My Mom’s Brain

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Family, Mary Griggs

I lost my mom tonight.

She had two falls in October and the weakness in her legs and slurred speech made me fear a stroke. I badgered her until she called her doctor who recommended we go to the Emergency Room for tests.

Our spooky pre-Halloween news came from a CT scan done after all the blood, urine and heart work came back fine. A very somber doctor told us that she had ‘innumerable’ tumors/lesions in her brain and on her brain stem. There was certainly nothing more an ER doctor could do so we came home in shock and informed the immediate family of the news and her plans.

For years, she has been firmly against chemotherapy or radiation. She didn’t want to be poisoned to be healed. And, after her surgery in January to repair a broken leg, she was against any further surgery, too. She made it clear she didn’t want to go the hospital or be put on life support. She wanted comfort care only, which meant I was no longer able to complain about her cigarettes or beer.

The best gift she gave me was a lifetime of adventures. Her brain was filled with facts, fables, lyrics and poetry. Once I could read, she encouraged me to do that as much as I wanted. I never had nap time but, rather, reading time every afternoon. I don’t know how many times we returned to the library in a week for me to check out more books, although she did lose patience the one time I finished my books on the drive home! Coincidentally, that’s when I graduated to chapter books.

Her brain was a sponge for languages. She went to Mexico as a rising college junior at Sweet Briar for a summer Spanish language immersion program with Loyola University of the South. She completed her degree of a BA in Spanish at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga while Dad was stationed there after his tour of Vietnam to teach ROTC. Despite all the challenges, being married to a career military man offered her the wonderful bonus of being able to travel the world and pick up even more languages – French and Italian and German (plus a little Portuguese and some Korean). Before his assignment with JUSMAGG in Greece, she attended classes with Dad at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California and became conversant in Greek. I would spend summers with them while they were stationed there and I was in college. She and I would take a suitcase of clothes, a suitcase of books and wander down to the port of Piraeus. She would negotiate passage for us to begin hopping from island to isle. We’d return to Glyfada when we ran out of things to read or islands on that cruise circuit.

And, this level of wanderlust is nothing new. Nearly every weekend when we were stationed at Ferris Barracks in Erlangen, Germany, Mom, my sister and I would get in the car and travel to somewhere else. During summers, we would join with our upstairs neighbors and travel even farther afield. There were so many places to visit wherever Dad was assigned. We went to sites of ancient, medieval, renaissance, and modern importance all over Europe and the United States, as well as going to Australia with me when my soccer team was playing in the Gay Games. She made it a mission every where we went to visit museums, archeological sites, battlefields, libraries and even former concentration camps. Mom would discuss politics, history, literature of the places we were going, helping my sister and I put the things we learned into context.

She remained curious to the end. When no longer able to read, she would watch television shows like Expedition Unknown, Extinct or Alive, Strange Evidence, and Drain the Oceans. She loved PBS and insisted we renew our PBS Passport so we could stream nature and history documentaries even once she was gone.

Her rate of decline was rapid. With her not eating, drinking or pooping, the nurse didn’t think she would make it to the end of the year. She proved them wrong and died one day before her 80th birthday on January 5, 2024; just 67 days after the diagnosis.

We are grateful for the caring and attentive folks at SouthernCare Hospice who helped ease her passing. Generous to the end, she donated her body to the University of South Alabama College of Medicine to help train the next generation of doctors and scientists. 

Her obituary may be found at:

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/frances-rae-griggs-obituary?id=54026906

Mom in her festive holiday sweater and her cuddle buddy Ruggy the Rougarou

Thank you, Forum for Equality!

Tags

LGBT Equality, Louisiana

I was honored to be recognized for the work that I’ve done with Forum for Equality and with the LGBTQ+ community in Louisiana at the Acclaim Awards on Saturday, October 7, 2023.

Celebrating Mary Griggs at the Acclaim Awards Gala this Saturday!

As I said in my remarks, I may be up on the stage by myself but I was not alone in the work.

There are so many beautiful people across this state who deserve an award for stepping up and facing all the challenges we have had to overcome. Our collective team efforts have resulted in such incredible results but, as this last legislative session shows and the upcoming election portends, we aren’t done. Not by a long shot. We still need your work, your time, your hearts and your money to win against hate. 

Please, if you’re able, support the work of the Forum for Equality and make a donation.

Speaking at the Acclaim Awards
(photo by Julie Thibodaux)

Acclaim Awards Lifetime Service Award!

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Acclaim Awards, LGBT Equality, Louisiana, Mary Griggs

I hope to see some of y’all at the Forum for Equality Acclaim Awards this October in New Orleans. The Acclaim Awards is Forum for Equality’s opportunity to celebrate the work being done across Louisiana to make this state a more fair and equitable community. 

I’m very honored to be receiving the Lifetime Service Award at this year’s Gala!
Tickets here https://secure.givelively.org/event/forum-for-equality-foundation/2023-acclaim-awards

This year’s honorees:
Lifetime Service Award: Mary Griggs
Corporate Leadership Honoree: New Orleans + Company
Philanthropic Leadership Honoree: Greater New Orleans Foundation
Advocacy in Action Honorees: Cathleen and Mason Hyde

Come to celebrate Pride in style – there will be cocktails and hors d’oeuvres!

Y’all means all!

Goodnight New Orleans

Tags

Louisiana, Mary Griggs, New Orleans

Goodnight moon

Goodnight kittens

Goodnight little house

After house hunting in the Crescent City for two years, I bought my home in the Milan neighborhood in April of 2005. Unfortunately, a storm named Katrina came in August and brought devastation to the entire area, including five feet of water in my new place.

After repairing my house and fixing the soil damaged by the heavy metals and pollutants in the flood water, I planted a scent garden in the back yard with night blooming jasmine, wisteria, white ginger, sweet olive and magnolia. I spent many an evening, drinking in the heady perfumes and it was there I made the decision to leave.

Yesterday, I sold my house.

During the close process, I have been reflecting on my twenty years in New Orleans.

Soon after I arrived, Louisiana put in the constitution a ban on same-sex marriage. By an overwhelming 78% of the vote, the citizens made it unconstitutional to recognize or perform same sex marriages or civil unions in the state. In New Orleans, where I had immediately felt sense of welcome, the ballot measure to restrict marriage still won a majority of the vote.

For all the rainbow flags and acceptance, to have the vote go the way it did, lit a fire in me to work for change in my new home.

I was already volunteering with the Lesbian and Gay Community Center and took over as President and Board Chair post storm. Soon, though, I wanted to be more political and so I become Managing Director of the Forum for Equality, where I could work across the state to educate, advocate and elect to improve the civil rights of LGBTQ+ Louisianans.

I was also involved with women’s rights and travelled with friends from Greater New Orleans NOW to DC for the March for Women’s Lives in 2004. I became active with Greater New Orleans National Organization for Women. After the storm, I joined the Independent Women’s Organization for its rebirth and continued fight for equal rights and greater representation.

An avid reader of lesbian literature, I attended the first ever Golden Crown Literary Society Literary Conference that was held in New Orleans in 2005 and it opened my eyes to become more than just a reader of women-loving-women literature. I joined their board and, after honing my craft at several subsequent conferences and with the encouragement of many generous authors, I published my first novel (Unbroken Circle) with Bella Books in 2011. I helped bring the conference back to New Orleans in 2015, ahead of the publication of my fourth novel, Bitter Heart.

Even while writing, I was still fighting for change. At the Louisiana legislature we brought forth anti-bullying bills, employment non-discrimination bills and beat back numerous bad bills brought by those emboldened by the marriage vote. Along the way, I garnered some recognition for my efforts: in 2012, I was honored to receive HRC Louisiana’s Equality Award and in 2013, I received the Equality Louisiana Legends Award.

In 2015, with marriage equality the law of the land by Supreme Court ruling, a lot of LGBTQ+ advocates were feeling optimistic. Unfortunately, Trump happened and the effort to expand rights became a desperate fight against the erosion of the gains we had made. With supermajorities close in both House and Senate, the Louisiana state legislature became a truly hostile place. We knew the governor’s failure to veto anti-trans legislation last year probably meant there would be more attempts to attack our communities. And in fact, this year saw nine anti-LGBTQ+ bills put forth at the Louisiana legislature, attacking trans kids, gender affirming healthcare, book bans and even saying gay in schools.

It is hard to stay someplace where you don’t feel safe.

Then, the pandemic put the ability of systems and services of local governments to respond to emergencies in to question (made worse by the lack of common sense of many of my fellow Louisianians who refused to mask, social distance or vaccinate). Storms kept coming and recovery after Hurricane Ida took a hard toll on my renters and myself. The thought of facing more devastating storms became the stuff of nightmares. Once you add poor infrastructure (roads, power, sewerage and water) to far too many politicians making things harder for people like me and it was time to go.

I have loved the time I’ve spent and people I’ve met here. It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with some of the most dedicated progressive advocates in the country. But it is time to say goodbye and goodnight. Good night stars and goodnight air.

Goodnight noises everywhere.

(Thanks to Margaret Wise Brown for the Goodnight Moon Book)

The ugly anti-LGBTQ+ bills of the 2023 LA Legislative Session (plus one good bill)

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LGBT Equality, Louisiana, Mary Griggs

I published an article on Big Easy Magazine and am posting it here as well:

The Louisiana legislature holds fiscal sessions every other year. For these sessions, legislators are only able to bring forth five non-fiscal bills. In the past, the LGBTQ+ community breathed a sigh of relief during this time as most legislators focused their non-fiscal bills on issues important to their constituents.

Not this year. 

When the session started on April 10, there were nine bills filed that target the LGBTQ+ community. These bills range from censoring library books, publishers and distributors to those against gender affirming care and bills that force school employees to disrespect students and ban all discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. There is also a proposed constitutional amendment on parent’s rights that could have serious unintended consequences, including impeding the removal of children from abusive homes.

Here is a quick rundown of the bills:

HB77 would let the Attorney General investigate publishers and distributors for content deemed “harmful to minors.” It is believed that, should this bill become law, it will be used to silence LGBTQ+ authors and publishers. HB77 passed out of the House Commerce committee on Wednesday but may be amended to neutralize the overly broad language of the bill.

HB102 and SB7 would use undefined “community standards” for all materials libraries are allowed to acquire and implement a tiered library card system for both books and digital content. These bills would defund any library that that failed to comply as well as add an unnecessary, costly and difficult to enforce level of state oversight and bureaucracy.

HB466 would ban the discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in schools (Don’t Say Queer/Gay/Trans) from kindergarten through the 12^th grade. It would allow no instruction, discussion in or outside of the classroom about sexual orientation or gender identity nor the disclosure of anyone’s own orientation or identity. This bill also includes some of HB81‘s language.

HB81 requires school officials to use the name and pronouns that correlate with students’ birth certificatesunless a parent gives explicit written consent to do otherwise. Even with such a direction from parents about their child’s pronouns, public school officials would still be able to ignore that request if they cite their “religious or moral convictions.”

HB463 sees the return of efforts to ban gender affirming care for minors and would even disallow insurance coverage and lead to the revocation of medical license for even referring someone under age eighteen for any gender affirming care.Erecting barriers to prevent trans folks from being able to receive medically necessary, life-saving care just marginalizes an already vulnerable community.

HB152 would put the right of parent’s rights to direct their children’s upbringing with respect to education, health, religion, and other matters in the state constitution. It could turn public schools into ideological battlegrounds, could leave children in abusive homes, make adoption more difficult and prevent teenagers from receiving confidential medical care. Under the bill, nearly every government rule, policy, and law that affects children could be labelled an “infringement” of parent rights and subject to strict scrutiny, the toughest legal standard for the government to overcome.

HB25 is a library oversight bill that basically allows the parish governing authority the ability to fire library board members, librarians and other library personnel. Public libraries provide services to all patrons no matter their ethnicity, religion, gender identity, education status, political affiliation, socioeconomic status or any other diversity of life and thought. Politicizing library operations would be detrimental to the functioning of public libraries, especially if it means replacing library management with the unfettered power of a parish council.

HB360 is a direct response to the Livingston Parish Library Board of Control’s successful efforts to stop book censorship. The bill would allow the parish council to fire the current board and add four more members to bring the total membership to nine. Current law already sets out rules for the establishment of Library Boards. It seems bad politics to advance a bill that makes an exception for one parish just because those in favor of censorship and book bans have not been able to achieve their goals. 

Collectively, these bills would make it harder for LGBTQ+ folks and their allies to access information, be treated respectfully or receive medically appropriate care. Focusing on these politically charged attacks is a waste of time and resources that could be better spent tackling any number of other issues important to Louisiana.

There is one positive LGBTQ+ bill and that is Representative Delisha Boyd’s HB40 which would add protections against employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. As she said during last year’s testimony, “There was a time where women were discriminated against, women didn’t have equal rights to men to vote, African Americans didn’t have equal rights to vote, equal rights in the world. We are evolving, so we would evolve as a people, as well, and not judge people based on someone’s sexual orientation and move with the world. This is an opportunity for us to stretch the minds of the citizens of Louisiana and give an opportunity to everyone to work.”

That is the message the Louisiana Legislature should take to heart.

North Carolina Food Road Trip

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Mary Griggs, North Carolina, Travel

I went with my mom up to Asheville and we had a blast seeing sites and eating our way around town. I posted on my food blog (Mouth Brothels) about our adventures. Check it out: https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2022/10/09/north-carolina-food-road-trip/

Mom and I on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Bon voyage et bon appétit!

Virtual Coffee Talk: A Call to Action

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LGBT Equality, Mary Griggs

I will be meeting with the lovely folks of NOAGE (New Orleans Advocates for GLBTQ+ Elders) for their Virtual Coffee Talk on Saturday to discuss “A Call to Action: Staying Informed, Protecting Our Rights & Supporting Our Community” along with A’Niya Robinson (Advocacy Strategist – ACLU of Louisiana).

Facebook invite is here: Virtual Coffee Talk: A Call to Action

Join us!

If you can’t make it, here are a couple of links I’ll be sharing:
The dissent on the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health decision (https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf)
NCLR’s The Death of Roe and What Happens Next (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5-U45i77PU)
HRC’s Fact Sheet on LGBTQ+ People and Roe v Wade (https://hrc-prod-requests.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/FACT-SHEET_-LGBTQ-PEOPLE-ROE-V-WADE.pdf)

Virtual Coffee Talk with NOAGE

Tags

Events, Mary Griggs

Catch me here with the local SAGE group – NOAGE New Orleans

Virtual Coffee Talk
With Special Guest Moderator, Mary Griggs
Topic: “Fueling the Body, Feeding the Mind, & Fighting for the Future”
Saturday, March 12, 10:30AM
On Zoom – contact me for the link
Or join by phone: (312) 626-6799
Meeting ID: contact me for the code

Join us as we welcome special guest moderator, author and activist Mary Griggs, who will lead us in a talk about food, writing, and the upcoming legislative session. Join the conversation!

Six Months from Ida

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Hurricane Ida, Louisiana

My place came out of the storm without major issue, which was good as the fall had both my water heater and HVAC system fail. Replacing both of those was a bit of hit to the pocketbook, along with the costs of getting rid of the tree that Ida felled.

While my insurance company said I was only responsible for what was left of the tree on my property, I like having a good relationship with my neighbors, so I paid to have it cut and hauled to the street for pickup.

The rental place we own didn’t fare so well. The amount of rain overwhelmed the canal near them and they took a couple of inches of water flooding in overnight. It was scary for them as neither of the tenants of the duplex had left.

As soon as I returned, I worked on getting insurance adjusters out to start the claim. We had both wind and dwelling damage totaling about $40,000 that included replacing the roof, skirting the bottom two feet of the walls and replacing the floors.

The next problem was finding contractors to do the work. All the contractors I usually use were all busy doing their own homes and/or had started working for folks who hadn’t had to wait for insurance. I was able to find a roofer through friends (Lone Wolfe Renovations) and then found a subcontractor through them to do the clean up. Our immediate issue after the roof was mitigation – I needed to dry out the inside of house before anything could get put to rights while being mindful that my tenants had no place to go.

After a lot of calls, I was able to get two storage pods put in the driveways so most of their stuff could be moved out. The cleaners opened the walls and ripped out the old flooring. I then had to get dehumidifiers and fans as there had been mold on one wall and the place I had contracted for mitigation required I use specialists who were booked until December.

After a week of the fans/dehumidifiers running 24 hours a day, the amount of moisture inside was low enough to clean. After that was done, I sprayed everything with Concrobium mold eliminator. Once that dried, I put borax in the opened areas. The contractors were then able to put in new insulation and replace the drywall and molding. After that, they tackled the floors. The next week was painting and other recovery operations – we ended up replacing a fridge and a washer/dryer unit, too. The tenants were back in their homes and the pods removed before Thanksgiving.

Dad and I had a lot of conversations over the holidays about the amount of work and money this investment property was requiring. It didn’t help that one tenant, whose health had been fading and had her son living with her and being my point of contact, died. He didn’t inform us of her passing and we ended up repaying the Housing Authority of New Orleans more than $2,500 in rent. We had thought he had worked with HANO to be included in the contract and it was quite the unpleasant surprise to find out otherwise.

We gave the outside of the place a good power washing and, in mid-February, put it on the market.

I was able to go to the January tree giveaway held by the NOLA Tree Project and I picked up a gingko to plant in the place where the other tree had been.

I can’t wait for the weather to warm up so I can plant it.

Not Your Grandmother’s Storm

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Hurricane Ida, Louisiana, Mary Griggs

Ida is a nice grandmotherly name. Maybe not a granny who baked cookies but one who taught Sunday school and was way too nice to give her name for a hurricane, much less for one that is arriving in the middle of a pandemic on the anniversary of Katrina. 

When I went to sleep at midnight on Thursday, August 26^th, the National Hurricane Center listed her only as a tropical storm and hurricane watches were just being issued for the Gulf Coast from Cameron, Louisiana to the Mississippi/Alabama border. 

I did pack a go-bag with three days worth of clothes (more echoes of Katrina) but figured I had another couple of days before I would need to decide about bugging out. Usually, I evacuate for anything above a Category 1 that looks like a direct or slightly to the west hit. Some of it is because New Orleans is basically an island with only a few bridges anchoring it to the rest of the state but it is also because I’ve got responsibilities to see the rest of my family gets through the storm, too.

On Friday morning, as I was moving the plants outside to safer places, my Dad called. He was concerned about the rapid strengthening and the warmth of the Gulf waters. He said I needed to get out as soon as possible. I stuffed as many bottles of water as I could into the voids of my refrigerator freezer and stand freezer, secured the rest of my outdoor things and drove off that afternoon.

As guilty as I felt leaving behind my city, my friends and my things, I’m glad I got on the road then. Watching the gridlock on I-10 and surrounding routes on TV the next morning, made me worry more and more.

There is just no way to move an entire city’s population out of harm’s way without time. And time is what we didn’t have with this storm. New Orleans needs more than 72 hours to get everyone out in a mandatory evacuation, because the last thing anyone wants is a bunch of people stuck in their cars on the interstate when the storm hits. Seeing the images of the flooding this storm brought along I-10 in LaPlace shows just how dangerous that could be. 

Once that storm hit the warm waters of the central Gulf, it grew and kept strengthening. No way could they start Contraflow and be finished before Ida hit land.

Landfall was at 2pm on August 29 as a Category 4 hurricane on the Sweet 16 of Hurricane Katrina’s. It remained a Category 4 for six hours. It reached the New Orleans area as a Category 3 (that is 115 mph winds) around 8pm. At nine hours, it was downgraded to a Category 2. A little after 4:30 am on Monday, as it was about 30 miles from Baton Rouge, Ida weakened to a Category 1 (with 95 mph sustained winds). It was almost 6:30am on Monday before Ida dropped classification to a tropical storm – that was 16 hours over land as a hurricane.

As with all hurricanes, the worst of the damaging wind and rain extended out on the East side of the storms for miles. Over where I decamped in Foley, Alabama, we had tropical storm winds, major thunderstorms and flash floods. Even once downgraded, Ida wasn’t done – she left a swath of destruction all the way to New York, causing several deaths and spawning tornados that wrecked their own devastation.

Several Louisiana towns near landfall were essentially wiped off the map. Damages to the lower parishes was sometimes as high as 100% of the buildings. It wasn’t just property damaged but hundreds of thousands left with no water, no power.

All eight transmission lines into the city of New Orleans were downed when the tower went down. Over a million households were without power in the city as a heatwave continued. 

Entergy gave different estimates of when power would come back but when I went there on Thursday, only a few blocks had power. The good news was that the generators Sewerage and Water had brought in ahead of the storm were still working so storm water was being pumped out and water pressure was good, meaning tap water was safe to drink.

I was so glad to pull into the driveway and see my house still standing. Built in the 1860’s it has gone through many storms and, to my great relief and wonder, it had weathered another. I could see lots of debris and one of the metal window awnings was on the ground beside the house and one of the exterior lights was pointed the wrong way but, from the front, she looked fine. 

I wandered through the house, looking at the ceilings and windows and nothing was broken or leaking. In the back yard, one of the trees I planted after Katrina had fallen and took out my neighbor’s fence on its way down. As it could have taken down part of our houses had it fallen another way, I was thankful only the fence suffered.

Several of my fence boards had blown loose and were scattered around the yard. Tree limbs littered the back yard and some of the siding looked scraped and dinged but the house was intact and even my little plastic shed had survived.

Climbing into the attic, I couldn’t see any daylight from above and the powerful flashlight I had didn’t illuminate any water stains, so I figure my roof was in one piece. It was incredibly hot up there and I was drenched and shakey when I climbed down. 

I walked around to my neighbors, distributing the ice, batteries and water I had brought in with me and listened to their stories of coming through the storm. The rain and wind was scary at the time but the current uncertainty of when power would be restored drained away any giddiness of surviving a major storm.

Only one other person had evacuated before the storm but three had left since for Houston as living with no air conditioning saps at your soul. One more family was planning to leave the next day to head to Mobile. The men across the street were fussing with their mother to get her to leave. They were running out of gas for their generator that was keeping the fans moving the hot, humid air and feared for her health if she stayed.

Before I had left, I put a quarter on top of a cup of frozen water to use as a gauge to the food safety. After four days without power, the cup only had a chip of ice remaining and meant too much thawing had happened for the food to be edible. I emptied my fridge into trash bags and hauled them to the street.

My stand freezer had kept the contents pretty frozen. I lost some of the stuff on the door and top shelf but most of the rest was safe to transport in the coolers back to Michelle’s house in Mississippi. The guys next door helped me load the car and I locked up and drove off, planning to return once the power is back on again.

I’ll write more later but I wanted to end this report by mentioning how grateful I am that so many of my friends made it through the storm. I’m even more in awe of the number of friends from outside the area who have been reaching into their pockets to help out those who were impacted. If anyone is looking for places to donate to, I recommend Culture Aid NOLA and the Mutual Aid Response Network, both are local grassroots organizations helping feed, clothe and rebuild after the disaster.

Further, I’m thankful for the line workers who came in their hundreds from across the nation to help bring power back to the region. Sing along with this cartoon from Marshall Ramsey (@MarshallRamsey)

As Mr Rogers taught us – Look for the helpers.

2021 Goldie Winners

Tags

GCLS, Publishing

The Golden Crown Literary Conference was held virtually everywhere this year. With the global pandemic continuing, it was safest for everyone to make the transition from in-person to Zoom. Once the vaccine gets into more arms, we will be able to be together in person in Albuquerque, New Mexico in July of 2022.

I was sad not to see everyone in person for hugs and smiles but glad we could at least have all the panels and learning opportunities. The conference was stretched over three weekends and was packed full. Just look at the Conference Program!

On July 31st, the Goldie Awards were held to honor excellence in women loving women literature. I was lucky to be asked to present the finalists and winners in the Romantic Blend category. I was dressed in a lovely shirt with studs and a bow-tie and a pair of shorts (because it was a zoom event).

The complete list of finalists is HERE

Nonfiction

Olivia on the Record by Ginny Z Berson

Romantic Blend

Hotel Queens by Lee Winter
Sylver and Gold by Michelle Larkin
Nottingham: The True Story of Robin Hood by Anna Burke

Contemporary Romance: Short Novels

A Roll in the Hay by Lola Keeley
Before You Say I Do by Clare Lyndon
Out of Practice by Carsen Taite

Fiction Anthologies/Collections

All I want for Christmas by Fiona Riley, Georgia Beers and Maggie Cummings

Mystery/Thriller/Crime

Dying on the Vine by Ann Roberts
The Crystal’s Curse by Jane Alden

Young Adult Fiction

The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life by Dani Jansen

Contemporary Romance: Mid-Length Novels

Temptation by Kris Bryant
Blades of Bluegrass by D. Jackson Leigh
Don’t Cry for Me by Rachel Lacey
Hopeless Romantic by Georgia Beers

Humorous Novels

Mutual Benefits by HP Munro

Paranormal/Occult/Horror

The Other Side of Forestlands Lake by Carolyn Elizabeth
Gillette Park by Gerri Hill

Erotic Novels

Online by Madeleine Taylor

General Fiction

Face the Wind by Caren J Werlinger

New Adult Fiction

The Adventurers by Bryce Oakley

Historical Fiction

While My Heart Beats by Erin McKenzie

Contemporary Romance: Long Novels

Wrong Number, Right Woman by Jae
Reaping the Benefits by E.J. Noyes
Spindrift by Anna Burke
Finding Jessica Lambert by Clare Ashton

Science Fiction/Fantasy

Silver Ravens by Jane Fletcher
Eye of the Damned by Sandra Barrett

Debut Novel

The Company of Daughters by Samantha Rajaram
Queerleaders by MB Guel
The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life by Dani Jansen
From Darkness by Kate Hazel Hall

Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award

Wrong Number, Right Woman by Jae

Tee Corine Outstanding Cover Design

Ann McMan of Tree House Studios for Nottingham

Director’s Award

Linda Hill, Owner of Bella Books

Lee Lynch Classic Award

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde

Trailblazer Award

Pat Parker

It was sad to see so many lost sisters in the memorial video. Hug your loved ones, y’all. Please tell an author whose work you enjoyed what it meant to you!

I hope to see my GCLS sisters and taking lots of left turns in Albuquerque next year!

**Adding in the link to the registration for the 2022 conference!

Coronavirus Journal March 2021

Tags

Coronavirus

Situation summary: Across much of the world over the past month there has been a drop of new Covid-19 cases. Vaccines are proving effective and rapidly scaling, bending the curve in many areas. This is a fragile dawn, however, with transmission and deaths still high, unequal access to vaccines and new variants of the virus threatening to undo all our progress.

March 1 – As of today, Louisiana has administered 1,000,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. The total number of cases reported to the state is 430,504. The current total death count is 9,628.

Had three FFE PAC interviews today with candidates for 2^nd and 5^th Congressional district and LA State House 82.

March 2

Had 4 FFE PAC interviews.

IWO board meeting tonight

March 3

Had 2 FFE PAC interviews

March 4

Had 4 FFE PAC interviews followed by a PAC board meeting and a New Orleans endorsement meeting. We gave an endorsement to Troy Carter for 2^nd, will wait for the runoff in the 5^th and endorsed an LGTBQ candidate for 82.

March 5 – Nearly 2500 people died from COVID today

Went grocery shopping for my parents as I’m heading home for a week.

March 6

Drove from Foley, AL to Seminary, MS. Took Michelle out grocery shopping and she bought me Chinese for dinner.

March 7 – US has 28,956,440 cases with 2,590,159 deaths

Made pancakes for breakfast. While I was cleaning up afterwards, I watched her neighbor’s cat try to entice the large bullfrog that lives in her pool to come over for a visit. The frog was not convinced.

Took Michelle shopping for more stuff. We went when everyone was a church and the stores were empty and easy to get in and out. We used her grandfather’s meat slicer that I had used phopho and lots of elbow grease to remove the rust and some engine lubricant to get the motor running. I sliced an 12 lb turkey breast and then bagged it for sandwiches. We had steak for dinner.

March 8

Drove to New Orleans, stopping to early vote at the Voting Machine Warehouse on Chef Menteur Highway on my way into town.

March 9 – On this day, one year ago, Louisiana had its first positive Covid-19 case. Since then, Louisiana has had 9,758 deaths with 434,289 cases. Most hopefully: 1,220,563 vaccine doses have been given as per yesterday.

I ran a few errands, including getting money for the yard guy. I also rearranged the study area to put down a rug. 

March 10

Yardwork day as I haven’t been home much – had to cut down dead ginger and lop off dead branches, sweep and rake and weed.

March 11 – one year ago today the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic. A year later, almost 30 million have been infected with the novel coronavirus, and we have lost more than 530,000 of us to Covid-19.

Put the rug that had been in the library/study area in guest room. I thought I’d save myself work and pick up the bed over the run but that was a pain in a half. With lots of cursing, I finally got it down so that room will hopefully not be as cold in the winter.

March 12

Drove to my folks with a beef chuck roast I grilled to make debris po’boy sandwiches. Recipe here – https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2021/03/13/grilled-debris-poboy/

March 13

IWO legislative event via zoom. There were a few glitches to begin with so I wrote up a memo off the basic that Lynda had crafted. Hopefully, it will help avoid the such issues in the future.

March 14

Made a cherry pie for pi day. Recipe here – https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2021/03/14/cherry-pie-for-pi-day/

March 15 – Louisiana has 437,565 cases with the current total death count is 9,903.

March 16

Before bed, we put the corned beef brisket in the slow cooker for it to go overnight and for us to have great sandwiches for St. Patrick’s Day.

March 20

Used some to the brisket I had smoked to make a beef stroganoff. Recipe here – https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2021/03/21/leftover-brisket-beef-stroganoff/

March 22 – The total number of cases reported to the state of Louisiana is 441,066 with a death count of 10,030.

I worked with the Board of IWO to come up with a statement about the attack on the AAPI women and community.

March 23

Went grocery shopping and then to Walmart for some organizational items for the laundry room. There are just shelves instead of cabinets there and we need to keep things available but findable. Found several different styles of bins.

March 24

Received the boxes for Dad’s bookcases. They’ve hired someone to put them together so they should be ready to be filled once I get back from New Orleans.

March 25

A group of research papers released at a Brookings Institution conference this week state U.S. COVID-19 fatalities could have stayed under 300,000, versus a death toll of 540,000 and rising, if by last May the country had adopted widespread mask, social distancing, and testing protocols while awaiting a vaccine.

Drove back to New Orleans. It was supposed to be stormy all day but I never even flicked on the windshield wipers.

March 26

Went to the rental place to figure out what I need to do to fix the problems. Then spent hours driving around looking for the items (who knew a refrigerator gasket was such a tough find).

Came home to find that my stimulus check had arrived. Thank goodness – I will deposit it and be able to easily pay off all my bills this month.

Dad put the last piece in the puzzle I’d been working on for a while. It was a fun one I had gotten in trade. I’m so glad I have friends with such good taste in jigsaw puzzles.

March 28 – US has 30,258,812 cases with 549,306 deaths. Globally, there are 127,085,979 cases with 2,782,944 deaths.

Charlotte and Thomas came over for lunch. Served them debris po-boys and we had a great conversation as we ate and then after as their laundry ran through the washer.

March 29

Got my first vaccine shot today. Such a relief. The convention center was set up well with marked parking, spaces to keep people distanced and a smooth running operation once inside. I had preregistered and filled out all my paperwork, including uploading my drivers license and insurance cards so I was taken right to get my shot. Thanks, LCMC!

Ran a number of errands including getting the fridge gasket and other items for the rental place. Installed the gasket and mailed two of the special Drew Brees inserts from Sunday’s Times Picayune to Brian.

When I got home, I used the loppers to cut down the dead branches of several trees in my back yard and planted two of the camilla’s I brought from my parent’s old house.

Today Derek Chauvin’s trial for the murder of George Floyd began in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mr. Floyd was held under the knee of police officer Chauvin for 9-minute 29-seconds. The trial is expected to take about a month.

March 30 – the average number of new cases of Covid-19 per day is increasing even as states are administering vaccines at a pace that seems likely to have the United States at 200 million vaccines in arms by April 20, President Biden’s hundredth day in office. In the United States, more than 30 million have been infected since the pandemic began. And 549,892 of us have died.

Drove back to Foley and stopped by a local Chinese restaurant to pick up lunch. I was waiting with 3 other people for the doors to open. One man and I were wearing masks. The other woman said to the other man, “I’m happy to see that not everyone is a sheep.” They began to mock mask wearing and even discussed that the 6 foot distance was because that was what the government’s GPS needed to individually ID us. The woman then went on a rant that 2000 people (?!) have signed an online petition to get the governor of Alabama to reinstate the mask mandate that expires on April 9th. The other man wearing a mask said, in a world weary voice, “It was to protect us all.” The woman jerked her thumb at him and said, “My husband – a sheep.” 

I stayed well away from them and placed my order to go, thinking the whole time that it is people like that will make it harder to end the pandemic. The more of us who wear face coverings means the more places can reopen. Until vaccine rates reach herd immunity (ie at least 70% of the population) so that community spread of a disease stops because unprotected individuals are surrounded by a “herd” of people who are immune to infection, we will not have a handle on this disease.

To vaccinate 75% of the U.S. population, approximately 248 million people and nearly 500 million doses are needed. And it means we need to be vaccinating nearly 2 million people a day so all of them are immune by the fall of 2021. At the current pace of vaccinations, Reuters estimates it would take until April 2022 for 75% of Americans to receive at least their first vaccine dose.

Found out Winn Dixie is now offering Covid-19 vaccine shots at the Foley store. I was able to get mom scheduled for a Johnson and Johnson for next Tuesday.

March 31 – Global cases are 128,490,863 with 2,808,439 deaths. US has 30,417,211 cases and 551,503 deaths. Louisiana has had 444,933 cases with 10,141 deaths. Alabama has had 515,388 cases with 10,554 deaths. In vaccine news — 54,607,041 people in the US are fully vaccinated and 42,986,249 people are partially vaccinated. That is 16.4% of the population.

Went to Walmart with mom for laundry and bathroom organizing items. The shelves were pretty bare – who knows if the ship getting stuck in the Suez Canal is already affecting the supply chain in Foley, Alabama.

Emptied 2 boxes of silver (trays, bowls and my dad’s baby cups and spoons). I polished some of that and some of the brass and copper that I found in another box.

Addendum April 12, 2021.

From Governor John Bel Edwards: “In 2020, COVID was the third leading cause of death in Louisiana, behind heart disease and cancer. The flu has never come close to holding that spot. One of our worst seasons for flu deaths was when 1,550 people died. We’ve lost over six times that number from COVID.”

And every one of those lost was loved by someone. May their memory be a blessing.

This will be my final month of posting this journal. It was a good exercise for me while things were at their craziest but I’m finding I’m getting far too busy with work and the legislative session to keep up with it. Thanks to everyone for reading and for letting me know how you were surviving a year that will go down in infamy.

Coronavirus Journal February 2021

Tags

Coronavirus, Mary Griggs

Situation Summary: As of the end of February, 2021 there have been over 113 million cases worldwide. Between January 20, 2020 and February 25, 2021 there have been almost 28 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 with around 500,000 deaths in the U.S as reported by the World Health Organization.

February 1 – Louisiana has 401,591 confirmed cases with 8,912 deaths.

I made a new brownie recipe – Fudgy Nutella Sourdough Brownies

February 3

The movers emptied the two storage units and the furniture from 8212 and put them at the new house. It took two trips but the garage is full and the furniture is in place.

February 4

An easy day, I got cigarettes for mom from a cheap tobacco place in Robertsdale.

February 5

Went to the new house for my folks to talk to the termite inspector and for me to open a few more boxes. Mom and I then went to Tuesday Morning to buy mattress pads and sheets to replace those lost in the storm.

February 6

IWO Endorsement meeting lasted 7 hours while the last of the moving happened. Luckily my sister was able to take lead while I sat in the bedroom on zoom. I had a horrible cough and it was truly hard to stay focused for that long.

February 7

I drove to New Orleans. Had a lovely chat with a good friend, Charlotte, as she had to bring her keys to let me into my house as I left mine in Alabama.

February 8

My friend, Ayame, got me in to take a Covid-19 test at LCMC. It was a great relief when I found out later that I was negative.

I ran by the grocery store for some supplies to make chicken stock. I also picked up Lucky Charms frosted flakes and they weren’t half bad.

February 9

I ran a number of errands including depositing my stimulus check and scanning in the documents for the tax preparer for the rental place. Their office is mainly closed with everyone still working from home so it was easier to get her scans than to dropping them off.

I used the stock I made yesterday to make chicken soup for my niece. Her entire household is positive with Covid-19. I then took a nap.

February 10

Drove to Hattiesburg, MS then to Saraland, AL, then Gulf Shores. Dropped off stuff to Michelle and the soup to Kathleen before heading to my parents.

February 13

Supercold temperatures all across the south, especially in Texas. In Gulf Shores, temperatures dropped below freezing.

February 15

Today is Michelle and my anniversary. We connected by phone. Someday we will be able to spend it together again.

February 16

So, now I know how the rest of the world feels on Mardi Gras – it was just another Tuesday. 39 degrees F outside but still just Tuesday.

February 19

Was a host on a LGBTQ Happy Hour on zoom for Karen Carter Peterson. She is running for Congress. I posted my remarks here – https://marygriggs.wordpress.com/2021/02/20/im-on-team-kcp-for-la02/

February 20

Watched the sun come up at Fort Morgan beach.

February 21

Roughly one year since the first known coronavirus-related death was reported in the US, we are approaching the loss of half a million people. As of Sunday, the pandemic death toll was 497,403, higher than in any other country. More Americans have died from Covid-19 than on the battlefields of World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined.

Watched the US Women’s National Team play Brazil in the She Believes Cup. With goals from Press and Rapinoe, the US won to get the 3 points and be solidly on top of the leaderboard.

February 22

Got up early to walk on the beach. Saw a few birds, collected a few shells.

February 24 – As of February 24, 2021, the United States has suffered more than 503,000 official deaths from COVID-19. We have 4% of the world’s population and have suffered 20% of deaths from coronavirus.

Mom and I ran errands today including closing the final storage unit. I loaded the lone box (a microwave) in the car as my niece is coming across the bay today and will pick up that and several other boxes.

Watched the USWNT beat Argentina 6-0 in the final game of the She Believes Cup.

February 25 – Louisiana has 428,592 confirmed cases with 9,587 deaths. The state has now administered 925,991 COVID-19 vaccinations, including 332,415 completed two-dose series.

Made Chili Con Carne today. Find the recipe here.

February 27

The United States conducted over 2.3 million Covid vaccinations today — a new single day record.

February 28 – The United States has 28,567,544 COVID-19 cases with 512,346 deaths.

Went to Wal-Mart for groceries and lots of small things (Gorilla glue, batteries, light bulbs, cleaning supplies, office supplies, etc)

Mom and I finished another puzzle. This one was harder than it looks.

 

I’m on Team KCP for LA02!

Tags

Louisiana, Politics, Voting

I was honored to be asked to be a host for a LGBTQ+ Happy Hour in support of Karen Carter Peterson, who is running for US Congress. She is seeking to fill the Louisiana 2nd District seat in the House of Representatives vacated by Cedric Richmond (who was appointed by President Biden to be Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement).

Joining me were recently elected Orleans Parish School Board member Dr. J.C. Romero, Democratic strategist Stephen Handwerk, Advocate Lester Perryman, and Congressman Mark Pocan, Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus AND the Congressional LGBTQ+ Caucus.

Such a great group sharing their reasons for supporting Karen! I was so pleased to hear from people I respect on why they are personally endorsing her.

Here are my remarks:

Karen Carter Peterson is with us in fighting against the forces that want to erase queer lives. I have always known her to speak truth to power as an advocate for marginalized people who most need a voice.

She understands how LGBTQ people’s gender identity and sexual orientation exist in relation to other social issues. Knowing LGBTQ employees are more likely to report being fired from a job or denied a position compared to their straight counterparts, LA Senator Karen Carter Peterson was a vital vote in getting the Louisiana Employment Non-discrimination Act out of committee in 2017 – it was the first time an LGBTQ nondiscrimination bill passed out of committee and moved to the Senate floor.

She won’t ever stop fighting for us. As she has pledged:

When you send me to DC, I will immediately go to work to pass fully inclusive employment non-discrimination legislation, including housing and public accommodation non-discrimination laws, I will support laws requiring contractors and organizations that receive public funds to not discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation and/or gender identity, and I will vigorously oppose the exemption of non-discrimination and other laws based on a stated religious belief for individuals. I will also fight to make sure that conversion therapy is outlawed in this country. It is barbaric, against all medical and psychological recommendations and must stop.

Sending her to represent Louisiana in the House will be instrumental in passing more legislation to finally and fully end LGBTQ discrimination once and for all.

Of no less importance is the need to elect more women.

67% of elected officials in Louisiana are white men – women make up 51% of Louisiana’s population but only 16% of the state’s elected officials. Only 6% of elected offices are held by women of color – this is despite women of color making up 21% of the state.

Currently no women represents Louisiana nationally – we rank 47 out of 50 states in gender parity of appointed and elected officials. Since Lindy Boggs left Congress in 1991, there hasn’t been a woman from Louisiana in the House! We can change that on March 20^th!

This is a special election so it is imperative that we get out the word that the election is happening. Early voting is March 6-13 (excluding Sunday, March 7) from 8:30 am to 6 pm. Find your election information here at GeauxVote

Further, Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District has never before elected a Black woman to Congress. Karen Carter Peterson has what it takes to make history and that is why I’m supporting her in this important election with my time and money and I ask you to support her, too.

Donate at https://secure.actblue.com/donate/kcplgbtq

Volunteer at https://www.karencarterpeterson.com

Coronavirus Journal – January 2021

Tags

Coronavirus

Situation summary: The nation ended the year on a low note – the US recorded about 6.3 million new COVID-19 cases (about 205,000 a day) in December. There were 74,864 coronavirus- related deaths recorded in December. There were nearly 340,000 known COVID-19 deaths for all of 2020.

January 1 – The US went above 20 million Covid-19 cases today. It took 292 days to reach 10 million and just 54 days for that number to double.

The federal government had a plan to vaccinate 20 million people by Dec. 31 but only managed to have 3 million inoculated when the clock struck 12 that night.

For our New Year’s Day meal, I pan fried pork chops and served them with leftover mashed potato pancakes (recipe here ) and turnip greens and black eyed peas. I ate exactly 12 peas – I can’t handle any more luck.

January 2 – US reported cases of Covid-19 reaches 20,396,243 with 349,933 deaths.

At least 2,373 new coronavirus deaths and 291,384 new cases were reported in the United States on January 2nd. Over the past week, there has been an average of 205,840 cases per day, a decrease of 5 percent from the average two weeks earlier. As of Sunday evening, more than 20,661,700 people in the United States have been infected with the coronavirus according to a New York Times database.

Went for a walk on the beach as we’ve had a high surf advisory for the past few days. Got some shells and some cool pictures of birds. The fisher folk call the Great Blue Herons that stalk them as they fish and steal bait and even fresh caught fish Fred.

January 3 – Louisiana records 321,058 cases. Since March 2020, the death toll has reached 7,537. Alabama reports 374,095 with 4,878 deaths.

We enjoyed charbroiled shrimp on the grill. Recipe here. I also grilled a box of hamburger patties so we will have those for upcoming meals.

Watched the Saints beat the Carolina Panthers to become the first team in the history of the NFC South to sweep their regular season divisional games. Who dat!

1 in 16 Americans has tested positive for Covid-19. The US has 4% of the global population and 31% of the coronavirus cases. The US has more cases than any other country in the world and it is the only country for which COVID-19 is the leading cause of death.

January 4 – Today, the Louisiana Department of Health reported the highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations since April 16.

I got up at 5am to start the charcoal for cooking a beef brisket that I bought at Winn-Dixie on Saturday. After 7 hours it reached 205 degrees so I brought it inside, wrapped it in aluminum foil and a towel let it rest for 3 hours. Turned out juicy and flavorful. This is the method I used – https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2020/05/02/frontyardcookout-beef-brisket/

January 6 – The United States reported at least 3,805 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, the highest number of new deaths in a single day since the pandemic began.

New Orleans Mayor announced that the City will return to Phase 1

Later in the day, chaos erupted at the Capital after Trump incited a riot against Congress. A white mob of MAGA and Trump supporters broke through the barricades and forced the Legislators working to certify the presidential election to flee for safety. It took to 8pm for enough order to be restored to return to counting the electors ballots.

Despite everything – the lies, the president caught on tape pressuring the GA secretary of state to commit electoral fraud, there were still 6 senators and 121 representatives who voted against certifying Arizona’s election. Later, there were 7 senators and 138 representatives who voted against certifying Pennsylvania’s results. Both measures failed but that there were so many willing to vote against our democracy is disgusting.

January 7 – Louisiana reports 338,054 total COVID19 cases with 7,728 deaths. Alabama reports 389,230 cases with 5080 deaths.

Around 4 am, Congress affirmed President elect Joe Biden’s electoral college victory over Trump. Instead of conceding, Trump spread more lies in his statement:

“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!” https://twitter.com/DanScavino/status/1347103015493361664

January 8 – The first week of the New Year brought new records for the pandemic in the U.S. On January 7, the country for the first time surpassed more than 4,000 deaths in a single day. And this week alone, nearly 1.6 million people across the nation tested positive for the virus, higher than any other week yet recorded. Hospitalizations rose to a record-setting 132,370 cases, continuing to strain already fatigued health-care workers. Concerns about hospital capacity remain at crisis levels, as ICU beds run short in many states, particularly Alabama, Georgia, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and California.

My sister and her husband brought fried chicken over for dinner. They spent the night so we could go look for shells on the seashore.

January 9

My sister, brother-in-law and I walked on the beach this morning. Just a few birds, mainly two Great Blue Herons who posed for pictures.

Tried to make pancake sticks stuffed with sausage but it wouldn’t release from the pan so we ate pancake coated sausages.

I did two loads of clothes, cleaned out the fireplace and packed as I will be heading to Michelle’s house tomorrow morning.

January 10

Drove to Michelle’s house and took her grocery shopping. Once home we reorganized her outside chest freezer and I gave her some space by sorting through some machine picked blueberries that her aunt had given her. I also made sourdough rolls (recipe here ) for us to have with leftover, reheated crab imperial.

January 11 – Louisiana now has 7,918 dead from Covid-19 and 348,234 cases. Alabama now has 5,347 deaths with 404,000 cases.

Took Michelle to drop off her property taxes and to another grocery store. They were getting rid of an entire case of bananas which were getting brown and spotted. As she has a Nutra-bullet, she is making lots of smoothies so she took the case home and placed it in the freezer. Now, she will have bananas for a lot of smoothies.

I drove the rest of the way to New Orleans and was in time for my 1pm zoom with the Vera Institute about criminal justice issues on which IWO can partner with them.

Lawmakers were likely exposed to the coronavirus as they sought safety together in a room when a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, the attending physician to Congress said. Video showed several Republicans refusing masks offered by a colleague in the hideout room Wednesday. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), a 75-year-old cancer survivor, has tested positive after sheltering in the room.

January 12

Ran a number of errands today including getting money to the rental place handyman, getting the tenants new a/c filters, going by the post office and checking on friends that I hadn’t heard from in a while.

January 13 – there has been a 12% rise in new Covid-19 cases in the US over the past week. The US also recorded 4200 deaths on Tuesday – a new record bringing the total dead to 383,000 with 23,023,000 cases reported.

My handyman came out with two guys to continue the work on my house. They were able to finish insulating the water pipes under the house (my house is on three foot risers meaning there is lots of cold air under the house and, with me back and forth to my folks, my house is going through the winter without the usual amount of heat coming from inside) and fixing the rails on my front porch. They still need to fix the back porch and stairs but have promised to finish by Friday.

January 14 – In the first 13 days of 2021, the US has seen more than 3 million new infections.

Around 5pm yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the number of votes necessary to impeach Trump. In the end, 232 Representatives—222 Democrats and 10 Republicans—agreed that the president had incited an insurrection and must be removed from office. 197 Republicans disagreed and voted against Trumps second impeachment.

New Orleans Director of Health Dr. Jennifer Avegno said, “There is light at the end of the tunnel with vaccines underway in Louisiana, but vaccines only work for those who are alive to receive them.”

January 15 – over 2 million dead now dead from the virus worldwide

I worked in the yard – sweeping, raking, trimming, mowing until I filled my compost area and a trash can with yard waste.

January 17 – Louisiana reports 368,980 cases with the death toll rising to 8,203.

I got up early to go look at the sunrise above New Orleans. It started out as a great day, with the Superdome in the center of the picture.

Unfortunately, the Saints were unable to keep up their winning streak against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and have been eliminated from contention for the SuperBowl. It also looks like that might have been Drew Brees last game.

January 18

I spent a lot of time today going onto politicians’ Twitter feeds and responding to their MLK day posts with plenty of snark for those who have worked against all he stood for.

January 19 – Today, on the last day of Trump’s administration, the number of Americans lost to Covid-19 has topped 400,000. That’s about the same number of people we lost in World War Two.

I got up before sunrise to go down to Lafayette Square to take pictures of the 700 white flags planted there to commemorate the lives of New Orleanians lost to COVID-19.

While there with Charlotte and Thomas, I was interviewed on Fox8 for the morning broadcast – see it here.

January 20 – Alabama reports 429,655 cases of COVID-19 with 6,282 deaths. Louisiana reports 374,582 with 8,383 deaths.

Inauguration day! I drank vodka, champagne and orange juice called an absolute screw you as Trump left the White House. I switched to just champagne and OJ while Biden was sworn in and during his speech.

Had a zoom with Forum for Equality and new elected New Orleans Distract attorney Jason Williams

January 21 – The United States had 4,135 Covid-19 deaths today.

Drove over to Gulf Shores. The uptick in traffic shows that more people are on the move, despite Alabama’s Governor’s Safer at Home order, that she just extended to March 5th.

January 22 – Louisiana’s death count is 8,483.

I went to my parent’s old house to give the refinishers dad’s desk that belonged to his grandfather and the round flour drawers of an old pie safe that belonged to mom’s grandmother. The rest of the pie safe just needed cleaning but the water rotted through the thin, bent wood of the drawers.

January 23 –

My parent’s signed the paperwork for their new house in northwest Foley yesterday. This morning, we went to measure walls and things of my parent’s new house

January 25 – US has had 25,231,000 cases and 419,000 have died of COVID-19. More than 2,138,000 have died worldwide. 99.6 million cases have been reported worldwide.

I went for a walk on the Ft Morgan public beach.

January 27 – US has 428,654 dead with 25,580,995 confirmed cases of COVID-19

Started to set up the kitchen in their new house. Figure it will take me a week to get to all the boxes and arrange things. Began with pulling five boxes of their household goods out of one of the storage units.

January 28 – Alabama has reported 455,582 cases with 7,566 deaths. Louisiana has reported 394,909 cases with 8743 deaths.

Went to one of the storage units and filled my car with boxes so I could have something to unpack today and tomorrow when there are workers and deliveries scheduled.

January 29 – Today, there were 3,600 Covid-19 deaths in the United States. Louisiana had 58 of them and is averaging 143 new cases a day.

Was at the new house while the plumber replaced the toilets and then for my parent’s new mattress to be delivered. Was able to run 4 dishwasher loads and empty six boxes.

January 30 – 1 year ago today, the WHO Director-General declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), WHO’s highest level of alarm. We have now reached 2,217,579 global deaths (of which 439,347 are US deaths).

It is only fitting I post this picture and poem

Grass

BY CARL SANDBURG

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work—
I am the grass; I cover all.

And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?
Where are we now?

I am the grass.
Let me work.

My sister, her husband and I went to my parent’s house to do some work. Unfortunately, the drill wasn’t charged so we couldn’t put the brackets for the new bed onto their old headboard but we got the bathroom door off and more of the kitchen organized. The door handle they bought needed to be returned and the rekeying didn’t happen so we will try again.

January 31 -There have been 102,871,614 COVID-19 cases globally, with 26,178,803 of them being in the United States and, of those 400,626 were in Louisiana and 26,458 were in New Orleans. There have been 2,226,935 global deaths with 441,200 of them in the United States and, of those, 8,859 were in Louisiana and 722 were in New Orleans. Alabama reports 459,639 total cases with 7,688 deaths. Baldwin County (where my parents live) has had 18,126 total cases with 224 deaths.

Mom has been out and about more these past two weeks than in the entirety of last year with finalizing the mortgage paperwork, signing for the title and shopping for beds and appliances. She has come down with a bad case of congestion and has a hacking cough. Fingers crossed that it is nothing more than a cold. In other news, my niece was exposed to COVID-19 by her housemates child, who has now been hospitalized. She took the rapid test and is negative but will retest again to be sure.