Dear Unpackers,
Hello there, friends. As we close out the tenth week of 2022, our minds are on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We are devoting the water cooler entirely to the subject, so stay tuned.
Two years ago today, the World Health Organization deemed the covid outbreak a pandemic. If you want to refresh your memory on what’s happened over the past 100-plus weeks, the CDC Museum offers a thorough play-by-play.
Carrie here. In our conversations with friends, colleagues and family, a common refrain is how the last two years have felt like a blur, a slow-moving freight train, as we’ve waited for vaccines, election results, safety, and even “normalcy.” It is an Apple Photos slideshow, the kind generated automatically on your phone, crystallizing long stretches of time into a handful of “photo-worthy” moments that punctuate the otherwise never-ending photo reel.
Searching for ways to process the pandemic can feel like its own search and rescue effort. Last summer, we wrote about the concept of “event boundaries.” More recently, this Atlantic piece by Ed Yong asks how we became numb to 953,000 deaths in the U.S., and then raises the point that it’s hard to grieve something with a fuzzy end date.
While the picture has been grainy, like one of those old-school television sets with rabbit ears, a lot of life changes have filled up the proverbial screen. A friend reminded me recently of the idea in physics that time can be defined simply by change (and that even a choice not to change is, in fact, change).
And so, we realize: A lot has happened. Between the two of us, there have been three physical moves, one job move, one surgery, one wedding and two major hairstyle changes. The point is, as we take stock of the past two years: Yes, it has felt dreary, devastating, even plodding; and yet, there’s also progress and beauty interwoven in the heartache.
So, Emily, and dear readers, how are you making sense of the two-year mark of the pandemic?
Emily: Not to get too meta, Carrie, but a big way I make sense of the last two years is through this newsletter! I think it says something that we started this in October 2020, when the summer of outdoor possibilities ended, vaccines felt like an impossible future, and I realized this was a “long haul” life change. For me, this newsletter IS a change in how I connect with people professionally and personally. Hello, friends and colleagues!
Water Cooler Convo
Carrie: In the how-we-manage-emotions-with-the-news bucket, I’m here to vouch for PBS NewsHour. It’s been a safe port in the sea of news, images and headlines, and I still feel like I’m getting crucial updates on the invasion of Ukraine. What’s been your go-to, Emily?
Emily: Love PBS. My go-to is the NPR One app. Shout-out to Up First, and yes, thank heavens for publicly funded news.
Emily: Not to hype PBS again, but I JUST discovered this roundup of FRONTLINE documentaries tracing the history behind the moment we’re in.
Carrie: Thank you for this, ER. Looks like essential viewing.
Carrie: Also, Emily, did you read Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny when it was all the buzz a few years ago? It really informed my views of our political moment. I also have been appreciating Snyder’s newsletter. He’s written extensively about Ukraine.
Emily: Added to my must-reads list.
Alright, Unpacking pals. Hope you find time and space to make sense of time and change on your own terms.
And! Thank you for being along the ride with us these past pandemic years.
Until next time,
Carrie & Emily