Our Waking Nightmare

“Bring Out Our Dead”

I stare daily into the Abyss. Usually over a cup of coffee.

I don’t want to. I wake every morning at 3:00 AM. I have been working as an assistant editor at Scifi.radio, while the real editor has been spending time with his family out of state.

I discovered working at home required me to change my work schedule because the pandemic has us all at home at the same time and the normal work schedule of nine to five means I live in a state of perpetual distraction all day long.

Between solving problems for my son, helping him through his internship, helping him find work he is capable of doing and convincing people to take a chance on him and the honey-dues my wife is in need of since her pneumonia, the only time I get to myself is at 3:00 AM when all of them are SLEEPING!

But being awake that early, reminds me of the state of the world and how little a part I feel I am able to play. Once upon a time I THOUGHT I was making a difference. I taught school. I worked with kids in my community. I volunteered my time in a variety of ways. I had a great job I truly enjoyed.

A decade of social changes ending in the Trump administration destroyed all of those things. But this isn’t just about him. It’s about the change in how I see myself in relationship to the…