Reasons for Despair and Hope

Another week in COVID-land and another week to reassess, despair, and find reasons for hope. First, the bad: this week one of the (now) 14,655 victims of COVID-19 was John Prine. There is really no new light I can shed on the loss except to say that it sucks and I (like many many others) am taking it personally. He has been running on a constant loop at our house this week, and I will say that one (maybe the only?) positive is that his music is so fantastic and timeless that it transcends the mere footnote of his death. RIP, John.

Otherwise, life remains in this strange place where we are all feeling the collective anxiety at the same time it is clear that the very ground under us is shifting. Some of this was captured in an absolutely terrific article by Rebecca Solnit that appeared in the Guardian this week. As per the open license terms of the Guardian, I am reusing a small part of the article here. Go read it and get inspired for what is to come (and the role we all have to play in shaping it).