murmurations 003
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It took until Day 34 of our quarantine, but I finally had a pandemic dream. I had gone to the church to make sure that the live streaming for the Easter Sunday service was set up, but while I was there, maybe a hundred people showed up, streaming into the church in their Sunday best. I tried to send them away, but they weren't listening to (hearing?) me at all, too busy adjusting their hats and taking their seats. I began live-streaming the service, because the show must go on, and also what else could I do? But I was worried that we were going to get in trouble with the authorities for having too many people in one place, and I was worried because there is no successful social distancing in pews, and I was worried that none of these people seemed to care. I was meant to collect the offering - how could I do this? Passing the plate is contamination, but I couldn't reach the middle of the pews without getting up into people's personal space, which is also bad. And then the cops came: Too many people one place. Disperse! This is dangerous! Yes, I know, I told them, but since we're all here and already exposed, can we just go ahead and do communion? It would mean so much, and we're all fucked already anyway. No, they told me, herding people out the door, disperse!
I had to laugh when I woke up, because really, it wasn't a dream about the pandemic at all. It's one of my brain's very classic anxiety dream formats: I am trying to do a thing; I cannot do the thing, because (people/obstacle/unplanned complication). Rinse and repeat. I was trying to do the thing that I knew I was supposed to be doing (live stream the Easter service), but things kept coming up in ways they shouldn't (insistent congregants, police enforcers).
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, no?
(Yes and no, of course, but as we progress, willingly or otherwise, into the new normal, I'm grateful for the ways in which I, and everyone I know, remain fundamentally the same humans, recognizable and familiar even in moments of distress.)
Late last summer I messaged a couple dear friends of mine in a fit at 2 am and said, "you know, we should really do a podcast for non-traditional sports fans! Everything out there is for bros in their 30s and up who know everything there is to know about sports, and it's alienating and I hate it." Bless their hearts, they were into it, and thus Foul Puck Podcast was born.
Our tagline is "Sportsball for the rest of us," and that's really the intent - we're trying to provide an entry to sports for non-traditional sports fans; for people who may not know all the rules, or may be just getting into a team, and don't know where to start or what to look for in their sports experience. We've got about 14 episodes so far, including a couple of Special Episodes, and while we're still learning and growing, I think they're actually pretty fun. Give us a listen, and tweet at us to tell us what you think!
So many of the quarantine stories have been about people taking up new hobbies, or refining old skills: baking, painting, learning a language. I was initially doing less of that (other than cooking more out of sheer necessity), but I will confess that in the last week I've dragged out some half-finished cross-stitch projects. I am very, very bad about getting 90% done with things and then moving on to the next shiny thing; I'm not sure if it's a fear of failure in that if it's complete, it might not be what I hoped, or if it's a fear of not having something to work on (which is ridic). In any case, I am trying to retrain myself to just finish the gd thing, ergo, cross-stitch.
What about you?
So, in case you missed it, there was a terrific online festival of some really great British Isles folk musicians the other day, called the Front Room Fest (presented by the Folk on Foot podcast), in which all these performers who cannot currently go out and perform played about a half hour set in their front rooms and then broadcast it. It was really a delight to watch - I was introduced to some musicians I wasn't familiar with, but loved (Lisa Knapp, Rachel Newton) and some I know and love (Nancy Kerr and James Fagan, Peggy Seger). It's long, but just the sort of thing you can put on your TV on a Saturday and have going while you do your chores or whatever. 10/10, do recommend.
Current Wikipedia Rabbit Hole: nothing to do with plagues, fortunately, but the Magdalenian culture is probably my favorite Upper Neolithic culture. (Doesn't everyone have favorite neolithic cultures? This one made neat sculptures.)
The First Lines of Emails I Have Received While Quarantining - Jessica Salfia
The three of blades was a tough image for both Ivy and myself, and it was only the third one we did. I think we'd have been justified if we'd just thrown in the towel here, but fortunately/unfortunately we are both stubborn, so we went for it. I know it was a very personal image for her, and I'm happy with how it turned out.
You can read what she (here) and I (here) thought of it at the time, or see all of the photos we took for this card here.
