I’ve always had a problematic relationship to the news, and I’ve struggled to navigate that even more since this pandemic began. I talk to my father about the night I yelled at him over his insufficient fear of the virus, and I look back on a 1954 essay by E.B. White about the disparity between his experience of a hurricane and the coverage he hears of that hurricane on the radio.

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Music:

Blue Dot Sessions

Links:

The Eye of Edna by E.B. White

Cancel Everything by Yascha Mounk

Like most people, I imagine, I've been having a lot of anxious thoughts these days. And I’ve been wishing I could get those thoughts out of my head. Then I remembered that I used to have a podcast called Anxious Machine.

So here’s my first episode in three years, part of a planned, ongoing audio journal. This episode starts with some thoughts about how this virus first entered my consciousness, how it felt to watch the movie Contagion with my daughter, and trying to stay awake to what's happening.

Music:

The House Glows with Almost No Help by Chris Zabriskie

Contagion: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Cliff Martinez

Links:

Contagion by Steven Soderbergh

Dana Stevens on the Slate Culture Gabfest

Wesley Morris on On The Media