Early & Alone #54: Out of Luck

This summer started out so optimistically. We were vaccinated and ready to PARTY! Or at least to consume things indoors, with other people. We were so naive.

Now, I’m not alone in not knowing how to proceed. Eating indoors is once again out. Masks are back in. No one seems to be on the same page in terms of expectations and boundaries. So much for “Hot Girl Summer.”

And then there’s the news from the rest of the world. Desperate people hanging from planes to try to escape the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan. A tropical depression flooding Haiti on the heels of a devastating earthquake on the heels of the collapse of government on the heels of the assassination of the Haitian president. The U.S. talking booster shots and disposing of expired vaccines when most of the rest of the world has yet to be able to get any vaccines at all. It’s enough to make me want to scream…if only I had the energy.

Instead, I make donations, check in on friends, try to keep my head up and my hope alive, if limping.

If you’re able, here are some resources on how to help in Afghanistan and Haiti (I donated to IRC and Hope for Haiti):

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1028483700/help-afghanistan-refugees

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/17/world/iyw-how-to-help-afghan-refugees/index.html

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1028421310/haiti-earthquake-how-to-help

https://nymag.com/strategist/article/haiti-earthquake-where-to-donate.html

I did a little writing this week. Medium is doing a writing challenge and one of the prompts was “Reemergence,” so I wrote about how that’s a fallacy.

I also wrote a short review of Doree Shafrir’s memoir, Thanks for Waiting. (Spoiler: I was not a fan.)

Bright Spots

• Hacks is just as great as everyone says, though it did take me a few episodes to get it. Jean Smart is a national treasure.

• I was surprised by how much I loved and felt deeply moved by T Kira Madden’s memoir, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls. Easily one of my favorite reads of the year.

• Lindy West has a new newsletter and it’s called Butt News and I love it. Come for the movie reviews, stay for rundowns of the misadventures of her adorable dog, Barry Saxophone.

• I recently rediscovered my love of Hershey’s Nuggets, the perfect square of chocolate to snack on during my afternoon pits of despair.

How are you all doing? I hope you’re hanging in there.