#newsamehope / 4.4.20
What is new in the last 24 hours?
A new test can detect antibodies and therefore immunity. It’s expected that a number of these will start to roll out. The first serology test has been granted emergency approval by the FDA.
We are now supposed to be wearing masks in public.
Families are preparing to bring Seder rituals to Zoom for Passover.
What is the same?
The way a big sky makes me feel. Especially at sunset or sunrise. A sky uninterrupted by manmade construction. I can trick myself into making any sky a big sky by restricting my field of vision, but a true big sky? Damn. Why though? Why does that make my heart feel so good? Why do my shoulders leave their post up by my ears and settle into a gentler position? Is the relaxation induced by sunlight cracking through clouds an evolutionary advantage? Are we supposed to be surrounded by big sky more often? Is that why our bodies respond so powerfully?
What is the hope?
It is now the daffodils’ turn in Chicago. First, it was the cobalt blue of Siberian Scilla. Next, I spotted a few crocus clusters (more soon, hopefully). And then yesterday, I saw my first daffodils of the season. There were noticeable buds on trees yesterday, too.
This hope is maybe a stretch, but... There is this personality quiz going around that matches you with the first zillion fictional characters that line up with your profile. One might be 87% Albus Dumbledore and 78% Dale Cooper, for example. Anyway, after you enter your personality traits, there is an optional survey that asks you to pick a show, book, or movie with characters that you know very well. It then uses all the data collected from the optional survey to improve the accuracy of everyone’s assigned matches. Random, but it gave me some hope that we can work together on a giant project and get something done. First step, personality quizzes. Next up, prison abolition.
Photo: A cone-shaped hut made of driftwood on a beach somewhere north of San Francisco. March 2018.