Happy 2021, everyone. What a year it has been so far. I wish I could join those feeling a vague sense of relief and optimism, but over the past few days, to quote Micah Schnabel, “I’ve got a bad case of innocent-people-being-murdered-by-angry-white-men blues.”

I am not in the mood to go into much detail here (the link below will do that), but I will remind anyone that the casualties of the COVID era haven’t been confined to ICUs. There are plenty of people who would still be alive if they weren’t so blessed born in a country whose response to the pandemic has been rooted in passionate ignorance and contempt for the working classes. Suffice it to say that my friend Alexis would still be with us (and improving the world with her brands of charm and talent) if this country had anything resembling sensible mental health counseling and/or gun control legislation. Maybe if the state of Tennessee (and Cazzy’s Corner Restaurant) wasn’t so thoughtless as to let rich white folks keep on brunchin’ in the middle of a pandemic.

It’s all so maddening, and I’m grateful to the community who knew Alexis as well as my students for reminding me that as senselessly as she died, her death is going to motivate us all to take action and change this reality that nobody asked for.

Anyway, because even getting murdered is expensive in America, there is a GoFundMe to help Alexis’ family through this time, in case you would like to pitch in and learn a bit more about what happened. Talk to you all soon.