That’s the phrase: “The New Normal”. The norms of life during a pandemic. Everyone is trying to adjust to them, because to not adjust means you feel overwhelmed. Even when you feel overwhelmed and not adjusted in the least, there’s something soothing about the idea that this is a normative state to which we can …
The breadth of my poetry-reading is, to put it charitably, not much. And by “not much”, I mean: Emily Dickinson. Just Emily Dickinson. [Unless you count Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poetry, which I don’t. It is poetry, technically, but it does not plumb the mysteries of life. It is Emerson, in a different layout, but still …
In the middle of March, as shelter-at-home orders were beginning to roll out across the country, Fresh Air on NPR aired an interview with Max Brooks (1) that I have thought about every day since I heard it. Brooks is a novelist; he writes zombie literature with lots of end-of-the-world scenarios. I think he has …
It is late. Again. I have lots of things to write about and mull over but I need to get some sleep. So, I will be brief. I try to be grateful for something, every day. Every single day, I try to have the thought, “I am so lucky to have/be/feel [insert something amazing or …
I had as close to a normal day today, as I can imagine. I slept too late. I cleaned the kitchen. I rushed around trying to tidy the house enough that I would not feel terrible tomorrow (Monday). We picked up E at the airport. (That part wasn’t “normal” but I can imagine that happening …
In Judaism, we believe that to save one life is equal to saving the world. We believe that because each person is in the image of God (whatever you believe God is) and is therefore worth the life of the whole world. After 9/11, National Public Radio, Morning Edition I guess, started doing obituaries every …
This is a story on Hidden Brain, the NPR podcast I listen to on a regular basis. Anything that Hidden Brain produces is worth listening to; I always learn something new. I think this episode is worth listening to particularly right now, during this pandemic, because it is a reminder to me of how smart, …
