It was G.K. Chesterton who wrote, with his customary pith, that Christianity was the only religion that had the guts to make God a rebel as well as a king. He was overstating: as a scholar of the Old Testament as well as the New, he knew that Yahweh was as much a temperamental artist […]
Category Archives: General News
Playing the odds
There was good reason to have faith in ventilators. They help doctors treat pneumonia, and pneumonia is one of the worst conditions associated with this virus. The ventilator count was a main concerns in March: would we have enough to accommodate all of the people who were bound to develop critical symptoms? Did we have […]
Uncle Joe
If Joe Biden were a candidate for the Presidency of California, he wouldn’t win. Californians, it’s pretty clear, would choose somebody better aligned with their own values. Likewise, if he were running for President of this particular house, internal polls suggest he’d be doomed. We’d pick Hilary, or maybe Isobel the Cat. Joe wouldn’t even […]
The screws tighten
Municipal parks have been closed for a long time. Yesterday the Governor announced that state greenspace is out of bounds, too. This is meant to limit congregations of people who might be passing around the pathogen, but it also prohibits us from taking refuge in wide open spaces. Liberty State Park doesn’t tend to be […]
About chloroquine
After her admission to the hospital, my cousin was treated with plaquenil. That’s the trade name for hydroxychloroquine, the milder version of the chloroquine medication that the White House seems determined to make famous. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t asked if she wanted it; she was just given it, in the same way that she […]
I advance masked
This week, Jersey City reinstated parking regulations. They aim to sweep. More than two weeks of trash — cups, cans, rubber gloves, urban confetti — has collected at curbside. A few days ago, a deliveryman spilled a gallon of milk on the street. Luckily for us, it rained the next day. The municipal government announced […]
The Ministry of Guesswork
Johns Hopkins University concedes something that we’ve all suspected: we’ve undercounted virus-related deaths. People with familiar symptoms have died in places where testing has been inadequate or nonexistent. People have died in places where the testing has been available, but they haven’t been screened, and during a shortage, there’s no sense in using a diagnostic […]
The guardian
This is Wilson. We met Wilson on the street. He was alone, flung from a stroller perhaps, right in the middle of the sidewalk. I’m sure he wouldn’t admit it now, but he looked bewildered. You would be, too, if you were fallen and unclaimed. You might wonder a bit about what the future might […]
Red herrings
At 5 p.m. yesterday, Hilary began to cough. She couldn’t stop herself. The fit didn’t last long — maybe five minutes at the most. She had no fever or aches. After some water, a cough drop, and some work on our puzzle, the tickle in her throat went away. She didn’t cough again for the […]
In the air
We wake up to a grocery delivery. Greens, beans in cans, a pineapple, some berries, toilet paper, a block of unsalted Kerrygold butter, other stuff. Our order includes a big bag of masa for tamales, but we haven’t been able to find corn husks. Getting it all upstairs is tricky. The bags are heavy and […]