by Sam Juliano
The Monday Morning Diary thread is back after a rare one-week absence due to the concluding post of the Fourth Annual Allan Fish Online Film Festival publishing the previous Monday. I speculated that if anyone had anything to say aside from the festival entry they would post it on the submission thread, which our friend Mark Smith did. I want to thank all those who commented and place likes and also to those who again contributed mighty essays – Roderick Heath, Sachin Gandhi, J. D. Lafrance and project founder Jamie Uhler. While five submissions was admittedly the lowest total we’ve ended up with since the festival began in May, 2017, we can basically attribute that to the stressful circumstances we are presently living in. In any event quality was not compromised as we may have had the most extraordinary presentation yet. God willing we will proceed next year with the 5th Annual, and may yet attract more writers at a time when we are hoping the pandemic will no longer be part of the equation.
The situation in the Metropolitan area has improved steadily, but still we are in no position to let our guard down. The protests have complicated the case situation, so while I am in full support of these peaceful demonstrations I still fear any health repercussions. Four of my own children attended a rally in Hoboken this past week, though they wore masks and managed to employ social distancing. Wishing all our friends and readers to stay safe! (Kudos to Jim Clark for his latest spectacular posting on Ingmar Bergman’s Dreams as part of his continuing series on the director last week)