Knowing how hard it is to get ahold of masks these days, my sister has kindly offered to send hubby and I a couple masks to wear when we go out. A friend of hers has been sewing them. This offer came very recently though, and I was wondering what I might be able to use as a mask until I got one designed for the task of reducing transmission of viruses.
One of the possibilities was the bandana I had bought more than 40 years ago when I went on my first backpacking trip. I might actually still have the bandana somewhere, but I have lost track of it after all those years.
But then I had another thought. My mind went back in time not quite so long ago—back to August of 2009. That heady first year of the Obama presidency. In Pittsburgh, just a 2 hour drive from the town where I live, where I had traveled to participate in my first ever Netroots Nation. And my first ever swag bag! Back in those days, the ACA didn’t exist yet, and, indeed, one of the big discussions at that gathering was what form should healthcare reform take? It was a noisy discussion, as I recall, between those who supported single payer (and probably still do) versus those who believed that only a less ambitious plan would actually make it through Congress.
Many of the sponsors of NN put in their own two cents on the topic, and one of those was the union AFSCME. Indeed, in every swag bag, they had put a t-shirt and a bandana with their chosen theme: Highway to Healthcare.
..And so I suddenly remembered that I did have a bandana with this 11 year-old slogan on it—a bit out of date, but who cares about that? It would certainly do the job. Being a person who doesn’t throw things away if they are functional, I knew I still had it, and even where to find it. And so I’ve been wearing that AFSCME bandana for the past week while out in public. I could retire it when the real masks come, or I could wear it in rotation. I haven’t decided yet.
Comments are below the fold, but first a word from our sponsor:
Here at Top Comments we strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
Top Comments (April 12, 2020):
From belinda ridgewood:
In Chitown Kev's Sunday Pundit Roundup, where there are always many excellent comments, learn started a thread dissing Marshmallow Peeps (that may not have been his main message, but that's what grew out of it). The thread made me smile, but I did not LOL until Nolana considered the ramifications of one possible pastime.
From Denise Oliver Velez:
I have quite a few nominations from my diary today, The Easter massacre of 1873—and the subsequent Supreme Court decision that sabotaged Reconstruction. There were so many that were excellent - it was hard to narrow it down. A lot more people are home, and interacting in more detail: this from TrueBlueMajority; this from mohistory2; this from Desert Scientist; this from skralyx; this from Rambler797.
From your humble diarist:
This by dmhlt 66 made me laugh.
Top Mojo (April 11, 2020):
Top Mojo is courtesy of mik! Click here for more on how Top Mojo works.
Top Photos (April 11, 2020):
Tonight’s picture quilt is courtesy of jotter!