Last Sunday, I had a great time wandering the Deer Grove Forest Preserve. It was two days after Illinois entered Phase 3 of reopening, and I just got a permit for individual volunteering. For me, it was one more thing I always enjoyed doing, and which I could do again.
After a long time, I was together with my friend and a steward of the Forest preserve, who spends way more time in the woods than me. Also, she knows tons more than me about plants and nature in general.
I didn’t post any of the pictures on that day because life took a different course, and my mind was occupied with other things. But today, I week later, I want to show some of them.
As I mentioned in that post, this week, we resumed the clinic escorting. We had to complete zoom training about our new procedures and sign the waiver regarding the new risks related to the pandemic.
I was glad to be back; it is great to feel that you can do something useful and meaningful.
It was relatively quiet; there were just a few antis, and they left about 11 AM. I was hoping to meet up with Igor, but since a new protest, the largest so far was unfolding, there were no CTA services to the Loop, and the bridges were up again. Everybody was upset about the bridges, and it didn’t look like it was really necessary, but whatever.
Metra looked much better than the other two times I took it to the city during the quarantine. There were more people on board, but unfortunately, not all of them were wearing masks. The conductors are still not around, so nobody is enforcing the face covering.
As I realized that I am not going to meet with Igor, I took the 12-30 train and was able to attend a Palatine protest, organized by NWSOFA/Indivisible. It was very well organized, with lots of invited speakers and with all our elected and not elected official speaking. I decided to play safe and stood further away, which unfortunately meant that I could not hear everything.
What was encouraging that through the whole course of the rally, the passing cars were honking non-stop (including the big trucks:))
I am horrible with writing about the books I’ve read, so ai decided at least to mention several books I read earlier that year. I do not have detailed reviews for them, but I wanted to let my friends know that I think those are important books, and worth reading.
The first one is Madeleine Albright The Mighty and the Almighty. I liked that book somewhat less than the “Fascism” book, or rather I was less excited by it. But I still think that for those who want to understand better the rationales behind American foreign policies, it is a must-read.
The Nuremberg Trials is a very detailed description of the unique international trial against the war crimes conducted by Nazi Germany during World War II. I especially recommend it for those of my friends who went to school in the Soviet Union and didn’t have a chance to revisit their knowledge about the famous Nuremberg Trial since then. Even for the broader audience, it’s very educational and thought-provoking.
This book about Rwanda genocide is an absolute must-read for those who do not know much about the Rwanda genocide, except that “something bad happened.” It shows how horrible things might turn if the world is ignorant.
That concludes my first quarter reading, at least the books which I find worth reading, and I hope to write in more details about the books which I read in April and May.
Today, Palatine had its first Racial Justice rally, the second one is planned for Saturday. I learned about it a couple of hours before it was going to start, but I figured out I can do it.
Through the past week, I’ve said multiple times how important these days is not to be silent. Yes, we are a small village, just about 80,000 people. And yes, it may seem like it does not matter; we are away from the city and away from the real battle. But I find it essential that my neighbors of different languages and colors walked out together to say NO to racism.
We were standing at the corner of Palatine Road and Quentine, the Riemer Reservoir is a public property, that’s why we could be there without any permission. Police was notified and had it’s presence Continue reading “Local Protests”→
I have a list of at least ten books which I read and never reviewed, and I do not want that book to end up in the same list, that’s why I want to write just one paragraph here.
I am currently listening to The Education of an Idealist, and it is so good!!! May be it is just me, but I laugh and cry while I am listening to this book on the go.
Last Friday, Illinois started to reopen. To be more specific, the whole state entered Phase 3 of the reopening plan. The state is doing surprisingly well, keeping all the numbers under control. I called my eye doctor (not opened yet), my hair salon (got an appointment for Saturday), and my nails spa (got an appointment for Wednesday). It’s not like those are the most important things in my life, but those are small parts that started to fill the places they belong to.
It is also about human connections. I know both the hairstylist and the spa owner for quite a while, and they know me, and our conversations are usually beyond a barbershop small-talk.
In the hair salon, they reorganized the space so that each stylist has plenty of space on both sides. Everybody wears masks, and they clean thoroughly after each client. Also, they are not using blowdries anymore.
In the nail spa, everybody was ecstatic to see mom and me. I chatted at length with the owner. She told me that she applied for a small business grant, but is still waiting for approval. They are pretty busy after reopening. However, she is upset that some people do not keep appointments, and she can’t take anybody without an appointment these days.
I wish her to get through these rough times. She is doing all the right things to grow her business, offering exceptional services, working very hard, and always smiling.
I didn’t do the outdoor dining yet although I saw lots of places setting the tents outside.
Igor was able to come to Palatine for a couple of hours and visited with my mom. I suggested they would sit at the shelter on the platform, which is outdoor, but comfortable enough. I also instructed mom to wear a mask, which she did, and Igor did as well. I stopped by to give Igor a whole shopping bag of different fruits from Eurofesh. In view or the subsequent events, it was a great idea :).
The most important thing for me, however, is the fact that we are resuming clinic escorting. We have new procedures, and last week, all the experienced escorts were invited to zoom training sessions. The first day of escorting will be on Friday. I was worrying that the Loop will remain closed, but it reopened today. Metra is still running a weird schedule and will continue for the rest of the week. That means, I will be an hour late for the shift, but our team leader said it’s okay. I can’t even describe how excited I am to be back, even with our reduced powers. For the record, antis never stopped 😦
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Hettie's Reflections 