So New York is "pausing" which means that all non-essential businesses are closed; except, apparently, liquor stores. That will be a recipe for disaster. And all employees who can work from home, must.
I have confirmed that I can go back and forth to visit my partner regardless, and could do that even if there were a "shelter in place" order. And I will sleep with her and snuggle with her.
I think in some ways common wisdom is wrong. I think the younger you are, the more precautions you should take, because you will still be here when it is all over, and can touch again, kiss again, snuggle again, and visit again. They talk about seniors needing to take the most precautions but actually I think they should be allowed to take the least, because they might very well not live beyond the end of this. It should be their choice whether to risk catching a virus or risk dying without ever feeling a loving touch again.
Now for a rant. Our church is closed, and the choir has been on hiatus. We can't sing in the church because there are too many of us, and it would break the "no non-essential gatherings" rule. They are streaming services on Facebook and I had assumed that that meant that the only people in the church would be the minister, one assistant, and the organist. That was true the first time, but today, guess who showed up?? "Little Miss". (If you are a new reader and want to know about her, read some of my posts from 2013-2015.) Now why the bleep was she invited to come sing??? If they just wanted one person, why didn't they ask one of the soloists from the church? I couldn't have done it today because I had been sick with a UTI that gave me a fever and I was feeling weak. (I stayed away from my partner also, even though the fever was not related to anything contagious, but will see her again Tuesday.) Anyhow, I am now stewing. I don't want to email the music director because I think it's bad form to bitch about anything during this time, but my question is - why?? I wouldn't have been at all upset if there had been one soloist from the church (not me). If that had been the case I probably would have tossed off a short email to the music director to the effect of "if you are looking for volunteers to sing in the church while you're livestreaming I'm available" and left it at that.
In any event I have no idea what Little Miss sang; I exited the livestream as soon as I saw her and went off to do something else.
I was able to practice today for a little and tomorrow will go back to working on the Carter arrangement of "Ride on King Jesus". I am not in the mood for opera, which is certainly understandable.
Little Miss has probably lost all her paying gigs for the next several months and needs some extra income.
ReplyDeleteSingers at our church are not paid so that would not have anything to do with it. Interestingly, we still get some very good ones. They rarely stay (Little Miss stayed and sang *every* week for about three years, partly because her boyfriend played the violin there) though. A number of them (*not* Little Miss) have said that they don't *want* paying church jobs where they might be told to sing in ways that are vocally unhealthy or (gasp) be asked to sing with straight tone. We had a dramatic soprano who sang the soprano solos last Good Friday in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. The alto solos were shared between me and someone else. No, I am afraid that they asked Little Miss because she is *young*. The regular soloists are all over 60. I am very afraid that a lot of ageism is coming to the surface under the guise of protectionism. A friend of mine said that she and everyone over 60 was laid off a government job that required people to work on site but cut their workforce. I'm sure that is not legal.
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