When did I ever think I’d be writing a post like this? Never, I guess. This virus is pretty badass, and it’s changing our lives. For some reason R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know it” keeps going through my head. Along with The Police’s “Don’t Stand so Close to Me”, and even Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper”. All of these songs have made my post-apocalyptic playlist. I even know who the people are who I’ll trust in a zombie apocalypse (anyone who hoarded TP… y’all just pass me on by).
Did I think I’d ever have to deal with a pandemic shutting down the world while I tried to run my small business? Yeah – no. And yet, here we are. So I need to put down some thoughts.
We’re trying to pivot. Trying to offer options that allow people to create art at home, and still trying to pay our lease and utilities. It hasn’t been easy, but I think we’ll make it. I hope… I hope, I hope, I hope… We’ll come up with more ideas and get things figured out, but I’m concerned for other businesses. We love Aggieville. We love the other businesses who are our neighbors. We even love and appreciate the bars. This mini-community within a community seems to be relatively tight-knit. We’ve seen the positive of this community. We hope to be a thriving part of it in the long run. Right now, though, we’re a bit nervous for them.
I walked down to Kite’s to get lunch yesterday, and they were closed. A food and drink business has small margins to begin with and when people can’t congregate to socialize it’s hard to sustain. I was sad to see this. Kite’s is under new ownership and I had high hopes for their success. I hope they can re-open.
Other bar and grills have tried to adapt. So Long Saloon is serving with take out options, as is Tanner’s and other bar and grills. But can they sustain it? Listen, I get it… a lot of you don’t feel safe going out. Let’s break things down, though. The CDC has created guidelines for social distancing. We all know we need to stay six-feet apart. We know we need to wash our hands. Stay home if you don’t feel well. The list goes on. But we have guidelines. Folks, the businesses in Aggieville are taking this seriously. I know we are. We’ve spaced our tables apart by six-feet. We’ve cancelled public events for the interim. We don’t allow groups over ten. We friggin’ sanitize like crazy and YES… we wash our hands. A lot. When I say a lot, think Lady Macbeth.
I guess what I’m trying to get to is that we’re four months into our purchase of Straight Upp, feeling as if we were finally just about getting away from the idea that we were barely keeping our nose above water… along with all these other amazing businesses in MHK and Aggieville. Now, because of a stupid pandemic, we’re nervous as hell and we feel like things are spiraling out of control. In short, we’re feeling as if we’re fucked and we just don’t want to feel as if we’re fucked.
So please, buy gift certificates to your favorite businesses. Support them by ordering carry out. Support organizations like https://mhktogether.org/. Both of these sites feature MHK small businesses and how you can help benefit them as well as members of the community who have been hardest hit by this pandemic.
Y’all… we’re in this together. Let’s fight this virus. Let’s support each other. Follow the CDC guidelines, and refuse to be fearful.
We love our town. We love Aggieville. We’ll fight this until the end.
#fuckCOVID19