april 7
Hi friends,
One of the unexpected benefits of the quarantine is that my POTS symptoms are more under control than they’ve been in a long time. This makes sense; my flare ups are often caused by pushing my body too far, either accidentally or on purpose. Under non-pandemic circumstances, I don’t have much of a choice. I can either deal with regular physical discomfort, or I can not do the things I want to do (and by that I mean “attend grad school” or “work full time.” There are plenty of other things I cannot do at all because of illness.)
But now, I’m stuck inside, I’m losing stamina, and… my body feels fine most days. It even occasionally feels good (!) My symptoms are not universally diminished, but I’ve been in pretty minimal pain. I’m not lightheaded. I’m getting tons of sleep. I don’t have that deep chronic illness exhaustion, even though I’m emotionally fatigued. It’s WILD.
I don’t really know what to do with this information, because while grad school probably pushes the discomfort/stamina trade-off too far in the other direction, this is clearly not where I want to be long-term. I generally felt good about my pre-grad school life balance, but admittedly it did involve a lot more pain. I don’t really have a takeaway here. I guess it’s that capitalism is terrible and if working part time were possible and normalized for everyone then I would do that? I can’t believe some of you live like this all of the time, where your bodies generally cooperate and you’re not constantly aware of various aches and pains. I am in awe.
Links, Etc.: Coronavirus Edition
Let’s start with something nice: hypothetical coronavirus episodes of popular tv show, as imagined by their writers. I especially enjoyed the 30 Rock outline and Coach Taylor speech.
Also from Vulture: The Funniest Coronavirus Memes and Jokes
Absolutely absurd that Wisconsin is voting today
In CityLab: What Bigotry Looks Like During Social Distancing
A harrowing first-person account of intubating coronavirus patients
Two beautiful pieces on celebrating Passover (which begins tomorrow) in the midst of this pandemic: Exodus From Now and The Fairy-Tale Virus
An update on the San Francisco Moscone Center shelter situation (and shout out to Quiver for their excellent reporting on this issue)
Links, Etc.: Non-Coronavirus Edition
My friend Alice Wong is editing a book of essays called Disability Visibility. I’m very excited about this! The book comes out on June 30, but you can pre-order now.
Here are 5 Tiny Desk Concerts to Calm Your Mind
Looking forward to at least one viewing of The Prince of Egypt this week. I first watched this movie during a Hebrew School sleepover at Temple Shalom in fourth grade, and obviously it really holds up.
Which teen shows would you pick? (I would keep Veronica Mars, Buffy, and Friday Night Lights, though I would argue that FNL is not a teen show in the way the others are because the two leads aren’t teens!)