Dear Diary,
When I started my COVID Diaries, I thought it would be for a while. A season. An interesting few weeks, maybe? I thought our national response would be different. I thought, even if we didn’t eradicate it within our borders, we’d control it.
I did not think I’d be sitting here, almost exactly 6 months later, writing about wildfires sweeping the West, including the fire that’s about 3 miles from our own little house in Oregon while the pandemic rages on, as well. ...
Before we begin, please imagine me face down on the couch, head smooshed into the grubby cushions, cereal shrapnel and muddy dog prints decorating my periphery. That is where I metaphorically am. I am not sitting upright at my desk typing. I am using telepathy from my frazzled, stuttering brain. Nothing is happening in a linear fashion around here. No thing. It’s all illusion and mirrors. I am stuck on the couch now, and here I shall remain for all eternity because getting up would require energy and I don’t know what that is anymore. ...
Here we go! We’re off to the races.
Joe Biden is the Democratic presidential candidate and Kamala Harris is his pick for V.P.
Neither was my top choice.
Both are imperfect.
Both are also solid candidates.
And I’ll spend the next weeks leading up to the election giving Joe Biden and Kamala Harris my robust, wholehearted support.
One thing I won’t be saying is “I’m picking the lesser of two evils.” ...
Here are the four things we’re doing with our kids for school this year:
1. Trying not to stress the eff out.
2. Remembering there is no such thing as “getting behind” because a) “on track” is a manufactured and ever-changing target based on an imaginary student’s potential for “success” in an outdated world, and b) EVERY student is currently affected by this crisis. ...
Dear Diary,
I have come to this conclusion: if we are not helping our neighbors now, we will never help our neighbors.
If we’re not loving them now, we never will love them.
If we’re not actively looking for ways to make systems more equitable and just, we never will look for ways to do it.
If we’re embedded in and committed to complacency and selfish ambition, this is where we shall remain. ...
Dear Diary,
There is so much coming at us these days, it’s hard to keep track. It’s hard to know how to respond. And it’s hard to distribute spoons appropriately.
A few nights ago, United States Congressman John Lewis — a towering figure of the Civil Rights Era and continuing vocal proponent for racial justice — died at age 80. I’d like to use my spoons to honor his legacy. ...
Dear Diary,
I have been doing three things over the past several weeks, and only three things.
1. Taking action for anti-racism in my school district.
2. Reading and rereading Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating by Christy Harrison, MPH, RD.
3. Ruminating on trust. Especially trusting ourselves and why some folks can learn to do it and others, well, can’t. ...
