an Ultimate Being. A supernatural entity. Whereas we are merely mortal men, women, and between fit for the use of free will, which is the foundation of humanity.

The love of God does not depend on His creation, it depends on Him. He has promised this love on countless occasions. A good sermon will remind you of these promises. Often.

7

I will end with this: behave as if you are loved no matter what.

Emmanuel Williams

ewill4k@gmail.com

August 23, 2020

The Problem With In-Person Learning at

This Phase of the Pandemic in America

1

Schools have been shut down since before the end of the last school year. But at this point, in August, with the Coronavirus still killing American’s by the score, countless schools have reopened their doors, classrooms, and libraries, cafeterias and offices to students. Some schools have opened with every class being offered online, some have taken the hybrid road with a percentage of classes being offered online, the other percentage in-person. Some schools have decided to reopen completely in-person. And for these schools, learning has become a matter of life and death.

2

Think about it. Look at the American student. Learning starts in Kindergarten and proceeds through the 5th grade at any particular elementary school building in this country. That’s ages 5-10. To date, the virus has claimed the lives of children as young as 6. Based on the data, the virus could be in that building.

The next grade + age group is known as Middle School. Where children become teenagers, and that means kissing. But the problem isn’t the infatuations of youth. It’s the preteen who decides to come to school even though they’re sick so that they can see, in some cases, their very first significant other. Grades 6-8, ages 11-13.

High School should scare anyone nowadays. It’s where the parties no one’s parents know about are weekly traditions. Where skipping out on classes, experiments with cigarettes and marijuana, and teen drinking lead to friendships and bonds but also to plenty of cases where the mask is probably not on a student’s face. Where there is little to no social distance between them. Especially not at the Homecoming dance, or Prom. Grades 9-12, ages 14-18.

The College student is at the highest risk. There isn’t a parent to be found unless they’re taking classes at the same campus as their children. Rare, but not unthinkable. Parties are everywhere. Kissing is everywhere. Ditching class? Also everywhere. I have faith in the average college student, but on average, their opportunity to drop the mask and be close to people is more than an impulse. It’s proven, to date, hard to control. Freshman - Degree Holding. Ages 16+.

3

This is reality. This is the student’s social life. Admittedly, it’s ruined by this pandemic. Who do you know wants to be told to stay away from people who aren’t their family? Those who do are not doing great psychologically. If you have the audacity to see your friends at this time then I suggest you mask up. I suggest that if you’re sick, stay home. I suggest you see your significant other, without a mask, where the two of you can be alone. If you can’t find that, put the mask back on. It’s ok.

But this is a pandemic, which is the worst it can be for “people” type of people. A virus that spreads through the air we breathe, by the uncovered sneezes and coughs left on bus seats where people wipe their snot. There’s germs on the commuter electric scooters no one cleans until the end of the day. They’re left in the air for 45 minutes after a sneeze. I would wear a mask. Because that sneeze could kill you if it comes from the wrong source.

This is days, weeks, perhaps your final days and weeks, on a ventilator, on bedrest. WithOUT your family. WithOUT your friends. Without ANY significant people at all except for the heroes around you wearing pretty much a spacesuit and a scalpel. Who knows what or how you’re eating. Or what happens when you have to expel it all…

4

At the beginning of the school year, we heard the President say it was imperative that education resume. It was after the same guy said businesses have to resume. After that guy saw what the shutdown did to the economy. After he couldn’t take the country losing money like it did. After he lost money when the stock market shut down too.

So the guy opens up the country again. Great. Is it time for that? No. Will there be a time for that? Not if you’re still looking at the statistics showing how many cases and deaths in proportion to hospital beds and effective tests. Not if you care about your significant people enough to not get them sick. Not if you worked an ER a day in your life.

5

If you are the President of the United States, of the World Health Organization, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you have the tools to make the best of differences in the matter of COVID-19 v Education. You and the people who are your colleagues affect the health of a country like America. This information belongs in your minds.

The information that people who are significant to us are indeed dying out there. These people- these Americans- deserve better. They deserve to learn. They deserve to love. They deserve to live. Will they? If that decision belongs to you, then I had good reason to write this piece.

If you are a student and you are reading this, keep your masks in rotation, wash your hands, keep your distance from anyone insignificant. Take your classes seriously.

Teachers, you were my key audience. You know what raises hands? Students in attendance. But they can raise their hands from a computer and you can teach yourself the platform if you are given the time. I suggest sharing platforms across state lines like ventilators between hospitals. The pod theory seems sound to my knowledge...

Pod theory: Small groups of students learn in person. If a student is infected, you only have to quarantine the group (or pod) instead of the entire building. If there aren’t enough teachers, bring a pod or two to school today, and the other tomorrow.

6

I’ve been thinking about the problem with in-person learning when the country actually started moving to reopen schools. I heard the President say that’s what he wanted, but I didn’t take him seriously. I thought someone would fight him on it. And hard. But that didn’t happen. Teachers started protesting but those cries died down, the marching slowed to a halt, and they started to go with it, far too soon.

The reason I have a problem with it, is because I have a son, nieces and nephews, my sister, all in school. I have a problem because I voiced my concerns to them, but they’re still risking their lives because of this… rush. All the panic, all the hype, and then to stuff everyone back into buildings where they can all get infected, sick, and die.

It’s this rush to get people out of their homes again, rush to get people into school, rush them back to work that gave me reason. When no one is rushing people off of the streets, no one is rushing Trump off of Twitter, no one is rushing money into the pockets of healthcare practitioners who are fighting this war with inexplicable strength.

7

You want my advice? Throw money where money is needed. Don’t toss it somewhere it stagnates without use. Pay for teachers to learn the skill to manage their classrooms wherever they can. Pay for Doctors and Nurses to be able to protect themselves with the right gear. Pay for transit systems to properly protect themselves from the onslaught of the unprotected homeless rides. Pay for the homeless to afford housing that doesn’t have them holding each other captive in endless battles with neighborhood drug lords.

Pay up.

Pay up.

Pay up.

Afterword:

Title: "In-Person" (or the long version before the first section.)

Genre: Journalism - Opinion

Ages: All

Word Count: 1284

Author: Emmanuel Williams

Why My Project is a Good Fit: Some are aiming for bookshelves, others are aiming for the stars, and may they at least find the Moon. I will be aiming for the Pulitzer Prize. If at first, you.

The Hook: My hooks will always be the title and an intruductory tone in paragraph one. In this piece, sentence one asks the reader to find the day's date.

Synopsis: I break down the ages facing the In-Person problem and try to shed light on why it might not be working.

Audience: Everyone in sections 2 and 5. The number of which keeps this part very short.

Bio: Very humble beginnings. Penniless childhood led me to fear my peers and read from authors like Brian Jacques, Rowling, and Shakespeare as I hid in my bedroom. But since I've been reading Malcolm Gladwell and Carlos Ruiz Zafon- since I began to take writing seriously- and since I refuse to believe in a one-way path, I may write fiction here or there, but I will always have something to say, and the best way to say it is usually in essay form. I have yet to pen the full manuscript. But life isn't over and nor is the dream.

Platform: I must admit, I don't quite know what you mean by this. Perhaps you mean what I stand on... or for. I'll tell you what I stand for: Honor and Faith.

Education: High School graduate, Technical School graduate (the certificate literally, literally has nothing to do with life now) for Professional Massage Therapy, some bible college for leadership, some online college for business management, bible college was easier.

Experience: I'm a committed writer. Have always been told that I have a knack for the english language and I agree. In all humorous arrogance. But I have no experience reaching out to an agency for representation on any level. I have my mind, I have the talent, I can tell a story, and best of all, I have ambition. Come on, wink if you have ambition.

Personal Style: Ogre. Perhaps Hobbit. But mostly a benevolent elf, who makes grammar mistakes, sometimes isn't humorous at all, but instead of tone, I give you words. Actual, individual, words themselves. My words shall speak for themselves.

Likes: Breaking records. And I like music. Rock to Hip Hop to Country to Radiohead. But I love Coldplay. As for hobbies, this is it. I f* write. And I love that too.

Hometown: Denver, Colorado, USA. Home of the 16th Street Mall, the Mile High Stadium, (a really big section of) the Rocky Mountains, piano band The Fray...

Age: A Millenial, 32.

Thank you.

The Problem With In-Person Learning at

This Phase of the Pandemic in America

1

Schools have been shut down since before the end of the last school year. But at this point, in August, with the Coronavirus still killing American’s by the score, countless schools have reopened their doors, classrooms, and libraries, cafeterias and offices to students. Some schools have opened with every class being offered online, some have taken the hybrid road with a percentage of classes being offered online, the other percentage in-person. Some schools have decided to reopen completely in-person. And for these schools, learning has become a matter of life and death.

2

Think about it. Look at the American student. Learning starts in Kindergarten and proceeds through the 5th grade at any particular elementary school building in this country. That’s ages 5-10. To date, the virus has claimed the lives of children as young as 6. Based on the data, the virus could be in that building.

The next grade + age group is known as Middle School. Where children become teenagers, and that means kissing. But the problem isn’t the infatuations of youth. It’s the preteen who decides to come to school even though they’re sick so that they can see, in some cases, their very first significant other. Grades 6-8, ages 11-13.

High School should scare anyone nowadays. It’s where the parties no one’s parents know about are weekly traditions. Where skipping out on classes, experiments with cigarettes and marijuana, and teen drinking lead to friendships and bonds but also to plenty of cases where the mask is probably not on a student’s face. Where there is little to no social distance between them. Especially not at the Homecoming dance, or Prom. Grades 9-12, ages 14-18.

The College student is at the highest risk. There isn’t a parent to be found unless they’re taking classes at the same campus as their children. Rare, but not unthinkable. Parties are everywhere. Kissing is everywhere. Ditching class? Also everywhere. I have faith in the average college student, but on average, their opportunity to drop the mask and be close to people is more than an impulse. It’s proven, to date, hard to control. Freshman - Degree Holding. Ages 16+.

3

This is reality. This is the student’s social life. Admittedly, it’s ruined by this pandemic. Who do you know wants to be told to stay away from people who aren’t their family? Those who do are not doing great psychologically. If you have the audacity to see your friends at this time then I suggest you mask up. I suggest that if you’re sick, stay home. I suggest you see your significant other, without a mask, where the two of you can be alone. If you can’t find that, put the mask back on. It’s ok.

But this is a pandemic, which is the worst it can be for “people” type of people. A virus that spreads through the air we breathe, by the uncovered sneezes and coughs left on bus seats where people wipe their snot. There’s germs on the commuter electric scooters no one cleans until the end of the day. They’re left in the air for 45 minutes after a sneeze. I would wear a mask. Because that sneeze could kill you if it comes from the wrong source.

This is days, weeks, perhaps your final days and weeks, on a ventilator, on bedrest. WithOUT your family. WithOUT your friends. Without ANY significant people at all except for the heroes around you wearing pretty much a spacesuit and a scalpel. Who knows what or how you’re eating. Or what happens when you have to expel it all…

4

At the beginning of the school year, we heard the President say it was imperative that education resume. It was after the same guy said businesses have to resume. After that guy saw what the shutdown did to the economy. After he couldn’t take the country losing money like it did. After he lost money when the stock market shut down too.

So the guy opens up the country again. Great. Is it time for that? No. Will there be a time for that? Not if you’re still looking at the statistics showing how many cases and deaths in proportion to hospital beds and effective tests. Not if you care about your significant people enough to not get them sick. Not if you worked an ER a day in your life.

5

If you are the President of the United States, of the World Health Organization, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you have the tools to make the best of differences in the matter of COVID-19 v Education. You and the people who are your colleagues affect the health of a country like America. This information belongs in your minds.

The information that people who are significant to us are indeed dying out there. These people- these Americans- deserve better. They deserve to learn. They deserve to love. They deserve to live. Will they? If that decision belongs to you, then I had good reason to write this piece.

If you are a student and you are reading this, keep your masks in rotation, wash your hands, keep your distance from anyone insignificant. Take your classes seriously.

Teachers, you were my key audience. You know what raises hands? Students in attendance. But they can raise their hands from a computer and you can teach yourself the platform if you are given the time. I suggest sharing platforms across state lines like ventilators between hospitals. The pod theory seems sound to my knowledge...

Pod theory: Small groups of students learn in person. If a student is infected, you only have to quarantine the group (or pod) instead of the entire building. If there aren’t enough teachers, bring a pod or two to school today, and the other tomorrow.

6

I’ve been thinking about the problem with in-person learning when the country actually started moving to reopen schools. I heard the President say that’s what he wanted, but I didn’t take him seriously. I thought someone would fight him on it. And hard. But that didn’t happen. Teachers started protesting but those cries died down, the marching slowed to a halt, and they started to go with it, far too soon.

The reason I have a problem with it, is because I have a son, nieces and nephews, my sister, all in school. I have a problem because I voiced my concerns to them, but they’re still risking their lives because of this… rush. All the panic, all the hype, and then to stuff everyone back into buildings where they can all get infected, sick, and die.

It’s this rush to get people out of their homes again, rush to get people into school, rush them back to work that gave me reason. When no one is rushing people off of the streets, no one is rushing Trump off of Twitter, no one is rushing money into the pockets of healthcare practitioners who are fighting this war with inexplicable strength.

7

You want my advice? Throw money where money is needed. Don’t toss it somewhere it stagnates without use. Pay for teachers to learn the skill to manage their classrooms wherever they can. Pay for Doctors and Nurses to be able to protect themselves with the right gear. Pay for transit systems to properly protect themselves from the onslaught of the unprotected homeless rides. Pay for the homeless to afford housing that doesn’t have them holding each other captive in endless battles with neighborhood drug lords.

Pay up.

Pay up.

Pay up.

Emmanuel Williams

August 22, 2020

My train derails. Off of a bridge. From the inside, I cry and cry "Awe, fuck…" The lights, suddenly brighter. The inertia. I can feel my stomach falling faster than the fall, hoping for impact, not bracing for it like I wish I could. I would if only I wasn't in so much terrible shock.

I hope the driver is dead first, not some cardiac arrest from some old man. There's no one else to blame. Is it a newbie? Was it his or her first ride without a trainer to tell him how to handle turns and at what speed? Because we're all dead now.

Oh, what misfortune. Did I live too wrong? How did God decide this was the moment to crash a fucking train? And, selfishly, arrogantly, implausibly, why mine?

What do I have to explain at the gates of heaven? Sure, I'll have to account for my sins, “but I was murdered by a train operator, Mr. Saint Peter, Sir!”

Do we get a chance to atone in the afterlife? In full digression, there is perhaps purgatory. But I don't have much faith in it. I'll have to explain my porn stash, the years of addiction, the rejections I handed out at complete personal discretion.

That arrogance again.

Are we the damned...? Driver and passengers all? And what about this poor train? This beautiful beast that we trusted!

I hope it's not destroyed completely in some near-nuclear blast. I hope there are some survivors. I hope I'm not one of them. I'd be maimed permanently. No life to truly live. Years would go by and I'd marry the one girl who had enough pity to stay near my ghastly body.

Oh vey. Goodbye.

The room was gloomy. Plastic shades were completely unrolled to keep the light from the sun as much at bay as it could be held. A breakfast of pancakes and eggs, a choice between milk and orange juice, and two sausage links lay untouched on a standing meal tray just to the left of the bed. The room's sole occupant had been crying since sunrise and hadn't bothered to wipe her eyes which were soaked by now, and a shade darker than usual.

Catherine Romana, also known as Cath, lay in sadness and a hospital gown. It was the morning after her boyfriend of only two years confessed that her battle with cancer was becoming too much for him to handle. Yesterday. The day the doctors had told her how long she had to live. Told her how the next place for the aggressive melanoma to spread, after living rent-free in her right lung for the past six months, was to her heart, and was suddenly an unstoppable force.

Nurses checked on her hourly. Waiting for the crash in vitals that told them all was hoplessly lost. Cath waited just the same. Yet she was there, moment by moment, wondering if Death would claim his Maiden sooner rather than later. Praying the moment wasn't too far away.

It was soon hard to breathe. Steadily more difficult. With the passing minutes, she washed terrible things on terrible people, prayed, recited Christian scripture, finally she called for the chaplain.

As they spoke, she whispered to avoid the pain in her chest, saying:

"I refuse to forgive anyone! If the Lord will take me, he can have me as I am. It's too late to change on the wings of faith alone!"

The chaplain prayed aloud. A blessing over her passing from one life into the next. He had not finished when the machines rang out, signalling Cath had lost her strength.

But the chaplain finished his prayer, and stayed until he saw the soul leave Catherine's face. He returned to the Chapel, where he prayed for the soul to find it's way into the beyond. To wherever God would place it.

The End

Dear George Clooney,

Huge fan. But so what? You have a million of those. Maybe a million enemies too. But thata's not important right now.

You listen here, Mister. That bat symbol in "Batman Forever" did nothing for the franchise. But you did.

You were a solid Bruce Wayne. No homo. As Jerry Seinfeld would say, "not that there's anything wrong with that."

But the peak of your performances for me was "Good Night and Good Luck" which you directed and starred in. It changed me. The honor and homage you paid to your father the journalist in your treatise of Edward R. Murrow and his "fight" with Senator Joseph McCarthy, was nothing short of a glorious masterpiece.

So you'll get nothing but high praise from me, my friend.

-Emmanuel Williams

p.s. Between you and me; they're not tights if they're leather, am I right?

I am a man.

A man who is not only a man.

I am a man of vision.

A man of honor.

A man of conscience.

And if anyone can write a manifesto, it’s a schizophrenic.

I found honor when I was without home, without medication, in a library I wandered into. I had dreamt of it, and therefore sought it out. Once I had defined it, I knew I would never go back.

Despite my madness, I still have my conscience. Though it seems that madness and conscience are, at times, bitter enemies.

My madness gives rise to obsession and deviances.

My conscience gives rise to modesty and moderation.

But there is a place madness cannot find me, and that is within the walls of honor.

Honor is what even my conscience strives for. It is the motive behind my ever seeking mind.

At every turn, I hope to find honor in my actions. Honor, flowing from my mouth. Honor, in the water I bathe in. Honor, in the skin that I touch…

Have I found such honor?

No. It evades me.

As I suffer in the throes of addiction,

As I bathe in romantic dissatisfaction,

As I touch, with selfish hands, only the skin of drums, and still no other…

But I will conquer them.

As I have conquered every environment I have survived.

But like Alexander the Great I have set up satrapies among the conquered ground, and I live between home and the next conquest!

I am not a man that will stop.

I am not a man that has had enough!

I am not a man without his vanities.

But no vanity will keep me from true honor.

Shall valor come to my aid?

Shall courage answer my prayers?

Or shall madness finally cloud my vision once and for all,

Leaving me dead from these attempts…?

One thing is for sure:

One path,

One way,

One calling.

I will live for honor.

I will fight for honor!

I will die for Honor!

And I shall live

A life I can honor

A life of conscience.

A life my own.

-fin-