Amidst all the stories of suffering there has been little about the holed-up-at-home influencers.
Clearly there are some common-sense practices – hand-washing, quarantining New Yorkers in Florida – that should be continued long after this pandemic is over.
I was disappointed with the music at Whole Foods’ senior shopping hour. I had been thinking Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald. Or even Paul Simon and Carole King.
A friend posted on social media a letter F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote while quarantined in the South of France during the Spanish influenza outbreak in 1918. He spoke of empty streets, Hemingway's cavalier response, and the recommendations to gather a month's worth of supplies. (He and Zelda stocked up on "red wine, whiskey, rum, vermouth, absinthe, white wine, sherry, gin, and lord, if we need it, brandy.")
Every time I read a post with the phrase “end of the world” I wish our knowledge of history were even half as great as our sense of self-importance.
My envy of recluses right now is equal to my pity for hypochondriacs.
At least now, staying home isn’t accompanied by FOMO.