Squidfry 07.21.22: Out and About

OUT AND ABOUT… When shelter-in-place first began, Squid thought Squid might keep it going forever – no hard pants, no need to comb Squid’s hair. But like everyone else, Squid got tired of it, and was especially eager to return to live entertainment. So Squid oozed out of the lair, cautiously at first, then unmasked, to see music, comedy and theater.

But these days, not even John Johnny Nash Jr. and Squid’s longtime favorite, the Monterey Peninsula Gospel Community Choir, can convince Squid to come out of the lair, at least not under Golden State Theatre’s new rules. The venue no longer requires proof of vaccination or negative Covid-19 test results – a fact it proudly advertises at the top of its website. Same policy goes for Sunset Center in Carmel – no rules, just a free-for-all of shared air particles.

Those rules (or lack thereof) are still in place despite the fact that California’s Covid hospitalizations have quadrupled, and Monterey County is again in the CDC’s “high” level for virus transmission.

It feels like in many ways like we are back to the chaotic early days of the pandemic, including different rules for different places. Or make that: different rules for the same place. Squid went classical, attending the Carmel Bach Festival, and all events – including those at the Sunset Center – require concertgoers to show proof of vaccination and to wear masks indoors.

NO CIGAR… Squid got tired of losing, so Squid quit going to pub trivia – second place just doesn’t do it. So the old saying goes, “close” only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

In a July 17 press release, the Committee to Defend Democracy – Recall Leffel tried to make “close” sound better than, well, failing. The group wants to recall MaryAnn Leffel from her seat on the Monterey Peninsula Airport District board. To get a recall on the Nov. 8 ballot, they had a 90-day window (deadline July 16) to collect 2,434 signatures from district voters. They ended up with “more than half,” which is, in other words, not enough.

Nancy Runyon, chair and spokesperson for the effort said, “There was a lot of enthusiasm and energy behind this effort. We just ran out of time.”

Squid remembers a similar refrain from the monkfish after it failed to petition its way onto the 1998 Oceans of the World Beauty Pageant. And just like in that drama, there was a bit of blame. Recall proponent Larry Parrish was quoted as saying the group lost three weeks of precious signature-gathering time due to “Election Office delays and technical errors.”

The group remains confident, however, and offered this spin: “We don’t consider this a loss – it just gives us more time to expose Leffel’s terrible record.”

Spoiler alert: When the monkfish entered the 1999 pageant, the monkfish did not win.