Osler's Razor

Yesterday, the Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, closed pretty much everything worth going to: restaurants, bars, gyms, theaters, churches, and pretty much every other place that people gather. He was following the lead of others across the country in doing so.

On my way home from work yesterday I stopped at Costco to pick up a few things--olive oil, parmesan cheese--and it was there that I realized that we have reached The Turn where things get real. They were out of chicken in any form. They were out of pretty much everything made of paper. There was no... well, they were out of a lot of stuff.

That was the end of a day that also included teaching my first lecture class on Zoom, where I'm looking at a screen and seeing tiny little pictures of my students. It didn't go great-- I'll be honest. I'm a person who feeds off the mood of my students, who relishes the give-and-take of a courtroom or lively classroom. I need to read a room. Perhaps I will get used to this, but it will be an uphill struggle.

And, of course, I have it good. I have a job where I can at least try to do it well in these circumstances.  The people who are really suffering are the less affluent, especially those in the gig economy. There are going to be deep and enduring tragedies that come out of this, breaks in family trees and sad stories that are alluded to years later.

I suspect that in the coming weeks we are going to have to build new and different social structures. I don't know what that will look like-- after all, one week ago I was out at Whistler skiing with IPLawGuy, never imagining what the next week would hold.