Ed Jacobs, Author at EDWARD JACOBS

Monday, March 16

Mar 16.2020 / Ed Jacobs/ / Setting off.

Monday, March 16

Oahu, day 2

No sleep last night. Lying awake, I listened to the news…11pm here is 5am EST, so just a ton of bad news to hear and digest along with everyone else. Europe in such bad shape just now. Schools being closed everywhere, here and abroad; restaurants closing, as well. Then the market opened and completely tanked.

Emails/texts from friends in NYC and San Diego came in: craziness, instability, uncertainty, anxiety, fatigue…everywhere, everything is so up in the air.

A few hours into the day, now reading that the EU is working on a travel ban similar to the one the US instituted last week...

Sunday, March 15

Mar 15.2020 / Ed Jacobs/ / Setting off.

Oahu/Hau’ula, day 1

Serious rain today, until about 3pm, kept us inside but enjoying the view of the storm from our perch on the 6^th floor. We slept well, a bit of a surprise given the bedroom is just big enough to fit the full size mattress. But we were, indeed, comfortable, and grateful for that. I spent the morning doing only a little writing, instead going down the rabbit hole of today’s news. NC schools closing; NYC schools closing; France and Spain on lockdown; Ciaran wrote in an email that he’s had to close two of their pubs in Dublin; news now just in that NC is closing restaurants and bars. Like a dystopian movie.

[Really afraid that we’ll not get to fly on Saturday.]

Was very glad to catch up with family via phone today...

Saturday, March 14

Mar 15.2020 / Ed Jacobs/ / Setting off.

Kaua’I to Oahu

Leaving Kaua’I today, and a bit sad to do so. We came to like these accommodations, and the island in general. We liked the apt up here in Princeville, and the diving down south in Poipu, and really enjoyed our two weeks here.

Our original plan would make today a trip to Oahu for our final week before heading back to the mainland. Instead, we’ll be there for a week and then, as long as there’s no block on flying, we’ll head to Kona for a month in leiu of NC and then Europe.

We found the Kaua’i airport (LIH) a little bit hectic, and were a bit surprised at some changes in procedures, however informal. Our check-in bags were not weighed, and i was simply instructed to “put the bag over there with others going to HNL...

Friday, March 13

Mar 14.2020 / Ed Jacobs/ / Setting off.

Kauai/Princeville, day 13

While the past week has really been one to remember, today brought us to pull the plug on lots of our travel plans and reconfigure the next weeks. We’ll go to Oahu tomorrow, as originally planned, looking forward to some activities there, including a few days of diving. But rather than return east via SF—was looking forward to a visit with Glenn in El Cerrito, as it’s been so long since we’ve seen him—we’ll take the quick trip to Kona, and stay there until mid-April.

The most significant part of our planned travels during this period was a three month stay in Dublin. We’d planned to begin the trip by touring Ireland, then enjoy short hops around many different spots in Europe where we’ve dreamed of visiting...

Thursday, March 12

Mar 13.2020 / Ed Jacobs/ / Setting off.

Kauai/Koloa, day 12

This morning’s dive was with a fun group of divers. A medi-vac helicopter pilot, former military, from PA, whose wife’s expecting (so she didn’t join us) was a super nice guy. An American Airlines pilot who, together with his friend of many years, was a hoot always ready with a good one-liner. His friend, likely well into his 70s, learned to dive at 60 (I guess our learning in our late isn’t so odd), and has now broadened his CPA life to include being a scuba instructor. And the final person on the trip was a gent from Humboldt County, CA who’d been diving with Fathom Five for decades. He was the serious photographer on this dive—almost every dive has one, it seems—and was a nice guy to round out the day’s trip.

Tons to see re this trip, so p...

Wednesday, March 11

Mar 12.2020 / Ed Jacobs/ / Setting off.

Kauai/Koloa, day 11

Unsurprisingly, another wonderful dive day with Fathom Five down in Koloa. As the world’s anxiety-producing news swirls around us, and it is absolutely getting more alarming every day, we headed out for a morning shore dive at Koloa Landing. A small group of four of us enjoyed this fabulous site, a horseshoe shaped reef; the left side on the first dive, the right side on the second dive.

The dive was an easy, shallow one, with lots of good viewing—particularly a pufferfish, a boxfish, a barracuda hanging above a bait ball, trumpetfish, and an extremely friend wrasse that followed us through most of our dive, coming very close and seemingly wanting to be pet!

Pufferfish cruising

Boxfish

bait ball…

…with a barracuda hanging around in the distanc...

Tuesday, March 10

Mar 11.2020 / Ed Jacobs/ / Setting off.

Kauai, day 10

Still getting work done this day, but more and more distracted by headlines both financial- and public-health-related. Emails and news pieces coming in every few hours from companies outlining their approaches to cleaning (Avis, Budget, Delta…) and expecting a note about rescheduling without penalties to come in any day now. Undoubtedly our currently planned three week trip to Ireland (abbreviated from 3 months) will soon be rendered impossible.

The past few days also noting that things back home are also clearly effected by this pandemic. I don’t believe there are cases in eastern NC just yet, but ECU is clearly on the brink of following the lead of many other schools in eliminating face-to-face events...

Monday, March 9

Mar 09.2020 / Ed Jacobs/ / Setting off.

Kauai/Princeville, day 9

4am. It’s hard to not sink into deep fear this morning with the world news.

Didn’t sleep much last night, as I was listening to news through the night; between the Covid-19 spread, a ship with some 20+ cases on board landing in Oakland today (where we fly in two weeks), Europe’s cases spreading quickly, and the world’s financial markets crashing drastically on oil price manipulations by OPEC in reaction to Russia’s not propping up prices.

Yesterday we pulled the trigger on a change to our original European travel plans. We’re to arrive in Dublin April 15^th, connecting the next day with Christine/Stephen, then touring Ireland with them April 18^th-23^rd, Pattie and I to continue until May 4^th...

Sunday, March 8

Mar 08.2020 / Ed Jacobs/ / Setting off.

Kauai/Princeville, day 8

Daylight Savings Time! Last observed in Hawaii in 1945, so no effect here. Except that we’re now 6 hrs behind folks on the east coast, rather than 5.

Yet another rainy/lazy day, and that’s just fine with us. I’ve begun working on the setting(s) of Jim Brasfield’s Celan, to be a part of a larger set which will include Palladium, the poem of his I set a few years ago now. Celan is quite brief, and enormously evocative for/to me. I am planning to include several different settings of this poem within the set—1^st, 3^rd, 5^th/last, with Palladium and Renaissance 2^nd and 4^th. My initial concept is to use Celan to set the scene for the larger poem to follow, as it seems to do a fabulous job of articulating the nature of expectation. So Celan’s sever...

Saturday, March 7

Mar 08.2020 / Ed Jacobs/ / Setting off.

Kauai/Princeville, day 7

The rainy day pattern of weather here has been very conducive to writing, and Let Them Not Say is now sent off for review by the conductor. Undoubtedly, as is always the case, there will be corrections and adjustments to make—perhaps even some re-writing if I’ve overplayed the ensemble’s ability—but this initial complete draft is something I feel quite good about.

The work’s poet, Jane Hirshfield, was scheduled to appear at a talk in Honolulu during our week there, and we were excited to go and introduce ourselves, perhaps find a moment to get acquainted. I went online to purchase tickets for her talk and, alas, due to travel concerns surrounding covid-19 the event’s been cancelled...

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