The Sky Is Falling!

So, it seems entirely possible that the world is ending. Too bad we can't broadcast these things into outer space; maybe several millennia from now some other beings would get our messages and visit here and wonder what kind of life once existed on this planet. Everyone is going nuts right now, and businesses and schools are closing left and right. I saw a opinion piece on Facebook today that asserted that more people will go bankrupt from this virus than will die from it. Disneyland is closed at least a couple of weeks. So is the hit musical Hamilton in San Francisco. And Dear Even Hansen on Broadway. Princess cruises has stopped sailing all of its ships for at least 60 days. Disney has halted all of its ships for at least two weeks. And so many others, there's no way I could list or even keep up with them all. And there's no end in sight. All of these things are going to have massive trickle effects into the economy.

And yes, I realize that "massive trickle" is something of an oxymoron.

It's hard, sometimes, not to jump on the bandwagon. I mean, does anyone else who normally considers themselves pretty rational have the sudden urge to go out and buy huge amounts of toilet paper?? I checked the Safeway on J Street and Alhambra this morning. They still have some! But it's becoming more and more rare. Fortunately spring is almost upon us, so if nothing else we will soon have lots of leaves on the trees...

Closer to home here at Sac State, all public events are cancelled for the rest of the semester. Some of our concerts we are still hoping to present but in an online format only. All classes are cancelled most of next week so professors can work on transitioning all of the course materials to online formats, for those classes where it's even possible to do so. I spent all of yesterday just doing damage control on our calendars and events and web postings and scheduling things. Still working on some of it. At least it will be quiet around here next week, if nothing else. And hey, I don't have to be here by 6am Saturday morning to set up for a festival either.

But life will go on, we hope. I hope we will return to some sense of normalcy soon though, as this whole situation is stressing everyone out. In the meantime, I'm waiting to see if people start popping up on the streets with signs declaring that the "end of the world is nigh!". Or perhaps they'll just run through the towns like Chicken Little, screaming "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" I guess all we can do is sit and wait it out as best we can. And maybe hoard some more toilet paper; it gives us something to do anyway.