Masks

The lockdown has been good for getting a lot of work done without distraction. My summer sojourn in British Columbia always offered that respite. Apparently it won't be required this year. One thing I really hate about living in the heart of the Upper West Side of Manhattan is facing my masked neighbors when I go out on the street. While I always maintain safe distance as recommended by the CDC, there are so many people, especially families, who are out on the streets and in Riverside Park that, without a mask, I have to play hopscotch, which often means simply walking in the street. I don a mask, of course, whenever I enter a store, but on the street I generally wear a scarf around my neck, which I can then pull up over my face when I come close to people. Today is overcast, which means (I hope) that fewer people will be on the street when I go out in a little while on my errands.

Goethe for every occasion (photo: David Shankbone)

While casting about on the internet this morning for appropriate photos for Goethe's garden house I came across something amusing, which confirms my utter hate for mask-wearing. The picture at the top of this post is from a "Goethe shaming" that took place last year. Here is a link to a piece in FAZ on the "geistlos" protest. The protesters covered the garden with toilet paper. The second picture posted here reverses the imbecility, quoting Goethe's "wisdom,  a subject on which I have posted here, in this case at an Occupy Wall Street protest.

Image credit: David Shankbone