Circumstances when name changes have their uses – On the Appalachian Trail – The disadvantages of picturesque house settings – A tragedy from the time of COVID’s early phase – Prisoners deployed in the Ukrainian war – Evening statistics
I have complained about the recent mania for changes of names of streets, buildings, etc., when they are nothing but a futile gesture but that does not mean that I would have all names retained when better ones are available. Recently a school in our neighborhood named for Sidney Lanier has been renamed in honor of Katherine Johnson. Lanier was, irrespective of his Confederate associations, quite a minor poet, whose works are read now only by academics. The interest of his productions is mainly historical rather than intrinsic, since he was writing at a time when American poetry was in its infancy. But few persons could read his poetry with pleasure today if they were unaware of the identity of its author. Whereas Katherine Johnson was one of the pivotal mathematicians of the 20th century, whose participation in the Apollo project was specifically requested by John Glenn, to the extent of his saying that he would not venture in the mission that was to make him the first American to orbit in space unless he had her expertise and accuracy in calculations to provide him with a guarantee of his safety. It seems fairly obvious that Johnson is by far more significant figure of the two. I have no objection to changing the name of a school or a street when such a change is a clear gain.
A difficult hike today! – going along the Appalachian Trail from Snickers Gap to the boardwalk about 1½ miles north of the Blackburn Trail Center and back again. The first four miles, which comprise the northern end of the so-called Roller Coaster, are extremely rocky and in some areas reminiscent of the trail in Northern Pennsylvania at its worst. And the weather was not very cooperative – not wet, indeed, but cold and blustery, especially in the afternoon. But we had some good fortune when we lunched outside the Blackburn Trail Center, when the wind moderated and the clouds parted temporarily. In addition, the bird’s-eye views of Winchester Valley from Raven Rocks are as splendid as ever and although there were numerous clouds in the sky the sun managed to shine through them.
It was while contemplating the various summits of the range on the other side of the valley that we noticed one house perched in the mountains in glorious isolation, commanding extensive views from its terrace. One of the hikers commented on how enviable such a house location must be; to which I responded that such residences look idyllic under fair weather but that they are far from convenient for the purposes of daily tasks such as shopping for groceries and other necessities, and that during emergencies such as sudden illness the residents would have to pray for a dearth of rain or snow, which have the potential of making roads in such areas impassable. After some discussion, the others agreed. In this connection MW mentioned one couple of his acquaintance who moved into just such a location, only to move back barely a year later to a more urban setting as he and his wife began to suffer from deteriorating health and symptoms that required continual medical treatment.
Alas, medical safety in urban areas can be precarious as well. The Silverado Beverly Place, an assisted-living facility in Los Angeles County, has just been charged with elder endangerment (which is a felony) after thirteen residents and one nurse died there from a COVID outbreak. A new resident was admitted on March 19, 2020, without first being tested for COVID or quarantined for 14 days prior to admission, as required by California health protocols, even though the patient had just arrived from a “hotspot” in New York. The new patient began showing COVID symptoms a day after arrival and tested positive for the virus that evening. Eventually sixty residents and forty-five employees at the facility contracted the disease. One should remember, even in these days when the virus has to a great extent been brought under control as a result of the vaccines, the mortality rate of COVID in its early phases before condemning what some critics call our national “over-reaction.”
Russia appears to be running out of men to send to the war in Ukraine. There are reports of a train in the Donetsk region transporting prisoners to the battlefields, women as well as men. Several thousand male prisoners have been recruited, with promises of reduced sentences or even pardons if they acquit themselves well (and also, obviously, if they survive the battles in which they participate). It is estimated that about 100 women prisoners have been recruited, chiefly to work as farm laborers in nearby greenhouses and cowsheds to supply the army with food. There will probably be more to come. Such a move is not likely go over well with the Russians generally, since on the whole they disapprove of women serving in the military. Many women sought to join ranks in the 2010s, but they were not permitted in frontline combat roles, barred from holding ranks higher than colonel, and denied jobs such as driver, mechanic, sniper, or gunner. During a 2020 poll conducted by the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Centre, 63% of Russians said they didn’t want a daughter of theirs to join the military and 42% said that “the army is not a woman’s business, the army is for men.”
Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 681,761,350; # of deaths worldwide: 6,813,307; # of cases U.S.: 105, 665,981; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,149,253.