in situ in our seats and on the internet
part i: kindness
recommended listening for the read
Kindness by HNNY
Let me guess, you’re reading this from your desk at home. Where you’ve been. For weeks. Your greatest body part, your butt, once perky, is now permanently conformed to the shape of the seat of your chair. The view from your living room window is all you know. And you’ve taken to weird habits, such as looking forlornly out of that window every day at sunrise, noon, and dusk. Sometimes your neighbor catches you creepin’.
If this is true for you, as it is for me, then you’re one of the lucky ones. We’re in the (dis)comforts of our own homes riding out the hurricane. Even though we know that if we’re sitting at home in full health, we have it much much better than many folks, but it doesn’t take away from the collective grief we’re all feeling.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how I will remember this experience. And, I don’t have any answers but my question for all of you is:
How would you describe what you are going through right now?
What will you remember all of this?
It’s probably safe to say that things have been up and down for everyone. But the silver-lining to all of this is that we’re seeing a more generous and more caring side to humanity. When even the rudest city in America comes together to clap every 👏single 👏night 👏at 7pm for healthcare workers, it makes me 😭.
All over, corporations are converting their normal factory operations to respond to a crisis without charge. (I too am shocked I am praising corporations.)
A friend of mine is literally stitching face masks from home to support a non-profit so that we can combat the shortage of medical-grade masks for healthcare workers while still protecting ourselves.
San Francisco is renting hotel rooms to shelter those who are homeless, a population that is particularly vulnerable.
Humanity is shockingly kind.
part ii: curious things
recommended listening for the read
Days Upon Days by DYAN
If you’ve been staying home, then you’ve done some combination of the following:
picked up a new hobby
picked up an old hobby
googled for hobbies
For me, simply googling things has become a hobby. This hobby has led me down many internet rabbit holes, and one recent one I’ve really enjoyed is Google Trends.
One thing I’ve learned is that I’m not the only person obsessed with bread:
Time lapse of national interest in bread recipes overtaking our interest in cake recipes:
Analysis: There is a nationwide shift from extravagance (viz. dessert) to practicality (viz. complex carbs). In other words, when the going gets tough, the tough get that bread.
This led me to even more Google Search Trend Searches, which have culminated in the below study on the four cultural phases of quarantine:
Phase 1: Mass Attention To Hygiene
Analysis: It’s never too late to teach an old dog new tricks? If you didn’t know how to wash your hands before March 2020, well now you do. Not sure if I’m proud of all of you, or disgusted.
Phase 2: Adapting To New Daydreams
There are a few different interpretations here:
A. “Finally, I have time to read.”
B. “A Bumble romance coming to fruition these next few months is probably going to be just as real as a 19th century colonial-Colombian García Márquez romance, but much less magical.”
C. Some combination of the above.
Phase 3: A Return To America’s Favorite Pastime (No, I’m not talking about baseball)
Reading is fun. I enjoy books. I just finished Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino and I can’t stop recommending it to everyone I know.
But, as Americans, the only thing that can truly bring all of us together is Joe Exotic and continuous streaming.
Phase 4: Acceptance Of Reality
Finally, the reality that hair salons and barber shops won’t be opening again anytime soon has settled into beyond our scalps. But at the same time, with the social expectations made possible by modern technology, we remain very connected and visible above the waistline. This promise of partial visibility sustains our need for vanity.
In other words, we are mutually inhibiting one another from becoming absolutely filthy, unkempt creatures. We are responsible for holding each other up. And if that doesn’t give you hope, I don’t know what will.
Stay well and swell,
Angela
P.S. For a different sort of analysis, I recommend checking out out Coronavirus Search Trends from Google Trends.
2020 playlist, starting now:
Looking for last year’s tunes? (they’ve been moved)