d e r e t l e h S e c a l P In By Gordon Hight
I took my dog for a walk again today. It’s about the only thing I do anymore to get out of the house. We’ve established a mile-and-a-half loop through our neighborhood that sits directly on the east side of downtown. The first leg runs north along the river until the westward turn by the local newspaper building; left again up the hill, then down past churches of every denomination. It takes just under half an hour to complete and rain or shine, stands out as the best part of each day. Today makes thirty-eight days sheltered in place here in Georgia. My home county saw some of the very first coronavirus cases in the state, which resulted in stay at home orders well before our governor ultimately acted. In the days following those orders, I thought I’d see a drastic reduction in downtown activity on my daily walk. I thought the resulting desolation might provide an occasion to shoot a few photographs to make some sort of progress on this otherwise stalled book project. I’d come to terms with the book having to take on an increasingly local focus, but what I observed
10
May 2020
changed my mind about it’s viability altogether. Despite the ordered shutdown, I found a town seemingly uninterrupted as if all were business as usual. Closed churches and curbside service signs by downtown restaurants were the only indicators of life altered. Cars still filled the roadways and downtown parking spaces, and pedestrians, perhaps piqued by growing curiosity, gathered closely to talk on sidewalks. It’s not for me to judge who’s right and wrong when it comes to federal, state, and local pandemic responses and the public behavior that results from them, but being out and about has felt less safe, a feeling not helped by those various government bodies’ inability to act in concert. Out of growing concern, I’ve opted for restaurant take-out and farmers’ market produce instead of tripping to the already overwhelmed grocery store. In fact, it’s been almost three weeks since I last went. To some this might seem like an overreaction, but my father is in his seventies and I’m the one who gets him all his food. It feels much wiser to stay home than take unnecessary risks. Given the unknown duration of the pandemic and its possible resurgence when shelter in place orders are
