COVID39 Mark Millien

Dr. Estrum offers Randi and Shane a revelatory solution to a painful problem.

https://thesevensages.com/covid39
Cast
Dr. Estrum Melissa Thomas
Randi Halle Millien
Shane. Mark Millien
SFX and Music Contributors
SFX
Q Tone [Query]
Tone 4.wav by patchen of freesound.org
Q Tone [Response]
Tone 3.wav by patchen of freesound.org
Music
Nostalgia and Discovery
This Fight - Cinematic Piano - Part 1 by RealNorth of looperman.com
This Fight - Cinematic Piano Loop - Part 2 by RealNorth of looperman.com

Created by Mark and Halle Millien
Cover Art by Halle Millien
Written, Directed and Produced by Mark Millien

Glossary
drifting: a term used to describe when one is using the Q to communicate across its platforms.
Q: slang for the quantumnet; a technology that uses discreet qubits of transitory particles to hold almost limitless amounts of data and transmit them at near light speed using the bones of the internet as infrastructure.
Run: a nickname Shane uses for Run.
tabs: all social media forms have been aggregated into a single hosting network that collates and slots their information into packets or tabs that have replaced likes and upvotes. Tabs, like their predecessors, can be monetized.

This series is intended to be a companion to people experiencing what we are all experiencing on a daily basis but provide some levity and beauty and a sense that none of us are alone via narrative. Something you could listen to after being depressed by your daily news podcast, but abounding with a hope that is hard to see right now. We hope it provides inspiration, hope and a little distraction to our collective chronicles.

#covid39 #covid19 #coronavirus #quarantine #rona #quarantinechronicles #covidchronicles #coronachronicles #qibi

Randi and Shane listen to the first letter, from Shane’s father.

The coronavirus is infecting and killing black Americans at an alarmingly high rate

Cast
Randi Halle Millien
Shane Mark Millien

SFX and Music Contributors
SFX
Q Tone [Query]
Tone 4.wav by patchen of freesound.org
Q Tone [Response]
Tone 3.wav by patchen of freesound.org
Cheers
My bourbon by Me of Me

Music
Desmond’s First Letter
PG-Sunshining by PaulGuanez of looperman.com

Created by Mark and Halle Millien
Cover Art by Halle Millien
Written, Directed and Produced by Mark Millien

Special thank you to Puppy Pals for keeping our eldest dead-eyed and limp enough for us to get this podcast out.

Glossary
IRIS: Independent Retinal Immersive Scanner; a passive laser suite integrated into various bits of everyday tech that interprets your eye’s movements and translates them into digital action. Effective for drifting on the Q, inputing textual commands, communicating wordlessly and interacting with eleventh generation tech in an almost seamless way. It would appear like telepathy to people of today.

vam: slang for videogram.

Desmond’s First Letter:
Shane. I’m sitting across from you feeling guilty. The TV, as I type this, has drained your soul away. You are a husk of your normal self, deadeyed and limp. I try not to take your surplus of energy for granted. I try to marvel, in every moment, the mechanics of your limbs, the buoyancy of your spirit. I’m practicing staying present. One of the many lifehacks I’ve adopted culled from emails, newsletters and instagram posts from the perpetually zen. But right now I’m so thankful for your stillness and silence that I’m giddy. These two tribes of beasts that have become our Quarantine children. I made you all peanut butter and jelly sandwiches today with that thick Trader Joe’s bread. We’re running out. Dr. Birx recommended that this week, these next two weeks in particular, that we should all stay home. We’ve been sheltering in place together with the Morgans for weeks now, but this was different. She said trips to the grocery store and pharmacy should only be taken in emergencies. We’ve been watching the rest of the world suffocate, praying for Italy and praying to not to become Italy and now it feels like it’s our turn to choke. The prime minister of Britain is in intensive care. Each day there are more people with masks when we take our walks, even here in Dallas. We politely cross the street half a block away from our neighbors who have become potential carriers, well meaning and innocent threats. Your mom is doing better with it all than I am. At least I think she is. It’s hard to tell. She’s constantly moving. She has a job and she can do that job from home. Which would make us aristocrats in the new scheme of things but I don’t have a laptop job. I bought her three bottles of wine the last time I went out to the store. I peeled off the labels so that she could just enjoy whatever was in her glass without worrying about the price. It’s hardest for Helen, with Roderick gone all the time. I tasked you kids with picking her some flowers from the backyard. Flowering weeds, really. They’re dying in a plastic cup a couple of feet away from where I’m typing this. I don’t think she’s noticed them. Even here, it’s hard for me to talk about Roderick. I don’t know what to say except that when he’s gone the sun can’t quite reach beyond the panes and we wait for him in unwanted shade. There was a report today that said black people are being infected and dying disproportionately to other groups. At the beginning of this there was an internet rumor that metastasized into colloquial pseudo wisdom that we were somehow immune. Seems like it was so long ago that we were so proud of being so stupid. Majority black counties are dying at six times the rate of majority white counties. And we are just at the beginning. Before you were born I tried to reconcile the dangers that would

Randi reads a letter from her mother and confronts Shane about something he’s been hiding.

Doctor’s Photo

Cast
Randi Halle Millien
Shane Mark Millien

SFX and Music Contributors
SFX
Q Tone [Query]
Tone 4.wav by patchen of freesound.org
Q Tone [Response]
Tone 3.wav by patchen of freesound.org
Music
Helen’s First Letter
Sad Boy by Sizeoff of looperman.com

Created by Mark and Halle Millien
Cover Art by Halle Millien
Written, Directed and Produced by Mark Millien
Glossary
-American Political Parties
Black Party the coalition that concerns the rights of people of color specifically.
Condemnics an offshoot of the religious right who traffic in conspiracy theories concerning the what and how of COVID-19.
Democrats the center-left establishment.
Green Party environmentally centered and extremely powerful.
Jurists an offshoot of the mainstream right that considers the rule of law to be sacrosanct with literal originalist dogma with no variation.
Loyalists an offshoot of the GOP that considers the 45th president to be the greatest president in history and seek to emulate and venerate him in every way.
Platonics an extreme left-wing group that demands socialism and observance of every cultural hegemony.
Helen’s Letter:
Dear Harrison, this will be a series of minor and major confessions which seem apt since we are all being punished. We decided that we would share these with you when you turn ten. For you, that’s just two short years away, but you’ll still be too young for all of this. You say you understand what’s happening and I believe that you do but I confess to you, that I do not understand what’s happening. Every morning I wake up knowing exactly what to expect. It’s been a series of unchanging yesterdays. How could that be? There should be something inherent in the DNA of a Monday that differentiates it from a Sunday. Something your circadian rhythm would pick up on and murmur to your subconscious. But to me it’s all a desert of time like an hourglass resting on its side. Second confession. I am not fond of the Phillips. Mara walks around like the queen of the vagabonds, tethered to so many things that are somehow still important. Desmond watches over you and the other children like he is competing for an award, or attention or maybe affection. Before we were abandoned in this place I had decided that I’d had my fill of these people so everyday is a new torment in tedium. A third confession. Part of it you know, so I’ll start there. Your father is a hero. Objectively. To his community. His city. America. Shit. The world. A cosmic savior. So powerful in his generosity that he has given his family to the people we share a wall with. Saint of saints. He is here less and less. I don’t know what to think of that. I don’t know how to feel about that. I confess that I hate him for it. I will confess that I can say things to you that I cannot face myself because the man that you will become can handle my weakness. You can forgive me for it. My sweet boy, I can ask that of you in a way that I can’t of your sister. She is too strong to forgive me for becoming this angry, petty person. So to you, my future son, I leave one last confession. I saw a post today of spouses who are doctors, who spend 18 hours out of every single day, fighting the virus. You couldn’t see any part of their skin in the post. They were covered head to toe in medical blue latex and plastic. They held one another, separated by their transparent face shields and the contagion that could be lying dormant in their breath or blood. It is the only contact they are allowed and it was clear that they cherished it. There was nothing routine about the need between them. I envy them so.

#covid39 #covid19 #coronavirus #quarantine #rona #quarantinechronicles #covidchronicles #coronachronicles #quibi

Shane faces an unexpected reckoning.

Philly Masks

Cast
Randi Halle Millien
Shane Mark Millien

SFX and Music Contributors
SFX
Q Tone [Query]
Tone 4.wav by patchen of freesound.org
Q Tone [Response]
Tone 3.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Music
Frank’s Letter
Self Destruct Smooth Pitch Rise by MixxCustomSounds of looperman.com
Dillzedd Classic Boombap Drums 420 by DillzeddProd of looperman.com

Created by Mark and Halle Millien
Cover Art by Halle Millien
Written, Directed and Produced by Mark Millien

Glossary
dings, nudges, hits or tinkles: social media communication jargon of the future, ya dig.
spiked: salty, mad, pissed.
Frank’s Letter:
What up Fam! Oh man, this is such a cool idea. I’m blown right now. On some ol time capsule shit. So check it. I know that you all have turned out great. Your mommas and daddys are some of the best people I’ve ever known and they take the raising of y’all so serious. So much so, in fact, that I’m sure they started off with some real down and depressing shit about what’s going on right now. It’s not their fault. They aren’t like, negative people or anything. But they also got their hands full with y’all and they want to make sure that you know the real and blah blah blah, but yo! I’d be remiss if I didn’t share with you a couple of important things about the ‘Rona. One. I miss the shit out of y’all. It’s not like I would’ve necessarily been there right now anyway. My next trip to Dallas wasn’t planned until the summer. But the fact that I CAN’T get to y’all, and that the summer trip is now highly questionable, definitely has me feeling a kind a way. I love you all so much. Not having kids myself, I get to spoil y’all, and then leave your parents to deal with you. But truth is you’ve all always been such incredible kids. I don’t believe half the stories your parents tell me about y’all f*****g up shit. I can say fucking up shit to you now cuz you grown. This is Incredible. Trippy shit man. So. Two. Gas prices are down. I don’t gotta drag my black ass into work. I’m collecting a check (allegedly, I aint seen no money yet), I’ve got all my bills and mortgage deferred, I’ve been catching up on all my Hulu and Netflix and Disney + like a champ. Rick and Morty is on hiatus. But watching the old episodes in my drawers in the middle of a weekday with some brown is a fucking great way to ease the time. Taking meetings in my drawers. Not having to change out of my drawers. All things drawers related have upticked. Three. Ya boy DJ Nice been killing the gram with his sets. I can now say I’ve sweated my ass off in the club with Michele Obama! What a world! My only emergencies have been running out of liquor. But I’ve got a fresh set of masks that I ordered from this joint in Philly so I’m always prepared to make my next run cuz that home delivery situation is cool and all but sometimes you run out and what am I gonna do, wait til tomorrow, when I still got daylight? That’s a no. Four. I ain’t got no kids! Five. Well. Huh. I will say that I miss sex. I wasn’t dating anybody serious when the apocalypse landed so when they shut this shit down I was solo. But honestly it’s not just the sex. It’s the contact. Like, I haven’t hugged anyone in weeks. Y’all know how I do. I bring it in. That part is tough, I can’t lie. But this flattening the curve shit is real. It’s showing results. Dumbasses are still out here dumbassing but it feels like if we can keep our heads this will be over and we might get basketball back! I’m not gonna spend a lot of time talking about it here cuz I wanna keep this positive but if the Rona robs my boy Bron of a chip, YO! Salty doesn’t begin to cover it. Anyway. I’ll leave you with this, my beautiful kings and queens. The world has thrown our people every sort of raggedy hand it could despite our royal lineage, and at every turn we rise. If your not up on your Maya Angelou, shame on you. Do that sh

Randi and Shane speak plainly about their inequities.

The First Evergreens
Cast
Randi Halle Millen
Shane Mark Millien
SFX and Music Contributors
SFX
Q Tone [Query] Tone 4.wav by patchen of freesound.org Q Tone [Response] Tone 3.wav by patchen of freesound.org
Music
Mara’s Letter
Shooting Star - Emotional Loop by 8thdiamond of looperman.com
Created by Mark and Halle Millien
Cover Art by Halle Millien
Written, Directed and Produced by Mark Millien
Glossary
blue hour: the elderly, infirm or predisposed are allotted certain windows of activity typically during four a.m. and 7 a.m. in most cities. This can include the obese, smokers, chronic drinkers, those who do not log a certain amount of exercise, etc. There has been evidence of people of color being given blue designations without merit by medical professionals either engaging in bias or systemic discrimination. A blue found out during sequester is at risk of being detained or involuntarily quarantined.
evergreen: a person who is considered genetically immune to historical pathogens due to vaccinations or novel ones due to inoculation. Evergreens typically only need to see a physician for a hazard status once a year or so. These individuals exist in a rarefied economic and social space in global culture.
green hour: the time allotted for people who have been seen by a medical professional within the last thirty days and deemed free of any viral impediment. They are given sway to roam as they wish.
haztag: an informal term for the irradiated tattoo that designates your sequester or evergreen status. It lasts for thirty days. The tattoo is embedded with a doctor’s signature code as well as an accompanying code that may allow someone travel dispensations during their sequester, typically tied to one’s employer. Anyone detained without a tattoo is risking immediate quarantine and potential jail. M.I.C: Municipal Integrated Corpsman. Tasked and equipped with assessing the medical threat of a person or group of persons. They are equipped with field tests for a variety of pathogens, body armor, advanced first aid, and both lethal and non-lethal armaments. They are military medics that have been sanctioned to operate within local governments with a great degree of autonomy. Derogatively referred to as “zombies” or “mikes”. orange hour: the time of day when hazard level individuals are allowed out into society. In most cities, this is between midnight and four a.m. sequester: the color-coded system that calls for people of various health or age dynamics to cede social spaces to others. Being outdoors outside of your hours is reason enough to be stopped by the police and M.I.Cs. Sequester is broken up between blue, green and orange hours.
Mara’s Letter:
From the very beginning, no one has been taking this seriously enough. Macro or micro. The ineptitude of the national response is criminal. They just released that more people have died from the virus in the U.S. than in any other country in the world. More than India. More than China. And we had the benefit of warnings, guidelines, the world’s largest economy, most accomplished epidemiologists. Granted, you can’t trust the numbers coming out of China. But they are going back to work. Their athletes are competing again, broadcasting to the world that they’ve put the worst behind them while for us, that’s still coming. And yeah, they failed us. People should go to jail for this. But I’ve seen the same juvenile lack of acceptance here in our own home. I’ve made it a point to never speak ill of your father in your presence. That has had its own set of consequences. It’s hard for us to be in the same room these days. I look at him and I’m not proud of the thoughts I have, of the way I feel. The house, the cars, most of the credit cards, are all in my name. I’m the one responsible for everything. So when it came time to call everyone and tell them we can’t pay you, I had to make those calls. They won

Dr. Estrum offers something that changes everything.

Cast
Dr. Estrum Melissa Thomas
Randi Halle Millien
Shane Mark Millien

SFX and Music Contributors
SFX
Q Tone [Query]
Tone 4.wav by patchen of freesound.org
Q Tone [Response]
Tone 3.wav by patchen of freesound.org

Music
The Offer
Simple Trap Piano by AnxiousBeats of looperman.com


Created by Mark and Halle Millien
Cover Art by Halle Millien
Written, Directed and Produced by Mark Millien

Special thanks to a therapist friend of mine for providing some mock therapy that constituted Dr. Estrum’s dialogue in this episode. He had some criticisms about episode one so I was like I got another therapy joint so why not put your feelings where your mouth at fool and he was like I aint doing shit so bet and it was kind of him to do so, so thank you, you can go back to playing rocket league with strangers online now. The quarantine looks different for each of us, I’m just saying. No judgment.

#covid39 #covid19 #coronavirus #quarantine #rona #quarantinechronicles #covidchronicles #coronachronicles #quibi