Journal of the Plague Year 3-29-2020

I made it 11 days before skipping a blog post. Writing a post is not hard to do, but the sameness of life under quarantine, or whatever this is, is kind of boring and depressing. It is easier to curl up with another episode of Better Call Saul.

That show is also depressing. The first seasons chronicle the efforts of the hero (first named Jimmy and later Saul), a corner-cutting attorney from a bad law school, to make his brother love him. The brother, also an attorney, is accomplished but seems to have an unreasonable hatred of Jimmy. I am sure I will learn the backstory at some point. It is sad to watch Jimmy turn himself inside out for his brother, who we know is a nasty piece of work. Families! 

To stay connected to my family, I use Skype and Zoom. Joe the graduate student (aka Peter) must use Zoom to conduct his online recitation sections for second-year calculus students. The first class is tomorrow. Today, we were his Zoom test case. He is growing a beard and looks good. It was great to see him on-screen. 

Joe College, aka Will, has been laid off from his two jobs in Seattle. Both jobs involved bars and restaurants, one as an operations manager and one as a bartender. He has applied for unemployment, but he will receive far less than it takes to live in that very expensive town. Bottom line, the three-month Bernie bonus that will supplement state unemployment checks will be very welcome. 

Joe, aka Nicholas, is working as a security guard in a parking ramp (and considered an “essential” employee by the state of Minnesota) while going to school. He believes he has been infected with COVID 19 and does not want to visit. We are hoping to set up a Skype or Zoom meeting with him. I miss having him come by the house as we have ‘t seen him for almost a week. 

I also use the old-fashioned telephone. For example, I don’t usually talk with my brother very much, but since the advent of the virus, we talk more frequently, updating each other about cousins and other more distant relatives. We have sort of split up the family; he is in contact with some and I correspond with others. It works, kind of, but it is a far cry from families with many connections who meet often. My parents did not drag us around to big family gatherings, so we don’t know many relatives beyond the most immediate. It is a sign of advancing age that I wish I knew more of them now. 

I even write to some folks by postcard and letter rather than email (my preferred method these days). They don’t have phones or access to email. I can’t visit them now, so sending a cheesy postcard or a greeting card from an art museum is a way to stay connected and let them know they are not forgotten. 

No recent decluttering to report. In addition to Better Call Saul, we watched The Human Stain, a film based on the novel by Phillip Roth. Starring Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman, the story feels a little dated. It’s about a very light-skinned African American professor who decides he is going to be white. Some say that the story is based on the life of New York Times art critic Anatole Broyard, although Roth always denied this. Reviews of the of the 2003 film were mixed, but I enjoyed the efforts of Kidman and Hopkins in difficult roles--roles that were not suitable for them.

Stay in touch with your loved ones by any means possible. And keep those TV and film recommendation coming.