NEWSLETTERS: WECLOME, SHOUT-OUTS, HIGHLIGHTS

The Damn “New Normal” — COVID Fatigue, Misinformation, Censorship

Existing in a world that wants us to be “normal”

I get triggered by the word “normal”

Recently, I had a conversation with a dear friend who said life in NYC is back to “normal”. She was merely speaking from her perspective, and I should have respected that. However, hearing the word normal must have triggered me. I can’t understand why anyone would view our lives in this post-pandemic world as “normal”. I then proceeded to say that “normal” is relative because her perspective of life being normal, isn’t a reflection of the lives of so many people who are still suffering from the effects of the pandemic.

By the end of the conversation, I sent her love and I had to apologize because I realized that I went too far, and she was only speaking from her experience. Trying to have conversations with each other in this post-pandemic world can be so exhausting, especially when compounded with everyday issues.

Many people here in America are dealing with burn-out, anxiety, as well as uncertainty about the future. This is also true for others around the world, so please excuse me, if I can’t imagine or perceive this state of being as “normal”. Not to mention that we are still in the middle of this pandemic. Life might seem normal in some sense, but will things ever return to a pre-pandemic world? I think our lives have been forever disrupted, and perhaps the “new normal” is a better way of describing things.

What is normal, what does that mean to you? Do you feel like your life has returned to normal?

COVID fatigue and the shit show

I must admit that I have COVID fatigue, and I am no longer invested in COVID news. At one point, I stopped watching or reading the news cycles about it. However, in the last week, there were a couple of stories that managed to pique my interest, but they were from other countries — Canada and Great Britain.

In Canada, there was a convoy of trucks that drove through the capital to protest COVID mandates, and then, Justin Trudeau announced that he was diagnosed with COVID.* Wait, what?

In Great Britain, Boris Johnson is facing some severe backlash and being investigated because of this recently discovered scandal labeled as “Partygate”, where during the height of the pandemic, while the country was in lockdown, there were some social gathering rules that were perhaps broken at Downing Street. *

Can you say shit show? I am not purposely going after Canada or Britain because certainly, America as well as other countries are dealing with their own set of issues.

*Medium and the algorithms, please don’t censor my newsletter because these stories were widely reported, and the source reporting was CNN.

Censorship on social media and other platforms

Speaking of censorship, wtf? Censorship has evolved since the beginning of this pandemic. The rules are volatile and are changing every day as more information is released into these media outlets. I can no longer decipher what is or isn’t acceptable to say. Being a writer on a platform like Medium, I am concerned about censorship, and at times, I have chosen to sit back with my popcorn and watch as these scenes unfold in social media spaces.

The fact is, there has been a lot of misinformation and propaganda that has been created and wildly distributed through social media spaces, and I am curious to see how this pandemic will be recorded in history.

One of our UO writers, JD Solomon, presented COVID information and data from the CDC’s website and voiced his opinion about how history will remember this pandemic. I found his article quite interesting, and if you haven’t yet jumped off the edge due to burn-out, you can read it here:

Newsletter: Welcome, Special Shout-outs, Highlights — Perhaps a New Political Party

Hi there, my opinionated family, this is the fifth edition of our very unconventional newsletter. Believe it or not, I wanted this newsletter to be bright and cheerful, but if you have read this far, you can tell I completely failed at that. But never mind what came before, let’s enjoy this moment and move on from the past.

Before I begin, Joselromero $$$, I hope you’re doing better. Looking forward to reading more of your opinionated and gritty articles soon.

• Welcome: As you all know, this publication has seen tremendous growth over the 5 months that we have been active, and each month, we have added so many new writers. We are up to over a hundred writers, and we have added a few more opinionated writers in the month of January. I would like to take the time to welcome the writers who recently came on board: Joseph Lieungh, Jenine Bsharah Baines, Scott Younkin, Aiden Riley, Jennifer, Ripped Jeans Journey, Nancy Mutisya, Rebecca Lea Morris, Susie Kearley, The Idealist., JD Solomon, Shereen Bingham. A special welcome back to Diana C., who runs a successful publication KTHT on Medium. I am hoping she writes something for UO soon — wink, wink. And last but certainly not least, welcome to my favorite poet on Medium William J Spirdione.
• Highlights: I am a bit of a rebel at heart, and I love when writers reveal their rebellious selves. Therefore, “Tell ‘Em Why You Mad” is my favorite section of this pub. There are 2 articles where writers dropped the F-bomb — if you don’t already know, cursing is allowed here — so if you’re easily offended, please skip this section. Shout-out to Victoria Suzanne, Veronika Kaufmann, and Michael Centrone. Do check out their articles when you get a chance. A special thanks to Harry Seitz who has been a great addition to the UO team. His writing is bold and unapologetic — please do check out his work.
• Shout Outs: Speaking of poetry, this pub welcomes all poets and short story fiction writers. I must give a special shout-out to Roxanne Barbour, who is an avid reader of science fiction, for submitting her wonderful poems to the pub. She has introduced me to styles of poems that I will attempt once I gain some inspiration. Shout-outs to all the poets and short fiction writers who have published their pieces on UO. I am truly grateful.
• Funnies: Sometimes we get tired of all the back and forth and blah, blah, blah between political groups and parties— right-wing, left-wing, centrist, Conservatives, Liberals, Progressives, Independents, Libertarians, Democrats, Republicans, etc., — goodness, how are people not exhausted? Well, I am, so I joined the newly formed Unicorn political party. If you’re interested in joining, please be warned that you might have to sing the lyrics to the theme song — however, I was exempt from singing the song by its founder, Pam Winter. If you wanna know more, please see below:

The Damn “New Normal” for this Pub

I mentioned in the topic of this newsletter the “Damn New Normal”, and as people of this world try to decipher what that is to them, I too am on my own journey of trying to find what should be “normal” for these newsletters.

I would prefer this not to be a dictatorship, therefore, I would genuinely love to hear your feedback. Should I continue to highlight and shout out specific writers and poets each month as a way to show love? My intent is not to discredit other writers because I read and enjoy all the articles submitted to this publication. You guys have taught me how to become more open-minded and listen to other perspectives, even if I do not agree — a lesson that I am still working on. For that, I am truly grateful to all the writers of the publication.

If you prefer, I could make a general thank you or shout-out without highlighting specific writers. Please let me know and I will adjust accordingly based on your opinions. This new normal will evolve over time — I’m sure.

Well, that’s all I got folks, and if you have gotten this far in the newsletter, thank you for reading.

Congratulations and thank you to all the writers and readers of this pub for the success that you have created.

Please email me at [email protected] if you have questions or send me a private note and I will respond as soon as I can.

If you would like to read the previous newsletters, they can be found here:

Until next time my UO peeps…keep spreading those unpopular opinions because we care about being real, not popular, and your opinions matter. #thenewnormal, #COVIDburnout, #shoutouts, #unpopularopinions

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Thank you for reading the fifth edition of the Unpopular Opinions newsletter.