If the above numbers are accurate, I live in the province of Canada that is home to half the confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country.
The WHO (World Health Organisation) warned of a potential pandemic at the very end of 2019.
Dr Li Wenliang died on 7 February 2020.
Dr Li Wenliang
As soon as Dr Li Wenliang died, we knew. At that point, North-Americans needed to find the persons who had been in the immediate proximity of the first victims and test them. In other words, medical experts should have been mobilized. It didn’t happen. I need not remind anyone that President Trump reassured Americans. Yet, the time had come to test Americans and forbid the young from spending the March break on beaches and partying. Dr Jerome Adams, the surgeon general of the United States, has stated that Covid-19 was spread mainly by the young. Many Quebecers travel to Florida during the March break.
If an extremely dangerous and unknown virus surfaces, doctors must guide leaders. I read in theWashington Post, that Americans were organizing to map out a strategy the President cannot put forward. There are times when democracy fails us. The plan is to test the population and have the healthy occupy positions formerly held by persons who have fallen ill many of whom have yet to recover or have died, and other positions. There is a healthy population and there are experts: doctors, chemists, and economists. They and elected officials must work together.
No, we cannot count on Mr Trump. He is not qualified to deal with this matter, but the United States has other leaders and it has experts.
In other words, Quebec and other North-Americans have to find people who can keep the population safe and the economy afloat. We have to test people. Many of us are healthy and can work.
I have heard libertarians scream: this is a “free country.” Well, there is freedom and then there is freedom. No one is free to infect other persons. As I have written in several posts and taught my students, one’s freedom ends where the freedom of others begin and expertise overrides uneducated popularity.
I’m not suggesting mutiny and revenge. Violence is out of the question. I am simply sharing what I read in theWashington Post. But I would like to see fine and qualified human beings make sure that
the sick are sequestered and treated,
that a force is making sure doctors and other health professionals are fully protected,
For those of you who feel helpless, here are ways of protecting yourself:
washing your hands
self-isolating
self-distancing (two meters: six to seven feet)
keeping the kitchen counters disinfected
keeping the toilet lid down
no travelling
I hope the military, or related force, will be deployed to keep people at a distance when they shop for the necessities. They must wear protective gear. There have been nasty incidents that have led to stiff fines and may lead to imprisonment. If you do not have money, you should not be expected to pay, but be honest. Governments can deal with this problem. You will probably get money soon. It starts today in Canada.
The military or related force could make sure these measures are enforced immediately. The nice thing about the military or related force is that they can also be your go-to persons.
Saint Matthew and the Angel by Guido Reni (Google)
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew, 7.3)
I went into quarantine on 10 March. One person came to my apartment when the kitchen faucet exploded. It was a danger to my neighbours. I kept at a distance from the plumber and I chose a faucet that looks industrial. The kitchen no longer looks the same. I also disinfected the kitchen counters. Kitchen counters are the preferred home of germs and nasty relatives. Our colleague, Colltales, wrote about the many virtues of plain rubbing alcohol. It disinfects.
I could have lost money to Internet fraud. Fortunately, I pay a fee so my credit card is protected. For my loved-ones, believing I had to renew McAfee was rather reckless. But many Quebecers did not start self-isolating before 23 March, the day the government locked down the province. Was I such a fool?
On 17 March, I phoned the clinic where my doctor works. I had an appointment that day, but I said that, in my opinion, getting into a cab to go to a public clinic did not seem prudent. I then learned that doctors had been asked, on that very day, to phone patients. My doctor phoned and also announced that he would be retiring in December 2020, which is a long time from now. Would the crisis last until then? He had found a doctor who would look after me. which reassured me, but he regretted that he could not refer all of his patients to a doctor. They would see supervised interns. My doctor supervises interns. One often knocked at the door, so I had to wait, but I had a doctor. In Quebec, it takes three years to find a family doctor. That is very disconcerting.
However, being told in March that my doctor will retire in December suggests that it might be a long time before doctors can see patients, except victims of the corona virus. I will attempt to make sure my medication can be renewed for at least two years.
Mistakes were made, but this pandemic was a surprise. Although blaming others may make some people feel better, it could be very wrong. I’m now ageing, but pain is still pain. COVID-19 is a terrible affliction. People could not tell what an evil it would be, but solidarity is our finest weapon. We must have one another to turn to.
Love to everyone 💕
Saint Matthew and the Angel by Rembrandt (WikiArt)
The Declaration of Love by François de Troy (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
I have not posted for several days and must apologize.
Let me explain my silence. I am in the process of requesting from my University a salary for unremunareted assignments. This process is very stressful, but I had to take a mortgage to purchase my current apartment, which should not have happened. I am 75. Moreover, I cannot clear away from my mind the unfortunate events of 2002 and 2004.
Contrary to my request, the person purchasing my last apartement did not have an inspector visit the apartment. Nor was I told, despite hiring a notary, that a person joining the society owning the building could not sell his or her share, if the prospective buyer had to take a mortgage. I doubt that my notary had access to any information. The person acting on my behalf would not step down as proxy. Do not ask anyone to purchase an apartment or a house on your behalf and, if you are sick, do not make serious decisions.
My request for a salary may be granted, but it may not. I have heard from the Faculty Association. It’s rather late, but it was a terrible shock. The consequences of a refusal would be deleterious. Being remunerated will not return my career to me. I will never live in my blue house, and there will not be sabbatical during which I would write my book on Molière. But, if the mortgage disappeared, it would be a relief.
I don’t need a great deal of money, but paying the mortgage would allow me to make my last apartment a pleasant environment. It is smaller and therefore somewhat cluttered. I gave my collection of Canadiana (furniture), but I still have too many books. If I needed a little chest of drawers back, once books were removed, I doubt that it would be returned to me. Ageing can be very difficult.
I do not understand why I was eliminated from the faculty of my university, nor do I understand why I first contacted the administration for a remedy. I think it was shock.
L’Étourdi is the last play we are reading.
Love to everyone 💕
Philippe Jaroussky. “Ombra mai fu” ( Serse ) by G.- F. Händel.
I received a note from a reader who asked whether he could use my posts in his research. The answer was the usual answer. No one can copy or quote posts without acknowledging their source. It is the author’s intellectual property.
However, I remain a specialist of Molière, by virtue of a PhD thesis on his theatre, peer-reviewed articles on his plays, and editing articles on Molière.
Please note that my posts are informed readings of Molière rather than scholarly articles. Scholarly articles are written in the context of previous books and articles. I no longer have access to the services of a research library and can only use materials I keep at home or material sent to me by fellow scholars. At a Toronto meeting of scholars on the Age of Theatre in France, Anne Ubersfeld said that she was “admirative de votre travail.” She admired my short contribution. Would that I could have continued, but I faced obstructionism, extremely demanding workloads and, basically, and I was fooled into accepting a retirement arrangement.
Let us say, that although I do not ask anyone to pay a fee for reading my posts, they remain my intellectual property which means that copying them without proper acknowledgement is plagiarism, which is fraud and punishable. My post are my intellectual property. One simply names one’s source.
I have not finished my analysis of L’Étourdi. It is a very rich play. In a footnote to his translation of l’Étourdi, Henri van Laun wrote that Victor Hugo considered L’Étourdi a masterpiece. I felt too timid to express the same opinion. Once again, Henri van Laun came to my rescue: a footnote.
We will continue reading L’Étourdi. I’m simply breathing a little and taking care of personal issues.
Best regards to all of view. 💕
You may notice little errors: repetitions, spelling, etc. It is illness.
Pulcinella in 1700 (1860) by Maurice Sand, found in Masques et bouffons: comédie italienne.
Maurice Sand is the son of famous French writer George Sand. She was a prolific writer and a woman of extraordinary vitality. She and composer Frédéric Chopin were very close friends, lovers I believe.
I looked at my post this morning, but suddenly it disappeared. I had a copy of my article and reinserted it. However, it was missing a few sentences and I had not printed the images. Besides, I had no captions and older versions of the post surfaced.
The post has been rebuilt. I can’t understand what happened.
Pulcinella (Polichinelle) was a scapegoat among stock characters of the commedia dell’arte.
Harry and Meghan are in Canada and no one was disturbing them, which is no longer the case. The paparazzi have crossed the pond. This is an update.
They are considering purchasing a house located on Vancouver’s Point Grey Road. Point Grey Road is the street where my husband and I lived when we returned from Wickaninnish Inn, the secluded inn where we spent our honeymoon.
On our return to Vancouver, we settled in a delightful attic apartment located in a waterfront house. It was a lovely apartment and we had a deck. We enjoyed the location. We were about halfway between the University and downtown, but the finer houses were located closer to the University. There were lovely little houses where we lived, but I don’t remember mansions. We enjoyed watching the little sail boats on English Bay. We could also see snow-capped mountains. Raccoons were forever trying to get into the apartment, which scared Chamiche, our cat, but we protected him. These are very happy memories.
Prince Harry and Meghan’s house, if they purchase it, is very expensive, but in the early 1970’s, our rent was very low. If my memory serves me well, renting the apartment cost approximately $300.00 per month, furnished.
We were students and it was an era when ordinary people could live in a waterfront house. Vancouver is now too expensive a location.
So, although I feel that Harry and Meghan are following us, they’re not. The location is the same, but Vancouver has changed. The waterfront apartment was our first home.
As a Royal, Prince Harry didn’t have to attend a university. However, he could overcome this shortcoming by taking courses at the University of British Columbia (UBC). I doubt that he is employable. UBC is a short drive from the mansion Meghan spotted and wishes to purchase, if the couple can afford it.
Before our wedding and our idyllic honeymoon at Wickanninish Inn, my future husband and I had to attend a rehearsal for the wedding ceremony. We loved one another, but to a certain extent, I married to please my mother. She would have been very disappointed, had I lived with a man without first marrying him.
As we were driving to a rehearsal of the wedding ceremony, my future husband told me, out of the blue, that there was a condition attached to his marrying me. He said he would leave me if I ever put on weight. I realised that the wedding ceremony would be a comedy and that the marriage would not be valid in the eyes of the Catholic Church. I therefore contemplated cancelling the wedding, but it was late and I was very confused.
Ryerson University
downtown Toronto
a secure position
a secure marriage
Canada’s best research environment
A year later, David started to work in Toronto, where I also found a position. I taught French at Ryerson Polytechnical University, in downtown Toronto.[1] I had to teach eighteen hours a week, but I was teaching French as a second language, nothing more, and I could devote the four Spring/Summer months to research. As well, I was in Canada’s best research environment. I worked near the University of Toronto and its research library.
In other words, I was secure and nothing threatened my marriage and health, except being too thin. However, my husband wanted me to resign. He so insisted that I did resign. I changed my mind during the night, but when I phoned Ryerson, I was told I had already been replaced. I started teaching French as a second language to government of Ontario civil servants.
McMaster University
a fragile career
a fragile marriage
illness
A year later, after he read Open Marriage, my husband asked me to apply for a position at McMaster University, in Hamilton. He would stay in our house and I would rent an apartment in Hamilton. In my eyes, this wasn’t a marriage, but a mere arrangement.
One day, I was asked to see the Chair of my department who told me that the following year, I would teach courses in linguistics: theoretical and foreign-language didactics. I told the Chair that I had never studied linguistics and that preparing the courses might preclude my publishing papers on Molière and related topics. He, the Chair, made it very clear that if I refused to teach linguistics, I would have to leave the university. That is intimidation. I therefore learned and taught linguistics, but, as I feared, my contract was not renewed. I had written a fine article on Molière, but that did not suffice.
My marriage had ended, I no longer had a position, and my health had deteriorated. For the following months, I worked as public relations and admissions’ officer in a college affiliated with the University of Regina. I had to travel throughout the province, which I could not do for long.
But I had caught a virus and had lost a great deal of energy, so I was fragile. When a departmental war erupted (they are a common affliction), I fell ill (crippling fatigue) and decided to seek a diagnostic and treatment. A SPECT scan revealed myalgic encephalomyelitis. My neurologist told me that the damage was extensive and that he doubted I could return to work. There was no cure.
I had to earn a living, so I returned to work on a part-time basis. However, a new Chair decided to avenge a colleague whose contract was not renewed and would not allow me to work on a full-time basis. I re-entered the classroom on a full-time basis, when this Chair left the University to accept a position elsewhere. For four years, I was the victim of obstructionism.
The Moral
The moral of this story is complex, but quite obvious. All I will say is, first, that, although it was very late, I should have cancelled the wedding. Second, I will say that when I worked at Ryerson, I could combine a career and a marriage. That never happened again. While studying linguistics, I caught an invisible, but chronic and incurable illness. I managed to keep my position at StFX for several years because my workload was normal. I bought a house across the street from campus to simplify my life. But if my workload grew too heavy and my working environment was vitiated, I was at risk. My workload grew to include the creation of language lab components, and the preparation of courses one of which was a course in an area of knowledge I knew little about: Animals in Literature. These courses were prepared during a sabbatical leave. I could not refuse because I was afraid. I fell ill and extremely vulnerable.
At that point in its history, my university’s policy was to eliminate from its Faculty persons who might fall ill. This is what a vice-president told me, which raises bigger questions that I will not address.
But it would be my opinion that there are times when one should listen to one’s instinct and stay where one is safe and happy. I resigned from a good position without making sure there was a way back to safety. I lost my marriage, harmed my health, and put my career in jeopardy. But I’m a survivor and I’m happy where I am.
Woman Reading by François de Troy (Photo credit: wiki2.org)
I returned to Molière, but I could not concentrate until now. Yesterday was a very sad day.
The Social Media
In fact, current events are leading me to question the appropriateness and validity of statements made on Instagram, or Twitter, or other social media. Among elements militating against social media is timing. Persons are not forever sitting at their computer. In the case of an important statement, should the world know before the addressee.
I would be inclined to question the legality of statements made on Twitter or Instagram. It seems the truth, but the medium is the message.
I’m a blogger, but I seldom “like” or “dislike” something on the social media. Experience has taught me to be careful. For instance, every time I have been quoted by the press, I was quoted erroneously.
As for our Royals, reportedly, persons attending yesterday’s meeting were calm. To my knowledge, there was no firm approval nor was there a firm disapproval of changes in status. So, there is room for everyone to think. Prince Harry talked with his beloved grandmother before the meeting. Moreover William and Harry agreed, in writing, that there was no bullying. Let’s hope everything will remain civilised.
Love to everyone 💕
Marin Marais: Chaconne (Livre V) Josh Cheatham (viola da gamba), Julien Léonard (viola da gamba), Skip Sempé (harpsichord)
Declaration of Love par François de Troy (Photo credit: wiki2.org)
