A brief visit to Wikipedia to find out more about the history of the Swine Flu yielded some surprising numbers. Perhaps some perspective is in order as we compare 2009 to past outbreaks:
That would be zero deaths so far. Should our health organizations be keeping tabs on it to make sure it doesn’t morph into a 1918 “Spanish Flu” style killer? Yes. Should it be dominating news coverage and Twitter buzz? Nope.
Last Saturday we packed up Owen and his sidewalk chalk and headed into Grand Rapids for several hours of street art fun. Rob Bliss, a local college student, got several organizations to pitch in and cover the cost of 30,000 pieces of sidewalk chalk.
The Chalk Flood was a community day to come into downtown Grand Rapids and use the free chalk to help spiff up the city sidewalks. The event ran for five hours, so people came and went throughout the day. Additionally people were spread out over a several block radius, so it was hard to know how many were there at any time, but I’d guess around 1,000.
Turnout was helped by spectacular weather (70 degrees and sunny in April, which is rare for Michigan) and kids were everywhere. O, being the outdoor guy he is, had a wonderful time coloring, flirting with our friend Bethany, and climbing all over the benches and tree in our area.
Still not sure what this whole chalk flood thing was about? Here’s some video:
The Bride Was Beautiful, a deeply moving photo essay by Romain Blanquart.
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