Weekend Open Thread and Links

Illustration by Josie Portillo for The Guardian

Today marked the last day of the school year for students in NYC. Three and a half months of remote learning finally over – hooray! Among the thousands and thousands of lives lost to covid over these months were several members of our school community, including a third grade teacher early on, at the end of March. So the end of this school year feels very bittersweet, and especially so as we watch cases surge in other parts of the country where it seems people didn’t take heed of the warning our loss should have signaled for them. I’m relieved we’ve flattened the curve here, but I’m concerned what the summer will look like as we continue re-opening (we started phase two on Monday) and how many more American lives will be lost.

Please, please don’t let your guards down, even if you’re in an area where the risk seems low, where you don’t know anyone who’s been sick let alone anyone who’s died. Outbreaks can happen anywhere, no one is immune, there’s still no treatment, and things progress so quickly that once cases are surging for many days in a row in an area, it will likely take weeks to get the outbreak under control. So, please continue wearing masks, do your socializing outdoors, keep your quarantine bubbles small, wash your hands – all that jazz. We don’t have to sacrifice all the joys of summer – we can still dance and swim and eat ice cream and drink margaritas in the sunshine – but be smart and be careful and take care of each other.

I hope you have a restful weekend, and here are a few links you might find interesting:

The coronavirus backlash: how the pandemic is destroying women’s rights

What Makes Some People More Resilient Than Others

Tiny Love Stories from the NYTimes

‘What Is Owed‘ is a powerful and thought-provoking look at what the country owes Black people in order to achieve justice and equality

If you haven’t heard the name Elijah McClain yet or are unfamiliar with his story, please take three minutes and read about it here, and then consider joining me in making daily phone calls to demand justice for his life.