JOURNAL OF THE COVID-19 YEAR PART II

by Connie Willis

(originally posted March 20 on Facebook)

Things continue to deteriorate,
the numbers continue to go up,
the stock market continues to go down,
hospitals are sending out calls for help,
and the message from Trump’s administration seems to be that we’re on our own.
“The governors should be doing more,” he said yesterday, and “I am not a shipping clerk.”
Oh, and “It’s all the media’s fault.”

So here are some more things you can do.

1. Buy gift cards for your local bookstore. (I already suggested doing this for your favorite local restaurant.) I’ve bought them from Page One Books in Albuquerque and the Broadway Book Mall in Denver. As they said on Planet Money this morning, it’s a zero-interest long-term loan. And I want them to be there when we emerge from this.

2. If you can sew, make masks for yourselves, your friends, or local hospital. There are several patterns online, or you can e-mail my husband for his suggestions. He’s at courtney.willis@unco.edu. Call the hospital first and ask if they need them. If so, they will meet you in the parking lot to take the masks. They’ll take them straight to the hospital laundry to be sanitized.

3. Take care of yourself. Go outside and get some fresh air. Walk around the block or just sit on your porch. Fresh air is good for you.

4. Do not watch the news all day every day. This is very bad for you. Choose a show in the morning and one in the evening so you can stay updated (I recommend Chris Hayes on MSNBC) and stay away from the news in between. Instead, watch movies and TV series. Here are some suggestions:

If you are the type of person that’s calmed down by watching movies about how other people have coped with crises, here are some great ones:
DARKEST HOURS (the Blitz)
MRS. MINIVER (the Blitz)
THEIR FINEST (the Blitz)
GONE WITH THE WIND (the most popular movie in London during the Blitz, for obvious reasons)
GRABBERS (monsters on a cut-off Irish island, and the only protection from them is to get
roaring drunk)
TOMORROW, WHEN THE WAR BEGAN (a bunch of kids go on a weekend trip and when they come back, they find the world has changed completely)
PRIMEVAL (in Seasons 4 and 5 they accidentally destroy the future)
and if you like Bette Davis, JEZEBEL, about the yellow fever epidemic in New Orleans in the 1800s

Or you can read:
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR by Daniel Defoe
“The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe
THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN by Michael Crichton
“Pale Horse, Pale Rider” by Katherine Anne Porter
THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS by John Wyndham
THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING by Joan Didion
DOOMSDAY BOOK by Connie Willis
and of course, WAR OF THE WORLDS by H.G. Wells

On the other hand, if you’re the kind of person who does better just escaping from what’s going on–or need a break (the most-read books in the tube shelters during the London Blitz were Agatha Christie mysteries and P.G. Wodehouse comedies), you can read:
Agatha Christie’s mysteries
P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster stories or LEAVE IT TO PSMITH
Dorothy Sayers’ mysteries
E.M. Forster’s A ROOM WITH A VIEW
Helen Fielding’s BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY
Alan Bennett’s THE UNCOMMON READER
your favorite kids’ books (when I’m stressed, I always go back and read the Beany Malone books)

Or you can watch:
FATHER GOOSE
HOW TO STEAL A MILLION
STRICTLY BALLROOM
CHARADE
WALK, DON’T RUN
SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS
SABRINA (either version, the Humphrey Bogart-Audrey Hepburn or the Harrison Ford-Julia
Ormond one, which is my personal favorite)
DECOY BRIDE
THE BIG YEAR
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
THE VICAR OF DIBLEY (4 seasons)
DOC MARTIN (9 seasons)
BIG BANG THEORY (12 seasons)
FRASIER (11 seasons)
DR. WHO (oh, thousands of seasons)

Or you can go online and watch:

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Dogs jumping in leaves:
https://www.bing.com/…/searchq=dog+jumping+in+leaves&view=d…

Italians thanking their doctors:
https://english.alarabiya.net/…/Italians-thank-doctors-with…

Henri, the French cat:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search…

Actual video of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and Annie Oakley:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search…

Bulldogs:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search…

Stay well
and do what the CDC or your governor tells you to.
We’ll get through this.

Connie Willis