Weekdays and weekends have a lot in common these days. But there are some differences. Weekdays have some tension built in: starting with schoolwork. Our oldest is in kindergarten, so the detailed learning standards and lesson plans emanating from the school district feel like overkill–but we still want him to improve his reading and writing […]
Finally starting to feel some mental health impacts–my motivation is dragging as life starts to turn into Groundhog Day. Other parents feel the same… The sheriff of the next county over from us says he’ll start refusing to enforce stay-at-home orders. Great, I’m sure all the sheriffs with radical ideas about their constitutional role will […]
Several days of emotional rollercoaster here. Saturday the long stretch of isolation finally started to get to me, particularly as hopes of seeing family began to seem more distant. Sunday had a few happier moments (and yet more nice weather); but then today we are met with yet more dispiriting news. “Reopening” protests continue to […]
This news has shaken me as much as anything has recently. It seems to me now inevitable that there will be widespread, uncontrolled resurgence. Some states are prematurely relaxing restrictions; others still haven’t imposed them. Active defiance of lockdown orders is appearing, amplified by partisan media. Mix in the terrible economic impacts and inflammatory rhetoric, […]
Stimulus money arrived via direct deposit today. I’m grateful that we can direct it to others who need it more. Once again for those in the back: it’s not the flu! Right-wing protests demanding that the country be re-opened are beginning to pop up around the country. It’s hard to accept that things aren’t just […]
Back to the grocery store… mask fraction is up to about 2/3rds. Governors on the coasts are forming coalitions to coordinate when to re-open. Lines at drive-through food banks are miles long. Does returning to normal mean forgetting what we saw?
Are these beautiful days… a plague sent to torture us??? I went for a bike ride through the neighborhood at twilight. Folks are putting bears and other stuffed animals in their windows to give kids something interesting to look for on walks. More predictions that the bottom is about to fall out of the academic […]
Due to concerns that the good weather will draw people to them, Seattle has announced the full closure of its major parks this weekend. Apple and Google have announced plans to provide automated contact tracing. This is an astonishing story on so many levels: UW paid $125k for 100k tests via a Chinese contact referred […]
Today was beautiful spring day in Seattle. Sunny, mid-60s. I was able to make time for a couple walks around the neighborhood and resumed my quixotic quest to uproot all the dandelions in the median. Parents of grade schoolers are starting to talk about stepping back from organized “remote learning” activities–the burden on working parents […]
The depressing saga of federal seizures of critical medical supplies continues. Take ventilators ordered by a Democratic governor, credit the Republican Senator when giving 20% of them back. The president has a financial interest in the maker of hydroxychloroquine!? Partisan advocacy for the drug are making it hard to determine if it actually helps. “If […]