Albert Camus

". . . they commissioned journalists to write up forecasts, and, in this respect at least, the journalists proved themselves equal to their prototypes of earlier ages.

Some of these prophetic writings were actually serialized in our newspapers and read with as much avidity as the love stories that had occupied these columns in the piping times of health. Some predictions were based on far-fetched arithmetical calculations, involving the figures of the year, the total of deaths, and the number of months the plague had so far lasted. Others made comparisons with the great pestilences of former times, drew parallels (which the forecasters called 'constants'), and claimed to deduce conclusions bearing on the present calamity. But our most popular prophets were undoubtedly those who in an apocalyptic jargon had announced sequenced of events, any one of which might be construed as applicable to the present state of affairs and was abstruse enough to admit of almost any interpretation. Thus Nostradamus and St. Odilia were consulted daily, and always with happy results. Indeed, the one thing these prophecies had in common was that, ultimately, all were reassuring. Unfortunately, though the plague was not.

The Plague, Albert Camus.

Van Gogh Painting Stolen

Known as "Parish Garden In Nuenen, Spring", this Vincent Van Gogh painting from 1884, on loan from the Groninger Museum in Groninger, the Netherlands to the Singer Laren Museum in Laren, Netherlands, was stolen in a brazen robbery early on Monday morning, March 30. The only art work taken in the heist, no one is sure about its value, although earlier this year one of his other works was sold for E15 million.

 'Paysanne devant une chaumière' , purchased at an estate sale in 1967 for $5 was sold for E15 million on March 7.

Changing A Street Name

St. Patrick's Day has come and gone, generally ignored because of the pandemic in even St. Paul, Minnesota, where its celebration has been a significant event for many years. The large and exuberant Irish Catholic population, and their friends, delight in a day and night of Hibernian food, drink and horseplay. 

A growing world-wide pandemic put a damper on the festivities this year but it hasn't erased questions about the Irish in St. Paul and Minnesota.

There are 13 Roman Catholic parishes in St. Paul and throughout the state about 22% of the population follows that faith. Of course, not all Catholics are Irish and not all Irish are Catholics but there is a considerable correspondence. What makes this a matter of interest is the St. Paul street called Cromwell Ave.

According to the Ramsey County Historical Society, Cromwell Ave. is named for the Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland, Oliver Cromwell.

  Cromwell, a born-again Puritan, was the organizer of the Parliamentarians'  New Model Army, the most significant factor in the defeat of the royalists in the War of the Three Kingdoms during the period 1648-1650. Later he led the English forces in the continuing subjugation of Ireland, which included massacres at Wexford and Drogheda, and the enslavement of thousands of  Irish who were sent to the West Indies. His life was devoted to exterminating Catholics in general and Irish Catholics in particular. 

Cromwell became the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth in 1653 and served in that position until his death in 1658. In 1660, heir to the throne of the United Kingdom, Stuart Charles II returned to the country, inspiring the most joyous celebration there before or since.  Cromwell's body was exhumed and beheaded and his head displayed on a pike outside Westminster Hall for 18 years.

While Protestant English historians are inclined to treat Cromwell's memory with a certain amount of respect, he remains, after 362 years, perhaps the most hated figure in Irish history. If it's appropriate to cart away memorial statues of Confederate generals from public spaces and remove a reference to John C. Calhoun from a small lake in Minneapolis, it's just as valid to erase the name of a human monster from a short stretch of pavement in a city with a large Catholic and Irish presence. After all, no one has suggested that a St. Paul street be named Hitler Parkway. 

Worried About Exposure To Covid-19?

If crowds and the possible exposure to any communicable disease are a concern there's one very safe place, Mariucci Arena, the home of the University of Minnesota hockey Gophers during an NCAA D-I hockey game.

 Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, 14 minutes before puck drop in a game between the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the quarter finals of the BigG conference hockey tournament, March 7, 2020.

An arena that holds over 10,000 spectators drew a passionate crowd of 2,182 to watch two of the premier hockey programs in the country battle it out. At the same time a game between conference rivals St. Cloud State and University of Minnesota-Duluth gathered in 6597 fans on Lake Superior, 2167 watched the Soo Lakers play Bemidji State in that wide-spot in the road up north and 3,417 Minnesotans with time on their hands witnessed the pummeling of the Alaska-Anchorage Sea Wolves by the Mankato State hockey Mavericks on the banks of the Minnesota River. 

Chances are that many of the failures of people to gather in crowds will now be blamed on the Wuhan flu. Small crowds at sporting events, trade shows, plays and movies and retailers will be attributed to fear of the disease. While this is likely to be a factor of some size in all of them it's also likely that will be an easy excuse for owners and managers to explain failures with other, contributing causes. The escalation of ticket prices to ball games, plays and movies; bad teams and unexciting play; poor selection of products; inept customer service contribute to sparse crowds as well. Covin-19 will be management's excuse for profit destruction, however. 

Post script: All NCAA winter and spring sports events have been cancelled. No conference or national hockey or basketball tournaments and the baseball season had also ended. Interestingly, the governing body of intercollegiate sports is attempting to figure out a way to indemnify the athletes, perhaps by extending eligibility. Maybe this makes sense in a sordid way for D-I athletes, who are essentially free minor leagues for professional sports. It makes less sense in the case of D-III sports. Very few D-III athletes move on to professional careers at anything but the lowest levels. If they could, they would already be D-I participants. D-III sports are programs designed to attract tuition-paying students that wish to extend their youthful passion for sports as long as possible in a recognized format. While this experience may further their goals in leadership, teamwork, etc., it really doesn't have much to do with their educational experience. College sports at all levels need to examine their priorities and role in society.

Gaius Sallustius Crispus, Conspiracy of Catiline,

But when, by perseverance and integrity, the republic had increased its power; when mighty princes had been vanquished in war; when barbarous tribes and populous states had been reduced to subjection; when Carthage, the rival of Rome’s dominion, had been utterly destroyed, and sea and land lay everywhere open to her sway, Fortune then began to exercise her tyranny, and to introduce universal innovation. To those who had easily endured toils, dangers, and doubtful and difficult circumstances, ease and wealth, the objects of desire to others, became a burden and a trouble. At first the love of money, and then that of power, began to prevail, and these became, as it were, the sources of every evil. For avarice subverted honesty, integrity, and other honorable principles, and, in their stead, inculcated pride, inhumanity, contempt of religion, and general venality. Ambition prompted many to become deceitful; to keep one thing concealed in the breast, and another ready on the tongue; to estimate friendships and enmities, not by their worth, but according to interest; and to carry rather a specious countenance than an honest heart. These vices at first advanced but slowly, and were sometimes restrained by correction; but afterwards, when their infection had spread like a pestilence, the state was entirely changed, and the government, from being the most equitable and praiseworthy, became rapacious and insupportable. 

Chapter 10, Conspiracy of Catiline, 
literally translated by the Rev. John Selby Watson.
New York: Harper & Brothers, 329 & 331 Pearl Street (1867).