How do you sleep at night? Here's how Spring has not quite arrived where we are (New York) though there are intimations of it and on Sunday we sat outdoors with neighbors, maintaining a six-foot gap, and spoke of various things and had a good time. I’m a Minnesotan, not a New Yorker, but I do love New Yorkers’ willingness to say what’s on their mind. A woman at church once told me during coffee hour that she never liked my radio show and we became instant friends on that basis. She said it in a friendly way, and frankly I’m not a huge fan of myself either, so right away we have something in common. On the other hand, a New York guy told me Saturday on the phone, “I love you. You know that.” A Minnesotan wouldn’t have said it if you’d put a gun to his head. Last fall I went to the opera and during intermission headed for the men’s room, passing a long line of women waiting to get into the women’s, and inside the men’s, I saw a tall woman in a long black coat emerge from a stall and walk out. She didn’t linger to hold a press conference, she simply walked out, having done what she needed to do. In Minnesota, this would’ve been an international incident; in New York, no big deal. Architects favor symmetry so the Men’s and Women’s are equal but men require three square feet and fifteen seconds to pee, and women need fifteen square feet and may have pantyhose to deal with and they like to converse. Conversation in a men’s room is strictly taboo. So the line of women is three times as long. Equality isn’t equity. And this woman stepped out of line. Point made. This pandemic makes Bernie Sanders look good and I speak as a Sleepy Joe Democrat. Our lives depend on millions of people who are not treated decently, including the undocumented workers picking the strawberries in California that I put on my corn flakes. We hear the sirens go by, a deadly disease that respects no boundaries. We see the naked socialism in the federal bailout of business. We’re living in a socialist state like Sweden except they do it rationally and we do it in lurches. Read the rest of the column >>> | 
