Issue #4 March 22, 2020
I didn’t publish an issue last week and I’ll be honest that I almost skipped this week as well. I’m still floored by how much has transpired in the last week and half. Last Wednesday I was still making plans to go to the Big Ten Tournament to watch basketball. And while I was struggling all that day with nagging thoughts that I shouldn’t be going, I was still thinking that I was being overly cautious. In the end, we didn’t go but how indicative it is of just how much things have changed that a mere 11 days later I wouldn’t even dream of going to an event like that even if they hadn’t all been cancelled. Now my doubts are concerned with thoughts of whether or not we are doing enough. As a family we have pretty much completely quarantined ourselves as much as possible, but as a country I don’t believe we have gone far enough. I still see too many people thinking this is all overblown, a panic inflamed by the media. It would be a relief if they are right, but I’ve read enough that I fear they aren’t.
Over the last week I’ve been reading but noticing that reading fiction has been difficult. I keep finding my mind wondering. I spend way too much time on Twitter scrolling through to find out news and see what is happening around the country. Even TV hasn’t kept my attention. I finished my binge-watch of 30 Rock and haven’t found anything to replace it. Nothing seems interesting yet. I did watch some movies, Ford vs Ferrari and Moonlight, both of which I can recommend.
Here are a few other things I found interesting lately.
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A thread by Matt Bell on Twitter has a huge list of short stories as he tries to read one every day this year.
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Another Twitter thread by Michael Krakovskiy serves as a short guide to binge-worthy YouTube channels. “Some famous, some not so famous, all pretty nerdy."
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A Reddit thread that discusses bingeable TV shows to fill your time while home.
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The Metropolitan Opera started to stream free operas on their website beginning this past Monday.
That’s all I have for now. I know it isn’t much, but this week I just needed to do something to inch back towards a bit of normalcy in my life. I have a couple things I am planning to work on in the coming week and if they go like I hope then I look forward to sharing them in a future issue.
Until then, take care of yourselves.