Then my wifi quit and a few days later the service man provided a brand-new modem, so now everything works fine. I was able to get some time-sensitive information to SAQA just under the deadline. So what to do next? I could start a project, but my messy desk has been nagging at me, so cleanup is underway. Lots of shredding and filing. Nothing interesting for sure, but this kind of activity makes a person browse through old documents and re-evluate some things. I'm almost done with that.
We are still thinking about our October trip to Minneapolis, where we viewed the We Are the Story Exhibits organized by Carolyn Mazloomi and visited the George Floyd Memorial. This last was a real experience--the area where Floyd died under the knee of a police officer has become a community and a shrine, carefully tended by neighborhood people. They are very organized, handing out brochures about expected conduct and explanations of the shrine. The murals were inspiring. We (five white, old, middle-class ladies) were both awed and very interested in the art and the social structure that has grown up there.
There were many murals, but this one stood out. George Floyd was no angel, I know, but nobody deserves to die like that.
There was a a whole sound system, performances and speeches all day long, a food bank, a clothing bank, a diaper bank, a water station, referrals for health care, periodic memorial services for Floyd and for others killed by violence. We talked with a lady who lives nearby, who spent her days encouraging people to vote. "That's the way change has to come," she said, handing me a sticker.
People leave flowers, and the wilted ones are carefully removed. The whole place was clean, neat and tended.