[Alt text: A Converse "pride" sneaker with a big and jagged rainbow sole]

If you see a speed limit sign in DC with the words "photo enforced," that means in the next block or two there is a camera that will take a photo of your license plate and send you a ticket in the mail if it catches you going over the speed limit. I'd been all proud of myself for not getting a ticket, until a couple days ago when I got mail from the "adjudication" department. Opened the envelope to find a color photo of my car, another color photo of a close-up of my license plate, and a URL where I can WATCH THE VIDEO of myself not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign. I owe the city $100. Who needs tourism or tax dollars when a single stop sign camera brings in $1.3 million in fines in just two years? (Washington Post)

I'm not that mad, just surprised at the Big Brotherism and wondering what else they're watching me for. Will I get to see video of myself jaywalking? Good thing I don't litter.

But for every bad or annoying thing about living here (95 degrees in May is the new normal, apparently), I'm still discovering small happy things, like the secluded below-street-level park/bit of wilderness that I grew up .2 miles from, but never knew existed until this morning.

Random memories are still coming back unexpectedly too. I took my car in for some work, and since I'm a new customer, the form asked how I learned about their business. I wrote down that my parents took their cars there for 30 years. Cue a sudden flashback to the late 1970s, waiting in really long lines to get gas at that same gas station, the backs of my thighs sticking to the vinyl seats, wondering why my father was so angry. A few seconds later, another memory from the late 1980s: Staying up all night roaming the neighborhood with this boy I was obsessed with, who stole a pack of gum from the gas station convenience store as I watched in horror. I guess there were no cameras back then.

Life is quiet and boring here because it's too hot and too Covid-y to go outside unless absolutely necessary. I am not complaining, especially since I read Anne Helen Peterson's thing today about all the horrible pandemic stress responses people have been experiencing. (Substack) But I do worry about how this extended Covid- and weather-related isolation will affect me socially or psychologically long-term. It feels like it will never end. A few more months of this and I may finally cave and get a dog. Or at least start fostering. If you live alone, I'd love to hear about what you've been doing (or not doing) recently to protect your physical and mental health. I assume everyone has moved on from jigsaw puzzles and sourdough bread. As always, you can reply to this email and anything I share will be anonymous.

Links

• Plastic recycling doesn't work and will never work. (Atlantic)

• The hard-won triumphs of a life on the corner in West Baltimore. (New Yorker)

• Related: We Own This City was very well done. (HBO Max)

• A "legacy" ska band is being greedy, but they won't say which band (yet). It has to be one of the 2Tone bands, right? Because what third-wave American band can command $15K in the middle of the country? (TikTok)

• The stereotype that baby boomers struggle with technology is unfair and offensive to us period send Alexa add Ivermectin to grocery list. (Hard Times)

• Polish people dressing up as Americans. (Sad and Useless)

• And something I wish I'd known when my friends had infants. (YouTube)