Juniper Disco || no. 10

The We're Not in Mexico Edition

¡Ay, caramba! Since the last time I wrote — a MERE two weeks ago, we cancelled our trip to Mexico (sob! sob!), my entire house smells like a swimming pool from all the Clorox I keep spraying, my hands are red and welted from washing them so much, I abandoned my goal of a TV-free month in March, and America has broken my heart now for a third time by not choosing the best candidate for the job.

I had planned to leave you with a Mexican-themed newsletter while we were away. Truth is my nerve endings are too frayed and my brain too scattered to put words together in any meaningful way right now. This will be an abbreviated edition, but I’ll make it up to you with extra content in the future.

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My great-grandmother, Bessie, and her four young children, aged 1-6, caught the Spanish Flu in 1918. All five went to the hospital, but only the children came home. Bessie died in late October of 1918. My Nana was only 2 years old. It’s left an imprint on our family that passes from generation to generation. Maybe it’s because of this that I am feeling frustration with those not taking this pandemic seriously or are only looking at it from their own risk level.

Read this post from Dimi Reider, a senior editor at Newsweek:

Dimi Reider @reider

@JessicaValenti Just got this note from a doctor friend - she was responding to a question about European travel but the reasoning can certainly apply in the U.S.

The Super Mr. tells me I have a particularly withering look I give people when I discover that they don’t know something I think they should know. It’s my permanent emoji right now.

Here are three sources of information that I have found very helpful:

1. Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction podcast. Short and filled with clear, scientifically based information.

2. Juliette Kayyem’s (she was President Obama’s Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security) Twitter feed, writing, and interviews on CNN:

   Juliette Kayyem @juliettekayyem

   As we move into the mitigation phase with its impact on all sectors of society, we'll try to provide consistent information on what to expect next. And we can all admit, as I do, it is jarring. @CNNTonight @CNN #coronavirus

   

3. This list on Twitter: Epidemic Science & Health — List of epidemiologists, researchers, public health experts & journalists tracking COVID-19.
   

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And I am not ready to talk about Elizabeth.

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Here was the opening I originally wrote for this newsletter:

¡Buenos días! The Super Mr. and I are in Mexico as you read this, but I put together a little Mexican-themed newsletter for you to read while I am sweating away in a Temezcal ceremonial hut, stalking coatis, spider monkeys, and all the jungle animals (not the snakes), and badgering the Mayan shaman with my questions about life, all while covered head to toe in bits of stray salsa and snacking on fresh mango slices dusted with chili powder. The Super Mr. will be sipping on caipirinhas and conversing confidently with the locals in his three-drinks-in version of espanish before he curls up in the fetal position on his pool chair for an afternoon nap.

At least we don’t have to worry about this:

While I am out on my fifteenth trip to the store for supplies, buying coconut cream for Fuck It All Piña Coladas, a fresh jar of sliced jalapeños, and maybe just one more container of Clorox wipes, enjoy this link to the fun video I did the last time we went to Mexico: Playa del Carmen.

Wash your hands and don’t touch people. Stay healthy, everyone!