The Apple Store

During the pandemic shut-down, the Apple Store was boarded up, and local artists made use of the boards for some remarkable protest art for the Black Lives Matter movement, now being stored by Teressa Raiford and Don’t Shoot Portland. When the store re-opened, once 70% of our city was vaccinated, proprietors installed twelve-foot steel grill fences and three levels of security. Now it’s necessary to have an appointment, wear a mask, be careful about distancing, and check in before one can be admitted inside the steel grill.

My current laptop holds a charge for a little less than an hour, so I took it in to see if I could get a replacement battery. They tell me my (2013) laptop is a “vintage” machine, and they don’t have replacement batteries in stock. They can try to order a new battery (for $200), or I can keep it plugged in and order a replacement laptop. As far as I can tell, I’m going to be here long enough to need one more laptop before I leave the planet, and I’ve been playing chicken with this one for a year or so already, so I did order a new one, with Sue’s help. They are currently sold out. I might get it in December. 

I’m aware that Apple is even bigger than Amazon, and that we are ensnared in a system in which we can’t live without computers. I'm aware that the Lithium needed for cell phones and computers is part of the suffering in Afghanistan and part of environmental destruction. Such computer skills as I have are Apple skills. As an anti-capitalist I have feelings about all this. 

Extras were made by Cristina on her phone: Evan and Bella in their remarkable Halloween costumes. He was a dinosaur skeleton; she was Wednesday Addams (she is a champion of the Flat Affect).