Imperfections of the Human State

If you have ALS, or if you know someone who has ALS, or if you are in need of a major injection of inspiration or a renewal of faith in the human race, you need to read this. If you have ALS, or if you know someone who has ALS, or if you are in … Continue reading Imperfections of the Human State

You Don’t Have to Win

This Kurt Vonnegut quote just grabbed me this morning. I've felt so frustrated this past week. The overthrow of the government in Peru, the attacks on our democracy by a sitting president in the US. And I've been struggling with outlining the plot for my next book. My hero suffers from a need to do … Continue reading You Don’t Have to Win

My World This Morning

There’s something particularly jarring about opening your computer in the morning and seeing a screen displaying what appears to be a man bound and tied with rope being thrown into a river while an angry crowd looks on. It’s made more jarring by the juxtaposition of this image with an ad for an “essential” nonstick pan.

It turns out that the man is actually a colonial slave trader statue which has been torn down in the UK. The fact that the event occurred in another country makes it feel even more jarring. The protests against police brutality are worldwide. I hear “this time things must change,” and try to be hopeful. We’ve heard these phrases too many times before.

Is the Covid-19 pandemic any less of a threat now that it was when the world closed down three months ago? The death toll worldwide has passed 400,000. Businesses are opening up and people are excited to get “back to their lives.” The threat feels greater than before, as people pretend that it is gone, going out to dinner, to the gym, to crowded protests. I fear that the number of asymptomatic people out there thinking they’re safe has increased dramatically while all of this goes on. They’re not feeling sick. And they don’t believe that they can pass the virus to other people.