Hey everyone,

I know I’ve neglected my blog lately. We’re still learning our new characters for The Murder Hobos, and the stories aren’t coming as fast as they did before. I’m writing, though, so that’s good.

I work retail. I’ve never tried to hide that. The book sales are, honestly, nonexistent for the one that’s out. Denise Barone, my agent, is rocking her job and I’m hopeful something will happen before the end of the year. Especially now that she’s got something new from me in her inbox!

I’ve had trouble understanding the mindset of those who are anti-masks, anti-science, believe that COVID is a conspiracy/numbers are inflated, etc. I didn’t understand the willful ignorance, the dismissiveness of not wanting to keep anyone else safe, that was behind it.

I think I understand it now.

COVID-19 doesn’t care who you are, what color your skin is, how much you have in your bank account, or if you’re straight/gay/trans. It doesn’t care if you’re young, old, or what God you pray to. No one can say it’s ‘God’s retribution’ for a lifestyle that doesn’t match their own. It’s not restricted to an impoverished nation in Africa.

Literally anyone can get it.

And that means the privileged few who have been able to be smugly self-righteous throughout their lives now have to face something they can’t control. Something that can kill them. Something that means they are inconvenienced.

Not inconvenienced in a big way, either. But they see it as a form of oppression. How DARE the government mandate what I wear? That I can’t do the things I want to do?

They are now facing the exact sort of limitations that part of our society have faced for decades. Centuries even.

They’re finding out how it feels to be denied entrance someplace, which has been a fact for Black Americans since this country began.

They’re finding out some places won’t serve them without a mask, which has been the basis for ‘Christian’ businesses to discriminate against LGBQT for decades.

They’re finding out what it means to have a government dictate what you wear or treat your body, which is something women learn at a young age (think dress codes…access to health care/reproductive choices).

They’re being treated like every single other person and they do NOT like it.

I now see COVID as an equalizer. Deny it all you want. That’s your choice. But I am not a sheep. I am educated, informed. I will wear a mask until they find a vaccine. I will refrain from going out to eat, to a bar, to the movies, and even hugging my friends (Goddess knows that last one is the one I miss the most) until that time. Because I have NEVER believed that my personal convenience should EVER matter more than the health of someone else. It doesn’t matter if I know them or not.

COVID doesn’t care. And that means I need to.

BB