Was just visiting the other-leading-brand site. Some guy is lecturing the perverati about the deep state, Netflix, Bill Gates and whatever else pops. Passes the time I spose.

Since we all get 2 cents worth, here’s mine.

The monster movie, monster book, what-have-you - is never about the monster. It's about how people respond to the monster. That is the author's intent.

In today's movie, the monster is Covid19. But the movie isn't about Covid19. It's about how people respond to it. How they treat each other. What hidden capacities emerge in those days of desperation; for heroism, selflessness, kindness, humor, forbearance, leadership, and the general love of our ultimately doomed endeavor on this planet; also capacities for cruelty, nihilism, vanity, rage - the prison of the self.

Then one day the monster is gone. And everyone must reckon with the new truths revealed during the crisis and how they will now be forever remembered. That guy from other-leading-brand dotcom will be remembered as a fulminating asshole who offered up his scatter-gun anger and general paranoia to the world as though they were the items presently missing from the grocery store. And you will be remembered – by yourself, by others – as you have responded.

I do take seriously my responsibilities to this community. I’ve sent small gifts to dommes who have been sweet to me and will continue to do so. Not enough to get them through a bleak time financially, but enough to express an enduring gratitude that does not shrink away when the monster is about. I also have arts, artists, restaurants, my personal troupe of panhandlers and so on to try to do my part to keep afloat in our sprawling metropolis. I am a limited man in a world of unlimited need.

But in the face of the monster you must triumph or you will not be. And you must at least try or you will not have been. And there turn out to be worse things to be than a has-been. A never-was for one. So vaya con dios or vaya con whatever-the-fuck it is you vaya con. But try to recognize this as a test of your humanity. And pass the test as best you can.