I promised myself back in March – as an adulthood’s worth of good habits and best practices gave way, in a matter of days, to the pandemic’s onslaught – that I’d take a prolonged break from the Internet at some point when all this was over. “All this” certainly isn’t over – or, so far as the pandemic is concerned, even really done starting, yet – but, of course, the idea of a hard end to any big historical shift often proves illusory. Who know what comes in the wake of the rise of this mass movement for racial justice (hopefully racial justice), but it’s easy enough to imagine that the hard to imagine might just keep happening, and that I’ll never take that break I promised myself if I don’t just take it. As the solstice approaches and the long, sunny days invite us to luxuriate when we’re able, I’m inclined to do just that.
It’s been a privilege having so many challenging, educational, and moving conversations/exchanges as a byproduct of this record I’ve been keeping of our experience of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. My hope is that the worst is truly behind us here, even as the worst is very much upon others elsewhere. Sadly, our negligence in New York, and the United States more broadly, has played a major role in exacerbating the impact of the pandemic globally, and I only hope that we learn from our deadly mistakes so as to avoid repeating them in the coming years and decades.
To that end, I will try to take some time in the coming weeks to reflect back on what I got wrong over the past three months. Knowing myself, there’s a chance that I keep writing daily regardless of my best intentions, but if these posts become less frequent for the next month or two, please know that, to all of you who have been reading regularly, I’m deeply grateful and send out love, strength, and appreciation to you as we confront what the next three months hold.
Postscript: It occurs to me now that I started writing these daily posts on March 7th – the day that Governor Cuomo declared a state of emergency in New York State – and I’m winding them down (or may be!) the day after the Governor ended his 111-day unbroken streak of holding daily press conferences. Perhaps that’s not a coincidence. Just remember: If we’re smart, we’ll vote him out in 2022. New York deserves much better.
Climate / Change 