reopen

John Steiner, the blogger behind Journeys With Johnbo, has this prompt he calls Cellpic Sunday, in which he asks us to post a photo that was taken with a cellphone, tablet, or another mobile device. He encourages us to participate in this cellphone photo prompt by creating our own CellPic Sunday post and linking it back to his post.

It’s been about a month since I last responded to John’s Cellpic Sunday prompt because, truth be told, I haven’t been anywhere or done anything worthy of posting any cellpics.

But four days ago I reached back into my archives for Kate’s One-to-Three Photo Processing Challenge and posted a six year old photo of being in a boat speeding away from Alcatraz Island.

I figure that most of you have heard of Alcatraz, especially now that Trump has decided he wants to reopen it. Alcatraz, the former federal prison located on a small island in the middle of San Francisco Bay closed in 1963. It is now a tourist attractions that is managed by the National Park Service and attracts more than a million and a half visitors annually.

It’s been in the news lately because the looney in the Oval Office wants to reopen and significantly expand Alcatraz Island as a “maximum-security prison to house America’s most dangerous and violent offenders.”

Anyway, I took a few snaps near and at Alcatraz when my wife had some out-of-town guest visited us in October 2019. I decided, since many of you may never have visited Alcatraz and might wonder about it, to share a few photos from that day.

BERJAYA — *One of the many cruise ships running daily between Fisherman’s Wharf and Alcatraz Island*.

As usual, the photos used on this blog have been resized (shrunk) to make them load more quickly and take up less space in my WordPress media folder.

2A15CB05-3680-4A29-8FF3-FB0B083B395E Donald Trump said today that his administration will deem churches and other places of worship “essential” during the coronavirus pandemic. He said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will issue guidance that deems houses of worship essential places that provide essential services, and he is urging state governors to allow churches to reopen. “The governors need to do the right thing and allow these very important essential places of faith to open right now,” he said. “If they don’t do it, I will override the governors.”

Trump added, “In America we need more prayer, not less.” And so he is calling on houses of faith, including churches, synagogues, and mosques, to reopen “right now.”

I’m not a religious man. I’m not a churchgoer. But I have been under the impression that faith comes from within and that you can pray at any time from anywhere. Do you really need to go to a crowded church, synagogue, or mosque to practice your faith and to pray to whatever god you pray to?

This is not a rhetorical question. It’s not a trick question. I really want to know. Do you need to risk the health and life of others and your own health and life in order to practice your religion?