COVID39

Shane tries to talk Randi through shared demons and delusions.

Phase One Doesn’t Consider Priority One

Cast

Randi Halle Millien

Shane Mark Millien

SFX and Music Contributors

SFX

Q Tone [Query]

Tone 4.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Q Tone [Response]

Tone 3.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Music

Desmond’s Letter Theme

Summer Lullaby by Nightingale of looperman.com

Created by Mark and Halle Millien

Cover Art by Halle Millien

Written, Directed and Produced by Mark Millien

Desmond’s Letter:

A security guard was shot and killed in Michigan. They have a mask mandate. This family, the daughter, didn’t have one on. The report says they got into a verbal altercation and then the security guard asked the cashier not to serve them, told them to go. They left. Twenty minutes later they come back, with another member of the family. Brother, husband, I’m not sure. But he shot the security guard in the head and he died. Half the states in the country reopened over the weekend and it doesn’t feel like any of us are any safer. It just feels like we are running out of options. Into madness. Most of the deferments that we were able to qualify for come due in July but we still aren’t making money. The stimulus check is supposedly a few days away but it won’t make the difference that we need it to. The guidelines everyone is working from is bullshit. It’s like they’re trying to design a class struggle between people with kids and people without them. I can’t leave them here with Mara. She can’t watch them the days she’s working Helen has been no help. I take that back. She’s become really focused on Harrison, but Randi, it’s like she’s disappeared as far as Helen’s concerned. I’m worried about Roderick. He called yesterday, but he only spoke to me and he didn’t want me to tell anyone. That’s not sustainable. He knows that, but he doesn’t know what to do about it. A car company based here said that anyone who didn’t show up May 1st had essentially quit. What’s the point of that? They want to lose experienced workers in the middle of the pandemic to replace them with people with more flexibility, who are desperate enough to risk their lives and in demand enough to go wherever this new mercenary economy will hire them? Is it just a way to quickly shed payroll under the auspices that they tried to offer their workforce a fair shot? I feel like the pictures of people flocking to beaches should be providing me with hope, but it’s a brand new type of dread on top of all the other solidifying shadows with sharp edges lurking at the periphery. It only occurred to me today, stupidly, that you all may be falling behind academically. That maybe what I’m doing isn’t enough. How could it be? I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. And will you suffer for it? Maybe the curve will adjust. If everyone is swimming in place, then won’t the expectations just shift? It’s a lie. I knew it was a lie before I typed it. This will be the same unequal bullshit on a whole new scale, widening gaps that were already chasms. I remember at the beginning of this feeling a sense of security because this was something that didn’t affect children. Then that beautiful little girl died and it shook another convenient lie. But now I see that whether she was an outlier or not, it didn’t matter. But the virus is coming for my children in another way. Instead of crippling their lungs, it will cripple your advancement, your ability to compete with an entire class of people that already had a head start. All the bills are coming due.

Glossary

The Atlanta Ospreys: a virtual league team that encompasses all the major VR sports (basketball, hockey, baseball, football and American football) under a single team with a single owner and employing hundreds of virtual athletes that compete in digital arenas for millions of specs.

#covid39 #covid19 #coronavirus #quarantine #rona #quarantinechronicles #covidchronicles #coronachronicles #quibi #generationc #flattenthecurve #stayathome #welcometowinnetkaheights #oakcliffdallas #atlanta #castleberyhill #theuninformedparent #phaseone

Randi’s memories are detailed and dangerous.

Cast

Randi Halle Millien

Shane Mark Millien

SFX and Music Contributors

SFX

Q Tone [Query]

Tone 4.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Q Tone [Response]

Tone 3.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Music

Randi’s Letter Theme

Choirs Of Passion - Eternal Punishment 3 by MINOR2GO of looperman.com

Created by Mark and Halle Millien

Cover Art by Halle Millien

Written, Directed and Produced by Mark Millien

Randi’s Letter:

Hello. I need to talk to you. I know that I could call you, but if I did I don’t know if I’d say what I need to say. I heard you and mom fighting. She asked you if it was true that you were going to New York. You didn’t understand how she knew and she thought that meant you were trying to deny it. Things got bad quickly. This man came to the house, daddy. A few weeks ago. I didn’t like him. He was very tall. His hair is white like a polar bear and he has green eyes. He was the one that told mommy you were leaving. Is he a friend of yours? I don’t think he is. I think he’s the opposite of a friend. I think he told mom so that you two would get in a fight. When he came here he was talking to mom but it felt like he was talking to me. The man said some scary things, things that I don’t believe. The grownups are sending these letters to us when we are older. Uncle Desmond said not to play with his computer, at all. When the man was here, he made it seem like we weren’t going to see you again. So I wanted to send you a letter, for when you’re older, so that you would know that I didn’t believe the man. So you know that I know that I’m going to see you again. If I told you all of this now it wouldn’t mean the same. You’d think I was making up a story. But when you read this years from now you’ll know that I never believed the man. I know that you are in New York because you feel like they need you more than we do. It’s not because you don’t love me, or Harrison. It’s because you are a good man and you’re smart and you can fix people. I think you can fix you and mommy too. She loves you very much. Mommy says I shouldn’t call anyways since you’re so busy. When you read this could you send me a video saying so? You could send it to mommy’s phone or put it on youtube or something. I want you to know that I’m not scared. I know it’s all going to be okay. I just wish I knew when. I know Harrison really misses you. If you could come back soon it would mean a lot to him. Jude and Shane are lucky that their mom and dad are always around. Uncle Desmond and Auntie Mara never fight but they don’t really talk a lot either. Somehow that seems worse. I can’t explain it. Jude reads a lot and gives me good books but Shane just watches movies. Mom said he was going to O.D. on screen time. It think that means he’s going to die from watching so many. I don’t want you to worry about any of us. I’m taking good care of everyone. Please remember to take your vitamins. And to take your temperature everyday. And to wash your hands for twenty seconds. Rub them the whole time. I love you daddy.

#covid39 #covid19 #coronavirus #quarantine #rona #quarantinechronicles #covidchronicles #coronachronicles #quibi #generationc #flattenthecurve #stayathome #welcometowinnetkaheights #oakcliffdallas #atlanta #castleberyhill #theuninformedparent #memoriesareabitch

Shane has reached a conclusion as Randi makes a revelation.

“Protests”

Cast

Randi Halle Millien

Shane Mark Millien

SFX and Music Contributors

SFX

Q Tone [Query]

Tone 4.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Q Tone [Response]

Tone 3.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Music

Edge Of Cool by Fredbau of looperman.com

Created by Mark and Halle Millien

Cover Art by Halle Millien

Written, Directed and Produced by Mark Millien

Auntie Lolo’s Letter:

Breakfast. Have you ever thought about that word? It’s kind of disguised because of how we pronounce it, but it literally means breaking your fast, the one you conducted while sleeping. Language mutates over time to suit the needs of whoever is speaking, but it loses some of itself along the way. There’s a new valediction taking hold. Stay safe. There is one world of people who offer it to anyone they come within six feet of as a way of saying don’t die, I hope your friends and loved ones don’t die, because so many people are dying and they may have no symptoms and you may have no symptoms so you may not know it yet, so do what you can with what you do not know to evade something that you cannot see, but will kill you all the same. There is a whole other world of people who are operating as if the dead are so far removed or inconsequential to the patriotism demanded of normalcy, that the living do not deserve any inconvenient precautions. They are using language differently. “Freedom over Tyranny,” or “My body my choice” or “Vaccines are for sick people” with a picture of Bill Gates. It’s confusing. The vast majority of Americans don’t want to rush the process, but this discontented few have chosen the language of militancy to battle policies designed to fight a pandemic. For some reason I’m reminded of Basheer Al Assad gassing his own people so that he could rule them. Not because they are the same thing, but because it seems rooted in a similar type of nihilistic narcissism. We try to explain so many things with words designed to explain something else. More people have died from COVID-19 in the last three months than in all of the Vietnam war. More than double, almost triple the deaths of any other nation. The president’s son in law called that a success story. White people armed with assault rifles and shotguns descended on the Michigan state capitol in Lansing and threatened lawamakers with violence in what was deemed a “protest”. I remember last summer I was in a Chic Fil A and a stranger said God bless you. I hadn’t sneezed, he just used as a way of greeting. I said thank you. He seemed dissatisfied somehow with my response. As he left he said, Merry Christmas. It was June. He was trying to mark out territory that I didn’t understand completely. But while I shelter at home and have time to think about the shape of words I think I have a more complete understanding of the threat he perceived to his way of life. He thought he was in a “safe” place, where his Christianity would be enthusiastically reciprocated. He needs a place like that wherever he goes, and if he winds up in a temple and doesn’t see enough heads bowed, he reminds them of where they are. Except we were only in a sacred place in his own mind and even if it had been hallowed ground, is this his best interpretation of the edicts captured in the Bible? It was my fault for being at a Chic Fil A in the first place. It’s just so damn delicious. And the customer service is unmatched. But I digress. Words matter is I guess what I really want to say. You are growing up in a really tricky world. It’s going to try to deceive you at every opportunity. Most people will reveal themselves to you despite their attempts to hustle you. Listen to their words. Their actions are important, but listen to the words they choose. They chose them for a reason. It isn’t arbitrary and it isn’t an accident. We are our words, even when we lie. Farewell.

#covid39 #covid19 #coronavirus #quarantine #rona #quarantinechronicles #covidchronicles #coronachronicles #quibi #generationc #flattenthecurve #stayathome #welcometowinnetkaheights #oakcliffdallas #atlanta #castleberyhill #theuninformedparent #covidprotests #merrychristmas #weareourwords

There was no letter today.

Cast

Randi Halle Millien

Shane Mark Millien

SFX and Music Contributors

SFX

Q Tone [Query]

Tone 4.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Q Tone [Response]

Tone 3.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Created by Mark and Halle Millien

Cover Art by Halle Millien

Written, Directed and Produced by Mark Millien

Additional Notes and Thank Yous

Glossary

bloomin’ folk: a term to describe the hale and hearty

clover: a derogatory slur aimed at evergreens or those with top rated medical hazard profiles.

Crimea4: shorthand for a pandemic that killed 13 million people globally before a vaccine was created in 2023.

H3N2-25: a strain of influenza that killed 20 minion people globally before a vaccine was created in 2027.

s-kit: short for sterile kit, a set of specially fabricated garments worn by individuals who feel they may be in at risk areas or who themselves are at risk and want to convey a sense of social responsibility. A typical kit consists of an apron, elbow length gloves, a mask, hairnet, and high grade outers (see the glossary entry for episode 7). Often times called a “skit”. It carries a connotation of the wealthy or privileged consorting with normal folk and over emphasizing the risk in these interactions, so a full kit is rarely seen except in the case of non medical personnel in proximity to a severe outbreak of some kind.

zombies: see Chapter 5 glossary entry.

#covid39 #covid19 #coronavirus #quarantine #rona #quarantinechronicles #covidchronicles #coronachronicles #quibi #generationc #flattenthecurve #stayathome #welcometowinnetkaheights #oakcliffdallas #atlanta #castleberyhill #theuninformedparent #pandemics

An awkward reunion.

Cast

Randi Halle Millien

Shane Mark Millien

All My Love Official Video

SFX and Music Contributors

SFX

Q Tone [Query]

Tone 4.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Q Tone [Response]

Tone 3.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Tag Scanner

TONE 100 Hz 44.1 16bit.wav by klangfabrik of freesound.org

Music

Uncle Josh’s Letter Theme

Hopeful Piano by itsredd of looperman.com

Created by Mark and Halle Millien

Cover Art by Halle Millien

Written, Directed and Produced by Mark Millien

Uncle Josh’s Letter:

This is one of those ideas that I should’ve had. Writing letters to your loved ones, to tell them how much they mean to you in the time before tney’ve gotten a chance to know you. This is a special thing, a very special thing. I’m honored to do it, especially for you guys. Jude and Shane, when your parents moved, we didn’t even know your mom was pregnant. They were being careful, didn’t want anyone to get too excited and then be let down. The first time was hard on them, hard on everyone. It seemed like we were all waiting to see which one of us would be the first grown ups. Helen and Rod had already moved to Dallas together but they weren’t married yet. Standing there in the hot sun in a tux, honestly all I could think about was getting to the open bar. But then, Harrison and Randi, your mom walked out and it felt like the wind had caught its breath. She glided out to K-ci and Jo-jo’s All My Life. Your uncle Serge was tickling the keys and they had these two dudes perform live. I don’t know where they found them. They were good, no shade, just doing the most. They were dressed up in the white gloves, white scarves, quarter length black jackets. It was so hot. I wanted to fight em cuz they were making me hot. But Helen. We all rose and paid tribute, and you could see Rod trying to hold it together. He was sharp too. It was their wedding when we all realized that a whole new era was upon us. We talked about it a little, made jokes, but because they’d already left, it didn’t hit home like Desmond and Mara’s wedding. They were still a part of the weekly crew. We were still sneaking into movies with bottles of Maker’s Mark and Subway sandwiches. We played Olympic level Taboo until four in the morning. We’d spend all day Sunday watching football. The one o clock game, the 4:15 game, the 7:30 game. The neighbors would complain. Now Des doesn’t even watch football anymore. Divorced them after Kaepernick. Des and Mara were our center. We all imagined what it would be like to help raise their kids. Des used to talk about making a spreadsheet so that everyone had a fair turn at watching you, so that no one could say they were playing favorites. Can you imagine? You were so loved that your parents had to design rows and columns so that we all wouldn’t fight over you. The hypothetical yous. By the time you’d actually come around our whole emotional core had up and migrated to Dallas. I gave moving there a lot of hard thought. I hope you remember me coming out to visit, us going to the zoo and feeding the giraffes. Hitting up that park in the middle of downtown with all the food trucks and sprinklers. Now must be pretty tough on you guys. All the things that you relied on for support is just all of a sudden, gone. That’s gotta be hard. But at least you all have each other. Quarantining with another family has got to have its pros and cons and I know the grass is always greener, but I really wish I had been visiting when this all went down and we’d all be together. Remember that your family extends past those brick walls, that historic district in South Dallas, that once a country never let you forget it state called Texas. Your family is everywhere and we love you, always.

#covid39 #covid19 #coronavirus #quarantine #rona #quarantinechronicles #covidchronicles #coronachronicles #quibi #generationc #flattenthecurve #stayathome #welcometowinnetkaheights #oakcliffdallas #atlanta #castleberyhill #theuninformedparent #kaepernick

Dr. Estrum provides answers

Cast

Randi Halle Millien

Shane Mark Millien

Dr. Estrum Melissa Thomas

SFX and Music Contributors

SFX

Q Tone [Query]

Tone 4.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Q Tone [Response]

Tone 3.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Music

Therapeutic Revelations

StringSection Trap Stabs by JLiveGotDaSauce of looperman.com

Created by Mark and Halle Millien

Cover Art by Halle Millien

Written, Directed and Produced by Mark Millien

Glossary

decon tank: short for decontamination tank; spending time in one is mandatory when receiving a new haztag classification, or when traveling abroad, or even in between some states.

#covid39 #covid19 #coronavirus #quarantine #rona #quarantinechronicles #covidchronicles #coronachronicles #quibi #generationc #flattenthecurve #stayathome #welcometowinnetkaheights #oakcliffdallas #atlanta #castleberyhill #theuninformedparent

A letter from Randi’s father.

Cast

Randi Halle Millien

Shane Mark Millien

Roderick Brian Ashton Smith (Instagram @bashtons)

SFX and Music Contributors

SFX

Q Tone [Query]

Tone 4.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Q Tone [Response]

Tone 3.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Music

EStrings Intro by Eendee of looperman.com

Created by Mark and Halle Millien

Cover Art by Halle Millien

Written, Directed and Produced by Mark Millien

Special Thanks to my boy Brian who came through in the clutch. He’s an amazing performer and a better friend.

Roderick’s Letter:

Hi. Uh, hello. Hi. I’m already bad at this. I’m sorry. This is so unfair to you both. You may have heard your mother and I, the other night. My intentions may not matter, but I didn’t mean for it to escalate the way that it did. I always wonder afterwards when it was that I lost control, and, it’s hard to pinpoint. I don’t know what mistakes I’m making anymore. Every morning I try to decide what the right thing to do is and by the time the sun goes down I still have no idea if I’d spent the day making things worse or making them better. I don’t know what will matter most to you in however many years it will be until you hear this. It’s supposed to serve as a time capsule, so maybe you’ll be adults. Maybe you’ll already have kids of your own. I’d like to have that conversation with you one day, parent to parent. I’m hoping that my actions will seem justified then, because I can’t justify them now, to my two beautiful children. Your uncle Desmond and aunt Mara love you very much, they would do anything for you, but I know it’s not the same as having me there. When this is all over I’ll sit each of you on my lap and we’ll talk about why I was away. Why I left without saying goodbye. I was always happy with your mom. It was never a fairytale, but I was proud of our story. I always felt lucky that she would even talk to me. I’d never met anyone like her. We were friends first. I watched guys approach her, watch them struggle with the words, fumble maintaining eye contact. Eventually receding until forgotten, with a resumé spotlighting all their tiny failures. I studied their advances so that I wouldn’t make their mistakes, knowing I would inevitably make my own. The day I found the courage to test my thesis, I had rehearsed my approach like a TV host’s monologue. I knew where to pause for effect, for laughter, for thoughtful consideration. I’d practiced when to look away and when to absorb her in fullness, calibrating against creepy, fine tuning my stare into a gaze. My mirror must have been so sick of me. It was a Saturday morning in the Spring. We were meeting Desmond and Mara for daydrinks. Not just them. Your uncles Frank, Juan, Serge, Marcus, Josh, Joseph and Robert. Your aunts Jessica, Jolie, Patricia, Tommy, Lolo, Eve, Tika and Ebony. I thought there might be safety in numbers if things didn’t go as planned, but back then we were always together. We didn’t need an occasion. So different from now. We’ve all dispersed like dandelion threads on the wings of wishes. And even if we hadn’t, now we live in isolation. Normal feels so far away. I asked her a couple of days in advance if she could help me go buy a suit for a wedding that was coming up later in the summer. She liked to clown me about how I dressed so I thought it would come across like I was taking her “suggestions” seriously. I’d pick her up, we’d spend a few hours together while I tried on ties and shiny shoes. She could see me look my best but in a casual environment. I could cheat her imagination into perceiving me differently. After a morning of tailoring, I’d ask her if she could give me a supplemental course, graduate with honors, or something like that. I got there 30 minutes early with Dunkin Donuts vanilla coffee that I knew was her favorite. I would catch her off her game, unprepared, shields down. I really was confident when I walked up to her door, but when she opened it...it was like getting to the dragon’s lair after weeks of planning on how to get out alive. She wasn’t ready yet. Her hair was everywhere at once like a fuzzy star and too beautiful to stare at directly. She had on an oversized t shirt. That’s it. A baggy faded inconsequential t shirt that managed somehow to hang on her like an heirloom tapestry. She said hey. And then I knew. It was pretend casual in the same way I was poorly trying to imitate. She was all stealth and the word was a shuriken. I stood there bleeding from the heart and lungs, trying to form a sentence, a word, a thought. In a jumble, sensations came over me that my lizard brain translated. HI. WHAT. NICE. HOW. YOU. FINE. I. SORRY. COFFEE. SHOES. But my wound was mortal. My breath came out in short clips while my lungs drowned in shame. I had been a fool. I wasn’t a hunter. I was meat. And the dragon had been waiting. She put a hand on mine and I was so thankful for the mercy of a quick kill. I thought that I was an eskimo brother to all those fools I tried to leach victory from and then I remembered that we were the opposite of eskimo brothers but I didn’t know the word for that and I was the King of All Fools and then...she willed the cup of coffee from my hand like a magic trick and said, “So do I get to be your date for this wedding, because I never asked, but it only seems fair considering the work I have in front of me.” And somehow I managed a not too feeble sounding “That was the plan,” and watched those dice tumble off my lips heady with the stakes, waiting for her mouth to annihilate or vindicate. She said “Good. Come in, I’ll get dressed.” Sevens. My life was never the same after that. Desmond and I, when we were kids, had always talked about what it would be like to have kids of our own. We were both determined to be different than our fathers. I’m so proud of Desmond, but it pains me more than I can describe to know how far I have fallen short. I’m hoping in the years to come I will have made it all up to you. What I want you to understand about this moment is that...it felt like being called to war. The stories you hear about Vietnam, Korea, the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan, they were all muddy with questionable motivations and no clear goals. World War II was the last time this country seemed to have a purity in conflict. Our people were still being killed or degraded at the whims of white men, cheered on by white women, and shunned or spit upon by what are now People of Color, in unity, but then we were niggers and they weren’t and that was that. But the fight came to us and we responded. Black pilots and infantrymen distinguished themselves in battle against an enemy that was literally attempting to destroy all non Aryans and establish a master race. Despite the circumstances of our service, serve we did. With valor. And though our contribution was mostly ignored in the lifetimes of those who survived, our stories were told and they’ve become sacred. This moment feels like that to me. Our people are dying at a much greater rate than whites or POC, and so this virus has made us niggers again. Alone and vulnerable. And I have never been a nigger and my children were not born niggers and I want to do everything in my power to make sure that this remains the case. Because our story must be told. If we leave it for others to tell, there will be omissions. There will be faulty narratives. And there will be lies. I trained to be a nurse because I wanted to help people. Here in Dallas, right now, the virus is under control. But in New York, it’s like something out of a Black Mirror episode. I left last week to try and help make a difference. Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not a hero. I am no slayer of dragons. A hero would’ve had the courage to kiss my children on the head and tell them that everything would be all right. A hero would’ve held the love of his life in his arms and found a way to make her understand his choices and to heal the place in her that he had broken. I couldn’t do those things because I am a coward. I don’t have the strength to see any of you and leave in uncertainty. My optimism can only breathe in a space of limited consequences. Outside of that, I am as lost as anyone else, and my bravado has always been a watery illusion. Whatever I’ve said to you about why I did what I did in the past, I hope this clarifies it in some way that will be meaningful to you. If this is the last time you will hear my voice, then know that I regret it. I regret all of it.

#covid39 #covid19 #coronavirus #quarantine #rona #quarantinechronicles #covidchronicles #coronachronicles #quibi #generationc #flattenthecurve #stayathome #welcometowinnetkaheights #oakcliffdallas #atlanta #castleberyhill #theuninformedparent

Randi and Shane read a letter from the past that predicts their present.

Cast

Randi Halle Millien

Shane Mark Millien

SFX and Music Contributors

SFX

Q Tone [Query]

Tone 4.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Q Tone [Response]

Tone 3.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Music

Pathways Initiative Letter Theme

Meant 140BPM - Blend Beats by BlendBeats looperman.com

Created by Mark and Halle Millien

Cover Art by Halle Millien

Written, Directed and Produced by Mark Millien

Pathways Initiative Letter:

Randi Morgan and Shane Philips. I hope that when you read this, you are both as healthy and happy as can be expected in the Post Pandemic world. We expect that you are. I know that there have been many challenges that brought you here to this point. We at the Pathways Initiative regret whatever part we have played in producing those hardships. It must be hard for you to imagine the world as it exists today. In some ways we must seem like a decadent society. Gluttons, wanton, and reckless. Shane, you are skeptical of authority, institutions, and altruism. It will be particularly hard for you to reconcile your concepts of free will with what we have developed. You will spend an inordinate amount of time feeling like a pawn. It will give you little comfort, and potentially exacerbate potential harmful cascade effects in your behavior, but our data points alwasys suggested that you would become a king. Randi. Our data regarding your potential and terminal vectors are more...shadowed. You are the quintessential paradox. Everything in your genetic and mental profile define you as an apex paragon. But along with such dominant traits comes an inherent uncertainty that we have not, truthfully, been able to model with the same degree of confidence as 99.998% of the participating population. This requires us to form a negative data set that is informed by what is going on around you, what we call a halo effect, at a greater dynamic than we would feel comfortable with under more data driven parameters. We include this letter in this archive as a test positive for reasons that will become clear in the coming days and weeks. Randi and Shane, there is a 98.9% probability that you have been living together for 4-5 years. There is a 99.6% probability that your relationship is marred by your past trauma and you are currently trying to determine the best path forward. You are both committed to one another but neither of you know if it is because you are following a pre-ordained stumble into your own codependency or if it is rooted in genuine respect, admiration and love. The world you both live in present you with far less options than the one in which this is written so you have a good faith basis for this lingering doubt. At this time we will not share our data sets on how this will turn out. This letter is meant to focus your directions and energies to making these questions a priority in your relationship to accelerate the process you are already undertaking. If you find this to be manipulative, it is. That unfortunately, is the point. You each have impactful decisions to make in the immediate and longterm. Whatever you believe after reading this, we wish you well.

#covid39 #covid19 #coronavirus #quarantine #rona #quarantinechronicles #covidchronicles #coronachronicles #quibi #generationc #flattenthecurve #stayathome #welcometowinnetkaheights #oakcliffdallas #atlanta #castleberyhill #theuninformedparent

Helen’s letter reveals something unseen.

Drink While You Can

Corona Viruses Taught Us How To Fight Climate Change

Data About the Systems

Systems Thinking

Cast

Randi Halle Millien

Shane Mark Millien

SFX and Music Contributors

SFX

Q Tone [Query]

Tone 4.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Q Tone [Response]

Tone 3.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Music

Helen’s Letter Theme

F A B L E by renegadeonthebeat of loooperman.com

Created by Mark and Halle Millien

Cover Art by Halle Millien

Written, Directed and Produced by Mark Millien

Glossary

harvest equity: a small systems bank.

panacea: the first and largest global systems bank.

systems banks: for profit organizations that analyze your lifestyle and build a model dictating what actions should be taken to create a net positive healing factor or put another way, a negative carbon footprint. Since interconnected dynamics are verifiable and quantitative these tangible changes for individuals or corporations create currency that can be banked, spent or credited against your lifestyle, business or other assets. The analytics are derived from a specific model established by ?????????? that incorporates intricacies of human behavior, organizational interconnectivity, institutional influences and market structures.

Helen’s Letter:

Ever since we found you I feel like life keeps presenting all of these possibilities. In China, for the first time in decades, they are living under clear skies. Milan has announced new initiatives in regulating daily transportation emissions based on the data they are seeing from the shelter in place mandates going on throughout the world. Today is Earth Day. The 50th anniversary. I don’t believe in coincidence, or karma, or anything, I guess, but this, for me, can’t mean nothing. Nitrogen dioxide is falling throughout the country. In Berlin they are reimagining urban planning to coincide with this moment, this moment! And you are home! Safe! I think this is it. A turning point for all of us. You know all those clichés. Well you don’t know them now, but you’ll know them by the time you read this. Always darkest before the dawn. Baby, I can smell the sun. It’s rising on all of us. All the things we’ve gone through, went through, it was all leading to this, to right now. Desmond and Mara think I’m drunk. I haven’t had a drink since we found you! Two days in quarantine and not a single wisp of alcohol has creased my lips. I can’t even regret who I was before this moment, because it took that for me to be here, right now, seeing clearly for the first time in what feels like years. Maybe my whole life. I am teeming in abundance! I’m so thankful, even for the virus. Because it brought us to this place where we had to reckon with our behavior. The consequences of our apathy, our greed. Until finally, after rockbottom, you have to sober up. You have to reassess everything, consider options that seemed impossible before, and create something beautiful from the ashes of your old life. I’m burning it all, my dear heart. Every part of me that clung to unfulfilling scenarios out of habit as opposed to happiness. Baby, thank you. Thank you for rejecting all of this bullshit. That’s what made you run away! I told you. You are special. Empathic. You could feel intuitively what none of us could see. And we followed you, and you’ve led us to this. A bright tomorrow. Thank you my sweet boy. I told you that I would change. I didn’t realize at the time that you were already changing everything. Thank you. Thank you.

#covid39 #covid19 #coronavirus #quarantine #rona #quarantinechronicles #covidchronicles #coronachronicles #quibi #generationc #flattenthecurve #earthday #emissions #stayyourasshome #religion

Randi and Shane have a hard discussion about what they each want.

Cast

Randi Halle Millien

Shane Mark Millien

SFX and Music Contributors

SFX

Q Tone [Query]

Tone 4.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Q Tone [Response]

Tone 3.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Music

Helen’s Letter Theme

Forgotten Bells - Gangs 2 by MINOR2GO of looperman.com

Created by Mark and Halle Millien

Cover Art by Halle Millien

Written, Directed and Produced by Mark Millien

Helen’s Letter:

Harrison. When I find you I am going to kill you. I know that we are going to find you. I know that you are scared because you heard me and your dad. I know that you will be so sorry when you realize how scared I am right now. But I know that we are going to find you safe. I know that you are okay because I know that there isn’t a version of me that could survive if you weren’t. Not one that I can conceive of, and because I cannot come to terms with that possibility I reject its existence in its entirety. I would blame Desmond if I was as worthless as I feel, as truly pathetic as the woman who’s voice I hear when I speak. The bulk of the homeschooling effort has been on him. He went to all the websites, indexed all the individual children’s interests, crafted an ad hoc Montessori curriculum, hoping he could keep you distracted enough from your boredom that he wouldn’t have to plug you in to any of the streaming services. Screentime is the new Satan. I grew up with the television as my nanny and look at how I turned out. A case study in accepted mediocrity. But you are not mediocre. You are special. Not because you are the beat of my heart and the pride of your father, but because you are empathetic. You will be so many things that I am not. You WILL BE. If I knew any voodoo I’d snatch the hair of a virgin and kiss the ass of a demon, oh god, I need you to be okay. I’m sorry I’m so consumed with my own shit that I haven’t given you what you need. I swear to you I will. I will. I will. I’m sorry about your dad. About what I said. I didn’t mean those things. Five weeks of quarantine has shown me things that I’m not proud of but I will make them all up to you. Since before I could walk, people have called me beautiful. Pretty. I am. It sits at the center of my identity. The world contours around me and I sit in its cushion. Having the pillows ripped out from under me has been, unsettling. I’m not making excuses. It’s long past the time for excuses. I just wanted you to know, after we find you, that I meant what I said. I wanted you to have proof that this is what made the difference. That you are how I define myself, you and your sister, from now on. God. From now on.

#covid39 #covid19 #coronavirus #quarantine #rona #quarantinechronicles #covidchronicles #coronachronicles #quibi #generationc