Pandemic – off the hook

Music to our ears

“Fun” doesn’t follow me around all that often so when in Asheville, North Carolina the day after Christmas, the jazzy, up tempo beat of the Uptown Hillbillies was quite literally music to my ears. My wife and I paid the cover charge, showed proof of vaccinations and booster, and then waltzed into the pub whereContinue reading “Music to our ears”

Beware of Bambi

The anti-vaxxers of 2021 aren’t the first ones to spread misinformation to undermine public health. Vaccine hesitancy has existed in some form or another for nearly 200 years writes Tara Haelle, science journalist writing in “The New York Times” (Sept 2, 2021). Just twenty years ago anti-vaxxers contributed to stopping the use of a FDA-approvedContinue reading “Beware of Bambi”

Wired and wonderful

Wired. Everything and everybody seems to be wired today. That’s what the researchers say, the TED Talk storytellers, Bruce Springsteen, advertisers, neurologists too. Brene Brown PhD LCSW says humans are “wired for connections, it’s in our biology. As infants our need for connection is about survival. As we grow older connection means feeling valued, accepted,Continue reading “Wired and wonderful”

Learning to learn and not be lost

Nobody has escaped the ravages and surprises of 2020. Practically everyone has written their reviews of the year. And while this posting speaks to it, it goes beyond it as well. Death was around me in 2020 even before the pandemic kicked in in March. First, it was my first cousin R. who died tragicallyContinue reading “Learning to learn and not be lost”

Give them time

James Taylor, “Sweet Baby James” has a memoir just released called “Break Out”. While he’s 74 now, he’ll always be about 24 to me, as I always think of JT about this time of year when during my summers of my college years I would spend them working and playing on Martha’s Vineyard. He hadContinue reading “Give them time”

No tp, no worries

Sixty years ago on March 4, 1960 one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes first aired: “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.” I find similarities between what happened in this fictitious account of disruption in America and events transpired a few weeks ago on March 4, 2020. On this day, Italy closed all ofContinue reading “No tp, no worries”