Page 4 - C.A.L.L. #46 - Summer 2020

One of the most noticeable adjustments of this time for me has been the increased

awareness of who we are each connected to in physical space. Whereas the family might be
the basic unit of shared exposure if I lived elsewhere, the daily contact I keep with other
Ironweeders to share kitchen, food, and cooking means that for COVID exposure purposes I
am connected in turn to the other people each of them shares their days with. The kitchen
also serves as the storage center and distribution point for the dairy co-op and all its
members, so we have two groups with overlapping use of the same space.

Danielle works in the Dancing Rabbit office in the common building, and Prairie and Aurelia
each make use of the piano there on a daily basis, so there is overlap with those who
frequent that building for their daily needs, though masks have become de rigueur there.

Sara is a midwife with regular trips outside the village and the need to avoid exposing clients
to contagion. She has been almost daily
in touch with other midwives very
actively adjusting to the needs of the
moment, including moms at all stages of
pregnancy who had not previously
considered home birth but are now
keen to avoid a hospital setting.
Multiply this range of factors for
each other grouping of people in the
village, and it gets increasingly
complicated.

What I’ve loved, and will long remember about this period (assuming I make it through it!)
are the individual efforts to help out while still having fun. Katherine, who as one of the
consistent users of the common building took on sanitizing its various doors, switches, and
surfaces on a daily basis, has also started manufacturing and distributing beautifully made
cloth face masks from a workstation in the great room. Alline, along with Apple at Red Earth
and others, have joined in producing these as well. Villager and Rutledge fire chief Javi has
been deputized to receive and distribute supplies from FEMA to various departments in the
area, though there has been precious little coming through, given the challenges first
responders are facing in this crisis.

Alline last week arranged a party for Kurt’s birthday where individual chairs were set up in
the road in front of the Mercantile at six-foot distances (along with grouped chairs for
various families), each with a cupcake, candle, and mini book of matches. At the appointed
time, we all gathered, each lit candles (or tried to, in the breeze), sang to Kurt, and sat
about talking and eating together at approved distance before going our separate ways again.
Andi, who as a paramedic for Knox County must already be out and about, has taken on Kurt’s
regular weekly town trips, doing errands for everybody once a week and allowing Kurt and the
rest of us to stay put and get our needs met without venturing out into the world.

Groups that do share exposure with each other, like our eating cooperative, are being
re-enlivened as social lifelines. Several evenings after dinner last week, Ironweed sat

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