Confessions of a Befuddled Office Dweller By Alan Resnick I offer this true story as a cautionary pandemic tale for those of you who are hoping to return to your workplaces in the near future. Brace yourself: the challenges that await you will make D Day look like a stroll in the park. I went to my office on March 2 for the first time since July 27, 2020, and I’m feeling like I just emerged from a time capsule. After over seven months of checking my work email at least weekly with no activity, my largest client sent me two requests for service last week. So I decided to go in and get organized and reacclimated. The parking lot was only about 25% full when I arrived in the early afternoon. This was not surprising, as many of the programs and activities my firm, a nonprofit human-services organization, provides remain cancelled or suspended because of the pandemic from March of last year. Other programs are being offered, but via telephone or Zoom, rather than face-to-face. But I conduct vocational assessments, and some of the tests used must still be administered in person. I took the stairs up to the second floor and saw Rosalind, the receptionist, sitting at the front desk surrounded by a cocoon of plexiglass. I said hello and asked if she had to take my temperature. Rosalind informed me that they no longer use a hand-held thermometer, but rather a temperature scanning station which I had just passed when I entered the reception area. I walked back to the scanning station, stuck out my face toward the screen, and was rewarded with a sea of flashing green lights – 95.6. I returned to the front desk and asked Rosalind if we needed to go through the health-screening questions that were required back in June and July of last year. She informed me they don’t do that anymore with employees, just with visitors. There is now an app that employees are supposed to access and complete before entering the building. I mentioned that I was unfamiliar with the app and she suggested that I talk to someone about it. I told her I would, thanked her, and mentioned that it was nice to see her again. She did not reciprocate in kind. I’m not sure if she did not hear me through the plexiglass or simply did not remember me, even though my name badge with picture was clearly visible. The hallways leading to my office were barely lit, the brightest lights emanating from the EXIT signs at the ends of the corridors. There was not one office door open on the way to my office. When I got to the pod where my office is located, I walked around to see if there were any familiar faces. But there were no faces to see. Many of the offices had nameplates of people that I did not know. Only one door was open, that of an IT support person, but his desk was not visible from the hallway. Not exactly the triumphant return I envisioned. I went into my office, turned on the lights, and fired up my computer. I did not remember my username or password after seven months, so I pulled out my trusty crib sheet to jog my memory. My password was listed, but my username was not. I took my best guess, the first letter of my first name and my complete last name followed by my password. No luck. I tried again, adding the first letter of my middle name. No luck. I gave it one last try, using my full name. My computer still wouldn’t recognize me, so I walked over to the office of the IT support person and stuck my head in the door. I introduced myself to Brad, a clean-cut twentysomething. On his desk were four monitors and two keyboards, plus a tablet and cell phone. All in all, it appeared that Brad had the resources and capability to shut down the North American power grid if so inclined. I explained my dilemma, and asked Brad if he could help me. He asked for the username and password that I had tried, ran them through some sort of diagnostic program, and informed me that my information had expired. Brad told me that this happens when users haven’t logged into their computers in more than six months. He was kind enough to enter my username and password back into the system, and told me to come back over if there was still a problem. First mission accomplished. But another issue quickly emerged. I glanced up and saw that the red light on my telephone was flashing, signaling that I had voicemail. This was a little concerning to me, as I have to admit that I had not called in remotely to check my voice mail in at least five months. Of greater concern was the fact that my old, dated desk phone had been replaced with a very stylish new model. I looked around my office to see if the installer had left a user guide, but that would have made things too easy. So I went back to my crib sheet for instructions on how to use the old phone system and hoped for the best. I was able to enter the voicemail system just as before. However, I did not remember the four-digit PIN needed to access my personal voice mailbox, and it was not on the crib sheet. Shit. I briefly considered walking back over to Brad’s office and asking for assistance, but my ego wouldn’t let me. I doubted that I had wowed him with my expertise during our first interaction, and wasn’t comfortable with the prospect of him thinking me even older or more technologically challenged than he initially surmised. So I began rummaging through various file folders until I finally found one with the PIN. After all that work, there was only one voicemail in my box and it was a robocall from November. I then began the task of inventorying my test materials to see if anything needed to be ordered. There were enough paper-and-pencil tests for at least another seven assessments. Finally, something went as expected. I was hitting my stride. That feeling of mastery lasted for about five minutes, until I shifted my focus to inventorying our online testing materials. The good news was that there were enough user names and passwords for nine more administrations. The bad news was that they had to be used within one year of purchase, and they had been purchased in January, 2020. It felt like finding a great new recipe requiring a tablespoon of anchovy paste, rummaging through your pantry, and learning that the tube you have expired four years ago. I picked up the receiver on my stylish new phone and dialed the 800 number for our vendor. After dialing twice and being both times rerouted to a company I was not familiar with, I went to our vendor’s website. I learned that our vendor was now a subsidiary of the company whose phone number I had reached previously. I called again, listened to the entire recorded message, pressed “2” to get to our vendor, and pleaded my case to a customer service representative. Stacey remembered that my company was a longtime customer and agreed to reset the expiration dates on the unused usernames and password. Because I was feeling a little rusty, I wanted to practice administering the online tests on the iPads we had purchased back in June. I took the first iPad out of the box, turned it on, and was asked to enter the four-digit passcode. Of course, I had absolutely no recollection of what it was and could not find any record of it. But I opened the second box and found a note taped inside the cover listing the passcodes and other necessary background information. I breathed a deep sigh of relief. In the immortal words of Roberto Duran after being flummoxed and frustrated by Sugar Ray Leonard for seven rounds, “No mas.” I decided that I would practice at home, so I stuffed the iPads in my briefcase. At least I could salve my frustration with snacks and Snapple. There was only one more thing to do before leaving – fill out my time card for the 90 minutes I had worked. I went to our payroll website and smiled when my username and password and immediately appeared on my screen. I hit “Enter” and received an error message indicating that either my username and/or password were incorrect. The same thing happened when I physically entered both my username and password. So I hit the “forgot username or password” button, and was instructed to enter my email address. The following error message appeared on my screen: “There is no employee with this name on the system.” I closed the web site and emailed my supervisor, informing him know that I no longer existed within the company. Let him deal with it. Alan Resnick is an industrial psychologist with over 40 years of professional experience. He and his wife are sheltering at home in Farmington Hills, Michigan. He is passing the time by cooking, exercising, catching up on friends’ recommendations of must-see TV and writing.

By Jessie Seigel / Washington, D.C. 2020 was our never-ending year of political chaos, personal anxiety, and social isolation. Each and every one of us has had to endure our share of it. Nor did our trauma end with a solitary sip of champagne marking that midnight moment between 2020 and 2021. The chaos has followed us into this new year, even as three effective vaccines and a competent Administration have emerged to fix it. During this past year, we’ve seen continued police and vigilante murders of innocent African-Americans, and resulting protests around the nation. And while peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters, observing COVID-19 protocols to the degree possible, were attacked by law enforcement in the nation’s capital, armed, maskless white supremacists and militias were permitted to invade the state capitol buildings in Lansing, Mich., in order to intimidate legislators at work. We have seen white militia-type terrorists even attempt to kidnap and kill Michigan’s courageous Governor for simply trying to protect that state’s citizens from COVID. We saw a concerted effort to subvert the 2020 election. The COVID pandemic caused an increase in people mailing their ballots rather than voting in person. Attempting to prevent those ballots from reaching the polling stations in time, Trump’s Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, slowed the mails. We were subjected to Trump’s pre-election ranting that he would only lose if the election were rigged. After the election, we saw intimidation of vote counters and threats to state officials, aimed at changing or discounting votes already cast. We have--in real time, live and in color—watched an insurrectionist attack on the U.S, Congress (for which the siege of Michigan’s Capitol may well have been a trial run). And we have seen congressmen and senators enable, support, and excuse that insurrection. We watched two expertly presented impeachment prosecutions of Donald Trump fail only because feckless, Republican senators, lacking any honesty, integrity or sense of honor, refused to consider the evidence. Most of us have watched this public chaos while huddled in our homes, going stir-crazy with the isolation COVID has necessitated: adult children unable to see or hug their elderly parents; grandparents unable to spend time with their grandchildren; husbands, wives and children sheltered together for months, their nerves frayed—not to mention the effect scholastically and emotionally on children unable to go to school or play with friends; and the even greater isolation of those who live alone. Some of us are essential workers who must brave the outside world and risk catching the virus. Others are small business owners constantly wracking our brains to figure out how to stay in business without customers coming into our stores. And while we all have been doing what we must, many of Trump’s adherents have denied the dangers and spread COVID by refusing to wear masks and attending superspreader events as if they were college kids on spring break in Fort Lauderdale. From beginning to end, Donald Trump, impresario of our COVID-19 mess, not only neglected appropriate action to stop the spread of the virus, but undercut others’ efforts to do so. Again and again, he demonstrated that his sole interest was how acknowledging the problem would affect the economy and the stock market, thus his perceived ability to win the 2020 election. The Trump Revue In January, Trump claimed the “epidemic” amounted to just one person coming in from China—or maybe, he allowed, it was five people, all recuperating successfully. In February, his talking points were “There’s a theory that, in April, when it gets warm, historically, that has been able to kill the virus…” and “it’s going to disappear. One day—it’s like a miracle—it will disappear.” In March, when 21 passengers and crew on the Grand Princess cruise ship sitting off San Francisco’s coast tested positive for COVID, Trump expressed his preference that the ship’s 3,500 passengers be kept on board for testing because “I don’t need to have the numbers [of confirmed U.S. coronavirus cases] double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault.” Trump didn’t want the reported number of confirmed COVID cases to go up. He didn’t care about stopping its actual spread or curing those sick with it, only how additional numbers counted on U.S. soil would make him look. Once the fact we had a pandemic on our hands could no longer be dismissed, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) at the National Institute of Health (NIH) advised us to wash our hands frequently and, in the absence of soap, use hand sanitizer containing at least 70 percent alcohol. They urged us to forego touching our mouth, nose or eyes, stay home, or if we had to go out, stay six feet away from others, and of course, cover our coughs and sneezes. This set off a race to hoard hand sanitizer, soap and, unaccountably—toilet paper—as if we were about to be stranded on a desert island for six months. But, at first, the CDC and NIAID did not advise us to use masks. In fact, they told us that because the viral particles were so small, masks would not provide any protection. That might have been a well-meant lie. I believe that the CDC and NIAID may have been afraid that the public would buy up and hoard N95 masks and surgical masks, just as we were doing with toilet paper and hand sanitizer. In that case, hospitals and medical workers would not have the N95 and surgical masks they desperately needed to safely care for their patients. In April, the CDC and NIAID changed their tune, telling us masks could provide some protection for others when we coughed or sneezed, but not for our own protection. Dr. Fauci urged us to wear masks to protect our grandparents and others whose health was vulnerable. Later, in November, the CDC and NIAID reversed course yet again, stating that masks would provide some protection to wearers too, and urging us to make or purchase close-fitting cloth masks. (I had suspected this all along. It seemed only common sense that blocking germs from traveling through a mask outward would also block others’ germs passing inward. In any case, wearing a mask could do no harm.) Dr. Fauci and those speaking for the CDC were possibly motivated by the legitimate fear that panic buying would affect first responders’ access to masks. Or they may simply have been giving us new information as knowledge of mask performance evolved. But their repeated changes in position gave Trump an opening to cast doubt on mask effectiveness. The President made remarks like “I don’t agree with the statement that if everybody wears a mask, everything disappears,” and “maybe they’re great, and maybe they’re just good. Maybe they’re not so good.” He mocked Democratic presidential candidate Biden for wearing one. As late as October, when Trump finally admitted he wore masks “when needed,” he still pointed to Dr. Fauci’s initial statements, saying of Fauci’s view, “masks are not good—then he changed his mind.” In addition, throughout the year, Trump attempted to silence or coopt scientists and medical experts. After Dr. Fauci stated that COVID-19 appeared to have a higher mortality rate than influenza, and that “we are dealing with a serious virus,” Fauci told associates that the White House instructed him not to say anything else without clearance. To all appearances, Trump succeeded in either intimidating or coopting Dr. Deborah Birx. When Trump, at a late April press briefing, posed as possible cures bringing ultraviolet light inside the body or injecting a disinfectant, Dr. Birx looked aghast, but nevertheless sat still and silent behind him. Of course, Birx, formerly known for her expert work related to HIV and AIDS, was now working directly for the White House as its coronavirus response coordinator. It appears that staying in good with her boss was more important to her than speaking up for science and sanity. It was left to companies like Lysol, emergency health hotlines, and other private entities to rush warnings to people not to inject or ingest any type of cleansing product into the body. It was Dr. Vin Gupta, not Dr. Birx, who very immediately said: “This notion of injecting or ingesting any type of cleansing product into the body is irresponsible and it’s dangerous…It’s a common method that people utilize when they want to kill themselves.” Trump’s persistent efforts to dismiss the number of COVID deaths, along with his open contempt for masks, egged on his followers to claim masks restricted their personal “liberty,” and to treat those wearing masks as making an opposing political statement rather than trying to keep themselves and others alive. Trump amplified this twisted politicization of the disease as the 2020 election season progressed. He claimed that combatting the virus was entirely the responsibility of the states, but simultaneously attacked Democratic governors, claiming he had sent help and they were ungrateful. Because Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer had the courage to publicly call out the federal failure to deliver needed COVID-19 supplies, Trump attacked her with war cries such as “Liberate Michigan,” and “Get your governor to open up your state. And get your schools open.” He continued his venomous attacks even after a plot to kidnap and kill her had been exposed. Come September, investigative journalist and author Bob Woodward released tapes of February phone conversations with Trump that gave irrefutable evidence of Trump’s full, early knowledge of and deliberate lies about the dangers of COVID-19. If Woodward had released them earlier, hearing Trump’s voice privately speak of COVID dangers while publicly dismissing them might have made some of Trump’s acolytes wake up to his con game, change their behavior and save their own lives. Earlier exposure of Trump’s demagoguery also might have stopped last year’s political insanity before it took full hold, and so prevented Trump from building the makeshift army that attacked the Capitol. In October, after all of Trump’s public belittling of the disease’s dangers and scorn for mask-wearing, he announced that he and Melania had tested positive for the coronavirus. He was treated at Walter Reed Medical Center, and given eight drugs, including Remdesevir and Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody cocktail, the highest dose of that drug being tested in late-stage clinical trials. At that time, this was not available to the general public. Afterwards, Trump told the rest of us who were not eligible to get that special treatment: “Don’t be afraid of COVID. Don’t let it dominate your life.” While still under care, Trump briefly left the hospital, exposing his security detail to his disease so he could ride past supporters cheering him. And on his return to the White House, he appeared on the Truman Balcony like a mini-Caesar saluting his troops. As recently reported by Rachel Maddow, in January 2021, Trump secretly got vaccinated. On the day Trump left office, some 400,000 American citizens had died of COVID-19. The curtain has finally closed on Trump’s 2020 show—No applause, please! Now that Joe Biden is President, aspects of American life are calmer. More people seem to be wearing masks and abiding by social distancing. The new Administration is trying to bring the country up to speed on vaccinations. Biden is aiming for 100 million vaccinations within 100 days and all eligible American adults by the end of the summer. So far, there are reportedly 1.8 million vaccinations per day, so perhaps he is on target to reach that goal. Nevertheless, there is great frustration everywhere because states (and Washington, D.C, where I live) are not obtaining enough vaccine for the demand; it is unclear where one can get vaccinated; the websites for computerized sign ups do not work efficiently; and the rules on who is eligible and when are inconsistent from state to state, and sometimes from day to day even within a jurisdiction. When you cannot even sign up for an appointment, it is exasperating to hear that 1.8 million other people have obtained their first—and perhaps even second—vaccination. Concern whether these vaccines will be effective against new viral strains surfacing here and around the world also looms over us. We must try to keep in mind that when the Biden Administration came into office, it found that Trump had absolutely no plan in place for vaccine distribution. In going forward, the new Administration has had to start from scratch. So, we need to find the patience to bear with our remaining frustrations and uncertainties while the new government sorts out the many distribution glitches. After the insane degree of tension we’ve experienced this last year, finding that patience is hard. But at least the Trump horror show has ended. Jessie Seigel is a fiction writer, an associate editor at the Potomac Review, a reviewer for The Washington Independent Review of Books, and a dabbler in political cartoons at Daily Kos. She has twice received an Artist’s Fellowship from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities for her work. But, Seigel also had a long career as a government attorney, in which she honed her analytic skills. Of this double career, Seigel would say, “I guess my right and left brains are well balanced.” More on and from Seigel can be found at The Adventurous Writer, https://www.jessieseigel.com.

By Andy Borowitz March 1, 2021 WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—A furious Josh Hawley announced on Monday that he would attempt to overturn the results of last weekend’s CPAC straw poll, which showed him to be the choice of only three per cent of attendees. Claiming that there was “widespread fraud” in the way that the straw poll was conducted, he demanded urgent action to “stop the steal.” “If CPAC does not immediately halt the certification of its straw-poll results, people will lose faith in CPAC as one of our nation’s sacred institutions,” the Missouri senator said. Asked to provide evidence of straw-poll fraud, Hawley said, “There was a really cool photo of me pumping my fist in the air that everybody saw. That should be worth way more than three per cent.” Responding to the senator’s demands, CPAC conducted a thorough recount of its straw poll, and found that Hawley had actually received two per cent. Andy Borowitz is a Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes The Borowitz Report, a satirical column on the news.

By Brian Grant Covid-19 has been disruptive to our world this year. Such an understatement to say this out loud! The impact of the pandemic of course differs among individuals, communities and nations. It would lack compassion to not acknowledge that for many it has been catastrophic and deadly. So many lives lost, families and communities bereaved, and dreams destroyed. They are always in our thoughts. To date, I have not personally been damaged or bereaved by Covid. This is a matter of good luck and privilege, not virtue or plan. My thoughts about my pandemic year fall into four categories: the personal, the professional, the macro-picture of society, and the future: The personal: My life has always been full of things to do and places to go. To be precise, pre-pandemic, my life was hyper-scheduled. But this year, cultural events like theater, dance, classical music or nights out were and are no more. My sports tickets were cancelled. No more baseball or soccer to enjoy. Dinner out? Forget about it. Vacations and live professional meetings? No more. People? Far fewer. Many have grown wary, become voluntarily homebound, and fear death. Everyone has become a Dr. Fauci and seen fit to be outspoken, whether in favor of more restrictions, or feeling intruded upon by these same restrictions. As a result, the pandemic has given me time--a gift that has been hard to receive. For the first time ever, I have empty days on my calendar, with no reservations or required activities or commitments. Such days have allowed me to sleep in. I respond to the moment. I take walks, read books – novels, poetry, nonfiction, watch series and films on streaming platforms, and spend more time with my wife, kids, and grandkids. Most of all I have spent time with myself, and this has been a bit of a challenge at times. In the past year I have started studying poetry, so the week’s assignment is always in the back of my mind. This imposed free time is superimposed on the current downsizing of my professional commitments as I slowly slide into semi-retirement. The Professional: As I write this, I am attending a professional meeting in New York. Well, not really. I am at my desk in Seattle, watching speakers online via Zoom. I last attended this meeting live in Manhattan in February of last year. Little did I know it was the last time I would travel for business. I always looked forward to this annual trip to New York – to take in the vibrant city, see a few plays, visit some friends and associates, and learn a bit. In 2018, after 35 years, a business I had founded and grown was sold in a meaningful transaction. This freed up a great portion of my life. Little did I know the bullet I dodged by not having to manage and survive the business challenges posed by the pandemic! My business, like many, would have taken a major hit to revenue and earnings. I would have had the angst and massive stressors of dealing with this. I would likely have had to downsize and say goodbye to employees and colleagues. And the value of the business would have been much less. Instead, I was able to say goodbye to this part of my life, the constant hum and stress of management, and the ever-present threat of business failure, competitors, and staff challenges. I was breathing free after this sale, and as the pandemic started, floating on air at my unanticipated good fortune on many levels. BEFORE THE PANDEMCI?, I also refocused on my first profession of psychiatry. I have always had a love of therapy, both as a patient who underwent an invaluable psychoanalysis years ago and continues in weekly therapy, and as a psychodynamic psychotherapist, practicing part-time. After selling the business, I moved to a small office in a downtown Seattle business suite, where I have been treating 10-15 patients a week in hourly sessions. I may prescribe medications for a few, but only work with individuals who are also in therapy. Through their experiences, I am seeing how the pandemic impacts others in their work and relationships. Due to the pandemic, some patients have been reluctant to come in to be seen and others have even moved out of the area termporarilty or permanently. I and many other physicians discovered telemedicine. In my case, I use Zoom, though there are other platforms available. This has allowed me to continue to work with some who would otherwise not have access to me and vice versa. While I still work person-to-person at about a seven-foot distance, I can also work from my home office, at varying hours that are quite flexible for all, across a few miles or a few thousand. Some colleagues have given up their offices altogether and have moved fully to telemedicine. Licensing boards have become flexible in allowing cross-state practice by practitioners licensed in other states, and insurance carriers have been innovative in allowing payment for telemedicine services. Society: This is of great concern to me. I live in Seattle and to say things are a mess would be an understatement. I am sure many of you have seen news coverage of my beautiful city. We are faced with a leadership gap that has allowed incivility and crime to flourish. Tents of drug-impaired vagrants abound on public lands like parks and rights-of-way. Package thefts, car prowls, and shoplifting are routine and go largely unpunished. Graffiti and vandalism are a new normal. Politicians posture and excuse the inexcusable. Stores are boarded up and closing. Business district streets are largely empty and avoided by many people concerned for their health and safety. The class divide widens, and many people are snipping at each other and angry. This of course intersects with Black Lives Matter, the Trumpist rage machine, and many unemployed service workers with a lot of time on their hands and a deficit of hope. My grandkids have attended school both at home online and now are back in the classroom at their independent school. However, my daughter, their mother, who teaches high school math in Seattle is still working hard online. Sadly, the district has dumbed down and, in the interest of a perverted sense of social justice, is allowing kids to turn off the cameras on their computers. This has contributed to many of them not actually attending classes and not learning. It is obvious that the class divide will widen, with those kids who are being guided and attended to by their parents and schools gaining further advantage over those whose remote learning is not being supervised or attendance enforced. In some cases, this is because their parents work outside the home, or for whatever reason are unable or unwilling to oversee their kids’ engagement. This will create a long-term impact that will be hard or impossible to recover from. Let’s hope that teachers and students return to classrooms quickly if they have not done so already. The impact on so many workers who can’t effectively work remotely is immeasurable. I am friends with many performing artists, including classical musicians. Many of these individuals, often at the top of their professions, have lost most of their income and are reduced to scrapping by, if they are lucky, on public grants or returning to their parents’ homes. Some lucky ones, like those who are in our Seattle Symphony, are receiving a portion of their salary. The only good news for local society in Seattle is that our prior traffic tie-ups are largely a thing of the past Driving is a pleasure on empty highways; my local park, Volunteer Park, a real gem, has never had so many people visiting and enjoying the lawn and footpaths. Dogs seem very happy and well-loved, since their owners now have time to take them on long walks. The Future: It is obvious that lessons learned and forced adjustments of the pandemic will not disappear when it is under control. Expectations and norms will need to adjust. There will be winners and losers. Winners will be those who have been able to pivot to the online world. Amazon is among them and its profits have soared. Online media likewise are thriving. Losers will include commercial office real estate. Many businesses, especially those that employ higher paid professionals, have realized that they do not need to rent large offices. They can thrive with far less space, allowing for the occasional live meeting, client visits, places for employees to escape their homes on occasion, all while being quite productive and having much lower occupancy costs. Commercial rents are plummeting and sublets by those who have existing leases are abundant. I would imagine that law firms, financial or engineering firms are among these. Some tech companies are going entirely virtual. Besides the owners of these buildings, the businesses that rely upon commuters will feel the pain. Restaurants, retail, transit, parking and centrally located other urban assets will see a long-term impact. Many employees will resist calls to return to the office and I predict fights and litigation on this front. I am a tad cynical that one can rely upon good intentions to obtain the full attention of all who are claiming to be working while at home, unless there are clear metrics that are being measured and enforced. Time will tell. Likewise, the rental market is going to soften in expensive cities as workers have less to draw them to abandoned central neighborhoods and find they can be productive and employed farther afield, where they are able to afford to purchase homes and improve their living standards. Will we be willing to gather together? It will take some time for all to be vaccinated, or at least enough to allow for a sense of security. Will we conquer Covid-19 or have to contend with new variants or other pandemic threats? I love concerts and theater and support the nonprofit arts sector with my subscriptions, time, and contributions. What will this sector look like in terms of audiences? Likewise, live sports? The aesthetics and comfort of masks leave much to be desired and I certainly hope that we can get rid of them as soon as the data allows. When will leisure travel, both local and global, resume with enthusiasm? The pent-up demand will likely not turn on suddenly. It is ironic that I personally now have the time and resources to go places, but lack the ability to cross certain borders (like nearby Canada) ,. Nor do I desire to visit places that are still under threat or partially shut-down. As Yogi Berra: famously said, “The future ain’t what is used to be.” ____________________ P.S. In early January, I found myself at home for three solid days (a record for me) and reflected upon the experience. It is written in a classical form of a Ghazal: Staying Home – a Ghazal Sleeping late wake comes unbidden I see no reason to leave home winter days get longer but still short while I stay home A few steps taken outdoors not straying or leaving my home No need exists to stay, or reason to leave, now Day 3, in place at home space constricts with geography defined by rooms of this home How to spend time, in serious thought, while regarding the exercise of staying home There is no meaning to what has happened, to anyone but me, self-confined to home No principles inform the act of remaining meaning the act itself, to myself, driven home No goal in mind the street looks welcoming, saying leave home And I will open the door, and depart a walk to the park, and I return home

By Dr. Barry Lubetkin Each of my poems published in The Insider during this maddening pandemic and politically fraught year has represented a pointed mood and perspective of mine, reflecting on the news of a particular moment. I started off hopeful and grateful to all of our healthcare workers in “6:58”. My neighbors and I felt safe in our homes and we applauded those who were caring for the sickest of the Covid-stricken. In “Naked Faces,” my frustration and disappointment began to show. I felt saddened and vulnerable while walking among the burgeoning crowds of young people who partied on without regard to the dangers of transmitting the virus. As I awaited the election results, I shared my anxiety about what the next four years would look like if Donald Trump won. In “Election Night,” I recalled the celebration that never occurred on that evening four years ago, when I was filled with despair at the beginning of the end of our democracy. I expressed blind rage toward Trump in “he.” All of his twisted policies and cruelties had robbed me of calm and sleep for four years and I was compelled to strike back! I finally was able to breathe the pure air of truth and freely mourn all that we had lost in “No More Tears.” The last line in the poem transmitted my deepest feelings : “We Are Saved.” “Reflections On A Pandemic New Year’s Eve” was my memoir in 30 lines! My year-to-year life of joys, disappointments, and now a Covid-challenged. post-Trump world. The Grateful Dead had it right: “What a long, strange trip it’s has been.” My latest poem, “It’s Just a Shot Away,” is about now, the struggle that we are all having to get our vaccines and to stay alive and vibrant. It describes the confusion and torment that so many of us have been feeling as we search for the liquid future to be jabbed into our arms. Perhaps it is a metaphor for our efforts to right ourselves in this world turned upside down. We all need to feel such gratitude for Andrea Sachs. She gave birth to this extraordinary literary vehicle where we have felt free to share our fears, our politics, our joys and our hopes every week throughout this most extraordinary year. Bravo Andrea! Barry Lubetkin, Ph.D. is the co-director and co-founder of the Institute for Behavior Therapy in New York City. He is the author of numerous academic and popular articles, as well as two popular self-help books, Bailing Out and Why Do I Need You to Love Me in Order to Like Myself. The Institute for Behavior Therapy is the oldest private cognitive behavior center in the United States.

After 41 Years on the Job, a Retired Postman Delivers Some Blunt Talk Rain or shine, Morrey Weinner brought letters and packages to grateful residents in the Detroit suburbs for decades. Who better to sort out the current mess at the Postal Service for Insider readers? The Insider: The Democrats are angry at the current Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, and are trying to push him out. Does he deserve that kind of treatment? Morrey Weinner: Yes, he deserves all the criticism and jabbing that can be dished out. The Insider: Why do you believe that? Morrey Weinner: Even though DeJoy says that he wasn’t appointed by Trump, it was obviously political, with him being a huge Trump donor, He was put there by the President to disrupt mail-in balloting. Okay, the Board of Governors chooses the P G, but they are a majority Republican. It all follows. And look what DeJoy did. Removing mailboxes from the streets and dismantling sorting machines. The Insider: And now he’s saying that he has plans to make delivery even slower! Morrey Weinner: Slower delivery at higher prices. The Insider: A great combination, right? Morrey Weinner: I don’t think DeJoy really has a plan. It’s not getting better. And it’s not the workers. When he eliminated overtime to save money, no good. Overtime has been necessary almost every day to deliver the mail. Raising postage has always been a big deal. It really hasn’t improved service, only a little more money in the coffers. This is all really unfortunate. Many people have to use the Post Office. When I was single, I would hand deliver my bill payments, not just to save stamps, but because I knew they were received. And remember, one could pay bills at the banks. The Insider: When you were delivering mail, were you aware of whomever the then-current Postmaster General was? Morrey Weinner: We would be shown videos of him from time to time. He talked about the Post Office  and its concerns. Probably trying to keep morale up. We knew about the national management and usually heard more at contract talks. Most interactions were at the local and district level. DeJoy as well as Trump are only concerned with themselves. The Insider: Do you ever talk with people who are still working in the agency? Morrey Weinner: I talk with my own carrier or carriers on nearby streets whom I know. Or on the occasion of going into the Post Office, I’ll speak to the clerk. I always say I’m a retired carrier and ask them how many years they have. I talk to some other retirees as well. The Insider: What’s the mood these days among those folks? Morrie Weinner: The ones with some years under their belt are just waiting and hoping to be able to retire, probably with 30 years. The people who are relatively new, under ten years, have a long way to go and seem to just hope it continues. The Insider: By “it” continues, do you mean the agency itself? Morrey Weinner: Yes, that’s what I mean. The Post Office I feel is going to be there; I just don’t know in what capacity. Its losses every quarter or year were always bailed out by the government at the last minute, it seemed. I don’t think privatization will happen, though. If it did, many postal services would disappear. Do you remember that under Reagan, Ross Perot wanted to buy it and Reagan would have sold it, I’m sure? But after looking it over, Perot changed his mind. He said it was too messed up. There is one thing I should mention. Way back when e-mail was starting and electronic transfers, there as talk about the Post Office getting compensation, because this was like a letter. It was never pursued, obviously. It might have made a difference. The Insider: What about the Postal Service’s commercial competition? Morrey Weinner: The Post Office certainly has many outside competitors. With all the delivery options nowadays, things are way different, especially with food delivery, grocery delivery, pet food. Amazon, FedEx and DHL. The competitors are only going to provide service that is profitable, though. To this day, I believe UPS does not deliver in areas that will not make money or are too dangerous. The Insider: People are very curious about what it’s like to deliver mail, and you did it for 41 years! How far did you walk on the average day? Morrey Weinner: I’m not sure of the exact distance, because I was in and out of businesses and stores and apartment buildings. But I was out delivering for 5-1/2 to 6 hours a day. When I started, and was delivering house to house,. I would guess it was 7 or 8 miles a day. The Insider: That sounds very tiring!  It’s an Olympic event. Morrey Weinner: I enjoyed it. Many customers were like family. I was on my route where I delivered, more than 25 years. I saw children grow up, people move in, people move out, people die. One develops a rapport and a close relationship with many people. The Insider: Were you pushing a postal cart or carrying a bag of mail? I carried a bag with the mail and walked. Where I worked we couldn’t use a cart. Now, I see some carriers with a double bag, crisscrossed, like a pack animal. The Insider: What time did you start in the morning? What time did you get finished? Morrey Weinner: I started at about 7:00 am, and ended at 4:00 pm. That’s eight hours without overtime, but there was almost always overtime.  Closer to the time I retired, in 2013, the starting time was later because we didn’t get the mail delivered to us until later. When I retired, I was starting at 8:00 am. Now, I hear it’s 8:30 am or 9:00 am. And in the winter months, it gets dark early, which puts delivery in the dark. Unsafe practice! The Insider: Which season was the best? And which was the worst? Morrey Weinner: Well, I was outside 90 percent of the time. Of course, summer is nice unless it’s too hot or rainy. Winter’s not bad if you dress for it. The worst is cold rain! The Insider: Was the weather ever so bad that service was cancelled? Morrey Weinner: Yes, but I only recall four times. Once, way back, the weather was so bad that people could not get to work. But dedicated as I was, I walked to the Post Office. about three miles away. Six of us made it in. Later on, twice the mail didn’t get to us, yet we couldn’t go home. Another time I remember, my route was on the main streets, and I said just get me out of the parking lot and I’ll deliver. No dice! The Insider: What’s the weirdest thing you ever delivered? Morrey Weinner: A package that really had a foul odor. I later learned it was some dried fish from Korea. It was going to the end of my route, but I dropped the smelly thing off first to get it out of my truck. The Insider: Did a Post Office delivery person ever figure out that something bad had happened when someone didn’t take in their mail for weeks? Morrey Weinner: Yes, that happened. Not to me, but I remember some carriers noticed an irregularity, and it was discovered someone had died. Not taking in your mail is always a telltale sign. Either someone didn’t mention they were leaving or something is wrong. Even now, when I walk our dog, Honey Girl, if I notice a package on the porch and I know the person is working, I put it at the back porch or out of sight. If it sits too long, again it’s a sign of not being home. And packages are sometimes stolen, especially at the holidays. Notice would be given that something was delivered, but then there was nothing there. Be sure to take in your mail and your packages pronto! A native Michigander, Morrey Weinner grew up in Birmingham, Mich. Now that he is retired, his regular route revolves around taking Honey Girl, his poodle-terrier mix, out for long walks.

By Mitchell Polstein Jr. In 2020, it was hitting real balls over imaginary nets in unlocked playgrounds and the odd public space. Things were tough for tennis players. Indoor and outdoor courts were closed. We did the best we could. Our motto: Play Free or Die Trying. Camaraderie was restored in early summer with the reopening of outdoor public courts, That included Covid-19 restrictions that we all came to know and love/hate. Fortunately, the one suggestion about not handling another player’s balls didn’t last long. Clubhouses and locker rooms were closed, so tennis gypsy camps sprung up on lawns and benches. There was not much else to do, so I spent every day possible at the Central Park Tennis Courts playing, kibitzing, and schmoozing. Note: kibitzing to me is commenting on other people’s games, either in a good-natured or nasty manner. Schmoozing is about everything else. This winter, the outdoor hard courts are open, though the snows of Kilimanjaro kept them closed until recently. Playing tennis has kept us all saner than we would be otherwise. Not a high bar—or net, to be sure, but one I will continue to jump over to celebrate victory over Covid. Mitch Polstein Jr., a native Manhattanite, was the men’s tennis coach at Hunter College in New York City.

The Virtual Year in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis By Dr. Rochelle Broder This has been the year of remote psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Yes, psychoanalysis, too: patients in repose on a couch, in their homes, and not seeing me on the screen, enabling less social referencing and deeper intrapsychic associations. Though immediacy and closeness are lost by not being in the same room—alas, there are interruptions by unstable Wi-Fi, freezing screens and dropped connections--individual’s internal conflicts still emerge. One woman is doing her sessions in her son’s old bedroom—a favorite child who she compares to me and feels closer to me while in his room. A new patient cannot find a place for himself without feeling someone will intrude, so moves from space to space in his home; his first meeting with me was in a closet. I learn that he has not felt he has space in his mind for his needs, always adjusting himself to others and feels emotionally unsettled. When the session opens for another man, my screen is filled up by the face of his chocolate labrador licking her chops. The patient lives alone and “shows” me the closeness with his dog, although he has a difficult time showing his connection to me after eight years. I’ve also found that some patients actually open up more because of the virtual distance. Some intense feelings can feel too real, raw or shameful in person. When I started video sessions in March a year ago, my first session was with a patient who was holding the laptop right next to her face. It filled up the screen and I was so startled. Who is ever nose-to-nose in the room? When on the phone with a patient, it can feel super-close; they are right in my ear and my head. And who ever looks at themselves when they’re having a conversation in real life? That little self-view is distracting. The good news is my patients are benefiting and getting better. There are both losses and opportunities for growth in this mode of therapy. Some people love this mode (I wonder if they like remaining a bit distant), and some can’t stand it and want to breathe the same air as me. Even though I’m seven minutes from my office, there is no getting around the convenience of working from home. I get to share more meals with my husband, and we’re able to attend more to our elderly dog. I’ve thought about how I’ll continue working when in-person sessions are safe. Now that I’ve accessed the flexibility of virtual sessions, I can use it if in-person sessions are difficult, like on a “snow day” when driving is treacherous. For now, I can’t imagine the dust that’s accumulated in my office this past year. Rochelle M. Broder, Ph.D., a native Detroiter, is a psychologist and psychoanalyst in private practice in Royal Oak, Michigan. She is a high school friend of the editor, Andrea Sachs.

By John Rolfe Even though I had a bout of COVID-19, what stands out most to me about the past year is the weird contrast of peaceful contentment and abject disgust and anxiety in my own life. As a school bus driver, I was off from March to October of 2020, and have been working only four days a week since. That’s meant lots of time at home — the place where I’m happiest — with my wife, son, cat and chickens. Unfortunately, the world outside went mad. Each day was full of news that made me feel ill. Willfully ignorant anti-maskers and elected officials refusing to take even simple measures to help contain the pandemic; brutal police killings of unarmed African-Americans; violent riots; and a bitter presidential election that culminated with a horrifying, deadly siege of the Capitol by Trump supporters. All of it kept me awake at night. My two weeks of fever, lethargy and nausea last September were mild compared to the anger and dread I felt watching the strife and suffering unfold. I gave thanks each day for my safe home, my family’s health (amazingly my wife did not catch the virus despite my close proximity to her), and the opportunity to spend more time writing, gardening, tending our flock, and sprucing up our shack. I’ve savored every minute. Even though there is now some light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, I’m still acutely aware that America suffers from a deeper sickness than COVID. It is riven by dangerously divisive politics that are destroying families and friendships. Communicating and reaching understanding with those on the other side of the divide is often extremely aggravating, if not impossible and it does not bode well for our future. In a few weeks, I expect to be back at work full-time and that life will return to a greater semblance of its old normalcy. But how long our potentially fatal societal malady lingers is anyone’s guess. John Rolfe is a former senior editor for Sports Illustrated for Kids, a longtime columnist for the Poughkeepsie Journal/USA Today Network, and author of The Goose in the Bathroom: Stirring Tales of Family Life. His school bus drivin’ blog “Hellions, Mayhem and Brake Failure” is parked on his website Celestialchuckle.com (https://celestialchuckle.com) with the meter running.

One film journalist’s stream-of-consciousness cinematic journey through the pandemic, Part 29 By Laurence Lerman The marking of one year since the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent national quarantine has also proven to be the time when it finally appears that “the end of the pandemic may be in sight.” That’s something that countless forward-thinking newscasters, talk-show hosts, pundits, columnists and politicos have been insisting for nearly as long as the virus has been upon us. And just as the previous year prompted us to examine the here and now—the daily updates, the hospitalization and death-rate counts, the ever-changing status of the quarantine (which has taken on as many variations as the virus has mutated variants)—the beginning of Year Two has already proven to be an inspiration for me to look forward to healthier, happier days. This directive applies to my movie-viewing practices, as well, even as the last year found me looking back at the films of an earlier time (more so than the offerings of the day). So, while revisiting the great works by the lions of European cinema--and mining their illustrious filmographies for ever rarer nuggets--now is the time to get ready for a return to Hollywood. While the last year saw Hollywood experience a temporary product drought that paralleled the shutdown of the theatrical business, those days now appear to be on the wane. Movie theaters in New York City are slowly beginning to reopen at lower capacities, and the big budget Hollywood fare that took a pass on release in 2020 is being readied for the flickering projectors of theater distribution this spring. And if audiences don’t flock to the theaters, they’ll still be able to virtually enjoy the biggies on their home screens as nearly all the major studios have announced plans to stream their titles within weeks of their theatrical premieres. Disney has been engaging in the practice for months now; Warner followed suit last month. Of course, whether a big new Hollywood entry debuts in a theater or on a home screen doesn’t speak to the quality of the movie—the at-home launch of the disappointing, though hotly anticipated, Wonder Woman 84 certainly attests to that. And the “Coming Soon” charts feature a healthy a number of Hollywood blockbusters on the way this year—sequels, reboots and all the rest. Here are 10 of them to consider, listed in release-date order by month (which could very well change, as if you need me to remind you….): Godzilla vs. Kong (March) The Godzilla and Kong rebooted franchises haven’t really delivered critically, yet—though the Apocalypse Now-ishness of 2017’s Kong: Skull Island was bizarrely fascinating—but maybe this year’s “Battle of the Titans” will do the trick. It surely can’t be any sillier than those guys in rubber suits wrestling in 1962’s King Kong vs. Godzilla (which is actually kinda beloved in a weird way). Black Widow (May) The first of a pair of event movies set in the Marvel Comics Universe (MCU), Black Widow will look into the past of Scarlett Johansson’s spy Natasha Romanov and her Russian roots. Most intriguing here is a turn by the always-game Florence Pugh as another young woman who was reared, just like Natasha, in the Soviet Union’s Red Room training facility to be a “Black Widow.” Top Gun: Maverick (July) Tom Cruise’s durability as a franchise player is undeniable, but what kind of life can he pump into a Reagan-era character that he retired (we thought) 35 years ago? This follow-up is directed by Joseph Kosinski, who proved he’s got the eye for action and CGI sequences when he helmed Cruise’s 2013 striking-if-forgettable sci-fi action thriller Oblivion. No Time To Die (October) The final installment in Daniel Craig's five-film, 15-year spin as James Bond, No Time To Die will be remembered as the first Hollywood blockbuster to be yanked in response to the pandemic. (It was originally scheduled for release in November, 2019.) The storyline has been kept under tight wraps for more than a year now, a remarkable feat on its own that’s worthy of Bond himself. Last Night in Soho (October) One of the few titles on the 2021 slate that arrives without any previous backstory or buzz, Edgar Wright’s latest isn’t a sequel or a reimagining or a reboot. The word is that it’s a “psychological horror” concerning a wannabe fashion designer who somehow “travels” to 1960s London to meet her idol…before things get tricky and dangerous. It stars Golden-Globe winning, newly minted A-lister Anya Taylor-Joy of Netflix’s outstanding The Queen’s Gambit last year, along with British icons Terence Stamp and, in her last on-screen appearance, the late Diana Rigg. Dune (October) David Lynch’s big budget 1984 version was too weird and the 2000 three-part miniseries was too diffuse, but Denis Villeneuve swings for the fences in his fantastically trippy, hard-science tale. The filmmaker hit paydirt with 2016’s The Arrival and 2017’s Blade Runner 2049, so there’s no reason to think he’ll whiff in this latest adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic 1965 sci-fi novel. Eternals (November) The second of at least a half-dozen MCU titles coming this year concerns a race of immortal godlike beings who emerge from a zillion years in hiding to protect the Earth from a batch of baddies known as The Deviants. Directed by Chloe Zhao, fresh from her success with Nomadland, this one is based on a lesser-known title in the Marvel Comics canon and boasts a cast that includes Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek, Kit Harrington and Gemma Chan. Ghostbusters: Afterlife (November) Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd and Finn Wolfhard star in a second theatrical reboot of the paranormal comedy franchise, this one promising a return to the continuity of the first two movies. Directed by Jason Reitman, son of original Ghostbusters helmer Ivan, Afterlife features appearances by original GB stars Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and the eternally adorable Annie Potts. Mission Impossible 7 (December) Production on this seventh installment in the wildly popular series continued in the UK during the pandemic while under the strictest of guidelines. Christopher McQuarrie returns to direct this Tom Cruise juggernaut, with franchise veterans Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson and Simon Pegg also on board. West Side Story (December) If anyone has the balls or power to take on remaking a bona fide American classic, it might as well be Steven Spielberg, whose magnificent Jitterbug sequence in the otherwise bloated 1979 wartime comedy 1941 has proven that he can handle himself—visually, at least—in the musical genre. Laurence Lerman is a film journalist, former editor of Video Business--Variety's DVD trade publication--and husband to The Insider's own Gwen Cooper. Over the course of his career he has conducted one-on-one interviews with just about every major director working today, including Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Kathryn Bigelow, Ridley Scott, Walter Hill, Spike Lee, and Werner Herzog, among numerous others. Once James Cameron specifically requested an interview with Laurence by name, which his wife still likes to brag about. Most recently, he is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the online review site DiscDish.com.

Anniversary Edition By Gwen Cooper To celebrate The Insider’s one-year anniversary—not to mention a full year of pretty random quarantine reading—this week we’re rounding up a small selection of novels that feature an anniversary as an essential plot point. Rendezvous in Black, Cornell Woolrich – I’m never sure if I love Cornell Woolrich despite his nihilism or because of it. Mid-century mensch Johnny Marr loses his best girl in a senseless accident one balmy May 31st. Five men are responsible for that accident, and on every May 31st for the next five years, Marr exacts a diabolical, inexorable revenge upon one of them. Surprisingly heart-rending for an edge-of-your-seat thriller. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn – By now, you’ve long-since either read this neo-noir crime novel with marital-drama leanings or decided to take a pass. If it’s the latter, allow me to be the latest in an undoubtedly long line of people who’ve told you this one’s well worth your time. It’s the morning of Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary when Amy vanishes without a trace under suspicious circumstances. Husband Nick professes his innocence, but subtle conflicts in Nick and Amy’s back-and-forth narration leave us with the uneasy feeling that all may not be as it seems—and that neither of our narrators is strictly reliable. You should trust that feeling. The Anniversaries, Uwe Johnson – According to the New York Review of Books, “Late in 1967, Uwe Johnson set out to write a book that would take the unusual form of a chapter for every day of the ongoing year.” In 2018, their publishing imprint released the first English-language edition of the 1700-page, three-volume work that resulted from this literary experiment, which was originally published in Germany in 1971, 1973, and 1983. I’ll admit to not yet having found the time to read this long-drawn tale of an East German émigré and her granddaughter, making their way on New York’s Upper West Side in the late ‘60s, but I swear it’s somewhere in the vicinity of my nightstand. The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy – The plot of this Cold War-era political thriller kicks off when Soviet Navy commander Marko Ramius prepares to defect—along with a state-of-the-art Russian nuclear submarine—on the one-year anniversary of his wife’s death from cancer. If you’ve seen the movie (and you almost certainly have), don’t be surprised if you’re only able to “hear” Ramius’s dialogue in Sean Connery’s voice as you read. Vintage 1954, Antoine Laurain – Hubert Larnaudie invites a few fellow tenants in his Parisian apartment building—along with one American tourist from Wisconsin—to join him in drinking a 1954 Beaujolais on the 2017 anniversary of its bottling. The next morning, they all wake up in 1954 Paris on—you guessed it—the exact day the wine was bottled. I’ll admit to having found this light-hearted dramedy a bit twee and vexing. (What are the odds that four people spending one day in 1954 Paris would each separately have a serendipitous encounter with at least one of the following: Jean-Paul Sartre, Edith Piaf, François Truffaut, and Jacques Prévert?) But it’s so thoroughly beloved by the Laurain faithful that I’m willing to concede that the problem may be mine and not the book’s. Gwen Cooper is the New York Times bestselling author of Homer's Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat; My Life in a Cat House: True Tales of Love, Laughter, and Living with Five Felines; Spray Anything: More True Tales of Homer and the Gang; and The Book of PAWSOME: Head Bonks, Raspy Tongues, and 101 Reasons Why Cats Make Us So, So Happy; along with numerous other titles. Her work has been published in nearly two-dozen languages. Gwen lives in Jersey City with her husband, Laurence. She also lives with her two perfect cats--Clayton "the Tripod" and his litter-mate, Fanny--who aren't impressed with any of it. Check out a full list of Gwen's titles on her Amazon.com author page.

Surviving and Thriving in My Pandemic Year By Merrill Lynn Hansen Congratulations to The Insider on its one-year anniversary, and thank you, Andrea Sachs, for helping me find a way to channel my more-than-occasional outrage during this past year.  (I’m thinking of you, Donald.) When I wrote my first essay last March, I was recovering from COVID-19, and was grateful that I was one of the lucky ones who didn't need to be hospitalized.  It didn't take long, though, before I realized that the virus was going to affect the lives of everyone in our country, especially those who weren't as fortunate as I was, and those of us who took it seriously, and wanted to protect ourselves and others from getting sick. At last, there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel with the three new vaccines. Hopefully, they will protect those of us who want to be protected not only from the virus, but also from the idiots who think it is their constitutional right to make the rest of us sick. Unfortunately, too many of them live in Michigan; just ask Governor Gretchen Whitmer. On February 26, I was fortunate enough to get my second shot of the Pfizer vaccine. While I know I'm not invincible, I'm feeling pretty damn good (no thanks to the former President and Chief Covid-Denier,  who lost a fair and democratic election to President Joe Biden. Yay!) I definitely know what I'm looking forward to in the post pandemic world, aside from spending time with and hugging my family and friends.  I also know what I'm not looking forward to. I'm eagerly looking forward to new "visual details.” I am addicted to details.  I need to take in every bit of minutia in my surroundings.  I'm the person who can look at a photo taken 30 years earlier, and remember whose kitchen everyone was in. It’s because I recall whose kitchen window was kitty-corner to their refrigerator, and I remember the pot on their stove. During the past year, I've only stayed at home, or helped take care of my mother at her house, or gone to my office when the building reopened after being closed for months.  There are very few people in these places, and no new interesting details to notice and store in my brain for future reference. In fact, I was excited to go to Walgreens for both injections, because  I hadn't been in a store in the past year.  Unfortunately, I was sitting in an area where the most interesting thing to see was the shelf with various pill containers people buy to set up their medications for the week.  But I'll store that image somewhere in my brain, because I have a feeling history is being made at that Walgreens each time someone gets vaccinated there. I'm also hopeful that as the fear of COVID-19 lessens, I will stop having to release my frustration by deliberately watching movies that upset me, and cause me to scream at the fictional characters, as if they've personally offended me. I've screamed at Robert Redford's character in The Way We Were at least twice a week for the last year because I'm certain that if the movie were made today, he'd leave Barbra Streisand because he's embarrassed that she's a strong Jewish woman who passes out masks and calls people morons if they say COVID -19 is a hoax. But, while I'm thrilled that there might be a future without the threat of COVID-19, there are a few things I don't want to change. After appearing maskless while attending at least 75 Zoom events, and seeing myself on screen, I am convinced I look better wearing a mask, and still plan on wearing one. Forever. Merrill Lynn Hansen is a legal assistant, living in West Bloomfield, Michigan. She describes herself as a frustrated writer, who wishes she could be Nora Ephron (when she was alive), if only for a day. She is a news-, political- and FB-junkie, a combination that requires a constant reminder that she needs to take deep cleansing breaths when responding to people who don't agree with her.