Do you feel like life will never return to normal? Does the future seem like a dim, unending nightmare of isolation? Do you fear that the habits we have acquired will forever dampen the bright spontaneous spirit of social life? Does despair feel like the only realistic response to world conditions? I know many people feel this way. I myself, having survived the COVID-19 disease, having spent...
(TRANSCRIPT) My wife and I were sitting and talking at lunch today and we were talking about someone we know who expressed some reluctance to get vaccinated and we were speculating about why and so forth and I sat and listened and became increasingly upset in a way, but in a good way, upset in a good way, like I have to speak the truth about this, like I’ve been thinking about this. And I...
Dear Reader, I wrote “The Psychedelic Madness of Covid-19” for David Talbot, founder of Salon.com, and I think it’s the best piece I’ve written about my recovery from Covid-19. Read and enjoy! The podcast started out as an honest homage to David Talbot, but ended up being all about me, me, me! How I ended up working at Salon.com, how I learned everything I needed to know...
How to balance our grief about the pandemic with the desire for happiness and normalcy? How to remain whole and vital and strong when the world seems to be falling apart? Where is the line between staying informed and obsessive news-watching? I ponder these things in this week’s podcast. If I were bodily able and living in the States, I think I would feel the need for action: volunteer at a...
Dear Reader, Usually I write an advice column and then I make a podcast from it. But this week, what I needed to say was better just spoken. So … I’d ask you kindly to just listen to the podcast … Speaking of which … The Since You Asked podcast is now available on the following platforms that might be favorites of yours: Spotify Stitcher Podcast Addict Podchaser Deezer...
Dear Cary, I was born in San Francisco six decades ago. I lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Loma Prieta earthquake and have been close to a couple of street shootings in SF and New York City. I’m not a nervous person by nature but I am full of fear and anxiety now. I couldn’t listen to the first presidential debate because I knew it would upset me too much and, with the...
Dear Cary, I’m feeling guilty these days about how comfortable my pandemic experience is. I mean, I feel the weight of the chaos going on, for sure. But my family is healthy, our home is comfortable, we can get groceries delivered, our income is steady, etc. I see other people struggling financially, and especially those fighting the good fight for justice, and I wonder why I lucked out while...
Dear Cary, Why is it that when I tell people they need to wear a face mask, I’m the one who ends up feeling terrible? I don’t just go around willy-nilly telling this to any maskless person, although I have been known to speak up in supermarkets if someone gets too close or exposes his or her nose. But in my apartment building, where there are a lot of high risk people (including me)...