2022.05.DisappearingMoment
On Friday morning, May 5, I gave myself an antigen test and found out I had COVID-19. There should be a word for these confluences, when the thing you most and least expect is one and the same. Something to describe the feelings of the people who predicted that St. Peter’s would beat Kentucky. How I felt when I found out about Kurt Cobain’s suicide and, a few years later, David Foster Wallace. When someone you’ve had a crush on for years leans in and kisses you for the first time. Whether it’s the fulfillment of a wish or the imposition of a curse, it’s the confirmation that you were right to have been hopeful or fearful all along.
Part of me was sure I would be the exception, that the pandemic was for people who were more daring or cynical than I was. I got my vaccinations, including my second booster exactly a week before my positive test. Objectively, I understood that luck had played a larger role than carefulness. While I hadn’t had Covid, at least as far as I know, prior to my positive test, I had gotten mononucleosis a year into the pandemic, which meant that my precautions weren’t as effective as I wanted them to be.
The positive test, which I later verified with a PCR, was humbling. I was guilty and bewildered. I had no idea how I had contracted the virus. I worried about who I had exposed and who they may have infected. There should be contact tracing for shame.
I lost a week and partially stumbled through another. It felt like I had failed. And it felt like I got what I needed. More than a virus, I was infected with humility and empathy, exactly when I most and least expected it. Let us hope they last at least as long as my increased immunity to COVID-19.
Welcome to May 2022’s Disappearing Moment, an inventory of my experiences. I hope you enjoy it.
Podcasts
- Ghost Church (I Liked It): Jamie Loftus is my favorite podcaster. The podcast is a nuanced, empathetic look at American spiritualism.
- Love Thy Neighbor (I Liked It): A history of the Crown Heights “Riots”. The podcaster, Collier Meyerson, is Black and Jewish. She does a good job of remaining neutral.
Nerdy Software
Capitalize My Title does what it says on the label. You can choose from APA, Chicago, AP, MLA, BB, AMA, NYT, Wiki, or Email. Painless.
Bougie Products
I lift twice each week. One session is straight Bill DeSimone. For the other, I use BFR bands and a standard blood flow restriction protocol.
Personal Finance and Investing
Morningstar provides useful reports on every mutual fund or ETF worth buying. It’s available for free from many public libraries.
Reading
- Todd Bridgman, Stephen Cummings, and John Ballard, Who Built Maslow’s Pyramid? (I Liked It): “Maslow never created a pyramid to represent the hierarchy of needs.” Acade mic drop.
- Matthew Butterick, What We Can Deduce from a Leaked PDF (I Liked It): You don’t need a meerschaum pipe and a magnifying glass when you understand modern typography. J’accuse!
- Scott Gray, The Mind of Bill James (2006) (I Loved It): A good book about my favorite writer. It got me through the first half of my Covid convalescence.
- Elizabeth Gruner, I no longer grade my students’ work — and I wish I had stopped sooner (I Loved It): Like Nadia Eghbal’s The New American University, this changed how I want higher education to work. We do a lot of things sdrawkcab.
- Natasha Lupinia, I’m a Scam Prevention Expert, and I Got Scammed (I Liked It): Maria Konnikova’s podcast, The Grift, asserted that victims of cons are the same as everyone else. It’s a message that bears repeating.
- Joe Posnanski, The Baseball 100 (2021) (I Loved It): A good book by one of my favorite writers. It got me through the second half of my Covid convalescence.
Comedies and Sitcoms with No Fat Jokes
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Note: I’m not being holier than thou, at least in this instance. I didn’t notice how pervasive this was until I started listening to Maintenance Phase and then read What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat.
Thanks for spending a few moments with me. I look forward to corresponding again next month.
Brett
No large language models were used in the production of the Disappearing Moment newsletter or website (inspired by RFC 9518 Appendix A ¶ 4 and Tantek Çelik).