Quarantine Diary #57 5/8/2020 Civics classes

Well, first off… it’s SNOWING! Friday morning, May 8th and it is snowing enough that the view out my office window is hazy with falling snow. Sheesh!

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The message the Trump administration is trying to sell us is that Everything is Fine. If someone says otherwise Trump silences them by firing them, transferring them, or moving them out of media events. We know this. We see it and it is infuriating and scary.

Some businesses are opening up which seems like a sign that things will revert to normal soon. It will not. Many of us are in a (lucky) situation where we don’t know someone sick with Covid, so it doesn’t seem real. Spring seems real. Screwball snow followed by a sunny afternoon seems real. My friends emailing interesting things, and reading to my granddaughter, and thinking about planting tomatoes – that all seems far more real than coronavirus.

Keep your guard up and I will, too. We are not even close to fine yet.

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Unemployment figures are out and congratulations, our grandparents no long win “Worst American Economy Ever.” About a fifth of our jobs have vamoosed and because of that, all the rest are in jeopardy. Unless and until government can invent a cohesive approach to this crisis (bet it won’t be Trump’s administration) we are in a Wiley Coyote economic plummet.

I have two things to say.

One - is that we who are retired are missing the brunt of this. Those of us with assets and stability have GOT to keep our eyes peeled for what we can share and do.

Two – somewhere along the line I want American subsidies to American people to be tied to American asset building. Sure, we will pay your rent because there is a not a safe job to be had, but here are the free online trainings for forklift certification, for CNA certification, and for Food Safety in hospital settings protocols. And now this person has a few more assets on their resume.  

Need more food assistance? Of course you do because you have a family to feed. So here are online cooking classes for everyone over age 12 in your family. Specializing in how to cook greens and beans and how to use appliances that help turn cheap foods into delicious meals – such as Insta-pots and slow cookers. When the online tests are completed and passed, not only do you get increased food assistance, you also get Insta-pots and slow cookers.

Sure, we will raise and extend your unemployment checks but here are American history, American literature, and American civic classes that you need to take and pass.  Online and taught by people who recently earned their MA’s and PhD’s in the above subjects. And now they can put this experience on THEIR resumes.

You need a tablet or laptop or smart phone? Come to our local county social services site and we will give you one, but you can’t take it home until you have taken the 2-4 hours class on how to utilize it most efficiently and you have passed a not-too-hard test. And filled out a couple online job apps, so we know you can do it.

This is how you build a stronger nation. Let people learn more of the abstract and concrete skills of being a citizen in a complicated society in an at-risk time.

I dream of a society where we teach civics again. 

The opening photo is of the Michigan state capitol. I visited it in 8th grade along with the rest of my 8th grade class. We had studied state civics classes every Friday afternoon for a year and the reward was that awesome overnight trip to Lansing.