2020+++

Photo: © Stan Banos

I'm not the kind to make New Year's Resolutions, but I do make time to take stock and ponder what lies ahead... Last year was actually pretty productive photographically; after the novelty of the lock down(s), mid year protests picked up the slack- photo ops based on the aftermath of people's pain and loss. But then, isn't that the basis of most photojournalism on any given year?

Of course, this bungled fiasco of a pandemic that was left to fester unabated could have been shortened, had we adopted some kind of science based nationwide program instead of the patchwork, devil may care, incoherent guidelines we semi adopted into our herd mentality of contradiction. And it's almost surreal that someone as myself, living on the economic borderline of uncertainty in the city supreme of financial inequity and inequality, has thus far managed to remain whole while so many above my station have folded. How much longer can this unnoticed crack of sustenance sustain me? But then, uncertainty is the current lingua franca...

Despite how bad 2020 was, 2021 probably won't be that much more ebullient, at least not the first half- and let's not forget the domestic terrorism yet to come. Hopefully, the vaccine (with all its uncertainty) will, in fact, come through and help- the economy then follow and normalcy gradually ensue. Shit, after all, my productive years on this mortal coil are now officially limited!

A coupla bad years- true that! But many of us (fortunately) won't be around for the full onslaught of global climate change: massive famines, droughts and floods, increased pandemics, wholesale mass migrations, global desertification, stronger storms, increased global conflicts and a slew of other shit we can't even begin to imagine at present. That series of upcoming plagues will span... generations, and the recovery- generations more.

Enjoy it while we can!