I want to tell you I’ve been swathed in calm and creativity and baby books the past week, but I’ve basically been vacillating between the work I’m contracted to do (Thank you, God, for a Career that permits remote work) and READING ALL OF THE CORONA INTERNET, in search of good news truffles, but mostly just ending up with shit all over my nose.

But on the plus side, and there’s always a plus side, I feel like these past few weeks have been a crash course in what’s effective and what’s broken in our healthcare system, economy, and country in general. It’s interesting to me that in China, where the virus is contained question mark? They were able to accomplish this by paying people with a fever $1400 to turn themselves into the authorities, and ALSO PAYING PEOPLE TO TURN THEIR LOVED ONES WITH FEVERS IN, literally dragging people with fevers out of their homes into isolation. Of course, that wouldn’t happen in this country, because there is this narrative that in America, we have free will, but that we do the right thing. And that narrative is what’s currently being tested. I’m seeing traces of this goodness, of people sewing masks for healthcare workers, donating to relief funds, offering to help neighbors, doing what they can. But there are so many who…are not. It reminds me of a Winston Churchill quote I just learned: You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else. If you search the internet real deep, turns out he paused thoughtfully, and then added: Except for drunk college students, particularly the ones in Forever 21 bathing suits. They basically never do the right thing ever BUT IT SURE IS FUN TO WATCH *LAUGHS BRITISHLY*