Tag Archives: covid-19

A new meaning for ‘cancel culture’

Posted on July 19, 2020 by

‘Last week I went to Philadelphia, but it was closed.’ I found Swamp Rabbit near my shack, at the frog pond, drinking a beer. “There’s no easy way to say this,” I said. “Philadelphia is closing. I think we’ve become … Continue reading →

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Antifa is coming, call out the militia!

Posted on July 9, 2020 by

Many of us wondered why the infection rates for Covid-19 in this country continued climbing through the Fourth of July weekend and beyond, even though rates in most other developed countries were way down. The lead paragraphs from a news … Continue reading →

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Covid-19 and the confederacy of dunces

Posted on July 2, 2020 by

You’ve got a lot of people in [the media] who wax poetically for weeks and weeks about how Florida was going to be just like New York. Well, hell, we’re eight weeks away from that and it hasn’t happened… People … Continue reading →

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Would you like more curfew with your lockdown?

Posted on June 2, 2020 by

NBCPHILADELPHIA I was jawing with Swamp Rabbit when my phone started making those strange emergency alert noises. “Only essential personnel allowed outside,” the text read. WTF? We figured a tornado was coming, or maybe a nuclear attack. In fact, the … Continue reading →

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Betting on a sure thing (covid-19)

Posted on May 22, 2020 by

Swamp Rabbit’s parole officer Victor Cortez asked me if I wanted to bet against his bet that covid-19 deaths in the U.S. would hit 100,000 by Memorial Day. (The death count as of today was about 95,000.) “That’s tasteless,” I … Continue reading →

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Channel surfing through lockdown

Posted on May 15, 2020 by

My neighbor Swamp Rabbit knocked on my door and let himself in when I didn’t open it. “Why don’t you quit tweaking that thing?” he said, meaning the short story I was writing. “I bet you ain’t changed ten words … Continue reading →

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The loneliness of the long-distance office worker

Posted on April 29, 2020 by

We took turns reading a Philadelphia Inquirer story about possible psychological damage suffered by office workers who, for their own safety’s sake, must work at home for as long as the COVID-19 disaster persists. In suddenly empty offices all across … Continue reading →

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Is social distancing here to stay?

Posted on March 18, 2020 by

Photo by GETTY IMAGES I read aloud from a Washington Post story about our reluctance to maintain social distance from fellow humans during the coronavirus crisis: Hermits aside, humans are social animals, even what some call “ultra-social.” For millennia, survival … Continue reading →

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High anxiety goes viral

Posted on March 12, 2020 by

Swamp Rabbit was reworking his coronavirus song today. Last week it was a bossa nova, but now it’s a blues sung to the melody of “Corrina, Corrina”: Corona, Corona Gal, you’re on my mind Corona, Corona Gal, you’re on my … Continue reading →

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