My head has been a bit cloudy these past months — how about you? Dealing with a global pandemic plays a big part, to be sure. We were locked down for a while, and we miss our family and friends and our routine. We are wearing masks, social distancing, washing our hands and still using (and cleaning with) sanitizers. We are locked out of Italy until things get better here, which they aren’t. And won’t, until some big changes are made. Fingers crossed for November 3.
But I hear a lot of talk about the emotional stagnation of government-induced PTSD, and that sounds about right. I wake with a headache and spend the days with a lump in my solar plexus the size of an orange. Some days, it’s hard to get anything done, and it’s r-e-a-l-l-y hard to be creative. I get more migraines than ever before. I feel hopeless, then giddy, then scared to death, all in the same damn day! It’s a pattern that repeats and repeats and I’m getting sick of it. The news has been devastating. More black lives lost, gangs of gun-toting right-wing boymen threatening our streets, and conspiracy theories that make HG Wells stories seem absolutely normal.
The environment is in more peril than it has been for decades; we have alienated our once-steady allies; we are denying science and calling top scientists idiots; we insult our military and call them losers; we mock the disabled; we incite violence and offer to pay for the wrongdoers’ legal fees; we withhold truth, deflect blame, and in short, Trump and his lackies are killing us. As I write this, more than 229,000 of us are dead – while we are being told that we’re “rounding the curve” and that the disease “kills practically nobody” anymore. And the example that these no-goodniks are setting for the younger generations is alarming and possibly irrevocable.
We are through the looking glass, people.
In response to news stories, I have never used the phrase, “What the actual fuck?!?!” as much as I have in these past few months. I saw a Sesame Street spoof on Facebook, showing Burt and Ernie declaring that the year 2020 is being brought to you by the letters, W, T and F, so I guess I’m in good company.
I find brief glimpses of sanity by thinking about the time when we can travel again — maybe even move away for good. Of course, the whole world is suffering now, and parts of Europe (including parts of Italy) are plunging back into lockdown after a few months of virus exhaustion and subsequent COVID spread. So what to do?
We all have our formulas for staying vertical these days. Some people have turned to fanatical exercise. Not me. Others have sworn off the sauce. Also not me. Endless reading of books and streaming movies sounds nice, but I have a job. Scrabble and Solitaire are my constant “break” companions, but my new heroes are the travel guides in Italy who are bringing live tours to their audiences through Facebook Live and Zoom events. Now that’s something I can wrap my head around. See Italy. Learn new stuff. Support the guides who lives have been devastated by the lock-down.
During this pandemic, I’ve been to Venice, to Sicily, to Campania, and to Abruzzo. I’ve learned about art, about cooking, about wines, and about history. I’ve seen how the Venetians handled their own plagues, taken cooking classes, learned about virtual wine tastings, and “walked” through lovely rural villages with local guides. This feeds my soul and keeps me in shape for whatever the new normal will bring.
On the local front, our preeminent Salem historian decided to give noon-time Zoom lectures to a group of fans and history lovers – sometimes as many as 40 – who hung in with him week after week, for about five months. God bless him; his humor and stories kept us from going off the deep end every day.
To learn more about these treasure trips, visit the sites of Luisella Romeo, Danielle Oteri, Anne Robichaud, Anna Lebedeva and, in Salem, Jim McAllister.
So here’s to our travel and history first responders. Thank you for what you are doing. Please keep it up. And maybe we’ll see you in person in 2021!
Meanwhile, stay sane and stay safe, everybody —
Buon viaggio!
Linda Dini Jenkins is a card-carrying Italophile, travel planner, freelance writer, and amateur photographer. Travel is her passion, so writing about her travels just comes naturally. She hopes all her travelers find a way to express their joys, surprises, and fears as they travel and gives every traveler a nifty journal to help smooth the way. Learn more…
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