As I walked the Campus of Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale, today, I was struck with the profound beauty of the picturesque blue sky…an azure sky.  Although the state of Illinois is on a stay at home order, issued by our Governor, we are allowed to; walk, run, or hike, outside our homes.  Campus is an ideal place to facilitate social distancing…as I seldom see another human.  I was thrilled to hear my name called out and when I turned to see who was greeting me…there was my friend Sarah and her distinguished dog.

We are living, in real time, in a pandemic.  People are dying.  The United States has just experienced it’s deadliest 24 hours.  This is someone’s mom…or dad…or sister…or brother…or grandmother…or grandfather.  Lives have, already, been inalterably altered…forever.

When fiction and ‘Tall Tales’…bump their head against the hard tungsten steel of facts…the fanciful narratives evaporate like fog…