Audio: “Invictus” recited by Morgan Freeman
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
Tom Engelhardt: In Memoriam | A Planet of Missing Beauties
For those I’ll be leaving behind, my children and grandchildren in particular, this just wasn’t the world I ever wanted them to inherit.
Jill Richardson: We are all in this together
Why we can’t be okay with other people bearing the brunt of a pandemic or recession.
Video: Isabel Allende — Tales of Passion
With charm, humor and passion, Isabel Allende delivers a series of stories about women with passionate hearts who survive difficult lives.
Video: The Italians Making Music on Balconies Under Coronavirus Quarantine | The New Yorker
Italians have now been at home for nine days, and, from Bologna to Rome, they have invited their neighbors to engage in what they call a “Flash Mob Sonoro,” or a sound flash mob.
Michael Simms: Black Brick, Yellow Brick
I will die in Pittsburgh on a beautiful day…
Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Poetry as Insurgent Art [I am signaling you through the flames]
Nemesis is knocking at the door.
What are poets for, in such an age? What is the use of poetry?
Matt Hohner: Viral
Imagine someone with nothing left to lose as a virus
armed with a gun and desperate to spread its bullets.
Belinda Kong: How Chinese people came together when separated by quarantine, creating hope, humor and art
Fear and blame appear to be fast becoming Americans’ defining emotions around COVID-19. Headlines seem to offer either worst-case estimates or government leaders’ mutual accusations. Amid the bewildering figures and … Continue reading
Ben Martin: COVID-19 and Philip Roth’s Nemesis
The practice of medicine demands answers, yet to practice medicine in the United States is an invitation […] to be swallowed by suffering that eludes meaning.
Laurie Marhoefer: COVID-19 | Three lessons from the AIDS crisis
The U.S. made serious mistakes when the HIV virus and AIDS emerged. Those errors cost many lives. But our nation learned a few things, too.
Simon Springer: The Toilet Paper Wars and What They Mean
We are witnessing, in real-time and with stunning consequence, the stone-cold fact that markets are an ineffective mediator of resources, prone to the worst vagaries of herd mentality.
Joel Christensen: Plagues follow bad leadership in ancient Greek tales
As someone who writes about early Greek poetry, I spend a lot of time thinking about why its performance was so crucial to ancient life. One answer is that epic and tragedy helped ancient storytellers and audiences try to make sense of human suffering.
Bernie Sanders: The Lessons the Nation Can Learn from the Coronavirus Outbreak
“This crisis should be a moment in which people ask fundamental questions about the dysfunctionality of our current healthcare system.”
