Keeping it Loco

I did something this morning I haven't done in a long time. I read the local news. I read the Miami Herald and Sun Sentinel. Not every article, but some articles. And I read from their websites. I am not in possession of actual newsprint. I hear it still exists, but it has more to do with coupons and birdcages than with news. It's just as well.

Browsing the pages I found a lot of opinion, a lot of tragedy, and a localized version of the same stuff I see on national news sites. Wear a mask! Delta Variant will kill you even if you haven't been born yet! Conservatives are bad! Liberals are good! Opinion disguised as news. 

This is not meant to be a political post. I guess I'm just sharing why I stopped reading local news. I don't follow sports anymore, so there's no value for me there. I don't care that the hipsters of the world now prefer Fort Lauderdale to Wynwood. I was, however, surprised to learn that my hometown is one of the horniest places in America. What a time to be alive! (And married!)

There was a time in my live when I couldn't live without the news. I was a certified news junkie. I blogged about the experience for the better part of a year. You can read that blog here. It's for sale, don't judge me. I got bills to pay.

I am happy that this time has passed. I still have very strong opinions and can still argue effectively for or against many positions. How do I do this? I learned a lot when I was an addict, and the crap politicians on both sides of the aisle are trying to pull is no different now than it was then. It's like riding a bicycle. The biggest difference is that this is a bike you don't mind falling from.

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published ten books, which you can find here.

The New Timeline

 I am researching stand-up paddle boards. I've been contemplating the purchase for quite a while. The feeling comes and goes. I really want one! Can't live without it! And then something else comes along and grabs my attention and the board idea sinks. I can't be the only one who experiences this. Surely, there are others.

Of course, researching products will inevitably lead you to reading reviews. Reviews can be helpful and, perhaps incidentally, entertaining.

Lately, as I read reviews, the theme I keep coming across is the pandemic, specifically how the lockdown affected people's purchasing decisions. This is by no means a scientific thing, but I can't help noticing how the illegal government-mandated lockdowns affected people.

I won't go into it all as it's been played out. I only wanted to make one simple observation.

Time used to be designated as BC or AD. We are living in AD 2021. The way I have begun to look at time now is a different BC. It's Before Covid. I'd like to believe there will eventually be an AL, meaning After Lockdown, but I have no expectation that the government will ever be inclined to give back its power.

We are living in the Age of Covid. It was nearing its conclusion so the Delta Variant was released. I don't know much about it, but I know that it has already been weaponized by the state. I don't know there will ever be a post-lockdown world. I think we'll just watch Big Brother turn the volume up when necessary. 

I hope I'm wrong, but you and I both know I'm not.

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published ten books, which you can find here.

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A Contactless Future

 The COVID-19 plandemic and its fallout should have become a distant memory by now, but the government would never let such a useful “crisis” go to waste. They made the mistake of giving us an inch, we took a mile, and now the Delta Variant has been unleashed upon the populace.

As I sit here in the early morning gloom of a rainy South Florida summer day, I am browsing articles, investment opportunities, and the like. I keep finding how Contactless features have been incorporated into everything from groceries to real estate transactions. Even as the pandemic fails, the main symptom, which is the fear of coming into close proximity to other people, keeps getting its lease on life extended.

Add this to cancel culture, critical race theory, political correctness, and the general vitriol we are living with here in Don and Joe’s Great American Experiment, and it’s getting harder to feel optimistic about America’s future.

I am a touchy-feely guy, though I save that mostly for my loved ones. I don’t want to never shake a stranger’s hand. I don’t want to be afraid to hand something, anything, to another human being. I am not an island and I don’t want to be. 

Give me contact or give me death!

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published ten books, which you can find here.