Welcome to our brand new world! In a matter of weeks a country of over 300 million people of all shapes, sizes, colors, and belief systems has put itself on lockdown. (Mostly.) While a giant Cheeto tries to sell malaria drugs from his pulpit, local officials and individuals enforce the greatest national feat that I […]
Category: Culture
Experiments in capitalism: day 8
Ten days ago I had about five different employers. Over the course of last week at varying speeds and under different circumstances I lost all forms of income. I watched managers lay off employees. I watched businesses close their doors. I watched some stay open, hoping for the best. I spent a few days in […]
Dispatches from quarantine: day 3
Why am I still getting emails? Stop trying to sell me things and get me to sign up for online classes. Stop trying to find things for me to do (I know it’s well intended bless the souls of my employers who are running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to find […]
Cosmic events
On Friday it broke seventy degrees outside. I left the house with a jacket on but I took it off within one block of walking. Already Walgreens was out of toilet paper and the line at the grocery store wound its way through the produce section all of the way to the front door. On […]
Happy 2020
May you live in interesting times.* *This phrase is sometimes referred to as the “Chinese curse” but actually there is no evidence of it being Chinese or proverbial. The first recorded use of the phrase came from a British statesman by way of an American congressman in the 1930s.* *I learned all of this from […]
Church
I went to a yoga class today and at the part of class where we say namaste I caught myself saying Amen. I blame it on the teacher’s voice which was low and poetically inclined. And when he spoke at the end I started spacing out a little and what I heard in my head […]
Climate change: the circular argument
Friday was the worldwide youth climate strike. I didn’t go. I went to work which was fixing bikes that are used for free programs that teach kids and adults how to ride. I told myself: my work really does help offset climate change. So it’s better for me to go to work than to the […]
Changing the story, advice from Naomi Klein
I checked out This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein from the library in the fall. I renewed it the maximum amount of times which was three. Still unfinished I returned it to the library. I checked it out again. I renewed it three more times. I incurred late fees. And then […]
No matter how big or how small
Several weeks ago (idk how long but it was snowing out) late on a Sunday night I decided to take a train to a bus to get home. I hadn’t taken that particular route home before so I ended up waiting at a bus stop on a strange, dark corner of Brooklyn in the snow […]
Grad school pros and cons
Pros: People will respect me and think I’m a serious person. Maybe I can get a job that will allow me to save money. I like learning. Cons: By the time I finish grad school the world might already be ending, all the jobs will be gone, and I will end up having wasted several […]
Anne Foster 