Hi friends,
Today I had two beautiful friends and a beautiful dog come bring me groceries. I already had some basics, but you know what's nice when you're alone and everything feels uncertain and scary? Snacks. (Also mint tea, for the anxiety stomach aches that have come roaring back.)
When I opened the door there were grocery bags at my feet and Ellie and Edie were standing about 10 feet away waving at me, and it was very nice.
I'm starting to see posts from people expressing their regret at going to conferences, big events, etc. in the last week or so. I'm glad the situation is beginning to sink in for more people, but I'm worried that too many folks are still in denial (or just don't care?)
I posted the next few paragraphs on facebook earlier, so apologies if you've seen this before, but oh my goodness people should stay inside if they can.
Here's what I wrote: I’ve resisted sending individual messages to this effect but I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to see people my age continue going out as if everything is normal just because they are unlikely to get very sick. Even if you feel fine, there’s a real possibility that you’re contagious, which means there’s a real possibility that your actions might contribute to the deaths of vulnerable people.
I know shame is generally not a very effective tactic, but I cannot believe folks I know to be generally kind, thoughtful people are being so careless. I know it’s been difficult to get good information, and it does feel somewhat futile to encourage people to stay home (the government should really be shutting down bars and restaurants and providing financial assistance so they don’t go under).
But at this point, I hope everyone understands that the situation is going to get a lot worse and that what we do now will have major implications for the coming weeks. It’s possible that over a million Americans will die from coronavirus, please take this seriously.
After I posted this a friend texted to ask if it was about them, so I do want to clarify that this is not about one person. It's also not about people who need to leave the house because they're in precarious financial situations (and in fact those folks are at greater risk because there are so many people going out for fun).
It feels strange hoping for lockdown, but asking people nicely to care about others is unfortunately pretty ineffective public policy. Around the world, countries are on lockdown because of coronavirus. I guess we'll see what happens here.
Generally speaking, the future is hard to predict, but this moment feels so scary (to me, at least), because we do have some sense of what the immediate future holds, and it's not pretty.
Sorry for being such a downer, I promise some of the links below are more fun (plus a sweet comic from Vinnie).
But first:
Links, etc., Coronavirus Edition:
Resources and writing on disability and COVID-19, compiled by Alice Wong
Beautiful and heart-wrenching piece from Nicole Chung on deciding whether to visit her immunocompromised, terminally ill mother
I hope the Washington Post follows up with all of the people quoted in this story a month from now
Caltabellotta ai tempi del Coronavirus, shared by one of my Sicilian cousins. There are lots of these videos going around right now (I shared one yesterday, in fact), but Caltabellotta is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been and it's close to where my family is from in Ribera, so enjoy the lovely music and scenery
This made me cry: Chinese medical workers who have been fighting the coronavirus day and night in Wuhan celebrated the closing of the last temporary hospital in Wuhan
What we can learn from other countries as coronavirus spreads
A piece on social distancing: This is Not a Snow Day
Anyone else having a hard time convincing their parents that they're at risk?
Links, etc., Non-Coronavirus Edition:
Following the example of the Oakland Moms 4 Housing, several homeless and housing insecure families moved into a vacant home in LA earlier today. You can follow their work and support the #ReclaimLA effort here.
This is from December, but it's never too late to read Jia Tolentino. Here's her essay on The Age of the Instagram Face
A short penguin saga with a happy ending
Not exactly cheerful, but totally bananas: if you're looking for something to occupy your time, you may as well read this classic long-form piece on The Zankou Chicken Murders
A college gymnastics tangent:
One of the things that ended abruptly this week was the UCLA gymnastics season. Their senior meet was originally scheduled for today. With two Olympic gold medalists and high scoring athletes on all events, this year's senior class was one of the best in NCAA history. The star of the class, and of the team, was Kyla Ross, who won a team Olympic gold medal at 15 and proceeded to dominate college gymnastics. She was the first female gymnasts to be an Olympic, World, and NCAA champion. During last year's senior meet, Kyla uncharacteristically fell on her first two events. Her coach asked the student section if anyone had a chem problem set they could share, and someone did, so Kyla did someone's chem homework to calm her down and then got a 9.975 on beam and a 10.0 on floor, her first 10.0 on floor, which completed her Gym Slam - getting a 10.0 on all four events. I was there, and it was one of the most exhilarating sporting events I've ever attended. Here's a Kyla Ross profile in the LA Times, and here are some of her perfect 10s.
A small housekeeping note: Tiny Letter flagged my account as spam (lol), so until that gets resolved I'm doing this the old fashioned way (sending it to everyone on bcc).
And finally, a little iPhone comic from Vin that I got permission to share with you all:
After I objected to the ending: