February 7 of Year Three of the pandemics of 2022 and 1920. Hard in the center and soft everywhere else. That's my assessment of the Washington Post article from yesterday that's now circulating today across the nation. The article is about the importance of knowing the parallel dates of early February in 2022 and 1920. Yes, at the center of the point is a hard fact—the cursed illness is … [Read more...]
The Rhyme Of A Time: The Poem Of 23
February 2, 2022 by
It's the 23s all around. 23rd month for our pandemic of 2020-2022. 23rd month for your ancestors' pandemic of 1918-1920. Today I begin my early-morning scan of "the news." The very phrase is scary these days. I'm never quite sure if it's my version of the carnival barker, the town crier, or various chicken bones and frog toes arranged in a particular pattern. Whatever it is today, I plunge … [Read more...]
A People And Two Lifes
January 27, 2022 by
Regardless of where you are with the pandemic today, one point we can agree on is the difficulty it's presented to the American people. Think about your view of and attitude toward the pandemic, whatever your stance on the topic. You could agree that "difficult" describes it. Think also about people who disagree with you. Somewhere along the line you'll encounter the word "difficult" or you'll … [Read more...]
From The Pandemic And The Turning Of The Earth–Point Three of Eight
March 15, 2021 by
I missed writing the entry yesterday, Sunday. Actually, I wrote part of today's entry sitting in my car and finished the rest on the following morning in a coffee shop. To refresh, I talked briefly about the past year of pandemic during my most recent show of "Today In Leadership History" (seen on Facebook Live). Eight points or thoughts seemed significant to me. We're almost half-way through more … [Read more...]
From The Pandemic And The Turning Of The Earth–Point Two of Eight
March 13, 2021 by
Yesterday I began an eight-part series on my main thoughts looking back on a year of pandemic. To remind, the previous twelve months were my primary theme in my most recent edition of my weekly show "Today In Leadership History" (seen on Facebook Live). I won't repeat the list of six items that made March 11, 2020 such a historic day. You'll find them on this blog, the prior entry. Let's get … [Read more...]
From The Pandemic And The Turning Of The Earth – Point One Of Eight
March 12, 2021 by
Last night, in the early Thursday evening of March 11, 2021, I devoted my weekly show "Today In Leadership History" (seen on Facebook Live) to a recounting of major events a year ago on the same day. On that one day the World Health Organization defined coronavirus as a pandemic; POTUS 45 closed travel from Europe; the NBA suspended its season; Tom and Rita Hanks disclosed from Australia that … [Read more...]
My Response And A Cup Of Coffee
November 12, 2020 by
An alumnus of mine just sent me the screen shot of something dressed as analysis. It's from a media outlet in my home state of Indiana. As a consulting leadership historian and, more importantly, someone who has real regard for the person who sent me the image, I offer a response. As you'll see, the five points that disqualify the analogy of the influenza pandemic's “second wave” are as … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: October 31
October 31, 2020 by
The Susquehanna in autumn Now And Today, October 31, 2020 Back and forth we've gone. Whether or not to have Halloween. Cities, counties, townships, towns, the burbs, the countryside. Doesn't matter, they're all up for grabs and on the bubble on observing Halloween. Yes in some places. No in others. And in between the sincere attempts to offer, in a word popular these days, a hybrid. A … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: October 26
October 26, 2020 by
POTUS Now And Today, October 26, 2020 You want to know something that is nearly impossible? Separating politics and the pandemic on this day. The truth is that we'll get a cure, a vaccine, a 3-D digitized image of the virus and every treatment known to humankind, a winning lottery ticket with free steak knives thrown in before we'll ever figure out how to pull apart the election … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: October 20
October 20, 2020 by
Now And Today, October 20, 2020 Promised Land. Promised Time. Outside the gate the fog is gone and the fields are clear. Time for you to run through. Away from rules and strictures, from fences. The air freshens, the light brightens, and the sounds ring just a little bit truer. How great it is. You've gone somewhere or you are somewhere and the pandemic didn't follow in full. Vacation, a … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: October 5
October 5, 2020 by
Speed Now And Today, October 5, 2020 The speed is incomprehensible. From nowhere, the virus appears in one, then five, then twenty. In a small space, person to person, contact to contact, the virus spreads in a matter of minutes and shows signs in a matter of hours. One day you see someone you know, the next day you see them behind glass, mask on, isolated and removed. Then they start, the … [Read more...]
TTP: The Pandemic Presidents
October 5, 2020 by
POTUS 45 and POTUS 28 They are the Pandemic Presidents, Donald J. Trump and T. Woodrow Wilson. We'll get to that in a minute. First, I'd like you to go back and breathe in the early winter air of late 2016. That's when I got the first whiff, invisible yet detectable. Time tracks forward, in a line from one minute to the next, one day to the next, and on we go. In reality, though, time flows … [Read more...]
Wave Two: From 2020 To 1918: Tending Haystacks
September 29, 2020 by
With thanks to Claude Monet The date of September 28, 1918 has been rolling around in my mind for the past several hours. I think a follow-up to yesterday's entry is in order (that entry is here https://historicalsolutions.com/1918-pandemic/wave-two-from-2020-to-1918-september-28/). That this follow-up is so untypical in my Wave Two series ought to give a you a glimpse into my thinking about … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 to 1918: September 28
September 28, 2020 by
Convergence in the dark Now And Today, September 28, 2020 The last thing you want to do will not stand much of a chance when it's placed alongside the first thing you want to do. The last thing may take control for a while but, over time, the first thing will be back on top. First things are first things for a reason. The dominant sight in your everyday life will not allow itself to be … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: September 22
September 22, 2020 by
From July 1918, a few weeks before Dr. Welch arrives, and departs Now And Today, September 22, 2020 The pandemic has pervaded and invaded at the same time. It's in bodies, in places, in customs and habits. It's changed so much of what we typically know to do and how to be. Strangely, the same could be said of the upcoming election. By themselves the pandemic and election are hard enough to … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: September 21
September 21, 2020 by
Now And Today, September 21, 2020 A thread woven into threads. A fiber woven into fibers. A strand woven into strands. So many strands and fibers and threads that you can't tell one from another or this thousand from that thousand. They're a tangled mess. Your time and energy are nearly impossible to allocate into a tangled mess. You know you're expected to do something, yet you have no way … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: September 18
September 18, 2020 by
The doctor with a pen Now And Today, September 18, 2020 The following conversation is occurring all across the United States. Employer to employee. Friend to friend. Family to family. Person to person. Door knock. Or cell ring. Or message ping. Or Zoom call. Can we talk? Sure. My (child, other) is having real problems with (school, college, whatever). Can't concentrate. Isn't … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: September 17
September 17, 2020 by
Near the site of The New Era, Lancaster PA Now And Today, September 17, 2020 It just goes and goes and goes. Our pandemic. Where's the edge? I can't see it. Where's the end? I don't know. Where's the clarity? Good luck finding it. So you continue, the slog continues. You do your day the best you can. More masking, spacing, and limited face-to-facing. If you have anyone in any form of … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: September 8
September 8, 2020 by
W.E.B. Du Bois Now and Today, September 8, 2020 The numbers of coronavirus are sobering but not awful. They're far more than we'd ever want but slowly going downward, the absolute right direction. Those of us with anyone of a school age—from pre-school to graduate school—can describe the disruptions to daily life and near-term future of a pandemic in Wave Two. That's a feeling and a fact of … [Read more...]
Wave Two–From 2020 To 1918: September 7
September 7, 2020 by
Camp Devens Now and Today, September 7, 2020. It's our holiday, Labor Day. In a normal year we take time off from work and school, at least most of us. We say goodbye to Summer and hello to Fall. It feels like the trip to the lake or the beach is the last of the season, even when it's not. And in the usual cycle of every fourth year, the political among us know that the presidential campaign … [Read more...]
The Tough October Of 2020
August 31, 2020 by
October 2020 will be a bad month. It may be the toughest yet of our pandemic. I say that not because of numbers of cases or counts of the dead. I say that because of our social body, our body politic, and our civic condition. October will be traumatic. Permit me to lay out my reasoning. My approach is different, unconventional. It's not everyone's first way of looking at things. I understand … [Read more...]
Working Paper: Already In Your Home–Wave Two And K-16 Schools
August 25, 2020 by
For millions of Americans, Wave Two of the coronavirus pandemic is already here. It's in their homes. I'm referring to education, kindergarten through college-age, and the reality of students Zooming to their craft tables, classrooms, and lecture halls. Wave Two is already here for them and the adults who are part of their lives. Millions and millions of them. Wave Two is now and Zoom is the … [Read more...]
The Lost Holidays Of 1918 And 2020
July 7, 2020 by
Erased, wiped out, altered to a great extent. Our tradition and celebration of two holidays have been deeply affected by the pandemic. It's a shame. These words describe the influenza pandemic of 1918 and the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. Let's take a closer look at the two pairs of days that usually help track our year. The holidays 1918: Halloween and Thanksgiving 2020: Memorial Day … [Read more...]
