An April 29th letter from American Airlines to its Advantage Gold Card members announced, "Caring for Your is Our Priority." I'm so touched. The Airline wrote that it would "begin to distribute sanitizing wipes or gel and face masks to passengers, as supplies allow. Our flight attendants will be required to wear face masks on …
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COVID-19 – lessons to be learned?
Worrying about those, including close friends and relatives, suffering from the pandemic virus itself, fretting about its economic fallout and spending up to eight hours a day in assorted Zoom meetings, I have lacked the focus to write a single-theme blog but wanted to share some concerns and invite your reactions. I am struck by …
Books to consider in flight from viral infection
During our sheltering from the COVID-19 virus, reading can provide a meaningful escape from the constant hand washing, planning our grocery orders and listening to the news. The following are some of my recent immersions in fiction and non-fiction. FICTION An American Marriage by Tayari Jones is an extraordinary novel about an upwardly mobile young …
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Grasping bits of optimism and glimmers of hope
Today is One Boston day, the seventh anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing, when the Tsarnaev brothers set off two crude pressure cooker bombs that resulted in three deaths, wounded hundreds of others and sheared off limbs brutally and indiscriminately. The terrorist attack bloodied one of Boston's most iconic events and shattered our sense of …
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Trump fails 3 a.m. crisis call, before, during and after
Friday night, at precisely seven o'clock, people in our neighborhood opened their doors and, as did others across the world, clapped, cheered, used noisemakers, even honked the horns of their underutilized cars to cheer for first responders and providers of health care, some of whom live in our midst. The communal outpouring was deeply touching, …
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COVID-19 crisis: silver linings and rot at the top
There are so many good things that are happening as we adjust to the scary new normal of hunkering down, staying at home. But every time I listen to the President at a White House COVID-19 task force press conference I am simultaneously repelled and outraged, and the good things happening on the ground slip …
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An infectious disease expert speaks: worth a listen
My last blog warned about the need to separate reliable COVID-19 information from misinformation, whether intentional or unintentional, and rumor. Last week an esteemed British scientist passed on a podcast to my brother-in-law, who shared it with me. I vetted it as best I could and now share it with my readers. Joe Rogan is …
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Beware coronavirus misinformation, well-intentioned or not
Everyone has an opinion on how serious is the WHO-identified pandemic coronavirus. Many share guidance on how to deal with it. Far fewer share evidence-based science. Disturbing though it may be, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised at how much our assessments divide on partisan lines. According to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll: unease is strongly …
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Sunshine Week: government transparency needed now more than ever
The Freedom of Information Act has never been celebrated by those in power. After Congress passed it in 1966, LBJ signed it quietly at his Texas ranch. Even under President Obama, the federal government was loath to facilitate Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. They spent millions defending their reluctance in court. But Donald Trump …
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Super Tuesday: resolving the struggle between head and heart
It's time to play my role in Super Tuesday. I've joked that in November I'd vote for a ham sandwich over Donald Trump. Any of the remaining candidates could do a better job than the incumbent. Nevertheless, I have twisted and turned. I used to scoff at voters who were still undecided days before an …
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Marjorie Arons-Barron 