That’s my house in the distance. In a few weeks, we’re going to get some new siding on the place.
Gotta busy day ahead of me — a running date at the park, a trip to the Post Office to mail books that sold over the weekend, and then three hours of writing/research at the public library. I have to shepherd Ian to the high school in the afternoon for more testing and to the math tutoring center at 5:00, while Steve supervises the installation the set-up of a better Internet system and does his work thing. Good thing there are leftovers in the fridge!
With the 15 minutes that I have for the blog this morning, let me throw down some links. I hope to be back here in the evening.
Here are a sample of the newsletters in my email box this morning: Slow Boring (Yglesias), Letters from an American (Richardson), Persuasion (Mounk), and The Ann Friedman Weekly. And here’s a shoutout to a great newsletter from Anne Helen Peterson “Other Countries have Social Safety Nets. The U. S. Has Women.”
The clothes from The Queen’s Gambit.
Totally interesting podcast, which includes an interview with AOC, about whether moderate Democrats should broaden their impact by reaching out to the progressive wing of the party or by bringing back the working-class voters who have voted for Trump.
Apt. 11d 
Our in door spaces (dining, gyms, tennis club, bowling alleys, movie theaters, . . . ) are closed. Masked outdoor sports are still allowed and as far as we know, out door swimming pools.
Out of state arrivals are advised to quarantine for 2 weeks.
Indoor gatherings of people outside your household are not allowed.
Will be interesting to see if we can flatten our curve with these measures. I’ll admit to an interest in the data that goes beyond just figuring out the best public health choices.
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“Out of state arrivals are advised to quarantine for 2 weeks.”
I have my doubts that there is any kind of meaningful follow-through on this.
“Will be interesting to see if we can flatten our curve with these measures. I’ll admit to an interest in the data that goes beyond just figuring out the best public health choices.”
My mom (who is 70ish and works in my parents’ shop on the Olympic Peninsula) is delighted by the unusually high levels of tourist traffic that they are still seeing, well past the normal tourist season.
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“’Out of state arrivals are advised to quarantine for 2 weeks.’
I have my doubts that there is any kind of meaningful follow-through on this.”
In New York, there is not. Plus it doesn’t apply to out of state arrivals from nearby Democratic states.
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“Out of state arrivals are advised to quarantine for 2 weeks.”
From our experience – this is a waste of time.
People who are rule-followers will quarantine as asked. People who are not rule-followers won’t. And the 2nd group are more likely to be Covid-infected (because already not taking routine precautions).
Even here in NZ – where, as a country, we tend to follow public health directives (of course, with exceptions – but overall) – ‘non-mandatory’ quarantine was regarded as ‘optional’ and lots of people opted not to.
After the Covid scare last week, Govt is about to (happening on Thursday) impose mandatory mask-wearing on public transport in Auckland (where I live, largest city approx. 1.5 million), and on all domestic flights. But *not* on taxis/uber – drivers have to mask, but not passengers.
There is no public health reason for this exception. I *think* the Govt is avoiding the weak position of mandating something which they’re not prepared to enforce, and know will be widely flouted.
Also kids on school buses will be exempt. There’s slightly more science behind this. We know that school kids catch Covid at much lower rates than adults, and don’t pass it on at anything like the same levels. [Not one case here in NZ of child transmission of Covid – they catch it from their families, but don’t pass it on].
But really, it’s pragmatic. Chances of persuading a bus-full of rowdy tweens to mask-up! Not likely.
It will be interesting to see what happens. Right now, *maybe* 1 in 500 mask on public transport. I’m sure it will be enforced on the airlines (no mask, no boarding), but bus drivers have said they have no intent of enforcing it (nor should they have to).
I’m picking that mask-wearing will tick up for about 10 days, and then drop down to minimal levels again. It’s really hard to persuade people that their is a risk – when there is zero community transmission.
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Yes, an experiment. I personally did not go to a planned outside lunch because of the increasing case loads, Governor’s advice (and miserable weather). We will figure out a quarantine plan for our kiddo and we will not do a family thanksgiving celebration (a big deal for us, this will be breaking a 25+ year streak).
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bj said, ” I personally did not go to a planned outside lunch because of the increasing case loads, Governor’s advice (and miserable weather). We will figure out a quarantine plan for our kiddo and we will not do a family thanksgiving celebration (a big deal for us, this will be breaking a 25+ year streak).”
Bummer.
We’re doing the following:
–Staying home for Thanksgiving–a no-brainer given the need to fly and the short window available to do the trip.
–Pulling the 10th grader out of school for the week after Thanksgiving, given the emerging pattern of COVID blowing up after holidays. (I just learned today that one of our 2nd grader’s classmates is going to Kentucky for Thanksgiving to see cousins, so I’m starting to think about pulling her out for that week, too, but I don’t wanna.) I’m not sure about the last two weeks of school, but a lot of different things could happen by then. It’s tricky, because we need to provide a week of notice before moving a kid between remote and in-person.
–Husband and our college freshman will be done with in-person class in a week and won’t have to go back until deep into January.
–Husband and 10th grader continue to play tennis like fiends. The 10th grader participated in a (distanced!) indoor rock climbing competition this past week.
–I’m planning on having my husband cut my hair over Thanksgiving. He’s been doing my bangs, but I haven’t had the back done in 8+ months. I missed what (in retrospect) were two golden opportunities, but I was a bit too greedy with regard to wanting things to “get better.”
–My social life continues to be “go stand on friend’s porch.”
–We haven’t eaten inside a restaurant in 8+ months. We have eaten inside the cafeteria a number of times, but are going to make an effort to eat out on the covered cafeteria balcony while the weather holds. But the cafeteria is closing soon, so in a week we won’t even have the temptation any more. We’ve also discovered a new food truck park with outdoor seating, but haven’t tried it yet.
–I’m kind of looking forward to pulling up the drawbridge and filling the moat soon, which will be either once school finishes according to schedule or when school closes early–whichever comes first.
–I’m tentatively planning/hoping to fly to WA in June, ideally with the whole family, assuming my household is all vaccinated by then.
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Here’s a piece by Emily Oster on school prioritization:
https://emilyoster.substack.com/p/school-rankings-framing-slightly
I think I agree with her with regard to her prioritization of elementary/middle schools and I agree with her prioritization of venues, but I think I’d move high schools a bit more right than she does–either between outdoor dining and gatherings smaller than 10, or between gatherings smaller than 10 and gyms.
There are smaller high schools, though, that wouldn’t be as risky as big high schools. I’ve queried my 10th grader and he is to some extent podded during the day, as it’s such a small school (under three dozen kids in his grade).
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“ I’ve queried my 10th grader and he is to some extent podded during the day, as it’s such a small school (under three dozen kids in his grade).”
That is a very small high school, a very different exercise than a HS of 500 kids in a class.
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bj said, “That is a very small high school, a very different exercise than a HS of 500 kids in a class.”
Yep.
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“And here’s a shoutout to a great newsletter from Anne Helen Peterson “Other Countries have Social Safety Nets. The U. S. Has Women.” ”
Sorry to break it to you, but other countries have Women as safety nets as well.
Doesn’t matter what level of social support you have, the costs (financial, time, stress, etc.) of family management (kids, old folks, even just 2 people), dis-proportionally fall on the female partner.
Yes, there are exceptions….. I know a couple of stay-at-home Dads, myself. But they are outliers.
Mostly it’s Mum who does the hard yards*
[*Don’t know if that translates – means hard work and effort needed for success – often not acknowledged or rewarded by others. Comes from Rugby (I think), about the people in the team getting the ball up field – for someone else to score the try.]
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Ann said, “Sorry to break it to you, but other countries have Women as safety nets as well.”
Yep. Something I’ve noticed since my grandpa died and my auntie started living with and taking care of my grandma is that a lot of the safety net requires a substantial amount of work from family members in order to be effective, particularly when you’re talking about an individual who doesn’t drive, can’t see to read anymore, can’t hear well, etc., etc.
So much work goes into managing a “safety net”–even when it is objectively a good thing.
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Agree that a lot of work goes into managing a safety net.
Even one which is government supplied, requires *someone* to navigate it.
If its an elderly or mentally unwell person, or a child. That support person is almost always a female family member. And there are a huge number of uncounted, unpaid-for hours provided.
And, bureaucracies being as impersonal and impenetrable as they are, there are horrific consequences of *not* providing that support.
Friends with kids on the autism spectrum (and, here in NZ, it has to be relatively severe to qualify for *any* additional educational support – no IEP for us) – tell me of the hours and hours of time (unpaid of course) they spend identifying the support they’re eligible for, and then hounding the bureaucracy into giving it to them.
Of course, those kids without advocates, or who don’t have educated, bolshie* mums pushing for their entitlements – simply miss out.
* Bolshie. A person who is loud, pushy and combatative and (from the bureaucrats side) uncooperative. Used to be used derogatively -but is now a proud badge of honour for those people unwilling to accept the status quo. Derives (originally) from Bolshevik [so I’m sure isn’t used in the US]
[Thought I’d continue your education in the finer points of English-as-she-is-spoke here in NZ]
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“hard yards” love it. I’m going to start using it.
Seems like it fits with the complaint about having to manage “man babies” at work (i.e. women having to do all the housekeeping/planning/organizing/emotional maintenance at work).
The point that this happens everywhere (though, potentially, to different degrees) reminds me that women (and mothers) have to claim their space, that full rescue cannot come from others (including government).
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And just giving point to the case.
My 13-year-old son has a Teacher Only day at school tomorrow.
We’ve set up a group computer day at a friend’s place for his core friend group (5 of them).
[NB: That’s all they want to do…..]
That friend’s Mum is taking a day off work and will kid wrangle (mostly feeding them, and chasing them outdoors for 15 minutes to take a screen break). [I’ll reciprocate next month when school finishes – and host them here]
Now, while there is only me to co-ordinate at our house – the other 4 families are 2-parent ones. In *every* case it’s Mum who I’ve communicated with (even the family where Dad works from home and Mum’s in the office). The Dads are all perfectly competent and nice people – but the assumption (unspoken) is that managing the kids’ schedule is up to the female parent.
Same was true when I was managing the hockey team. Even if it was the Dads turning up the games – all of the management/communication/scheduling was done through the Mums.
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Here’s a nice state-by-state COVID summary from @politicalmath:
https://polimath.substack.com/p/every-states-covid-numbers-in-context-a87
The West Coast looks great. I have to say, though, that when I read “Washington has just entered a 4 week lock down,” I started wondering how many people in WA know about it.
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Interesting, because we think we are doing terribly here.
Most restaurants will close for indoor dining in the Seattle area, where most of the population lives, so I think it will be noticeable.
There was a 300+ person wedding in Ritzville, WA has resulted in 17 infections and is being considered a superspreader event.
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Also that any safety net has unintended consequences.
Take the sole-mother support and unemployment benefits here in NZ.
Both have the (unintended) consequence of encouraging sole parent (usually mother) families.
If you have a partner (and the bureaucratic definition of partner is someone you’ve been in an intimate relationship for 6 weeks) – and that partner is employed, you do not qualify for either unemployment or a sole-parent benefit. That’s a heck of a load to add to a new relationship.
6 weeks is an awfully short time to make big decisions about your family unit. People have a history of making poor choices under this kind of pressure. And, people being people, most want to have an intimate partner (God knows why, when you see some of their histories!) – and so cycle through these poorly-thought-out relationships again and again.
We also have horrific levels of child abuse for a developed country. Almost all of it is from these families in short-term unstable relationships. Sadly, it’s usually the new ‘father’ beating (and sometimes killing) the older child/children, and/or the new baby (which is interfering with his lifestyle).
Another one is Accommodation supplement. If you are on a benefit, and you live in Auckland (and other expensive cities here in NZ), you’ll qualify for an accommodation supplement to top up your benefit to cover the cost of renting (which is horrifically high). It’s ring-fenced and can only be used for accommodation.
Of course, that money goes directly to landlords – who have zero incentive to reduce rents since the government is paying. We have examples here of the accommodation supplement going up by $50, and landlords immediately raising their rents by $50.
It’s effectively government subsidizing landlords – which is entirely perverse, when you look at our booming property market!
Furthermore, if your base benefit goes up, your accommodation supplement is reduced – so there is no benefit to the poor people concerned in increasing benefit levels.
All this is *not* saying that government safety nets are a bad thing. They are essential in a democracy which cares about and supports the weakest members of our society.
Just, that it’s a hard thing to get ‘right’.
And, social expectations – right or wrong – are that ‘Mum’ will be the primary nurturer in the family unit – and carry the whole weight of that expectation. Any additional career that she has is *on top of* her basic job of family manager.
And, if you think we have it hard as well-educated, white middle-class women – our ‘load’ is minimal compared to the societal expectations loaded onto Pasifika, African or Middle-Eastern women.
[NB: Disclosure. I *am* a solo mum (have always been) – my son’s father died before he was born. I’ve benefited from the solo-parent support (though not from the bureaucracy that went with it!) – until he was 4.5, when I went back to my career (though not full time – my choice)
So I do have some idea what the benefit system is from the inside – though not to the long-term extent that some women endure]
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Of course, we have those same debates here, the unintended consequences of safety nets, especially when we want the recipients to be deserving. The complexities around disability benefits and SSI (supplementary security income) are a dense maze (certainly to anyone who has never used them).
I think it always boils down to whether you are doing more good then harm, which is sometimes not an easy question to answer.
(for example, I remember a newspaper article series set in rural/Appalachian/opiate country in which a significant source of support ws the diagnosis of disabilities in children in the family.)
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