Feature

Since COVID-19 plunged the whole world into darkness, it was like our world had ended and a new and dangerous one replaced it! One day, you are living a reasonably normal life, and the next, you are panicking in a pandemic. This of course, forced everyone to be quarantined and to wear a mask whenever venturing outside of their home. It also meant that everybody had to wash their hands whenever they returned from errands. It felt like, overnight, we found ourselves living in an alternate and dark universe, where the old rules no longer applied. So, what was the cause of this transformation? What was COVID-19 and where did it come from?

The simple answer is it came from Red China. And NO, you are not xenophobic for believing it. The Wuhan Virology Laboratory is a research institute on virology administered by the (Communist) Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Located in Jiangxia District of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province and was the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak. According to some unverified sources, scientists at the institute possibly became infected after being sprayed with blood (accidentally?) containing the Covid-19 virus, and then passed the infection on to the local community. The infection was originally blamed on the Wuhan Fish Market, also known as the Wet Market. This theory has however been proven incorrect, although, if you got a glimpse of what is being sold and eaten at the market, you might just believe why it would have been possible.

To give you some idea as to why people wanted to believe the original theory about the outbreak, let us take a closer look at the Wet Market and what went on in there.

Bizarre (to us) the Wuhan Wet Market Menus Show Over 100 assorted wild and domestic animals, as well as some animals many of us would consider pets, sold as food; as well as some that many of us may never have heard of. Here is why the Wuhan Fish Market is called a ‘Wet Market’ in the first place. Put on galoshes before we wade in. Starting with all the melting ice from the crates containing cut-up parts, it adds to the slush already on the floor. This slush is made up of blood from all the slaughtered animals, fish scales, animal carcasses, and guts from chicken, dogs, cats, alligators, snakes, camels, and whatever other biologic matter had been disposed of, from gutted and dismembered animals. Can you imagine the smell? It would be revolting.

Bill Shakespeare could not have said it better, although, I did change some of the ingredients in the Witches Song, from Macbeth:

    Double, double toil and trouble

Fire burn and caldron bubble

Fillet of a Krait snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of tree frog,
Wool of Horseshoe bat and tongue of puppy dog,
Adder’s fork and scorpion’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and Hubei howlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double, Wuhan’s in trouble

Cooked up a virus and now they’re in trouble!

…and so on!

I was unable to complete the list of all one hundred or more animals or animal parts listed on various menu boards at the Wuhan Wet Market, however, I managed to get quite a few of them. In a few cases, particular parts of the animals that are offered on the menu board, are listed alongside. So, when you get to the end of my article, you will be able to check out most of the items on the menu board. A word of caution here: on some videos of the Wet Market, buyers can be seen biting off the head of their live purchases and sucking out the creature’s blood and brain matter. I almost threw up a couple times, while gathering material for this piece. Some of the animals would be more familiar as zoo animals or pets, than food items on a menu board.

“…Lions and tigers, and Koala bears, oh my…”

One of the main sanitary issues that exists, is that live animals are allowed to intermingle with the slaughtered animal parts, at the Wet Market. I am certain that the USDA would not certify any of the offerings.

Now, let us take a look at what went on at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The researchers not only did DNA sequencing for a SARS-CoV-2 virus, but then combined or spliced it with DNA from Horseshoe bats, and perhaps other animals as well. And these bats, did not come from the Wuhan Wet Market as originally claimed, nor were they acquired in the vicinity of Wuhan. The Horseshoe Bats were in fact captured more than 1,000 miles away in caves located somewhere, deep in the wilderness of the Yunnan province. The research team had kept the location of these caves a secret. The leader of the research team and also leader of these expeditions, Shi Zhengli, is called Batwoman by her colleagues, for good reason. These bats have in fact been linked to several viral epidemics over the years. And, she is in fact responsible for the gene sequencing and splicing that created the COVID-19 virus, as well as others. There is also evidence that her work was done at the behest of the CCP or the Chinese Communist party.

Here is a twist to how the virus might have been transmitted. Some scientists claim that bats transmit the SARS-COV virus to civet cats where it mutates itself to be able to infect humans. You will see that civet cats are one of the items on the Wuhan Wet Market menu. To add another element to the Wuhan mess, it has been known and observed that some of the researchers, after they are done with various test animals, they go and sell them at the Wuhan Wet Market to be sold as menu items. Which is why, the initial word out of Wuhan was that, the epidemic started at the Wet Market. That theory was later retracted. So was the theory that some infected researchers had carried the viral infection to the market and infected the people they came into contact with. It was suggested that, these researchers might have gotten infected by accidentally coming in contact with infected blood samples.

The following came from the web: “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) admitted late last week (around early May 2020) that it had destroyed coronavirus lab samples during the initial months of the outbreak, which originated in Wuhan, China…” In other words, they were destroying the evidence!

Here are some more interesting facts about the Covid-19 outbreak. Batwoman, or Dr. Shi Zhengli, was silenced by the Chinese Communist Party when she in fact wanted to release information regarding the Coronavirus at the time of the original outbreak. Soon thereafter, Major General Chen Wei, 54, of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), was appointed by CCP to clean up the mess created by the researchers at the Wuhan Laboratory. She just happens to be the epidemiologist in charge of the Communist Chinese Military’s Bio-Weapons program; you know, the ones weaponizing viruses and such. Hello, Is it perhaps possible, that the information was not supposed to get out, but due to the outbreak is how the world became aware of it?

While the Coronavirus Quarantine is now in its fourth month, there have been a couple of developments that have helped some patients of the virus, recover. Although, medical personal, the left-leaning media and politicians have been attacking the uses of certain drugs, even though they showed promise if the case was caught in its early stage, even President Trump had one of these prescribed for him. You have Hydroxychloroquine which has been used to treat Malaria since the 1940’s and has been approved by the FDA. Some doctors have prescribed it for certain COVID-19 patients. It has worked in some cases, but not all cases. Another drug by the name of Ivermectin, has long been used to treat parasites, and is now showing good results in treating certain coronavirus patients in a number of trials around the globe, including a couple locations in the US. Of course, research is going on at a frantic pace at almost all big pharmaceuticals in the US as well as around the world to find the CURE. Some say, they are very close, but NO vaccine has yet to be announced (as of this writing) that will cure the dreaded virus.

In so far as SIP (Sheltering In Place) there is a possibility that the quarantine may get lifted around June 1^st, possibly by June 15^th at the latest, except perhaps in California, where Dictator, sorry, Governor Pompadour Newsome apparently knows better than the President and all the medical professionals in the world that happen to agree with him.

Here is what you have to understand, with fifty individual states, fifty individual experiments are taking place and more than likely, there will be fifty different solutions found, perhaps more, depending on population numbers, population density and living conditions. What might work for say, Montana or Arizona, might not necessarily work for California or New York. As a matter of fact, some solution that might work for rural California, might not work for San Francisco. Or a solution for Upstate New York, will not work for densely populated New York City. Patience will be the key to making any solution work. Follow the rules and we will all make it through this devastation. And if in doubt, wear your mask, socially distance yourself and wash your hands.

There are certain conspiracy theorists who claim that the release of the COVID-19 virus may not have been accidental, but was done on purpose, as a cunning attack on humanity, to diminish our numbers, or perhaps as a trial run to see if it could be used for population control or even as a means of reducing or decimating the numbers of the adversaries. Then again, it could simply have been a stupid mistake by overconfident and naïve researchers at the Wuhan Virology Lab. Either way, the CCP tried to cover it all up and destroyed the evidence which delayed our efforts at stopping the contagion, finding a cure, and causing the unnecessary death of almost 345,000 patients worldwide, while infecting about 5,400,000. Of those infected, approximately 2,750,000 have recovered so far.

In Contra Costa County, from around 1300 cases, there were 33 deaths, the lowest numbers in California, to this date. While the total for California to this date is 90,800 cases, with about 3900 deaths, compared to New York State with 390,000 cases and 23,350 deaths. These are of course approximations as the pandemic is still ongoing, and bottom line, even the loss of one life is sad and could have been prevented.

Now, here is something about the mortality numbers which might explain why they are what they are. I just got through listening to a press conference from the Illinois State House, wherein a state health official was explaining how COVID deaths were calculated. She in fact admitted that if a teenager died in a car crash and was shown to have the COVID-19 virus in his system at the time, his death would be attributed to COVID-19, even though he was actually killed by the car crash. This individual also stated that if a senior in a senior care facility died of an existing condition such as pneumonia, heart-attack or cancer but was shown to have the COVID-19 virus in his/her system, he, or she, would be counted as a COVID-19 death. So, according to this Healthcare Professional, no matter what really killed you, if you had the misfortune to also have the Coronavirus in your system at time of death, you were considered a COVID-19 casualty. Is this possibly why the COVID-19 Mortality figures are so high?

By comparison, Influenza, or the common Flu has infected 65 to 80 Million Americans and killed as many as 46,000 since October of 2019 (as of early May). Now, if some of these deaths are purposefully attributed to the Coronavirus, because at the time of death, some of these patients might have had the COVID-19 virus in their system, it would certainly help to inflate the COVID-19 death numbers, while reducing the Influenza death numbers. And yet, common influenza appears to have infected more Americans than the Coronavirus. It is well worth taking a closer look at what the true numbers would tell us if they were not being manipulated and inflated by certain factions, and, for their own purposes.

As of May 28, 2020, California has reached a landmark 100,000 cases of COVID-19 and the US has reached 100,000 COVID-19 Deaths. These numbers were plastered all over the web as though this was some kind of score, maybe for the morons in the mainstream media! Nuff said!

Let us take a look at some interesting facts. Early on, when President Trump shut down airline travel from China, he was labelled xenophobic. Now, those very same, self-righteous individuals are saying that he acted too slowly. Early on, Dr. Fauci stated that if the country is not quarantined and all work does not cease, as many as 2 to 2.5 million Americans could die from COVID-19. And, the mainstream media howled at the president to listen to the experts. Trump listened and did as he was advised, and only 100,000 people died. But now, according to the mainstream media, it is Trump’s fault because he did not listen to the experts soon enough. Then, Dr. Fauci said to shut down the whole country. Now, he says to open it up as soon as possible. Is it possible that sometimes, the experts are uncertain and do NOT know what they are talking about? Perhaps, we need to get NEW experts aboard.

I was not going to write about contagion in general nor by means of hard surfaces such as counters at the grocery store or the bank; but here it goes. What I was taught, way back in the 1960s, and what I believe to this day is that for a virus or bacterium to be transmitted to another person, it has to have a means of staying alive. That means is moisture. For example, when a person sneezes who happens to have a cold or flu, or virus, that pathogen has to have a means or vehicle to travel from the infected person to you, such as moisture. The pathogen stays alive while enveloped in moisture as it travels from the infected person to you. On a normal day, the breath of the infected person will stay moist long enough, so that whatever pathogen they are transmitting, will get into your system as you are opening your mouth to take a breath of your own. Which is why, at you family Christmas party, one foolish uncle, aunt, or child, can give the cold to half of the people present.

However, on a warm, sunny day, that same individual with a cold, would have to stand really close to you for their sneeze to affect you. If they are five to six feet away and sneeze, the moisture within that sneeze will evaporate before it gets near you, eliminating the pathogen, thanks to the heat from the sun.

Remember, organisms such as bacterium and virus, must be attached to living tissue to survive and multiply. The moisture in an infected person’s breath or sneeze, keeps those organisms alive until they reach their target, your mouth or nose, and from there are carried to your lungs and respiratory system and start to multiply, giving you the infection. This applies to solid surfaces such as counter tops or tables, or what have you. If an infected person were to lick the hard surface, and you are dumb enough to follow suit and lick it yourself, you will more than likely absorb whatever organisms their saliva contained. If, however, they lick that surface and their saliva evaporates before you have a chance to follow suit, the organisms in their saliva would have perished when the moisture evaporated, and before you had a chance to lick.

This does not mean that you should go around licking counters and tabletops. There are plenty of allergens and dirt that can still make you sick that don’t need to be contained in moisture. So, for the COVID-19 virus, chances are that if you stay at least six feet away from an infected person and your face is protected by a face mask, you have a particularly good chance to NOT get infected. Oh, and don’t forget to wash your hands, just in case you have touched a hard surface that somebody has just licked, and then, you go and rub your eyes!

Of course, the above is just my own educated theory, and could be wrong.

***

Below, you will find a list of some of the items on the Wuhan WET MARKET MENU BOARD:

Alligators (-Alligator meat, Baby alligator, Alligator tail, foot, penis, stomach, tongue, intestine) – Bamboo Rats – Bats – Bee Pupae (larvae) – Black striped snake (with skin and Skinned) – Camels (Camel meat, feet, hump) – Centipedes – Cicadas larvae – Civet cats – Cobras – Cockroaches – Crocodiles – Deer (Deer blood, sinew, dried deer sinew, antler, tenderloin,  penis) – Fish (including live Goldfish for swallowing) – Foxes – Frogs – Geese – Goats – Grasshoppers – Hedgehogs – Horseshoe Bats (one of the main ingredients of Covid-19) – Kangaroos – Kittens (live kittens or kitten meat) – Koalas (Those cute, fuzzy black and white little tree climbers. The Aussies are really pissed. They though the little Koalas they exported, were going to zoos and not on menu boards) – Krait (The many-banded krait snake, also known as the Taiwanese krait or the Chinese krait, is a highly venomous species of elapid snake found in much of central and southern China and Southeast Asia. This snake has been implicated as the source of the glycoprotein modification that allows the coronavirus 2019-nCoV to infect humans, causing the epidemic in Wuhan China) – Lions – Marmots  – Muntjac or Barking Deer – Musk Rats – Ostriches (Ostrich meat, feet, testicles, eggs) – Otters – Pangolins (Pangolins are also sold as part of the illegal wildlife trade in china. They are killed for their scaly armor because it is used in Chinese traditional medicine. They are considered to be the reservoir host for the SARS-COV 2 virus that grips the world right now) – Peacocks – Porcupines (the Bezoars in their stomachs are used in Chinese traditional medicine) – Pheasants – Puppy dogs (alive, meat) – Roosters – Salamanders – Scorpions – Silkworms – Snails – Snakes (various) – Squirrels – Streptopelia (doves) – Swans – Turkeys – Wild rabbits – Wolf pups (Live wolf pup, Wolf pup meat) – Yak ( Yak meat, Yak feet)

As of May 23, 2020, according to MarketWatch web page, lions, tigers, peacocks, and pangolins are OFF the Wuhan Wet Market menu boards!

As you probably know, not long ago, a tweet by President Trump was “fact-checked” by Twitter. The company then recommended to its users that they re-consider the President’s statement. What did he tweet that was so questionable? He had asserted that massive voter fraud was probable if all voting was switched to mail-in ballots.

Twitter’s implication was clear: The President’s statement was inaccurate at best, or a lie at worst, but in any case, it wasn’t a “fact.” The chorus of Trump’s critics certainly seized on the opportunity presented here. Those so-called fact-checkers made it clear—it was a rock-solid FACT that there is NO evidence whatsoever, that voter fraud occurs with mail-in ballots.

Hmmm. Is that a fact?  Just on its face, common sense would lead one to believe that that is a pretty bold assertion. No evidence, as in, not a single ballot, ever?  In all the elections ever conducted in the United States, have mail-in ballots never been tampered with?  

When I looked into the matter, guess what I discovered. I found that while there aren’t a lot of examples of mailed ballot voter fraud, there are some, and there are plenty of examples where the appearance of fraud is fairly clear. So much for the “no evidence” claim.

Then, guess what I did next—follow carefully now—I thought about it for a few minutes.

My 89-year-old mother lives with us. She hasn’t voted in the last several elections, even though she gets a ballot in the mail prior to each one. Now comes the part that the fact-checkers must find difficult to check. How hard would it be for me to simply fill out her ballot, sign (forge) her name, and send it off along with mine? Hey, just in my little household alone, I could easily increase the power of my vote by one hundred percent! That’s pretty awesome, don’t you think?        

Around the same time, in our neighborhood, everyone received a complimentary copy of a newspaper called The Epoch Times. That same day, posts appeared on Nextdoor from many in our local community, either complaining or praising the newspaper. “This is right-wing propaganda,” some claimed, “why is this being ‘allowed’ by the post office?” It wasn’t long before someone researched the paper on a “fact check” site, proudly displaying their so-called research findings, that of course, confirmed the poster’s opinion that the paper was “right-wing propaganda.” As you might imagine, a lively discussion ensued.

What was my first reaction? How about checking the fact-checkers?

I did, and yep, as I suspected, it was right there in their legal disclaimer. To paraphrase, it explained that “The information provided was the ‘opinion’ of the site’s editors, and is in no way to be considered as verified, ‘accurate’ information.” In other words, they played it smart with a CYA statement so that they wouldn’t be found liable if someone acted based upon their so-called “fact-checked information.” They could be right, or… they could be wrong. No matter. By naming their site with the words “Fact Check” in the title, they were keenly aware that the typical American would go right there and cite them as arbiters of truth and affirmers of fact.

Having worked in media for a very long time, one thing I know without a doubt to be true: The pen is mightier than the sword. The power of both written and spoken words is immense. They create policy and can shape opinions; they can mobilize the masses and move people to act in ways both noble and ignoble. Anyone who has studied critical thinking or rhetoric understands this. The problem today, I suppose, is that, so far as I can tell, those classes are not required curriculum in our public schools.

My OPINION? Everyone ought to be wary whenever the term “fact check” is employed by someone as a means of supporting their argument because “facts” are largely conditional or situational when provided without context. One idea (fact?) we might agree upon is that all human beings are biased to some degree and that words can be, and often are, used in ways to influence our emotions.

Think for a moment about the following words and phrases. Do they make you think or feel a certain way? Does a list of associated terms develop in your mind? Do you consider yourself “objective” when you read or hear these words, names, or phrases written or spoken in “news” reports? Do you accept each one at face value, and if so, how do you know that “face value” means the same thing to you as it does to me?  Consider these:  

Fact Check

Systemic Racism

Jihad

Expert

Black Lives Matter

Democrat

Science

Nancy Pelosi

The “N” Word

Terrorist

Hate Speech

Racism

Snowflake

Nazi

Victim

Assault Rifle

Police Brutality

Oh yeah, and of course, “Trump”

When it comes to the news, I think it’s fair to say the notion of “objective journalism” is largely fiction. During WWII, it was an accepted practice that members of the press would withhold graphic images and casualty details so as not to risk undermining the war effort. Journalists understood the reality that war was an ugly business, so they chose to frame their reports with a version of the “facts” that they believed (opinion) supported an American victory.

Was that the right thing to do? One could argue that they didn’t tell the truth or reveal the “facts.” But then again, as some have said, we might now speaking Japanese or German, had journalists not acted the way they did.

Then in Vietnam, the press swung in the opposite direction, having no hesitation about going above and beyond in their pursuit of so-called “journalistic integrity.” Magazines showed graphic images of Buddhist monks setting themselves of fire in war protests and ran full feature articles about outlier incidents like the My Lai Massacre. Was the reporting balanced or objective? Knowingly or otherwise, the opinions of journalists guided their reporting heavily to support one policy direction over another. Unlike journalists during World War II, those reporting on Vietnam determined the slogan “End the War” should triumph over “Win the War.”

Subsequently, the Vietnam War did end for America, but not in victory over the enemy. Instead, we opted for a complete withdrawal, essentially betraying the people of South Vietnam, even though we had promised to support and defend them. Today, you’ll find it is generally agreed by many that the pro-democracy forces of the South, along with the United States, had, by military standards, won the war. But because of an effective policy-influencing campaign by the press and subsequent pressure exerted on politicians by the public, America essentially surrendered to the North, making all of the American and South Vietnamese lives lost on the side of freedom, wasted.

As my choice of words and phrases suggest, we live in a time when realizing the potential power of words and phrases could not be more important. We ought not accept anything as fact, simply because the source of the information comes from a source that calls itself a fact-checking organization. Ultimately there are people there making decisions about that information, and those decisions cannot help but be colored by human bias and pre-conceived notions.

Is the news comprised of facts… or FAKES?

Think for yourself and do your own fact checking. And then, fact-check the fact checkers. 

I started reading at an early age. Now, I know that a lot of you out there, might claim the same thing. I started at about age four. I was born during World War II, in April of 1942, back in the Stone Age in so far as technology goes. My dad told me that evening entertainment in those days consisted of listening to the radio or reading. We lived in Budapest, Hungary, which was a very sophisticated metropolis with numerous libraries and bookstores. So, my parents had a nice collection of current editions and classics as well, in the bookcase of our fourth story apartment. By 1944 winter, the war which had been raging all over the world, suddenly threatened our rather peaceful existence.

Adolph Hitler, the murderous leader of Nazi Germany forcibly took over our government and was running our country. Something no one had asked for. So, as the Christmas Holidays of 1944 came and went, the citizens of Budapest were warned that Stalin’s Army was but 25 kilometers from the city, ready to take out Hitler and his minions. As a momentary truce was declared, it gave Hitler a few days to escape with his tail between his legs.  My parents decided that, just in case something went wrong, we could be stuck in the eye of the storm. So, it was time to get out of town. In the spring of 1945, we joined a long line of refugees heading for the Austrian border. Just like them, my parents had decided that it would be best to sit out the rest of the war, in a safer place. As we crossed the border, we were met by the US Army that promptly put us on a train to be transported to a refugee camp in Oberösterreich or Upper Austria, several hundred miles away.

Why the history lesson, you ask? Because, I was an only child. Up to this point in my life, I hadn’t read a single book. However, as we arrived in Upper Austria, at Schmitzberg Lager (Displaced Persons Camp) and had our new quarters assigned to us by the American Military, my parents started unpacking the bag and the suitcase they had brought along. My parents had tried to bring only important things that might be needed in our situation. My mother had brought along a small collection of jewelry she possessed along with some clothing. My dad’s suitcase was filled with important papers, such as their marriage license, our birth certificates and deed to our apartment, along with other documents. He also had stashed in the suitcase, his severance- pay from the company he had been working for, to the tune of 50,000 Pengös, equivalent to about $12,500, at the time (quite a chunk of change), until we crossed the Austrian border, just as the currency was being devalued. All that money wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on. We were not only homeless but now, broke as well!

Dad had somehow managed to line the bottom of the big suitcase with his favorite books. Now imagine, he had lugged that suitcase, all the way from Budapest to the Austrian border, about 200 miles, on foot. He must have really loved those books. As we settled in at the refugee camp, he would read them one after the other, until he got his hands on some newer volumes in trades. He also got his hands on some Hungarian children’s books and started reading them to me, until I got to be about four and I started reading some of the simpler books, all by myself. We lived at Schmitzberg Lager for four and a half years. There was no television and only a beat-up old radio to listen to, for the news. So, for entertainment in the evening, my father read, my mother read, and I tried to read; but thank goodness for picture books. Here, I must insert that the local Austrian administration decreed that even refugee children needed to learn the local language, German, so at age 5, I started attending a little Austrian kindergarten, for half a day. This is where I learned to read in German. And yes, “Hänsel und Grete” (Hansel and Gretel) was the first German book that I read. After that, it was “Schneewittchen und die Sieben Zwerge” or Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

After four and a half years at the at Schmitzberg Lager resort and spa, jobs opened up in Southern France and, mom and dad and George Junior hopped on a train to Cavillargues in the region of Languedoc-Roussillon, in the south of France. Auf wiedersehen Österreich, Vive la France!

With the new country, came a new language, new food and a new school. Within a month’s time, I was able to sing ‘Sur le Pont d’Avignon’ and a week later, ‘la Marseillaise’. Of-course this meant, I had learned to read French. It was in the spring of 1949. I was seven. I started reading the French books. At our new school, we also got introduced to poetry. One of the first ones we read and recited was ‘La Cigale et la Fourmi’ or the Grasshopper and the Ant by Jean de la Fontaine.

Unfortunately, our stay was cut short as the mine ran out of coal and all the men in the group of fifty who had decided to come on this venture, were now out of a job. The French Refugee Services started sending people to different parts of France as jobs were opening due to the loss of workers during the war. Again, my parents and a group of a dozen or so, were sent on their way to Algrange in the Moselle region of north-east France, close to the German border.

My father went to work in the local mine, and I was enrolled in the first grade at the Ecole Chemin des Dames elementary school, the very next day. Since I had already spent six months learning French in the south of France, I had no problem catching up with the rest of my little classmates. Even with all the homework, I always made time to read for fun. My parents and family friends would get me books for Christmas and birthdays. Early on, I started reading “Les Aventures de Tintin et Milou”which were hardbound editions of a comic book series about the exploits of a cub reporter, Tintin and his canine companion, Milou, beautifully illustrated by Hergé, in color. I sat in the corner of our little apartment and read, and reread Tintin’s adventure, until someone got me the next volume for Christmas. I eventually collected ten of these, and, I still have them, sixty-five years later.

As I got a bit older, I began reading some of the classics, such as Jules Verne’s Five Weeks in a balloon, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth and several of his other titles. On my eleventh birthday, my dad gave me Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand. I wasn’t crazy about this particular book, at first. It was a bit difficult to comprehend for an eleven-year-old. The book was written in verse, because originally, it had been a play, and some of it, I just didn’t get. If you’ve never heard of Cyrano de Bergerac, it’s a story of this famous, invincible swordsman from 17^th century Paris, who had this rather large proboscis, you know, schnoz. He lived for swashbuckling and ended the lives of many arrogant challengers. I don’t want to tell you how it ends, just in case you might want to read it.

Except for the occasional movie, we spent most of our weekend evenings, reading and listening to the radio. Here again, there was no television. That is probably why I learned to visualize the stories I was reading. Lounging on our bed (we didn’t own a sofa) I would read for hours. Had my parents not dragged me off the bed, I might have forgotten to eat.

Along with my Tintin collection, I started getting books from the Bibliotheque Verte or Green Library. This was a publisher of reasonably priced books by Jules Verne as well as Victor Hugo, Hammond Innes, Eckmann Chatrian, Honoré de Balzac and numerous others, edited for young readers. When it came time to pack my suitcase for our move to the United States, I was fourteen, and decided that instead of a bunch of my other stuff, I would bring my favorite books. Besides, I had outgrown most of my clothes and our sponsors in the States wrote my parents that there would be plenty of new clothes for me when we got here. So, pretty much outside of some clean underwear and shirts, my suitcase contained all my Tintins, a dozen Green Library books, plus a nice edition of Le Dernier des Mohicans (the Last of the Mohicans), Cyrano de Bergerac and Trois Bonds dan la Jungle (Three leaps in the Jungle) a book that, I had won in an art contest. I also liked to draw and still do.

All those books that I brought with me from France, you can still find in my bookcase, along with a couple hundred other titles that I have acquired over the years. In addition, I have several boxes filled with books, sitting on the shelves in our garage. And by the way, every book on all the shelves in our house, I have read, except maybe for a couple titles. “After all, what’s a book good for, if it ain’t been read?”

Now, where am going with all this book reading, you ask? After having read a couple thousand titles, perhaps more, over the years, I decided that I could probably write one of my own. I always liked to write, and for one of my Sociology papers as I was working on my BSBA (Bachelor of Science in Business Administration) degree from the University of San Francisco, I wrote a forty-pager, detailing our fourteen years of wandering, following our escape from Budapest. My plan had been to use this forty-pager as a basis for the book that I would finally write, entitled DISPLACED.

However, when it came time to sit down and start writing my story, I couldn’t find my 40-pager; so, I had to start with a blank sheet of paper. I had read several articles on writing a memoir or autobiography and how long it should be. The consensus of opinions was that, it should be no longer than around two hundred. I started with an introduction, which took about a dozen pages. Then, I got a ‘Writer’s Block’.  Where the heck, was I going to come up with a hundred and eighty more pages? So, I went back to my beginnings and broke up my narrative into small chapters; in effect, like writing short stories. This way, I never felt the pressure of worrying about how long my book was going to be. I had it all broken up into manageable segments.

Now that I had worked out a plan, I set about implementing the project. I have rather clear memories of my early childhood, my formative years, growing up in Austria, then France and eventually in the United States. I started writing in earnest and before I realized it, I had produced upwards of 300 pages, wow!

I wanted lots of pictures. As a camera was not always available, I decided to create a few illustrations for events in my life, of which no photographs could be found. I eventually got my very first camera for Christmas of 1956, in Berkeley. It was a gift from our sponsors: a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye, an awfully long name, for a very simple, little, box camera. And, let me tell you, I put a lot of 620 film through it, which produced 4-inch by 4-inch images; a couple of which actually appear in my book. I eventually got to the point where I had enough drawings and photographs, so, I thought I had better get back and finish my story.

I wrote for a couple months until I felt that I had a complete and comprehensive manuscript that covered all the events of my early life and my family’s uprooting from one location to moving to another. A good friend, Karen went through my manuscript and did an excellent job of editing this first cut. I corrected all the errors she had found and then, I of course proceeded to add another five chapters. Finally, one day, my wife Bonnie came to stand by my computer and said, “Haven’t you written enough? Maybe it’s time to get your book published before the end of the century!”

I felt that my final cut was a masterpiece, in my mind. My first edition, published by Alive Book Publishing, contains 411 pages, nicely divided into 42 chapters with a whole array of personal photographs and my 12 pen and ink illustrations. Eric Johnson and the Alive Publishing Team created a great cover and final layout for my ‘masterpiece’.

I’m very proud of my accomplishment and am happy to report that just about every friend I have on planet earth has purchased a copy on Amazon.com.

When I originally came up with the idea for this project, I really wasn’t certain that it would ever get it done, let alone get it published. But, once I started, I kept at it and finally I can see my book in my bookcase, alongside volumes by some of the luminaries of the world of literature like Robert B. Parker, Tony Hillerman, William Shakespeare, Tom Bodett, Rush Limbaugh, Robert Heinlein, Bill O’Reilly, Erich von Däniken and Graham Hancock among others.

In those dark and dreary days after World War II, I really don’t know what I would have done without my books to keep me company and to transport me to distant worlds, where I could get lost in the special effects created by my own imagination. Or simply, get a few laughs, when that’s what was needed. Will I ever be as good as some of those famous authors? Who knows? Actually, who cares? I am going to keep on writing and of course reading, because there are a lot of books out there that I haven’t read yet.

So, if you think you have a story to tell, don’t wait around like I did. Start writing it down, while it’s fresh in your mind. Once you start writing, you will realize that it isn’t even that difficult. And, don’t worry about spelling and composition, or what somebody else might think about it. Write from the heart! Write your story to satisfy you. When you’re all done writing it, then you can decide if and when, you want to see it published, so that you can see it on your bookshelf alongside all the other famous authors.

When I got done with DISPLACED, I was very happy with it and proud to have done it. My wife Bonnie liked it too. That made me even happier. Many friends and relatives have read it, and they all liked it too. The reason they liked it, they told me was, because it sounded like I was speaking to them directly. Before I finally talked to ALIVE Book Publishing, I had actually talked to six or seven other publishers who had all given me advice that, in retrospect, would have totally destroyed my dream and changed the final product into a skinny, 200 page story that wouldn’t have sounded anything like what I had envisioned. So, I got it done my way and now, it’s in my bookcase and I am quite proud of it.

Who would have ever imagined that we would experience a worldwide pandemic in our lifetime? A pandemic is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region. When I was in the second grade at Edith Landels Elementary, Chickenpox ran through our school like a wildfire infecting roughly 70% of the student body. As my sister and I scratched and itched ourselves through a seven- or eight-day quarantine, we enjoyed staying up late, sleeping in and watching daytime TV with a minimal amount of homework. While I missed being outside with my buddies, one week of shelter in place went by reasonably fast without a lot of collateral damage.

Fast forward to the year 2020, and after roughly two and a half months of house arrest sheltering, it truly feels like we’re living out the plot of one of those pandemic movies like Outbreak or Contagion and most of us are craving some form of normalcy. While Coronavirus/COVID-19 is no joke, it doesn’t hurt to inject a little humor into what we’re all experiencing and how drastically it’s changed our lives. With the help of my college-age daughter, who was yanked home from her semester abroad in Dublin, Ireland, we have assembled a few light-hearted thoughts and observations on our current SIP situation.

Shelter in Place:  Spending a majority of our time cooped up inside the house, avoiding gatherings, working from home and interacting with only our immediate family members goes against human nature. We’re a social species and much like dolphins, gorillas, and wolves (oh my), we crave real interpersonal connection, not just ZOOM conferences in our underpants. That’s not to say a few of my friends haven’t found this to be a very comfortable lifestyle and one they’ve been perfecting for years; for me, it’s been mind-numbing and soul sucking. I look for any reason to mask up for a visit to the grocery store, post office, or bank. Speaking of the bank, it wasn’t that long ago that if you walked into a Wells Fargo, Chase or Bank of America wearing a mask, the alarm would sound and the police would be summoned. Now, you’re greeted warmly by a teller wearing a mask behind a protective shield.

Social Distancing: “SD” should more accurately be called PD—physical distancing. Socially, people should avoid distancing themselves from one another, but to avoid the transmission of airborne Covid-19 germs, there is a need to maintain a physical distance. Let’s just get the terminolgy straight. Socially, we should stay as close and connected to each other as possible to provide, love, companionship, and support during a time of sheltered isolation. We need to see and talk with our peeps to remind us we’re not going through this time alone. I’m really enjoying my Zoom Happy Hour seven days a week.

Zoom, Skype and Facetime: Videotelephony or online video chatting allows us to stay visually connected to family, friends and business associates. Growing up, I remember Maxwell Smart (TV’s Get Smart) or Dick Tracy (comic strip) having some type of communications gadget that allowed them to see who they were talking to and yet that type of device seemed like a farfetched, unachievable technology that would never actually be developed in our lifetime, but look at us now. I just wish I had bought Zoom stock in early March.

Working from Home: Not that long ago, working from home was “tech trendy,” but perhaps a concept a little ahead of its time. In February of 2013, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer eliminated working from home for her employees. “Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home,” read the memo to Yahoo employees. Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett Packard soon followed Mayer’s lead. The impression may have been that too many worker-bees were lounging around their residence playing video games and snacking on Pop-Tarts. Now, post Corona, companies may insist that a portion of their employees work from home. This could drastically reduce the need for office space or at least the notion that not every tech company needs to cluster their employees in high profile offices in San Francisco, Silicon Valley or Palo Alto. This could potentially be a good thing for the Tri Valley commercial real estate market, I’m just saying.

Homeschooling: How many parents are actually equipped to home school their children regardless of age? Many of us barely passed math, science, and history when we were in school, so how are we supposed to teach those subjects? Online tutorials are our best suggestion when it comes to how to school our needy little ones, however our high school and college kids are on their own. We do both wish we could take the Jason Mamoa axe throwing P.E. class. For those of you who played the role of teacher’s aide (without any credentials) for the last 8-10 weeks, you have my utmost respect and admiration. Thankfully, summer vacation has finally started.

Graduations: Virtual graduations and streaming ceremonies may be the new normal, but our high school and college grads are sure getting cheated. It’s not that commencement ceremonies are anything to write home about, in fact, most are horribly dull and boring, but it’s a rite of passage for high school and college kids. As if stepping up on the family room coffee table to receive a diploma from your mom or dad isn’t anti-climactic enough, the immediate family-only post-party in the kitchen is really lame.

Family Time: Almost every family is looking for ways to kill time during the countless number of hours spent together every day. Games, puzzles, knitting, rock art, and charades are all terrific ways to bond…. if you live in the 1800s, but when the kids start driving the parents crazy and the parents start driving the kids crazy, it’s important to give each other some space. Not every hour of the day needs to be spent together. Respect boundaries or risk a family feud of epic proportions without Steve Harvey as the host.

Misc: When it comes to our pets, we’ve all heard how dogs love having us around, but cats hate it. Our dog has never been happier or in better shape, but the cat is terribly annoyed having us around and plotting how to change the locks in the house. Somewhere there’s a happy medium. Our parakeet and iguana both seem to be impartial to us being around. Speaking of being in shape, I’ve never walked or hiked as much in my life as I have since the SIP went down. It’s nice to see much of the town on foot, but we’ve already logged like 250,000 miles in our Easy Spirit touring sneakers, however, blisters and chaffing are a nasty byproduct of all that walking. Finally, don’t even get us started on a directional path of travel at the grocery store because most people were directionally challenged before the new normal shopping guidelines.

This crazy, unprecedented, once in a lifetime, surreal, life alteration is like nothing any of us has ever encountered or likely will ever again. In a way, we’re all experiencing what retired life (with more restrictions) could be like. And while it’s got certain appeal, it’s way too early for most of us to want to make this lifestyle permanent. Also, every time one of us sneezes or coughs in public we get that “do you have the ronies?” look. We’re never going to be one of those people who wear a protective mask while driving alone in our cars or while on a solo walk 6,000 feet from anyone, but if that’s you, knock yourself out.

As an avid sports fans, we do miss watching baseball, basketball, and even golf, but if the fall high school, college, and pro football seasons get cancelled, we may truly lose our sh#t. We’re ready to get back to the way life was when Corona was just a refreshing and affordable beer.

Claire and I truly hope everyone reading this article is safe and healthy and will take the necessary precautions as our state slowly opens-up and we get back to some sense of normalcy. In the meantime, be kind, be careful and, be patient. Now go wash your hands.