If any of my readers know city COO Chief McGowen who is in charge of the vaccination campaign, might want to show him this.
Yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine, who like me, is a Downtowner who does not rely on a car to get around. He has not gone to get vaccinated yet. It’s not that he’s anti-vacc at all. It’s just that the city has made getting vaccinated inconvenient for him. When we get to a point where he can walk or trolley to a vaccine site, he’ll do it.
I want to re-emphasize that it is preposterous that we do not have a public vaccine site (other than pop-up sites to vaccinate the homeless) in the 38103 zip code. I bet there is no other similar-sized U.S. metro that does not have an accessible vaccination site in its center city.
Now: I want to stay on my soapbox for a minute and take aim at Dan Conaway, who writes opinion pieces for The Daily Memphian. Yesterday Dan wrote Not vaccinated? There are plenty of shady trees at Elmwood, meaning you could be on your way to an early grave if you don’t do your part in starving COVID-19 of human hosts. This line, in particular, rankles me:
“Not getting a vaccine is all about you, a selfish and self-indulgent exercise.”
Dan, I agree with the sentiment of your overall story. However, the way you communicated your point was absolutely HORRIBLE.
I remember last June, when we were in Phase 2 of re-opening. I went out to neighborhood restaurants, which happened to be small businesses owned by my friends, and dined in. According to the health directive at the time, I was perfectly within my rights to do so. Yet the preachy-preachies, the Facebook and Twitter “health experts,” told me I was being selfish by dining in at local restaurants.
Did being called selfish make me change my mind, and either change my restaurant orders to take-out or stay home entirely? Hell no. Their preachiness galvanized me. It made me go out even more. I don’t like being told what to do, especially by people completely lacking in qualifications to tell me.
You want to convince people to get the COVID vacc? Take all judgment out of your message.
Even if someone tells me he’s not getting vaccinated because Donald Trump is the closest thing the world has had to Jesus in the past 2000 years, I’m not going to respond with judgment or criticism. I would probably fake a couple of sneezes to cover up my laughter, then remind him that Trump himself has been vaccinated.
From Marker: Why everyplace looks the same. If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, take a walk through Downtown’s South End neighborhood, or look at the rejected building plans for 7 Vance.
Cafe Keough is hiring baristas. Nice to know that my block of Main will have a coffee option other than Starbucks again soon.
A friend told me that a shot of Jameson at Beck & Call, the rooftop bar atop Hyatt Centric, is $17. A bottled domestic beer is $7.50. For those who don’t buy a lot of drinks and need a comparison point, neighborhood bars generally price Jameson shots in the $7-9 range and domestic bottled beers in the $3.50-$4.00 range.
Legendary Thai restaurant Bhan Thai is closing after almost 20 years.
The Flyer has a look at Red Bones Turkey Legs, a “constant pop-up” housed inside Carolina Watershed. I love turkey legs! They dress them up too. You can get them stuffed, topped with Cajun Alfredo sauce, topped with Alabama white BBQ sauce, or a variety of other ways. Sounds delicious! Who’s up for a trip south to Watershed soon?
In other Watershed news, Andy Hall plays at 2 today.
I spent some time at the Silly Goose yesterday, and later at Max’s Sports Bar. When I go to a bar, I just open the door and walk in. I don’t send my minions in first to give me a report of who’s in there.
Don’t forget, there’s a River Market today 1-6. It will be at River Garden, 51 N. Riverside Drive. 30+ vendors and a DJ.
Elon Musk hosts Saturday Night Live tonight. I don’t watch a whole lot of TV but I may have to tune in for that one.
It’s National Give Someone a Cupcake Day. It’s also National Coconut Cream Pie Day.
If you’re looking for a field trip outside of Downtown tonight, I recommend going to see ’80s hair band cover band Aquanet at Lafayette’s tonight. Julien, Roscoe, and Cindy no longer have to be the Dance Floor Police because that ridiculously stupid restriction went away in the current health directive.
If you’d prefer to stay Downtown for your Saturday night entertainment, The Michael Brothers take the stage at Blind Bear at 9.
Well crap. There’s rain on the radar in Central Arkansas, and Weatherbug’s hourly forecast thinks it’ll be here in the 10-11 AM hour. That blows a huge hole in my Farmers Market/South Main plans. Now I’ve gotta figure the day out. All my Saturday options will become much more favorable in a week, when (hopefully) all the stupid restrictions will be gone and we’ll be back at the bar without any limits on how many people can sit together there.
Still, I’m going to find some way to achieve the “play hard” of the work hard/play hard yin and yang, because I’ve got some adulting to do the early part of next week. Back tomorrow with more news.