Citizen In Crisis

I’m sick. But I don’t know I’m sick. I’m in crisis. But I think to myself, “I got this.”

I.

DON’T.

GOT.

THIS.

Our president is the Birther-In-Chief. Our attorney general has the emotional depth of a zombie, whose conscience has been eaten alive by the plague of racist schizophrenia.

It’s a plague: Racism, Mass Shootings, Grabbing Women, Anti-Semitism.

Then Charlottesville happened. Both sides were to blame, I was told. My mind snapped to 1943. When the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto rose-up against the Nazis, at that time, they were breaking the laws of Germany. Were both sides to blame?

I knew the answer. And I didn’t have to be briefed to know the answer.  I was horrified.

So I created an ad…

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People lost their minds. They knocked me down. But I’ve been knocked down before. I took a look around. Seeking strength. In an unlikely place, in a game, I found strength.

I create another ad…

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People lost their minds. It’s the new trend. But I was seeing clearly. In my mind, I began connecting the dots, drawing a straight line between Anne Frank and Heather Heyer.

I created another ad…

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Someone from The Holocaust Museum called, threatening to destroy my business for using the name Anne Frank. The threat was terrifying. But the caller was fake. Let me tell you something, fake callers are high on outrage. They’re fake. But what they’re getting-off on is real. And dangerous!

Shell shocked, punch drunk, wobbly, I created another ad…

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Cute. “Punny.” Safe.

The noise stopped. It was quiet. Nice and quiet. Then one morning, early on the morning of October 2nd, in Las Vegas, there were reports of another Mass Shooting.

ANOTHER.

MASS.

SHOOTING.

Ava DuVernay tweeted. She asked a thoughtful question: When the shooter is white, he’s called a lone-wolf. When the shooter is black, when the shooter is brown, he’s called a terrorist. Why?

Trying to answer the question, I retweeted. I should have known better. But if I had known better, I wouldn’t be here, sitting here, right now, lost, knowing I’m lost, instead of pretending I’m not sick.

Still trying to answer the question.

GREG ALAN MORELLI

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Epilogue, August, 2021

Just finished recording a new album at Electrical Audio in Chicago. I’m lucky, that’s how I navigated the pandemic, by making music. The band is called Friends withOUT Benefits. The album is called Unmasked. We’re pressing the songs to vinyl at Smash Plastic, it should be ready for release in early 2022.

Can you say record release party?!!

When I look back at what I wrote damn near 4 years ago, I recognize the words but I don’t recognize the emotion. It’s a funny thing about staring down a White Nationalist Troll Farm, first it’s terrifying then it’s mind boggling then it’s the monotonous search for the puzzle piece that got lost under the couch but then you get a glimpse of the people in your life worthy of showing up for and the people in your life better off left behind. Leave quietly – shhh, don’t tell them – trust me on this, you don’t need closure: they wouldn’t get it anyway.

Keep an eye out for the record. Let’s dance!