Raleigh’s Confederate monument comes down

The George Floyd protests were a Godsend for one particular reason: they paved the way for Raleigh’s Confederate monument to come down. A group of protestors managed to pull down some portions of the monument and Governor Cooper stepped in to do the rest, declaring the monument a safety hazard (which is absolutely was). Travis and I set up chairs across the street from the work crew as they wrestled the granite monument to the ground.

Several attempts were made before the right technique was found to disassemble the thing and cart it to some state warehouse somewhere. It was late that evening in June when the first section was successfully removed. We were tired but it was so worth it to watch this history being made.

I have long hated the monument, considering it a giant middle finger to the idea of integration and equality. Not only was it a monument to hate, it was also an architectural eyesore, out of scale for the State House Grounds where it stood. It took up half of the sidewalk that passed in front of it. One could not simply walk by and not acknowledge it.

But now it’s gone. The State quickly dug up the rest of it, planted grass in the spot, and extended the sidewalk to its original dimensions. I’m only disappointed that with my downtown office closed, I will not get the chance to smile daily as I walk past its former place of honor.

It was one of the best parts of 2020.

Good riddance, Confederate monument. Traitors deserve no place of honor.

Like many American cities, Raleigh was rocked this summer by street protests decrying the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Peaceful protesters downtown were replaced by more agitated protestors after the sun set. Raleigh Police and Wake deputies showed up in riot gear, deputies immediately sent pepper gas flying, and a fray soon commenced. Instead of engaging the public, police and deputies used an iron-fist approach to clear the streets. As a result, those supposedly there to prevent a riot essentially guaranteed a riot. It was the first time in many decades that gas was used on a crowd in Raleigh.

The next morning downtown Raleigh looked like a war zone. Broken glass was everywhere. Spray painted graffiti covered buildings. A convenience store had been set on fire. At the same time, though, Raleighites from all walks of life came downtown to help clean up. Folks who were strangers only minutes ago were teaming up to put planters back in place and sweep up. It was great to see.

Travis and I went downtown to snap photos and view the damage. As I lingered to view the damage to a shattered storefront, a Black couple was passing me on the sidewalk. The man, looking pained at the destruction, locked eyes with me and gave a quiet, somber “good morning” and I returned it. I was so happy that he had thought to reach out and I was thrilled to return the favor. It was a simple gesture but made me smile the rest of the day, in spite of all the chaos. I love my Raleigh family.
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When Broadcom purchased CA (after CA purchased Rally), word came down that the Raleigh office would soon be closing. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan is a big fan of putting the butts of his employees into seats in his existing offices. Thus, he closed CA’s beautiful office in Boulder, Colorado for the drab suburb of Broomfield. Raleigh’s team got moved to a drab office park in Durham, and so I parted ways with Broadcom, not wanting to add a stupid, needless commute to my life.

I landed at my current job when it seemed to check all the boxes for me. Interesting work in an interesting location, downtown Raleigh. I could’ve worked somewhere remotely but having done that in the past I soon grew tired of missing the action going on in an office.

Fast forward to 2020. The COVID pandemic hits and it is suddenly not safe to spend 8 hours at a time crammed together with colleagues in a small office. This summer, my Tennessee-based employer shuttered its Raleigh office and set us up to work 100% remotely. To avoid shipping them (and because there really wasn’t any use to shipping them) I volunteered to store the company’s computer monitors until a new office could be opened.

I have since pressed a few of those monitors into service for our home workstations. Now Kelly and Travis could never go back to just their laptop monitors.
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Abbott and Tobin

In February 2020, we began to get the itch to get another dog. One neighbor friend works with rescues and brought over one pup she was trying to home. While we chatted in the backyard, this dog went tearing around the yard, following the scent of our porch cat. The dog never paid any attention to us! I could tell this wasn’t the dog for us so we politely declined.

Then Kelly mentioned a neighbor friend had two dogs she was looking to home. The neighbor runs a kennel a.k.a. “pet spa” and had acquired the dogs from another kennel where the foster group seemed to abandon them. We set up an opportunity for the neighbor to bring them over so we could decide. Once again we chatted while getting to know the dogs, only this time they were friendly and interested in us! We laughed as they went tearing around, chasing each other around our backyard.

“This is progress!” I thought. We agreed to keep them over the weekend. That was March first and they have never left.
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Ah yes, No account of 2020 would be complete without telling the story of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic of 2020.

I’ve mentioned before some of the routine we’d gotten into but as time has gone on that routine has changed a bit. I spent a lot of time in the early days of the pandemic and subsequent self-quarantine just “doomscrolling,” trying to learn as much as I could about COVID. I learned earlier than most I think that the riskiest COVID situation is an indoor gathering. I stopped wiping down our groceries and mail when science showed no evidence that anyone had ever gotten infected via touching things (i.e., fomites). I could focus more fully on my job rather than feeling obsessed with finding out the latest science on COVID.

Even so, there is no doubt that the experience has changed me. I am still healthy and virus-free but the stress of watching society nearly collapse has affected my decision-making abilities to some extent, I think. Or at least things that once seemed important, like household stuff lying around that needs to be put away, don’t seem to be as important as they used to be.

The stark reminder that we individuals may be within weeks of our deaths has forced to think more long-term about my life’s goals. If I only had weeks to live, how would I want to live it? How would I like to be remembered? It has led me to be more honest in my opinions too, I think, where I am now more likely to say what I think instead of sugarcoating something. This may be a natural progression for me as I’ve always admired the Dutch’s penchant for telling it like it is. I am far more comfortable with this now.

I wanted to document what life has been like in a pandemic so early on I began to spend a few minutes of every weekday morning with my laptop and webcam, just updating where I was (and we were) quarantine-wise. As these are some more personal musings I have kept these to myself, though perhaps some day I will be comfortable sharing them. For now they are a video time capsule into this crazy world of self-quarantining. Continue reading →