Southern Bookman

Buckhead malls' reopening raises coronavirus threat

As Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms opposes Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's relaunching of the state's economy, the city's two biggest malls plan to reopen Friday.

Without a directive from Kemp or Bottoms, Lenox Square Mall and nearby Phipps Plaza in Buckhead will open their doors for limited hours. While Macy's and other stores plan to open, other businesses likely will remain closed.

Phipps' AMC Cinema would be allowed to reopen under Kemp's directive that reopened hair salons, bowling alleys, restaurants and tattoo parlors. But movie companies are not releasing new films at present.

Big crowds aren't expected. But any number of people in the food courts or public passageways will strain "social distancing" regulations.

The malls' opening appears an even more decisive step toward abandoning rules to control the pandemic as coronavirus deaths keep rising in Georgia. Reopening Lenox and Phipps will bring a much larger gathering of people than a barbershop or restaurant, while Georgia lags the nation in coronavirus testing and contact tracking.

Even small numbers of people at funerals or social events have caused big rises in Covid-19 infections. Just 50 people showing up at a mall could ignite a large outbreak.

 

 

Sally Rooney's "Normal People" heats up the TV screen

With the passion of the young lovers depicted, critics are mooning over Hulu's adaptation of Sally Rooney's  novel "Normal People."

The sexually explicit 12-episode series begins streaming Wednesday. Rapturous reviews hail the performances of Paul Mescal as the sensitive Connell and Daisy Edgar-Jones as the troubled Marianne.

The steamy love scenes, one containing full-frontal nudity, are called sensitive rather than prurient. Lenny Bruce would be chortling.

Closely following Rooney's best-selling book, the show traces the troubled love affair of Connell and Marianne from high school through college. The plot involves role reversals, bitter breakups and tender reconciliations.

Rooney, the young Irish writer called the voice of the millennial generation, co-wrote the first six episodes along with Alice Birch, who goes solo for all but one of the last installments. Mark O'Rowe wrote the 11th episode.

Directors Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald also are drawing praise for their adherence to the nuances of Rooney's novel and the delicate depictions of sexuality. Abrahamson handled the first six episodes, and Macdonald the last half dozen.

A special counselor lessened the actors' stress from the intimate moments, according to reports.

The novel blended the artistry of literary fiction with the titillation of romance novels. The TV series achieves a similar mix, according to the critics.

 

Sundays without the Braves

On Sunday afternoon, I realized that I would be watching or listening to the Braves in a normal springtime.

I haven't missed sports that much during the coronavirus shutdown. But the Braves have been a Sunday ritual for years. All of a sudden, I longed for a Ronald Acuna home run, a Mike Soroka strikeout, a Dansby Swanson-Ozzie Albies-Freddie Freeman double play.

Chip Caray's voice echoed in my mind. I imagined Don Sutton on the radio.

But there was no baseball.

 

 

 

New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern slays Covid-19

Many in the United States are claiming victory over Covid-19, as deaths keep rising and health experts warn of a second wave.

Bill Gates, on Fareed Zakaria's CNN "Global Public Square" show Sunday, said that the United States needs more extensive testing before widespread reopening can accelerate. Gates pointed out that states with low death rates so far could still experience rising infections.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's victory declaration over the virus appeared more justified than U.S. proclamations. New cases have dropped to near zero in the tiny South Pacific nation.

Here are a few other pandemic snapshots from the weekend:

New Zealand sends virus packing

As the U.S. death toll rises, New England claimed cautious victory over the virus, with one confirmed new case, four probable ones and one death. Health officials in the remote island nation of 5 million residents called this "elimination" of the disease, leaving open the possibility the outbreak could return. New Zealand seeks to "eradicate "the virus, rather than merely "mitigate" it, the U.S. policy.

Popular Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a partial easing of the country's extensive restrictions, allowing restaurant takeout orders and limited ocean swimming. But hair dressers, gyms and massage studios remain closed, businesses now open in Georgia under Gov. Brian Kemp's widely criticized order. Ardern pointed out that such businesses require personal contact.

Australia, which imposed strict rules like its neighbor, also has few new cases.

Wuhan releases all Covid-19 patients from hospitals

Hospitals in Wuhan, China, have discharged all covid-19 patients, the Chinese government announced. The city of 11 million, where the pandemic began late last year, had no new cases. China reported only three new infections in the entire country, two of them from visitors.

Wuhan has 3,869 total deaths, compared with 11,460 in New York City, where fatalities continue to rise. The Chinese government imposed harsh quarantine measures in Wuhan after the outbreak began.

Seattle followed health professionals, while New York City delayed response

When the first U.S. Covid-19 cases rose in Seattle, public officials limited the outbreak by quickly following health experts, the New Yorker's Charles Duhigg reports in the magazine's newest issue. In contrast, Mayor Bill DeBlasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo delayed in consultingmedical officials.

Conservatives love Sweden

In Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal," Max Van Sydow plays chess with death. Now, the entire country does so.

Sweden's bars and restaurants have stayed open while social distancing rules are voluntary. That has made the reputed Scandinavian home of free love a favorite of American conservatives eager to reopen the U.S. economy.

For years, the socialist nation and its generous social policies have been condemned by American right wingers. Now, the country receives as much love from the Wall Street Journal editorial pages as in a Bernie Sanders speech.

But the Swedish Covid-19 death toll has been higher than in other Scandinavian countries, which have imposed stricter restrictions. Still, most Swedish deaths have come in nursing homes, and the nation is on track to reach "herd immunity." 

Alas, U.S. sports fans who want games to return can't cite Sweden as a model. The country has banned gatherings of more than 50 people.

Bill Maher turns right

HBO comic/social commentator Bill Maher sounds like Mitch McConnell in decrying coronavirus relief legislation. Like McConnell and other Republicans, Maher believes the soaring federal debt will bring an economic catastrophe.

Friday night, Maher challenged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the huge packages Congress and the Trump administration have passed. Never answering Maher's claims, Pelosi defended the aid as essential for U.S. workers.

Following the passage of the latest legislation, Senate Majority Leader McConnell opposed help for local and state governments, telling them to declare bankruptcy. Sounds like Maher would agree.

Pelosi told Maher that a new proposal would give money to state and local governments. Democrats were criticized for not insisting that such a program be placed in the most recent legislation.

Economists like The New York Times' Paul Krugman claim the spiraling borrowing is low-risk, with interest rates now negative. Yet, the projected $4 trillion deficit this year and $24 trillion debt bring pause.

Maher, who has been doing his "Real Time" show from home, with digital interviews and canned video of laughing audiences, also has joined conservatives in calling for easing of self-distancing restrictions. Maher also cites Sweden as a model, perhaps because he'd find live audiences there.

The not-so-funny comedian's at-home monologues and routines have fallen painfully flat. Has he quarantined his writers?

 

 

 

 

 

NFL marches onward with entertaining stay-at-home draft

Leave it to the NFL to come up with an entertaining draft during the coronavirus pandemic.

ABC's coverage of the draft's first round Thursday night offered the melodrama, pathos and comedy of reality TV. The drafted players were shown in their living rooms, surrounded by unglamorous middle-American family members expressing unabashed joy.

Only Miami Dolphins selection Tua Tagovalia tried to meet the style standard of past years, wearing an ostentatious plaid suit. Fellow Alabamian Henry Ruggs III made a a suave fashion statement with his cream-colored bathrobe, while others wore T-shirts and sweats. LSU's top pick Joe Borrow dressed down in a plain white T shirt with a simple map on the front, denoting his hometown's area code territory.

Tbe College Game Day crew of Reese Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, Maria Taylor, Desmond Howard and Tom Renaldi focused on the players' college careers, with some prognostication regarding their NFL futures. On ESPN, Mel Kiper Jr. and Booger McFarland presented more of an inside-NFL perspective.

As powerhouses LSU, Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson dominated the draft, the banter of Davis, Herbstreit, Palmer, Pollack and Howard echoed the eternal debates that excite college football fans.

Renaldi's trademark heart-rending features and the primitive at-home shots gave the broadcast the feel of 1950s "This Is Your Life" and "Queen for a Day" shows. Interviews of the players at home by Suzy Kolber, Renaldi and Taylor were reminiscent of Edward R. Murrow's "Person to Person" programs showing celebrities at home.

Views from Howard's home gave a special treat to music fans. Along with his football memorabilia, including his Heisman Trophy, a high-tech turntable for playing vinyl records appeared behind the former Michigan and NFL star. On the wall behind the turntable, he displayed vintage album covers, first from a Bob Marley recording, then the cover of Miles Davis' 1958 classic "Milestones."

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was shown smirking in a bunker that looked as if it could withstand nuclear war. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, frequently booed during past NFL drafts, showed some humanity in broadcasting from the basement of his home. The NFL's marketing prowess came forth with tributes to hospital workers by players and coaches and Goodell's frequent solicitations for the league's "draft-a-thon."

Coaches and general managers presented themselves as regular people, going against their images as soulless strategists and technicians. Children gathered in the background as the all-Dad group peered into their computer screens and talked into their cellphones. As might be expected, Jon Gruden appeared to be a fun guy at home. One coach's home swaggered with the heads of wildlife on the wall.

The NFL's arrogance showed through with its apparent belief that the season will go forth. Camps begin in July, but some health experts fear a coronavirus resurgence this fall. But if any American institution can withstand the virus, it's the NFL.

 

456 years after birth, William Shakespeare still our most vital writer

William Shakespeare still excites audience's rapture and stirs political passions, 456 years after his reputed birth on this day in 1564.

Cities from New York to Montgomery, Ala., support prosperous companies that perform his works. Noted Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro in his recent "Shakespeare in a Divided America" recounts the heated political and social controversies Shakespeare's plays have generated in this country from the nation's founding until today.

Wall Street Journal polemicist Barton Swaim in a review Thursday skewered Shapiro for his account of the Shakespeare in the Park production of "Julius Caesar" in which the Roman emperor appeared in a Trumpian wig and suit and tie. In a heavy handed gesture, Caesar's followers wore "Make Rome Great Again" caps.

In a well-argued but tendentious review, Swaim faults Shapiro for accepting without question the production's implication that Trump like Caesar seeks dictatorial power. In Swaim's placid view, Trump is more of a Falstaffian entertainer, whose danger is overstated.

Showing conservative bias, Swaim also claims that Shapiro insufficiently questions liberal assumptions in analyzing other recent Shakespearian controversies.

Swaim praises Shapiro's historical look at Shakespeare's influence in America in the 19th and 20th centuries. He cites Shapiro's examination of a late 19th century production in New York City that touched off a riot between anti-British Tammany Hall thugs and Anglophile fans of the playwright.

Shakespeare's London theaters were at times shut down because of the plague, and now theaters across America are closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. New York's Shakespeare in the Park recently announced the cancellation of its summer schedule. Sidelined companies like Nashville's Shakespeare Festival are marking his birthday with live-streaming events.

The playwright also reportedly died on this date in 1616, at the dawn of the modern world he did so much to shape. Mystery surrounds his life, with a few tantalizing glimpses and much that's unknown.

After more than 400 years, his plays seem new.

Hope stirs on 50th anniversary of first Earth Day

Even at Louisiana State, the first Earth Day in 1970 was a joyous occasion, bringing students and professors together with the promise of saving our dear world.

The inaugural event received universal support, as reflected in The New York Times' reprint Wednesday of some of its 1970 coverage.

Earth Day's first observance is the top story on a reproduction of the newspaper's front page the day after, receiving an unusual multi-column headline. A photo shows the huge crowd packing Fifth Avenue, closed to traffic. The reprint includes an article by legendary Times reporter McCandlish Phillips detailing the variety of the city's celebrations.

A massive event receiving bipartisan support, Earth Day led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Republican President Richard Nixon, and passage of the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and Endangered Species Act, as New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert outlines in an Earth Day article Wednesday.

But the Republican Party took a disastrous turn away from science and environmental support during the Reagan administration, as Kolbert details. Reagan launched an assault on Nixon-era environmental victories with the appointment of Anne Gorsuch, mother of reactionary Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, as head of the EPA. Gorsuch drastically cut the agency's budget.

In successive years, the oil and gas industry contributed millions to GOP politicians, and derailed efforts to head off climate change. The GOP reversal wasn't total; as recently as the George W. Bush administration, Sens. John McCain and Lindsay Graham supported allowing corporations to swap emissions credits and a tax on carbon. Now, the GOP is the only global political party that denies climate change.

The Trump administration has launched full-scale war on environmental programs, a radical assault that Reagan would not have contemplated. As the world careens toward climate-change devastation, Trump and his toadies launch their bombs.

A number of significant Earth Day advances survive for now, and climate change awareness is growing among corporations, even in the petroleum industry. Despite the Trump administration's blasting of emissions standards, the auto industry is irreversibly moving toward electric-powered vehicles.

Climate change protests are gaining momentum, and news organizations boosting environmental coverage, even as the media landscape darkens.

Along with its usual coverage of music and entertainment, Rolling Stone recently published an impressive special issue on the battle against climate change. The magazine spanned the generations with profiles of Jane Fonda and Greta Thunberg, and examined the effective non-violent civic disobedience of the English-based group Extinction Rebellion and the U.S. launched Sunrise Movement.

Veteran environmental activist Bill McKibben targeted Chase Manhattan Bank as the biggest supporter of fossil-fuel companies. The magazine also published a complete guide to the Trump administration's rogues gallery of former oil and coal lobbyists now decimating environmental policy.

The first Earth Day demonstrated that decisive action could save the world. After squandering that promise, the earth is running out of years. The rise of a new generation of protesters stirs hope over despair.

 

 

Brian Kemp, the emperor of bowling alleys

Bowling alleys, tattoo parlors and hair salons apparently are essential to Georgia's economy, according to Gov. Brian "Shotgun" Kemp.

The Jethro Bodine look alike is again the object of national ridicule after allowing those businesses along with health clubs and barbershops to reopen Friday as the coronavirus pandemic rages on in the Peach State. How can a tattoo place, er body art studio, practice social distancing? Or a stylist give a haircut six feet away?

Vanity Fair's Beth Levin in an article that crowned Kemp the front-runner for the title of the country's dumbest governor pointed out that those businesses are among the most likely to bring people close together and spread the virus. She cited Kemp's statement a couple of weeks ago that he didn't know until that day that the virus could be spread by those without symptoms.

Esquire's Charlie Pierce also lampooned Kemp, pointing out that he was accused of stealing the election over Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams, mentioned as Joe Biden's possible vice presidential choice. We can only imagine the measured response Abrams would have taken to the pandemic as governor over Kemp's erratic course.

Kemp's order will also allow restaurants to open their doors to group dining, and movie theaters to welcome audiences.

If only the governor has the same concern about rural hospitals, and poor people without health insurance.

Experts say reopening requires extensive coronavirus testing, in which Georgia ranks near the bottom. Kemp also mentioned increasing contact tracking, which depends upon widespread testing and the hiring of hundreds of workers.

Kemp's action blindsided Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who went on national television to decry the reopening as reckless and premature. The mayors of hard-hit Savannah and Albany also blasted Kemp, who earlier upset local officials by reopening beaches.

An AJC photo showed Kemp headed to the announcement along with Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and the Falstaffian House Speaker David Ralston, all clad in khakis and blue shirts, looking like aging frat boys on their way to a football party.

Opening bowling alleys and hair salons is a political ploy, a contrived show of action to appease GOP  voters demanding an end to social distancing. The action will do little to revive the state's economy, while fueling another spike in infections and deaths.

 

Musical stars stand in support of World Health Organization as Trump disparages agency

The World Health Organization received glowing tributes during an all-star musical special Saturday night, clashing with Donald Trump's cutoff of U.S. funding for the agency.

So much for "One World Together," the theme of Global Citizen's event featuring at-home performances from a dazzling array of musical talent, ranging from the Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Jennifer Lopez and Paul McCartney to Lizzo, Lady Gaga, Kacey Mulgraves, Billie Ellish, John Legend, Sam Smith, Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes.

The uneven performances included Mick Jagger playing acoustic guitar, Keith Richards doing something with his instrument on the couch and Charlie Watts banging his sticks on the furniture on the Stones' split-screen "You Can't Always Get What You Want." The old boys' raucous spirit gave a welcome respite from the younger performers' solemnity.

The old trouper McCartney delivered an endearing"Lady Madonna" with his fading voice, while Lopez diverged from the tehme with a slick, obviously prr-recorded performance of "People." Barbra Streisand must have been busy.

Lizzo's rendering of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Going to Come" jangled nerve endings, while Ellish's living room offering of the 1960s pop confection "Sunny" was not much better than any moderately talented high school kid could do.

John, playing piano in his backyard," showed that he remains the king of infectious hooks with a spirited but ragged rendering of "I'm Still Standing."

Mulgraves' "Rainbow" performance was sincere, but won't make anyone forget Judy Garland, and Taylor Swift presented an emotional"Soon You'll Get Better" while playing piano.

Videos throughout the show highlighted WHO's work throughout the world, especially in Africa, essential services that would be crippled by Trump's cutoff. Trump hasn't commented upon the special. Presumably, he would treat it with the same contempt he hurls at CNN and other news organizations during his daily propaganda appearances.

Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon in hosting "One World Together at Home" displayed more gravity than Trump.

"One World Together at Home" also saluted the heroic health-care professionals pushed to the limit by the coronavirus epidemic. While doctors, nurses and medical technicians make their valient efforts, Trump's supporters want to undermine them by prematurely reopening businesses.

New York magazine reveals Trump outrages

Trump seeks to squeeze U.S. hospitals caring for Covid-19 victims, according to two reports by New York magazine, which has provided outstanding coverage of the epidemic as it ravages its home city.

National affairs reporter Jonathan Chait's astute analysis of Trump's malign handling of the crisis continued Mondaywith an article outlining  the administration's plan to force states to prematurely open their economies by starving their finances, reducing medical supplies and fomenting right-wing rebellion. A major purpose is to shield Trump from responsibility and cast blame on the states.

David Foster-Wells, noted for his extensive reporting on climate change, has also produced essential work on the pandemic. Supporting Chait's findings,Foster-Wells revealed how the administration is blockading medical supplies, even those directly purchased by hospitals.

The magazine's John Barro has delved into the pandemic's economic devastation, while Frank Rich has punctured Trump and the GOP with his weekly "National Circus" columns. Political writer Ed Kilgore analyzes the panedmic's ramifications for the presidential election.

New York readers were upset when the magazine switched to a pay-wall model. But that's given the magazine reserves for its strong pandemic coverage. We hope it can continue its stellar work.

 

Chastain Park's busy trails make coronavirus seem far away

Walkers, runners and dogs filled Chastain Park's trails Friday morning, a disconnect from the coronavirus pandemic's grim tidings.

The wonderful old North Fulton Golf is open to the public, giving non-golfers hillside views, Nancy Creek pathways and the beauty of sand traps, greens and fairways.

Some who have discovered the WPA-era course are calling for the land to be converted into a general-use park. If the property remains devoted to golf, perhaps it could be open to the general public one day a week, as is the custom with the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland.

Old oaks and magnolias beneath a perfect blue sky illuminated how the shutdown has helped the environment. That's good news for climate change; if the world has shown such healing in a month, a longer pause could bring significant emissions reductions. But that would require huge public spending to overcome the severe economic disruptions.

Trump and his GOP followers want to rush back to the "normal" economy. As the shutdown continues, the world could begin analyzing which parts of the pre-pandemic economy should be saved and which jettisoned.

But Trump, in his latest assault on environmental regulations, is slashing mercury-emissions regulations, a boon to the outmoded coal industry. Trump is also aiding the oil and gas business, as the pandemic shows the need to boost "clean" industries.

Social distancing was the rule at Chastain Park, although a couple of joggers hurried past inside of the sweat-spray boundary. A few trail users wore face masks, but most were content with the open air.

With Georgia not expected to reach its Corvid-19 peak until June, I wondered how many of those at the park would be infected and die, including myself. On a gorgeous Friday morning,  the threat seemed far away.