As September begins, our county has just been downgraded from the “widespread” to the “substantial” tier of COVID-19 presence, which means some indoor things are opening back up again, some schools are starting in-person instruction, and I’m having flashbacks to June and the weeks preceding a huge jump in cases that put us on theContinue reading “Bookends: August 2020”
Author Archives: Charity
When Hope is Too Much to Ask For
Lately with everything going on—the tanking economy, rising COVID-19 cases nationwide, a federal government that toggles between authoritarian overreach, lies, and violence and complete inaction, climate change continuing unabated, increasing racial and economic division, in case you’d forgotten—I have been having some trouble feeling hope. I suspect I’m not alone in this. I want toContinue reading “When Hope is Too Much to Ask For”
Bookends: July 2020
Although July wasn’t really any better than June, and in some ways it was even worse, I find myself in a better frame of mind at the end of July than I was at the end of June. For one thing, my cat died. This in itself is a very sad and super-sucky thing thatContinue reading “Bookends: July 2020”
Bookends: June 2020
With rising rates of COVID-19 combined with the annual question mark of the flu season (and did you know you can get both at the same time? Fun!), the second half of 2020 and beyond looks a little hairy. At this point it appears inadvisable to rely on the implementation of common-sense measures, particularly widespreadContinue reading “Bookends: June 2020”
Bookends: May 2020
Late May involved a convergence of paradigm-challenging elements. There’s COVID-19 and the ongoing stay-at-home order coupled with the gradual easing of restrictions, which brings both a sense of hope that we’re safe to move about more freely and anxiety that we’re no more ready than we were three months ago and the worst is yetContinue reading “Bookends: May 2020”
Bookends: April 2020
Over the course of this first full month of California’s stay-at-home order, I’ve grown accustomed to rolling with whatever emotions come up for me each day. Not that I’m adept at it, but at least I expect it. Some days it’s just the constant low-level anxiety about food supply chains and asymptomatic transmission and armedContinue reading “Bookends: April 2020”
Bookends: March 2020
My spouse likes to tell the story of the day he, our toddler, and I were driving home from an errand and we saw a van hit a pedestrian. My emergency training clicked immediately. I grabbed my phone, checked for traffic, and hopped out of the car, dialing 911 as I called over my shoulderContinue reading “Bookends: March 2020”
Shelter-in-Place Recipe: Egg-Free Sourdough Discard Chocolate Cupcakes
A couple of weeks before the COVID-19 stuff became disruptive locally, a friend gave me some sourdough starter. I read up and bought flour (just in the nick of time) and messed around with it and managed to keep it alive, but I had no idea when I’d have enough time to babysit dough longContinue reading “Shelter-in-Place Recipe: Egg-Free Sourdough Discard Chocolate Cupcakes”
Bookends: December 2019 – February 2020
Mid-December through mid-January were weeks spent coming down with, fighting, or recovering from various colds and flus (or maybe just one month-long ebbing-and-flowing virus). I did a lot more reading in bed than I usually do, and because I’ve built up some impressive whining skills in my 43 years, my family gave me more spaceContinue reading “Bookends: December 2019 – February 2020”
Sorry to Disrupt the Peace by Patty Yumi Cottrell
Helen Moran is in her shared studio apartment in Manhattan accepting delivery of her roommate’s new IKEA sofa when she gets the call telling her that her brother is dead. She packs a few things and flies home to Milwaukee to try to make sense of his suicide. “It’s just the three of us now,”Continue reading “Sorry to Disrupt the Peace by Patty Yumi Cottrell”
