There are languages I didn’t know I wanted to know.
Living in a pandemic, continued
For Eddie
Only our hearts will argue hard
against the small lights letting in the news
and who can choose between the worst possibility
and the last
between the winners of the wars against breathing
and the last
war everyone will lose
and who can choose between the dry gas
domination of the future
and the past
between the consequences of the killers
and the past
of all the killing? There
is no choice in these.
Your voice
breaks very close to me my love.
- “Roman Poem Number Thirteen”, June Jordan
Hello: I am Raf, you’re reading the Miscellanies. Thank you; if you haven’t signed up, you can by clicking here:
It is unsettling, nigh chilling, to see Midtown this deserted. We are deep within the onslaught of the contagion; only death is bold enough to linger on these streets, rendering them still and silent.
In contrast to the silence reigning over Manhattan, the sirens never cease in eastern Queens. Jackson Heights and Corona are the hardest hit by this plague; the toll so frightful, death’s dominion so complete that ambulance services from across America have descended to assist our own.
That’s the parking lot of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens; those are ambulances from Indiana, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Minnesota, among others. Because we’ve got so many people coming in into help from out of town, dispatchers are forced to spell out the street names for those unfamiliar with our neighborhoods — something I learned only by hearing the dispatcher radio frequencies, which I listen to from time to time.
What Lindsey says is true; right now, this Sunday afternoon, the sun is shining, the weather is mild. The only signs that something is amiss are the utter stillness of the world, as we all shelter inside, and what we wear outside that shelter. I went to my supermarket yesterday to stock up, as I do now once a week. A line forms outside; people wear face masks and surgical gloves; others make do with scarves and bandanas, and regular gloves.
You can tell people are new to this because they don’t watch for cross-contamination; they touch the shelves, then their face; or pull down their masks to talk. I am much more cautious: I scramble to maintain physical distance; I leave my phone at home, instead going armed only with a paper list of what I need. I move purposefully in search of what I’ve written down, in contrast to others who wander aimlessly.
I bag my groceries myself, then walk with purpose to my house. I go straightway to my back porch, where I leave my bags. I go inside the house, I grab my disinfectant wipes, and proceed to wipe down every single item. Once that’s done, I put away my groceries, leaving the bags outside. I wash my face mask with soap and water, and leave it to dry; I carefully strip my gloves, and throw them away; and finally, I strip my clothes and go shower.
This is what we’ve come to in allegedly the greatest country in the world: a trip to buy food is potentially lethal, and so it bears the kinds of precautions one must take when death stalks the streets. I am by turns despondent, sad, furious, and resigned — and it feels like we’re all alone here, with no one to channel our despairing fury, our furious despair, least of all the feckless Democrats who aim to replace this murderously neglectful regime.
Postmodern Jukebox covers The Killers’ “Mr Brightside”. Listen to it now.
If you’ve never, ever cooked, you need to start with this article. Eater’s Meghan McCarron gets you started on your cooking journey, from frying eggs and saucing pasta to roasting chickens and making soup. I can’t recommend this article enough, as someone who literally had to go from cooking very seldom to cooking every night since I’ve started working from home at the beginning of last month.
Still Bill — this 2009 documentary looks at the life and career of Bill Withers, who died Monday at age 81.
Introduced as both Freezeout and Alcatraz to the 9th Power Revisited, Bob Dylan -- Visions of Johanna, in San Francisco on December 11th, 1965. Well before it was recorded for the album Blonde on Blonde.
Sähkö The Movie is an unconventional documentary by Jimi Tenor about Finland's iconic electronic music label, featuring bits of work by label artists, including Ilpo Väisänen and the late Mika Vainio, of Pan(a)sonic fame.
Any viewer of Tom Hooper's Cats (2019) will find themselves asking one question constantly: why? Lindsay Ellis takes 57 minutes, with copious examples from the film and stage productions and analysis of the differences between the two mediums, to explain: Why is Cats?
You know already that The Met is making a different opera available every night. But did you know that The Bayerische Staatsoper also has performances available? Or that the Dutch National Opera is also putting operas online daily? The Monnaie in Belgium has until April 19, placed several great performances online like its production of Frankenstein? Arte has added The Hamburg State Opera's Falstaff and others to its content. There are also many operas available for free at Opera.eu.
Like taking walks just to get the hell outside these days? But you want variety, and not the same ol' walk around the block every time? Then, input your starting address into Routeshuffle, enter the target length of your walk, and Routeshuffle will generate a random strolling course for you.
What we’re living through is only partly a disaster novel; it’s also—and perhaps mostly—a grotesque political satire. A 1250-word email conversation between Halimah Marcus and Ted Chiang for Electric Literature.
The American Film Institute is inviting you to movie night - every night. The American Film Institute will select an iconic movie each day for the world to watch together, via their new Movie Club, creating a communal viewing experience during these unprecedented times of social distancing.
I love you all. I hope that we make it to the other side of this. I love you so much, and I pray that all of you - both those of you I know, and those I don’t - stay safe and healthy in this hellish contagion. I am here for you; if you need anything, just hit reply. If you think this newsletter is worth sharing, just hit the button below. Let’s take care of ourselves - put the mask on yourself first, as the old airline instructions used to say - and each other.
Peace be upon you, and ourselves.