GOOD TIMES, Y'ALL!

'Cause I can tell you know what it's like. The long farewell of the hunger strike

- Aimee Mann, "Save Me"

These are scary times, and I'm scared.

Two months have passed and time is like hot glass, stretching and liquid. When I imagine going to a public place again I think of it as a far off event. Surely it won't be in the next few months. What will time be like in two more months? In four? In 12?

And yet.

Everyday, the world unfolds and moves inexorably forward. I think of the nearly 40 million Americans out of work and the peanuts our politicians have given them to survive for "10 weeks" (as Mnuchin ruminated). I wonder at what point enough of us will slide down Mazlow's pyramid to make the virus the least scary thing in our lives? When enough of us are more concerned about starvation and foreclosure that staying at home seems stupider and stupider. What happens when everyone realizes no one is coming to save us?

I'm sure I sound hysterical.

But these things are all true:

1. Nearly 40 million Americans are out of work;

2. 55k Americans have died (that we know of);

3. We're months away from a treatment, and even longer away from a vaccine;

4. For the select few who actually get unemployment, it won't outlast the disease;

5. The reputation of the United States is in tatters;

6. The president is removing liability for businesses that open, and those workers who refuse to go to work won't be eligible for unemployment;

These are scary times, and I'm scared.