I got my first vaccine shot today. That’s not really newsworthy; most of us are getting it and I had scheduled to get it a few weeks ago, before New Jersey had opened it up to everyone. Problem was, the only location available was in upstate New York, so rather than rescheduling once Jersey opened […]
Tag: pandemic
One Year, Alive.
I told myself after a year of “quarantine,” of “surviving” a pandemic, after documenting the months and months of it, that it was only fitting to make sure, one year on, that I would document that too. It’s like a rite of passage, is it not? All the loss and all of the loneliness and […]
Quarantine, Day 300: New Year’s Eve Edition
The blankets are all over the floor even though I prefer them folded and put away when they aren’t in use. I have like five pillows from the bedroom that have ended up in the living room over the course of the last few days, and I just haven’t bothered to move them. To my […]
The Mass Radicalization of the American Populace
Born in Nashville and having lived there for several years, I’ve been following the recent bombing very closely. The two blocks that were bombed look more like a street in downtown Aleppo than music city. Some of our family as far south as Murfreesboro could not make contact during Christmas and for forty-eight hours afterward […]
Quarantine, Day 281
It’s been two hundred eighty-one days now since I began quarantine, and while it’s probably not fair anymore to say I’m actively in quarantine, the pandemic has now consumed 75% of this year and is worse today than it ever was when it began. I’m writing for the first time in a while, having not […]
Finding Balance in “Work from Home” Culture
Since the start of the pandemic, I’ve been working on a project for my company to rehaul our database and client-relations management software. Anyone who has ever tackled these kinds of massive tech overhauls, especially when your area of expertise is not tech-oriented, it can be a source of significant stress and anxiety. When you’re […]
Quarantine, Day 170
Between New York City and Lyndhurst, New Jersey where I reside, there’s basically nothing but meadowlands and marshes, akin the wetlands approaching Mordor in Lord of the Rings. Before coronavirus, taking the train into the City demanded I pass through these marshlands, and I always admired what they were as though they were somehow the […]
Quarantine, Day 123
Diagnosis: you have been diagnosed with a viral respiratory infection that may be due to coronavirus (COVID-19). At this time your provider has determined that you do not required an emergency evaluation. If your symptoms progress or worsen, it may be necessary to seek additional care in person. Those are scary words but that’s what […]
Breaking Quarantine, Day 93
Aside from essential trips for groceries, an occasional waltz through a nearby cemetery, or some long drives here and there, my self-imposed quarantine has been spent mostly in the same two-bedroom apartment. Three months ago, today, I made the decision to stay-at-home as the world around me changed due to a pandemic. Today, for the […]
Is America Headed Toward Civil War?
Societies–because they’re made up of people–function a lot like people do as individuals. Just as you or I might bottle up our anger and then one day explode, so can a society bottle up its collective anger and then explode all at once. On an individual level, as well as a societal one, we can […]
