Out of the Shoebox: A hazy shade of summer

I braved the 2017 Northwest Folklife Festival to see Roselit Bone. It's a great event, and I went to subsequent ones, but festivals aren't really my thing. Just too many people. All that jostling and bumping. The nerve of people, having a good time while listening to music outside on a beautiful day.

I look at this photo from that day, and it's starting to seem foreign. Danger Will Robinson! I suspect for a lot of us it's going to take a while to re-wire our brains.

Any predictions on summer 2021 music festivals? My guess is they'll be on. Epidemiologists are cautioning us that the vaccines won't magically herald a return to pre-2020. I think they want more data about whether vaccines lower transmission rates. For example, could a vaccinated person get infected, stay healthy, but still pass on the disease? That message has a snowball's chance in hell of getting through. I predict that a lot of people will drop the precautions after their grandparents and parents have been vaccinated. Let's hope the vaccines are effective against mutations.

It's going to be pretty damn weird to walk carefree into a large crowd.