Featured Refresh
Text & Image
Do you feel more healthy than you did at this time a year ago? Less healthy? About the same?
As for my health I guess I feel about the same… I can tell I’m aging… maybe not as gracefully as I’d hoped but not sure I can blame the pandemic for that…so far I’ve been spared CoVid, but the specter is always there. I work at a theater and our doors are open, but will the audience come? Do I want them to? Each person is another potential source of infection. Where is the line between living your life with cautious optimism, and maximizing protective strategies by isolating? What’s the trade off between physically healthy and emotional deprivation? And if we answer that for ourselves throwing caution to the wind, is it fair for its potential impact on society? Yes, you can chose not to get vaxed, not to wear a mask, not to socially distance…but not sure you can then blame the government, the politicians, the news media, the overworked nurse or burned out doctor if you fall ill and are not getting the care or service you think you are entitled to. Too many people are focused on their individual rights, and not on what might be for the good of the whole.
December 24, 2021
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Let's talk about racism. Have you seen any messages or memes that you thought were racist or offensive? If so, talk about what you've seen or heard.
I'm choosing to write about this issue because this is the first time I'm hearing that there's a racist component to discourse about COVID! I suppose I shouldn't be shocked because so many things are interpreted through a racist lens when it comes to medicine as well as so many other issues. Living in France where no one talks overtly about race, though, has kept me in a bubble--and I would say that here, at least in the media and public discourse, race is really not at all discussed as playing any role in the pandemic, beyond the context of socio-economic disparity (e.g. the virus spreading more quickly in the banlieue where large families live in close proximity to one another; the children in those areas being worse affected by school closing/online learning)--which, of course, often correlates with race. The only connection to race that I've heard has come from the Indian community, where people are speculating about a magic/mythic South Asian gene that can help protect against catching the virus or mitigate its effects.
February 13, 2021