We blame the virus for
@PlaguePoems, January 17, 2022.
the disastrous condition
of our schools
the catastrophic state
of our hospitals
the ruinous structure
of our workplaces
the collapsing authority
of our institutions
so we need not acknowledge
the virus is not cause
but revealer
of our society’s frailty.
Tag: pandemic life
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In-home and residential care options for octogenarians have become extremely limited in these trying times, so I’ve been spending the last quarter of 2021 at my parents’ in the White Mountains. This will continue into 2022. I miss DC, but it’s not like I can take advantage of the city’s rich research and cultural resources during this never-ending pandemic.
Photos taken in North Conway, New Hampshire, by author.
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In the United States in the year 2021, you, as an American citizen, do not necessarily have the right to vote.
You do not necessarily have the right to teach or to learn about matters of race, gender or anything else state lawmakers consider “divisive concepts.”
But you do have one absolute, sacrosanct, inviolate, God-given, self-evident and inalienable right: the right to refuse a coronavirus vaccine — and to infect as many people as you can.
Dana Milbank (Washington Post) -
Recurring theme in my pandemic-era dreams: I am in a social situation with many other people, and then I notice none of us is wearing a mask. These scenes used to freak me out, even wake me up. Now my dreaming mind sometimes thinks, “not this again.” Seems the thrill is gone.
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“In fact, the more who die, sometimes the less we care,” [Paul] Slovic said in an interview. In greater numbers, death becomes impersonal, and people feel increasingly hopeless that their actions can have any effect.
“Statistics are human beings with tears dried off,” Slovic said. “And that’s dangerous because we need tears to motivate us.”
William Wan and Brittany Shammas (Washington Post)