{"id":44240,"date":"2021-02-21T13:45:05","date_gmt":"2021-02-21T18:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/?p=44240"},"modified":"2021-03-07T15:20:34","modified_gmt":"2021-03-07T20:20:34","slug":"the-library-is-closed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2021\/02\/the-library-is-closed.html","title":{"rendered":"The Library Is Closed<\/b>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

. . . and thoughts come in verse.<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
The entrance to the main branch of the New York Public Library at Fifth Ave. and 42nd St.<\/em> [Photo: JH]<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
'PATIENCE & FORTITUDE \nFOR ALL NEW YORKERS' \n\u2014\u2014 Library Sign<\/em><\/strong><\/em>\n\n<\/strong><\/em>The stone lion at the gate\nwears a mask like mine.<\/strong>\nThis is where I used to wait\nfor books that bind,\nthat put my mind at ease\u2014\u2014\nI cracked them as I please.\nNow I hurry home,\nrecalling kind librarians,\nwhen suddenly a multitude <\/strong>\nof loud contrarians<\/strong>\nstop me on my way.\nBold, crude, pledged to death<\/strong>,\nthey<\/strong> claim, unmasked, the right<\/strong>\nto kill me with their breath.<\/strong>\n\n\n\n<\/em><\/pre>\n\n\n
  <\/p>\n\n\n
Postscript:<\/strong> March 5 \u2014 <\/a>Unmasked: When Identity Politics Turns Deadly<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The coronavirus variants that cause Covid-19 are spread largely by airborne droplets, and wearing masks drastically reduces<\/a> the variants\u2019 spread. So not wearing a mask is an act of reckless endangerment, not so much of yourself \u2014 although masks appear to provide some protection to the wearer \u2014 as of other people. Covering our faces while the pandemic lasts would appear to be simple good citizenship, not to mention an act of basic human decency.” \u2014Paul Krugman, NYT<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
PPS:<\/strong> March 7 \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Walking gear.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
CURRENT CONDITIONS<\/strong><\/em>\n\nFour-mile walk<\/strong>\ndouble masked\nfogged-up glasses\ngloves and hat\u2014\u2014\nI\u2019m a walking mummy\u200b.\u200b<\/strong>\nToo bold? Too old?\u00a0Too stoned?<\/strong>\nWhistling past\u00a0you know what\u00a0<\/strong>\nwould be\u00a0too much.<\/strong>\nThe dread of being\u00a0<\/strong>\nmiserably terminated<\/strong>\nin deserted streets<\/strong>\nhas diminished\u00a0<\/strong>\nfrom nightmarish<\/strong>\nto merely uncomfortable.<\/strong><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
…and thoughts come in verse: ‘The stone lion at the gate \/ wears a mask like mine. \/ This is where  I used to wait \/ for books that bind \/ that kept my mind at ease\u2014 \/ I crack them as I please. \/ Now I hurry home . . .’<\/p>\n
‘Four-mile walk \/ double masked \/ fogged-up glasses \/ gloves and hat\u2014 \/  I\u2019m a walking mummy \/  in deserted streets.\u200b’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":44238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26,18,4,23,17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-44240","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"category-literature","9":"category-main","10":"category-news","11":"category-political-culture","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/lion-at-the-gate-brdr-480.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-bvy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44240"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44939,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44240\/revisions\/44939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}