- I’ve spent a considerable amount of time trying to put together a post with tips on working from home. I know a lot of people have struggled with the transition, and I’ve been doing it for a long time, so I thought it might be helpful. But everything I wrote came out seeming obvious, and therefore king of patronizing. That was absolutely not my intent, so after several attempts, I scrapped it. Instead, let me just say that I’d be happy to offer my thoughts to anyone who might still need them. We’ve all been doing this for a while now, but if you’re still having a rough time and want some pointers, feel free to hit me up at jon@thecommaphile.com.
- With that out of the way, I want to start by saying that I’ve been impressed with the way Governor Mike DeWine and Dr. Amy Acton have led Ohio through this crisis so far. They shut things down early, when it wasn’t obvious that it was necessary, and it seems like that has really helped the state keep the spread of the virus mostly under control. I didn’t vote for DeWine, but so far he has been the leader Ohio has needed.
- That said…DeWine has indicated that businesses can start reopening beginning May 1, which is next Friday. For one thing, I feel like this is too soon in general. Cases are still increasing (granted, at least in part due to an increase in testing and not necessarily due to an increase in spread), and personally I would have felt better if he would have extended the full stay-at-home order even until May 15 before beginning to loosen restrictions. Part of my objection is because he hasn’t yet announced any details (supposedly coming tomorrow); it seems to me that it would have been better to wait to announce a reopening date until you could announce details at the same time. I feel like too many businesses are champing at the bit to get started as early as possible, and people are stir crazy and ready to get out of the house, and so many will try to get back to their routines without taking proper (or any) precautions. Already it seems like a lot of people have taken his announcement as a sign that they don’t have to stay home or practice social distancing anymore.
- And yes, I realize I’m coming at this from a position of privilege. Brandi and I are both still working. Would I feel this is premature if one or both of us were laid off? I can’t say, especially since I work from home anyway. I imagine I’d be ready to get back to work, but that’s easy for me to say since I don’t have to go anywhere and risk myself or anyone else. Suffice it to say, I feel for those who are out of work and either haven’t been able to get in touch with the unemployment office or don’t quality for payment for whatever reason. Balancing that against the possible sickness and loss of life that may come from reopening too soon is a difficult task. I don’t envy Governor DeWine and Dr. Acton in that—there are no easy answers here.
- Getting away from the potential reopening of the state…one thing I’ve really loved that’s come out of this is all the ways artists and celebrities have found to reach out and entertain people as they stay home. I’ve been a fan of singer-songwriter Edwin McCain since I was introduced to his music in the fall of 1995—honestly, my fandom merits (and will receive) a post of its own at some point. He’s been going live on Facebook every Monday evening, playing his hits, deep cuts, covers, you name it, all from his basement. Watching him each week has been so much fun, singing along and posting song requests in the chat and hoping he’ll see them (it’s all about the timing). I’ve also been obsessed with the National since their version of “The Rains of Castamere” played over the credits of a Game of Thrones episode in 2012; they aren’t live-streaming, but each Monday they’re posting some concert footage on YouTube, and watching that has been great as well.
- What else are we doing? Well, let me start with what I’m not doing, at least not very well, and that’s reading. I’m normally an avid reader, but COVID-19 has put a real damper on it for some reason. I have the new Colum McCann novel, Apeirogon, from the library (I checked it out before they closed), but I found early on that I don’t have the bandwidth for reading anything new right now. I’ve been rereading old favorites instead, starting with Microserfs by Douglas Coupland and moving on to The Stand by Stephen King. Yeah, I know; reading about a pandemic during a pandemic seems counterintuitive, but it’s one of my absolute favorites, and honestly, it’s been cathartic. What I love about the novel (the uncut version, at least; I have a copy of the old abridged version, but I’ve only read it once, and it was a long time ago) is that it’s so rich. Seeing all the characters at the beginning in the middle of their lives before the shit hits the fan is so reminiscent of how everything seemed so normal about a month and a half ago until everything stopped. Luckily, the arc of the viruses diverged at that point; instead of killing 99% of the world’s population, COVID-19 has just ground the economy to a halt and brought a whole lot of assholes out of the woodwork. At any rate, the reading is good, it’s just so much slower than normal right now. I still have 700+ pages left to go in The Stand, and that’s a bummer, as the new Stephen King book should be showing up on my doorstep tomorrow. Whether or not I have the capacity for that is something that remains to be seen.
- So, I ask again, what have we been doing? Brandi has been playing Animal Crossing on the Nintendo Switch, and while I don’t partake myself, I find myself utterly charmed when I watch her play. I’m playing a lot of Star Wars Battlefront II on PS4. I have both Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (PS4) and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) just waiting for me, but you know…familiar is working better than new for me right now. At least, that’s true for books and video games! In certain circles Brandi and I are known as “TV people,” and sure, we’re watching some reruns of Futurama, American Dad, and Santa Clarita Diet…but we’re also working our way through Star Trek: Voyager (currently in Season 3) and What We Do in the Shadows (just started Season 2). We just caught up on Miracle Workers, a delightful absurdist comedy starring Daniel Radcliffe and Steve Buscemi, and we also just started Westworld. (And while we have HBO, I’m determined to start The Wire.) So obviously TV is working for me in ways that other media aren’t.
- Winding this down by getting back, just briefly, to the working from home thing…the biggest point I wanted to get across is that it’s difficult to operate at peak efficiency right now. Even though we’ve been in this situation for a while now, and even though the day-to-day hasn’t changed that much for some of us (like me), there’s still a lot of weirdness going on and it weighs on everyone in different ways. So be sure to give yourself a break if your brain fuzzes out sometimes, or if things that normally work for you don’t for some reason—and be aware that other people are going through the same thing, and give them a break, too.
The Commaphile 