Maybe it’s just me, but ever since Pres. Biden’s Inauguration, it seems like there’s definitely been a better vibe in America. Not that there’s been one huge paradigm shift to explain it, but a number of small “Feel Good” ones. So I decided I would share a few of them.
Neither Rain, Nor Snow, Nor …
The story of a “Snowstorm-Induced Impromptu COVID Vaccine Clinic” is what really got me thinking – things ARE getting better.
Twenty Josephine County Public Health workers had finished a vaccine clinic in rural Cave Junction, OR and were on their way back to Grants Pass to finish administering the six doses they had left. But a jack-knifed semi-trailer truck closed the highway for hours.
Realizing they wouldn’t make it back to home base to give the last six Moderna vaccines before they expired, they decided to create an ad hoc impromptu vaccine clinic right there on the snowbound highway.
Like the Pfizer version, Moderna’s COVID vaccine must be used within six hours after it comes to ambient temperature.
Even though they were accompanied by an ambulance which could manage any untoward reaction, it was still difficult to find six willing recipients. Partly because that area of Oregon is not pro-vaccine. (Josephine County voted for Trump 62% to 36%.) And no doubt anyone would be a bit dubious about a knock on your car window while stuck in a snowstorm asking if you’d like to get a shot.
Going car-to-car, it took the team 45 minutes to get their six “yeses”. And fittingly, the last person to get the last leftover vaccine was a woman who hadn’t made it on time to her appointment earlier that day because of the snow. A perfect ending!
So six lucky people got (as a six-y/o calls them) their “Fauci Ouchie” shots … al fresco!
An Inclusive Pledge of Allegiance
While not receiving as much coverage as Amanda Norman’s well-deserved rendition of her “The Hill We Climb” poem, for a certain niche population (myself included) there was another special inclusive moment early in the Inaugural ceremonies.
When Georgia fire captain Andrea Hall (first ever African American female fire captain in Fulton County, GA), it was very personal. For the first time ever, the Pledge of Allegiance was both simultaneously spoken and signed. She did it as an homage to her late father, who was deaf.
Describing her use of sign language as a very intimate experience – like being able to speak another language – she said she had decided shortly after being asked to do it in ASL sign language.
“You’re between Lady Gaga and J. Lo. I mean, come on, that’s it. And I have like my little 15 seconds of something.” Hall said, “Those are too hard to be sandwiched between, so I need to put some meat between there, you know?”
At a time of such division — especially at a place like the Capitol, which is recovering from the January 6 insurrection — perhaps the words of the pledge say it all.
“It was written for little children who were immigrants,” Hall said. “And in some way, we’re all immigrants. You know, we’re a mishmash of people from all over. And I think that’s the significance of it. It’s a way to unify all of us by speaking those thirty -one words.”
There’s PLENTY of Room in the Inn
A little dose of Schadenfreude at Donnie’s expense would also count as a “Feel Good” offering. And Lord knows Trump richly deserves it.
Jane Mayer, a reporter for “The New Yorker”, provides a video of the Trump Hotel in Washington – now BARREN and EMPTY! In fact it looks a lot like the lobby from Jack Nicholson’s movie, “The Shining”.
📍Trump Hotel, DC – Looks like they drained the swamp pic.twitter.com/dgDg3HxRbp
— Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) January 27, 2021
I’m not an accountant, but I bet having NO occupants will have a negative impact on one’s cash-flow.
Cathedral Arts Flower Festival
I know I’ve mentioned the Cathedral Arts Project Flower Festival at St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha. In the past I’ve gone most years, or at least every other year, with family and friends. It’s a wonderful daytrip for a unique experience.
Florists from the Omaha Metro are assigned different areas of the Cathedral (which is really quite beautiful) to decorate. And while you wait your turn to take the tour throughout the cathedral, there is music from different choirs, orchestras, organists, etc. (Obviously lost on me, but the others all love it.)
This year because of the pandemic, it’s going to be a virtual tour. So I thought you might enjoy taking a look online.
Typically the show runs from Friday through Sunday – but I’m not sure how long it will run online.
2020 Cathedral Flower Festival — Cathedral Arts Project
Saint Cecilia Flower Festival 2021 – Final on Vimeo
6 Responses to “Friday Fun: Feel Good Odds & Ends”
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What a great collection!
Oregon leads the way! (I would probaby have been suspicious myself.) I gather they also made appointments for the second shot while they were soing this.
Back in the day when I worked in college theater, my boss (may she rest in peace – she died in a rick climbing incident a couple of years ago. Doing something she loved.) was very open to inclusion, and we had both a blind (student) actor and a deaf (student) singer while I was there. We started having an Ameslan translator at every performance. (Incidentally, she was also protective of actors’ safety -she cast the blind actor as the bishop marrying Arthur and Guinevere in Camelot, and gave him an “altar boy” whose job was to keep him safe on stage.) Gee, Nameless, I’d forgotten how much I miss her. Lately, I am seeing more and more politicians having Ameslan interpreters at their sides. I look forward to the day when it is so common I stop noticing it, but for now, it is heartwarming to see.
I had made one of your photos from a previous flower festival into a virtual jigsaw puzzle, and I solved it about a month or two ago (it was surprisingly difficult but well worth it.) Lovely, lovely.
Thank you so much, Nameless.
To get a feel of the vibes changing in America, I suppose you have to be there but your very pleasing assemblage of feel-good articles certainly got some of that positive feeling across all the way to Oz, Nameless.
Thank you for brightening my (Satur)day.
Thanks Nameless. Cave Junction id notorious for Right Wing Nuttery 🥜
Enjoyed these positive features you offered, Nameless.
Yes since Joe Biden became President, it’s been wonderful.
“Snowstorm-Induced Impromptu COVID Vaccine Clinic” I seen it on the Nightly news. Nice to see that they jumped into action, to not waste the vaccines.
We’re still waiting to get an appointment for our first shot. Major issue here is the clinics don’t have enough vaccine available. So patience will play a real role here.
I bookmarked the link for the Cathedral Arts Project Flower Festival at St. Cecilia Cathedral. I love flowers, so will enjoy later.
Thanks Nameless
Thanks Nameless. A hospital in WA had a refrigeration issue and got the word out to qualified people through a variety of methods and gave vaccines starting at 10 at night and got them all used by 4 in the morning–some came in the pajamas to get them!
I would add I saw an announcement that all White House press briefings will have a sign language interpreter, too.
best story of the week…the Oregon nurses, vaccinations in the snowstorm….