newyorker--2020-03-15--How Much Is the Coronavirus Infecting World Leaders and Disrupting Governments?

In 1918 , the Spanish-influenza pandemic—spawned by another zoonotic virus transmitted from an animal to humans , in that case a bird—worked its way through Woodrow Wilson ’ s White House .
His daughter Margaret caught it .
So did the President ’ s secretary , senior staff , members of his Secret Service detail , and the White House sheep .
“ Two sheep belonging to the aristocratic flock that frolics on the White House grounds are indisposed and under the care of an expert of the department of Agriculture , ” the Washington Post reported , on January @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in an animal hospital and are said to have influenza symptoms.
” The flu caught up with Wilson in April , 1919 , when he was in Paris for peace talks to formally end the First World War .
His fever rose to a hundred and three degrees ; he had difficulty breathing , uncontrollable coughing , and wild hallucinations .
Wilson ’ s illness , his physician Cary Grayson wrote , “ was one of the worst through which I have ever passed .
I was able to control the spasms of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Wilson , his daughter , his staffers , and the White House sheep all made it through .
The peace talks to end the Great War nearly unravelled .
As did life in Washington , which reported almost thirty-four thousand cases in just four months , between October , 1918 , and January , 1919 .
Almost three thousand died .
Schools , churches , libraries , playgrounds , the courts , universities , theatres , and public events across the nation ’ s capital were closed .
Funerals were banned .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ staggered schedule .
By the time the influenza ebbed , the death toll in the United States was six hundred and seventy-five thousand .
A century later , microbes from the novel coronavirus are again not discriminating on the basis of power or politics .
The White House announced on Saturday that President Trump ’ s test for the coronavirus was negative .
Yet , from Brasília to Paris , Tehran to Ulaanbaatar , government officials on six continents—cabinet ministers , lawmakers , military leaders , senior policymakers , and health officials—have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Dozens have gone into quarantine .
“ It ’ s reasonable to expect disruptions in public services and government that we haven ’ t even envisioned yet , ” Lindsay Wiley , a public-health-law and ethics expert at American University , told me .
In Italy , which has the highest number of cases after China , Nicola Zingaretti , head of the Democratic Party and a co-partner in the coalition government , announced on Twitter that he was infected .
On Tuesday , the medical chief of the Italian province of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 .
The President of the European Parliament , David Sassoli , opted to self-quarantine after he returned from Italy .
In France , President Emmanuel Macron cut back face-to-face meetings after his Minister of Culture , Franck Riester , fell ill with the disease ; five French members of parliament have also been diagnosed with the coronavirus .
In Spain , the lower house of parliament suspended all activities on Tuesday when Javier Ortega Smith , the secretary-general of the far-right Vox Party , tested positive ; he had attended a party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Photographs captured Ortega greeting dozens of supporters with handshakes , hugs , and kisses .
Vox apologized and mandated that its fifty-three members of parliament self-quarantine for two weeks .
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau opted to self-quarantine—and telework—after his wife , Sophie Grégoire Trudeau , tested positive for COVID-19 , on Wednesday , after returning from London .
The British junior health minister , Nadine Dorries , tested positive shortly after she met with Prime Minister Boris Johnson .
Her office posted a sign on the door : “ COVID-19 DO NOT @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the illness as “ pretty rubbish.
” In Poland , General Jarosław Mika went into isolation on Tuesday , after he came down with the coronavirus .
He had just returned from a military conference in Germany , which the Pentagon subsequently said was also attended by Lieutenant General Christopher Cavoli , the commander of U.S. Army forces in Europe , and several staff members .
In Iran , one of the four early hot spots , two vice-presidents , three cabinet officials , nine per cent of the members of parliament , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the chief of the crisis-management organization , senior Revolutionary Guard officers , and prominent clerics are on a long list of officials infected .
Ali Akbar Velayati , a doctor trained at Johns Hopkins University and a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader , Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , went into quarantine on Thursday .
Another senior adviser died the previous week .
Velayati , who served as the Foreign Minister for sixteen years , was infected while working with medical staff on ways to contain the disease .
After the first case in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told lawmakers , “ No virus is stronger than our measures.
” But he was followed around by an aide with a thermal camera to scan people who came close to him for fevers .
The Mongolian President , Khaltmaagiin Battulga , went into precautionary quarantine after returning from a one-day trip to China , the epicenter of COVID-19 .
The Australian Home Affairs Minister , Peter Dutton , was admitted to a hospital in Queensland on Friday , after he tested positive .
Dutton recently returned from meetings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Attorney General William Barr and Trump ’ s daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump .
Dutton was part of a cabinet discussion on Tuesday about the Australian government ’ s stimulus package .
President Trump ’ s health became a major issue when Fabio Wajngarten , the press secretary for the Brazilian President , Jair Bolsonaro , came down with COVID-19 this week .
On March 7th , Trump stood shoulder to shoulder with Wajngarten and Bolsonaro when they visited Mar-a-Lago .
Wajngarten dropped in on a birthday party for Kimberly Guilfoyle , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which President Trump also attended .
On Friday night , the Brazilian Embassy tweeted that Brazil ’ s acting Ambassador in Washington , Nestor Forster , who sat at Trump ’ s table on Saturday , at Mar-a-Lago , had also tested positive for the coronavirus .
Trump ’ s reluctance to take action regarding his own health was in contrast to Senator Rick Scott , the Florida Republican , who opted to go into isolation because he met with Bolsonaro and his delegation on Monday , in Miami .
“ The health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my focus , and I have made the decision to self-quarantine in an abundance of caution , ” he said , on Thursday .
So did South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham , who was also at Mar-a-Lago .
Two Republican congressmen—Doug Collins , of Georgia , and Matt Gaetz , of Florida—and Senator Ted Cruz , of Texas , went into self-quarantine last week after being exposed to an unidentified person infected with the virus at the Conservative Political Action Conference , in Maryland , this month .
Gaetz had made headlines for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tweeted a picture of himself in a gas mask , used to protect against chemical warfare , before flying on Air Force One with the President .
Trump spoke at the same conference .
In all , five Republican lawmakers and two Democrats have self-quarantined because of exposure to people who have tested positive .
The risk of serious illness and death from the coronavirus increases with age , especially for seniors over sixty , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned .
In Washington , many top officials qualify as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , who turns seventy-four in June .
Vice-President Mike Pence is sixty .
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell , the Kentucky Republican , is seventy-eight .
On Tuesday , House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , the California Democrat , told fellow-lawmakers , “ We are the captains of the ship .
We are the last to leave.
” Pelosi turns eighty on March 26th .
Anthony Fauci , the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases , at the National Institutes of Health , is seventy-nine .
“ An awful lot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that age group , ” Dr. Howard Markel , director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and an expert on the 1918 flu pandemic , told me .
“ When you have a government made up of senior citizens who work in close quarters , like Congress or the House of Commons in Britain , on top of political duties where they meet a lot of people , shake hands , and kiss babies—these are all activities considered at high risk for the spread of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ don ’ t practice social distancing.
” ( President Wilson was sixty-three when he caught the Spanish flu . )

In 1918, the Spanish-influenza pandemic—spawned by another zoonotic virus transmitted from an animal to humans, in that case a bird—worked its way through Woodrow Wilson’s White House. His daughter Margaret caught it. So did the President’s secretary, senior staff, members of his Secret Service detail, and the White House sheep. “Two sheep belonging to the aristocratic flock that frolics on the White House grounds are indisposed and under the care of an expert of the department of Agriculture,” the Washington Post reported, on January 27, 1919. “They are in an animal hospital and are said to have influenza symptoms.” The flu caught up with Wilson in April, 1919, when he was in Paris for peace talks to formally end the First World War. His fever rose to a hundred and three degrees; he had difficulty breathing, uncontrollable coughing, and wild hallucinations. Wilson’s illness, his physician Cary Grayson wrote, “was one of the worst through which I have ever passed. I was able to control the spasms of coughing but his condition looked very serious.” Wilson, his daughter, his staffers, and the White House sheep all made it through.
The peace talks to end the Great War nearly unravelled. As did life in Washington, which reported almost thirty-four thousand cases in just four months, between October, 1918, and January, 1919. Almost three thousand died. Schools, churches, libraries, playgrounds, the courts, universities, theatres, and public events across the nation’s capital were closed. Funerals were banned. Businesses were ordered to operate on a staggered schedule. By the time the influenza ebbed, the death toll in the United States was six hundred and seventy-five thousand.
A century later, microbes from the novel coronavirus are again not discriminating on the basis of power or politics. The White House announced on Saturday that President Trump’s test for the coronavirus was negative. Yet, from Brasília to Paris, Tehran to Ulaanbaatar, government officials on six continents—cabinet ministers, lawmakers, military leaders, senior policymakers, and health officials—have been infected with numbing speed by the virus. Dozens have gone into quarantine. “It’s reasonable to expect disruptions in public services and government that we haven’t even envisioned yet,” Lindsay Wiley, a public-health-law and ethics expert at American University, told me.
In Italy, which has the highest number of cases after China, Nicola Zingaretti, head of the Democratic Party and a co-partner in the coalition government, announced on Twitter that he was infected. On Tuesday, the medical chief of the Italian province of Varese, Roberto Stella, died of COVID-19. The President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, opted to self-quarantine after he returned from Italy. In France, President Emmanuel Macron cut back face-to-face meetings after his Minister of Culture, Franck Riester, fell ill with the disease; five French members of parliament have also been diagnosed with the coronavirus. In Spain, the lower house of parliament suspended all activities on Tuesday when Javier Ortega Smith, the secretary-general of the far-right Vox Party, tested positive; he had attended a party rally in Madrid with many fellow-legislators. Photographs captured Ortega greeting dozens of supporters with handshakes, hugs, and kisses. Vox apologized and mandated that its fifty-three members of parliament self-quarantine for two weeks.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau opted to self-quarantine—and telework—after his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, tested positive for COVID-19, on Wednesday, after returning from London. The British junior health minister, Nadine Dorries, tested positive shortly after she met with Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Her office posted a sign on the door: “COVID-19 DO NOT ENTER.” On Twitter, she described the illness as “pretty rubbish.” In Poland, General Jarosław Mika went into isolation on Tuesday, after he came down with the coronavirus. He had just returned from a military conference in Germany, which the Pentagon subsequently said was also attended by Lieutenant General Christopher Cavoli, the commander of U.S. Army forces in Europe, and several staff members.
In Iran, one of the four early hot spots, two vice-presidents, three cabinet officials, nine per cent of the members of parliament, the director of emergency medical services, the chief of the crisis-management organization, senior Revolutionary Guard officers, and prominent clerics are on a long list of officials infected. Ali Akbar Velayati, a doctor trained at Johns Hopkins University and a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, went into quarantine on Thursday. Another senior adviser died the previous week. Velayati, who served as the Foreign Minister for sixteen years, was infected while working with medical staff on ways to contain the disease.
After the first case in Turkey was announced, on Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told lawmakers, “No virus is stronger than our measures.” But he was followed around by an aide with a thermal camera to scan people who came close to him for fevers. The Mongolian President, Khaltmaagiin Battulga, went into precautionary quarantine after returning from a one-day trip to China, the epicenter of COVID-19. The Australian Home Affairs Minister, Peter Dutton, was admitted to a hospital in Queensland on Friday, after he tested positive. Dutton recently returned from meetings in Washington with, among others, Attorney General William Barr and Trump’s daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump. Dutton was part of a cabinet discussion on Tuesday about the Australian government’s stimulus package.
President Trump’s health became a major issue when Fabio Wajngarten, the press secretary for the Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, came down with COVID-19 this week. On March 7th, Trump stood shoulder to shoulder with Wajngarten and Bolsonaro when they visited Mar-a-Lago. Wajngarten dropped in on a birthday party for Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump, Jr., which President Trump also attended. On Friday night, the Brazilian Embassy tweeted that Brazil’s acting Ambassador in Washington, Nestor Forster, who sat at Trump’s table on Saturday, at Mar-a-Lago, had also tested positive for the coronavirus.
Trump’s reluctance to take action regarding his own health was in contrast to Senator Rick Scott, the Florida Republican, who opted to go into isolation because he met with Bolsonaro and his delegation on Monday, in Miami. “The health and safety of the American people is my focus, and I have made the decision to self-quarantine in an abundance of caution,” he said, on Thursday. So did South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who was also at Mar-a-Lago.
Two Republican congressmen—Doug Collins, of Georgia, and Matt Gaetz, of Florida—and Senator Ted Cruz, of Texas, went into self-quarantine last week after being exposed to an unidentified person infected with the virus at the Conservative Political Action Conference, in Maryland, this month. Gaetz had made headlines for spoofing the threat of COVID-19 when he tweeted a picture of himself in a gas mask, used to protect against chemical warfare, before flying on Air Force One with the President. Trump spoke at the same conference. In all, five Republican lawmakers and two Democrats have self-quarantined because of exposure to people who have tested positive.
The risk of serious illness and death from the coronavirus increases with age, especially for seniors over sixty, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned. In Washington, many top officials qualify as senior citizens, beginning with President Trump, who turns seventy-four in June. Vice-President Mike Pence is sixty. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican, is seventy-eight. On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat, told fellow-lawmakers, “We are the captains of the ship. We are the last to leave.” Pelosi turns eighty on March 26th. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at the National Institutes of Health, is seventy-nine.
“An awful lot of leaders around the world are in that age group,” Dr. Howard Markel, director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and an expert on the 1918 flu pandemic, told me. “When you have a government made up of senior citizens who work in close quarters, like Congress or the House of Commons in Britain, on top of political duties where they meet a lot of people, shake hands, and kiss babies—these are all activities considered at high risk for the spread of a respiratory virus. These are professions that don’t practice social distancing.” (President Wilson was sixty-three when he caught the Spanish flu.)
COVID-19 introduces a risk factor for governance around the globe. Both the mechanics and process of governance can be hindered if government officials are sick, not at full strength, or not on the job. “We like to imbue our leaders with magical powers, but these microbes are very democratic,” Markel said. “Anyone over sixty will tell you they can’t think as fast or have the stamina they once did. Anyone over the age of seventy should not be taking on jobs of this magnitude.”


newyorker--2020-03-15--How Epidemiologists Understand the Novel Coronavirus

To discuss the latest developments in our knowledge of the coronavirus pandemic , I recently spoke by phone with Justin Lessler , an associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health .
Lessler , who has studied outbreaks of influenza , measles , and cholera , is particularly interested in modelling transmission dynamics as a method of controlling the spread of disease .
Our conversation , which has been edited for length and clarity , covers the ways in which our understanding of the pandemic has improved , what we can learn from different governments @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seem to be more at risk of serious illness .
How has our understanding of the coronavirus changed during the past month or so , and in what ways ?
I think in a number of ways .
Some of it has just been confirming some things we suspected from SARS and other coronaviruses but were not sure of .
For instance , we have a much better grasp of what the incubation period is now ( an average of five days ) and the generation time , which is the time between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they infect somebody else ( around six days ) .
We are starting to learn a lot more about how infectious it is and the context in which it is infectious .
We had signals of this a month ago , but now it is very clear that the age distribution of death and severe outcomes is stark , with older adults having quite high mortality rates , and young kids basically not dying at all .
But we do now know that kids get infected .
It was unclear why there weren @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we are relatively confident that they are getting infected .
They just aren ’ t getting sick .
Can you apply some numbers to some of those things ?
We are pretty sure , based on the data from Wuhan , China , that about eighty per cent of deaths occur in those aged sixty or over , whereas less than one in a thousand occurred in children under twenty .
So an extremely stark age distribution .
One study I did with the Shenzhen C.D.C .
found—and this is not yet peer-reviewed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of infection were similar in young kids who were exposed and in the population over all .
But , of course , we are not seeing kids getting hospitalized and dying , so we know they are not symptomatic of getting severe disease .
So anyone can get it , but it ’ s just how seriously it affects you ?
Yeah , whether or not you get ill. What it means to get a disease is a little vague , but , if you are thinking about it as getting infected with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can do that .
But , if you are thinking of what it means to get a disease as actually getting ill , then it appears that children are at least somewhat protected .
Do we have a sense of why that might be ?
I don ’ t think we have a great sense of exactly why children are not getting sick .
We have some good ideas of why older adults may be dying at higher rates than younger adults and children .
But why children may not be getting sick @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to ever show up in the data is a little less clear .
Are there theories for why this is the case with older adults ?
In terms of the older adults , I think there are three main theories .
The first is that one of the receptors involved in this virus is also associated with cardiovascular disease , and that it might be exacerbating cardiovascular disease , which tends to be very present in older adults .
A second is that older adults are just more frail , and that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ high concentration of frailty .
We will have a sense of how true that is as the disease enters populations where frailty is more evenly distributed across the population .
But I think people think it ’ s a little more than that .
A third theory is that it could be some sort of immunological priming .
The idea is that somehow people above a certain age have been exposed to a version of coronavirus early in their lives that somehow immunologically primed them to have a more severe reaction to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still unclear around those theories , but they may be starting to form around one or the other .
What do you make of the idea of school closings ?
I think that it depends on what you are trying to accomplish .
If you are trying to stop the epidemic dead in its tracks , it is probably the thing to do .
If you are trying to simply slow it , it ’ s a little more complicated than that , because we don ’ t really understand the role that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We know they have been infected , but we don ’ t know if they infect others .
If people are infecting each other , and kids can get infected , why would they not be infecting others ?
They rarely develop severe symptoms .
And there are reasons to believe that , if you don ’ t develop symptoms and are less sick , you are less likely to infect others .
It ’ s not that no asymptomatic kid will ever infect another person , but it might be the case @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hundredth as likely to do so as a symptomatic adult , and we just don ’ t know .
What are the biggest lessons we have learned from China , South Korea , and Italy ?
I would definitely say that what China has been able to accomplish has been quite impressive .
They had a raging epidemic that looked like it was out of control , and by shutting everything down they managed to stop the epidemic in its tracks .
That was an impressive accomplishment , although those are extreme measures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in most places in the world , and , if we had to do them everywhere , the repercussions of those could be quite bad themselves .
And now Italy has had to do the same thing .
South Korea seems to have done a somewhat better job of getting hold of things simply by ramping up testing and with more moderate social-distancing-type measures .
Hopefully we will have a sense of how well that worked sometime soon .
What have you made of reports from labs around the world about the development @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at all different in the midst of a crisis like this ?
I think it is extremely important and something we should be working on .
I agree that there is some worry that maybe things would be rushed out for trials in humans a little too fast .
But I do think the scientific community has shown pretty good discipline with that in the recent past .
We need a vaccine .
A vaccine could make the difference between this being a disaster that there is very little we can do about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dampened down .
Without a vaccine , all we can do is ride this out or stretch it out , most likely .
And that is going to be a rough ride .
A vaccine , or some highly effective treatment , is our main option for making it a smooth ride .

To discuss the latest developments in our knowledge of the coronavirus pandemic, I recently spoke by phone with Justin Lessler, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Lessler, who has studied outbreaks of influenza, measles, and cholera, is particularly interested in modelling transmission dynamics as a method of controlling the spread of disease. Our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, covers the ways in which our understanding of the pandemic has improved, what we can learn from different governments’ responses, and why older adults seem to be more at risk of serious illness.
How has our understanding of the coronavirus changed during the past month or so, and in what ways?
I think in a number of ways. Some of it has just been confirming some things we suspected from SARS and other coronaviruses but were not sure of. For instance, we have a much better grasp of what the incubation period is now (an average of five days) and the generation time, which is the time between when a person is infected and when they infect somebody else (around six days). We are starting to learn a lot more about how infectious it is and the context in which it is infectious. We had signals of this a month ago, but now it is very clear that the age distribution of death and severe outcomes is stark, with older adults having quite high mortality rates, and young kids basically not dying at all. But we do now know that kids get infected. It was unclear why there weren’t cases before, but now we are relatively confident that they are getting infected. They just aren’t getting sick.
Can you apply some numbers to some of those things?
We are pretty sure, based on the data from Wuhan, China, that about eighty per cent of deaths occur in those aged sixty or over, whereas less than one in a thousand occurred in children under twenty. So an extremely stark age distribution. One study I did with the Shenzhen C.D.C. found—and this is not yet peer-reviewed, it’s a preprint—that rates of infection were similar in young kids who were exposed and in the population over all. But, of course, we are not seeing kids getting hospitalized and dying, so we know they are not symptomatic of getting severe disease.
So anyone can get it, but it’s just how seriously it affects you?
Yeah, whether or not you get ill. What it means to get a disease is a little vague, but, if you are thinking about it as getting infected with the virus, it looks like anybody can do that. But, if you are thinking of what it means to get a disease as actually getting ill, then it appears that children are at least somewhat protected.
Do we have a sense of why that might be?
I don’t think we have a great sense of exactly why children are not getting sick. We have some good ideas of why older adults may be dying at higher rates than younger adults and children. But why children may not be getting sick at all or getting seriously enough ill to ever show up in the data is a little less clear.
Are there theories for why this is the case with older adults?
In terms of the older adults, I think there are three main theories. The first is that one of the receptors involved in this virus is also associated with cardiovascular disease, and that it might be exacerbating cardiovascular disease, which tends to be very present in older adults. A second is that older adults are just more frail, and that the populations that have been impacted have a high concentration of frailty. We will have a sense of how true that is as the disease enters populations where frailty is more evenly distributed across the population. But I think people think it’s a little more than that. A third theory is that it could be some sort of immunological priming. The idea is that somehow people above a certain age have been exposed to a version of coronavirus early in their lives that somehow immunologically primed them to have a more severe reaction to the current virus. I think evidence is still unclear around those theories, but they may be starting to form around one or the other.
What do you make of the idea of school closings?
I think that it depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If you are trying to stop the epidemic dead in its tracks, it is probably the thing to do. If you are trying to simply slow it, it’s a little more complicated than that, because we don’t really understand the role that kids are playing in transmission yet. We know they have been infected, but we don’t know if they infect others.
If people are infecting each other, and kids can get infected, why would they not be infecting others?
They rarely develop severe symptoms. And there are reasons to believe that, if you don’t develop symptoms and are less sick, you are less likely to infect others. It’s not that no asymptomatic kid will ever infect another person, but it might be the case that they are, say, a hundredth as likely to do so as a symptomatic adult, and we just don’t know.
What are the biggest lessons we have learned from China, South Korea, and Italy?
I would definitely say that what China has been able to accomplish has been quite impressive. They had a raging epidemic that looked like it was out of control, and by shutting everything down they managed to stop the epidemic in its tracks. That was an impressive accomplishment, although those are extreme measures we would really prefer not to take in most places in the world, and, if we had to do them everywhere, the repercussions of those could be quite bad themselves. And now Italy has had to do the same thing. South Korea seems to have done a somewhat better job of getting hold of things simply by ramping up testing and with more moderate social-distancing-type measures. Hopefully we will have a sense of how well that worked sometime soon.
What have you made of reports from labs around the world about the development of a vaccine? Would development be at all different in the midst of a crisis like this?
I think it is extremely important and something we should be working on. I agree that there is some worry that maybe things would be rushed out for trials in humans a little too fast. But I do think the scientific community has shown pretty good discipline with that in the recent past. We need a vaccine. A vaccine could make the difference between this being a disaster that there is very little we can do about versus something that can be contained and dampened down. Without a vaccine, all we can do is ride this out or stretch it out, most likely. And that is going to be a rough ride. A vaccine, or some highly effective treatment, is our main option for making it a smooth ride.


newyorker--2020-03-16--“To be a daughter and to have a daughter,” by Kimiko Hahn

can forecast at-odds relationships especially when the mother hazards to write while keeping the baby safe from herself as she and the baby wail , one in the crib , the other on the floor , to wail with the vacuum cleaner so the daughter can ’ t hear mama-drowning , so the new relationship isn ’ t all arithmetic and geometry , all right angles barely connecting .
What is left at dusk , still tender and safe , you couldn ’ t pluck and lock in a safe— not unlike a girl calf and her mama whale , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tourists on a ship but more likely , if they are right whales , or what species are left of those docile equatorial pods , never left by men hunting their fat .
They are not safe .
Larger than grays , smaller than blue whales , mother and son or daughter in their yearlong relationship are so buoyant that whalers called them “ the right whale to hunt.
” Funny , given the mariner ’ s rite to trick a man to think he ’ d been left for the sharks without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whaler would wail for his own mother , wife , or daughter .
When it comes to daughter-mother relationships— I ’ ve written on both till there ’ s nothing left without breaching safety , without whaling .
After all , I love daughters and I love ships .

Audio: A version read by the author.
can forecast at-odds relationships
especially when the mother hazards to write
while keeping the baby safe
from herself as she and the baby wail,
one in the crib, the other on the floor, to wail
with the vacuum cleaner so the daughter
can’t hear mama-drowning, so the new relationship
isn’t all arithmetic and geometry, all right
angles barely connecting. What is left
at dusk, still tender and safe,
you couldn’t pluck and lock in a safe—
not unlike a girl calf and her mama whale,
two generations of breaching daughters
applauded by tourists on a ship
but more likely, if they are right
whales, or what species are left
of those docile equatorial pods, never left
by men hunting their fat. They are not safe.
Larger than grays, smaller than blue whales,
mother and son or daughter
in their yearlong relationship
are so buoyant that whalers called them “the right
whale to hunt.” Funny, given the mariner’s rite
to trick a man to think he’d been left
for the sharks without the safety
of pity or prayer—then that whaler would wail
for his own mother, wife, or daughter.
When it comes to daughter-mother relationships—
I’ve written on both till there’s nothing left
without breaching safety, without whaling.
After all, I love daughters and I love ships.


newyorker--2020-03-16--Reckoning with an Uncertain Future in Iran, and Outside It

My mother loves anecdotes , witty sayings , and little old tales that teach a life lesson .
A favorite comes from her father , whom she loved dearly .
The saying shows the imprint of a life lived in the Iranian countryside , under the rule of mercurial authorities : When you go to fill your water jugs , dip both in the stream at the same time .
Otherwise , by the time one is filled , they might not let you use the stream anymore .
I came to America in late 2011 , to study creative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rattling in the Indiana cold .
Soon after my arrival , something struck me : many of my fellow students , professors , and the staff at the library , where I worked , talked casually about their future plans .
The future was certain and predictable to them .
They used the present tense , without any hedging : “ We ’ re going to Disneyland for Ellie ’ s birthday ” ; “ I ’ m doing an internship with Microsoft next fall.
” It was as if they could see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ How could they be sure nothing would go wrong ?
How could they invest time and money in things so far from the present ?
The future I had known in my home country was unforeseeable , the path ahead zigzagging into areas I could not predict .
I am not talking about the randomness intrinsic to life itself but about a man-made precarity , created and sustained by those in power .
I was born early in the Iran-Iraq War , which broke out about a year and a half after the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eight years , claiming over a hundred and fifty thousand Iranian lives .
A conflict of that scale necessarily causes a certain amount of havoc .
My childhood in Tehran was marked by blackouts , shortages of food and other basic necessities , and the intermittent cancellation of school .
On those days , I would stay at home and watch my Persian and math lessons on state-run TV , looking forward to recess , when an episode of “ The Pink Panther Show ” or “ The Great Grape Ape Show ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ came on .
One of the early acts of the revolutionary regime was to enforce an Islamic dress code .
Women had to cover their heads and bodies .
Men were prohibited from wearing T-shirts and short sleeves , and could be stopped or even arrested for wearing clothes in colors that were deemed too out-there .
Music was mostly wiped from public space .
Personal VHS players and video cassettes were forbidden .
Chess was condemned as gambling .
By the time I entered high school , though , the regulations had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would no longer be stopped in the streets for wearing T-shirts and jeans , though they could still be prevented from entering certain government buildings , or attending class .
( Dress codes remained in place for girls and women . )
The city built concrete chess tables in parks .
People brought their own pieces and played under trees .
Some of my friends ’ families acquired VCRs .
There was never an announcement to say it was O.K .
to own or do any of these things .
You would hear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would appear in shop windows .
A gnawing , persistent question formed in my brain : What evil had been exorcised from chess or T-shirts to make them suitable for society ?
I began to wonder about the logical soundness and consistency of the institutions that controlled my life .
When the war ended , in 1988 , a sense of imminent attack lingered .
A new round of American sanctions hit Iran in 1995 .
They hardly registered with me .
I had been admitted to a prestigious high school , named @ @ @ @ @ @ @ studies and on preparing for the university-entrance exam .
This test was the event that would make or break my life .
Every year a million-plus people across the country sat for the test and just more than ten per cent were accepted .
Competition for admission to top universities was even fiercer .
I labored over math , physics , chemistry , English , Arabic , and religious studies , and made time to write poetry , too .
My hard work paid off : I scored well enough to go to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ humanities , but fear was stronger than any passion .
What kind of job could I find with a degree in history or literature ?
In those years , the safest future that I and many of my peers could imagine was a respected job with a steady salary and benefits .
For that , I needed a diploma in engineering , architecture , medicine , or computer sciences .
I chose to study mechanical engineering .
Unless they qualify for a handful of exemptions , Iranian men over the age of eighteen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I would not have to do my eighteen-month commitment until after I finished university , but I resented it .
From others , I gathered an impression of long , arduous drills , terrible food , intentional humiliation , collective punishments for individual oversights , and a general sense of futility .
Shortly before I finished high school , though , a law passed that seemed like it would offer me a way out .
For the equivalent of about nineteen hundred dollars , I could buy a service-completion card , without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get a passport .
My family decided to delay buying my card until after I graduated from college .
My mother had been saving up for years to buy a house ; we thought that was the more pressing need .
In the yard of the modest house my mother bought , I planted a pink silk tree that grew to be some fifteen feet , with broad , arching branches that cast a pleasant shade on hot days .
My mother loved how the tree closed its leaves and went to sleep @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , she swept the narrow strip of tiles in the yard and watered the flower bed late in the afternoon .
She also planted a walnut sapling .
None of this would have been possible if she had not purchased the house when she did .
Soon after , inflation raised housing prices out of the reach of most Tehranis .
Around the same time , the law that would have offered me a way out of the army was cancelled .
Once again , instability began to impair not just large-scale plans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lights in Tehran were erratic .
Their timers were stripped of all rationality , skipping through the numbers in their countdowns without any discernible pattern or lingering endlessly on red .
Time both passed and froze .
Year after year , I grew less interested in what I studied .
My G.P.A .
plummeted .
Changing my field of study seemed irrational even to me ; acquiring a degree in the humanities would be financial suicide .
But I decided to pursue a master ’ s degree in ancient culture and languages .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ graduate-school entrance exam , I received a slip of paper printed with my results : I was ranked second .
Scoring well had a secondary benefit : the test takers with the three highest scores in each major would be exempt from military service .
Standing on the sidewalk that summer day , I dreamed of getting my military-service-exemption card .
But , once again , the law changed to my disadvantage : only those who ranked first would qualify for the exemption .

My mother loves anecdotes, witty sayings, and little old tales that teach a life lesson. A favorite comes from her father, whom she loved dearly. The saying shows the imprint of a life lived in the Iranian countryside, under the rule of mercurial authorities: When you go to fill your water jugs, dip both in the stream at the same time. Otherwise, by the time one is filled, they might not let you use the stream anymore.
I came to America in late 2011, to study creative writing at Notre Dame, my teeth rattling in the Indiana cold. Soon after my arrival, something struck me: many of my fellow students, professors, and the staff at the library, where I worked, talked casually about their future plans. The future was certain and predictable to them. They used the present tense, without any hedging: “We’re going to Disneyland for Ellie’s birthday”; “I’m doing an internship with Microsoft next fall.” It was as if they could see the future in a crystal ball. How could they be sure nothing would go wrong? How could they invest time and money in things so far from the present? The future I had known in my home country was unforeseeable, the path ahead zigzagging into areas I could not predict. I am not talking about the randomness intrinsic to life itself but about a man-made precarity, created and sustained by those in power.
I was born early in the Iran-Iraq War, which broke out about a year and a half after the 1979 Iranian Revolution and dragged on for eight years, claiming over a hundred and fifty thousand Iranian lives. A conflict of that scale necessarily causes a certain amount of havoc. My childhood in Tehran was marked by blackouts, shortages of food and other basic necessities, and the intermittent cancellation of school. On those days, I would stay at home and watch my Persian and math lessons on state-run TV, looking forward to recess, when an episode of “The Pink Panther Show” or “The Great Grape Ape Show” would be shown before the next class came on.
One of the early acts of the revolutionary regime was to enforce an Islamic dress code. Women had to cover their heads and bodies. Men were prohibited from wearing T-shirts and short sleeves, and could be stopped or even arrested for wearing clothes in colors that were deemed too out-there. Music was mostly wiped from public space. Personal VHS players and video cassettes were forbidden. Chess was condemned as gambling. By the time I entered high school, though, the regulations had begun to loosen. Boys and men would no longer be stopped in the streets for wearing T-shirts and jeans, though they could still be prevented from entering certain government buildings, or attending class. (Dress codes remained in place for girls and women.) The city built concrete chess tables in parks. People brought their own pieces and played under trees. Some of my friends’ families acquired VCRs.
There was never an announcement to say it was O.K. to own or do any of these things. You would hear rumors, and the previously forbidden apparatus would appear in shop windows. A gnawing, persistent question formed in my brain: What evil had been exorcised from chess or T-shirts to make them suitable for society? I began to wonder about the logical soundness and consistency of the institutions that controlled my life. When the war ended, in 1988, a sense of imminent attack lingered.
A new round of American sanctions hit Iran in 1995. They hardly registered with me. I had been admitted to a prestigious high school, named Danesh, and was laser-focussed on my studies and on preparing for the university-entrance exam. This test was the event that would make or break my life. Every year a million-plus people across the country sat for the test and just more than ten per cent were accepted. Competition for admission to top universities was even fiercer. I labored over math, physics, chemistry, English, Arabic, and religious studies, and made time to write poetry, too.
My hard work paid off: I scored well enough to go to college. I considered majoring in the humanities, but fear was stronger than any passion. What kind of job could I find with a degree in history or literature? In those years, the safest future that I and many of my peers could imagine was a respected job with a steady salary and benefits. For that, I needed a diploma in engineering, architecture, medicine, or computer sciences. I chose to study mechanical engineering.
Unless they qualify for a handful of exemptions, Iranian men over the age of eighteen are required to serve in the military. I would not have to do my eighteen-month commitment until after I finished university, but I resented it. From others, I gathered an impression of long, arduous drills, terrible food, intentional humiliation, collective punishments for individual oversights, and a general sense of futility. Shortly before I finished high school, though, a law passed that seemed like it would offer me a way out. For the equivalent of about nineteen hundred dollars, I could buy a service-completion card, without which I could not purchase property or get a passport. My family decided to delay buying my card until after I graduated from college. My mother had been saving up for years to buy a house; we thought that was the more pressing need.
In the yard of the modest house my mother bought, I planted a pink silk tree that grew to be some fifteen feet, with broad, arching branches that cast a pleasant shade on hot days. My mother loved how the tree closed its leaves and went to sleep when it got dark. Each day, she swept the narrow strip of tiles in the yard and watered the flower bed late in the afternoon. She also planted a walnut sapling. None of this would have been possible if she had not purchased the house when she did. Soon after, inflation raised housing prices out of the reach of most Tehranis. Around the same time, the law that would have offered me a way out of the army was cancelled.
Once again, instability began to impair not just large-scale plans but everyday life. Even the traffic lights in Tehran were erratic. Their timers were stripped of all rationality, skipping through the numbers in their countdowns without any discernible pattern or lingering endlessly on red. Time both passed and froze. Year after year, I grew less interested in what I studied. My G.P.A. plummeted. Changing my field of study seemed irrational even to me; acquiring a degree in the humanities would be financial suicide. But I decided to pursue a master’s degree in ancient culture and languages. A few months after taking the national graduate-school entrance exam, I received a slip of paper printed with my results: I was ranked second. Scoring well had a secondary benefit: the test takers with the three highest scores in each major would be exempt from military service. Standing on the sidewalk that summer day, I dreamed of getting my military-service-exemption card. But, once again, the law changed to my disadvantage: only those who ranked first would qualify for the exemption.
After I was drafted, I was assigned with a group of other university graduates to a training center in my home town of Tehran. On our first day at the center, we were put on buses and taken six hundred and fifty miles away, close to the border with Afghanistan. We stayed there for the rest of our training. I had come to believe that a new environment would help my writing, and decided to apply to M.F.A. programs in the U.S. In my free time at night, I studied G.R.E. words in my bunk. For the most part, my knowledge of life in the States came from the movies I watched to improve my English, from books, and from the news stories on the Internet and state-run TV, all of which I strongly suspected would be miles away from reality. In a strange way, I now think that I was able to approach a change of this magnitude headlong partly because my life had taught me how to work toward a goal without looking too far into the future. Writing fiction in the U.S. was a sweet fantasy. I resolved to strive for it, but did not dare hope it would become reality.
Eventually, I was offered a spot at a program in the American Midwest—crucially, one with funding. By the time my U.S. visa was granted, it was too late to make the start of the first semester. When I asked the school administrators if I could defer my start, I was worried that they would change their minds about having me attend at all. But they did not.
I came to America. At first, if I made a social plan more than a couple of days in advance, I would spend the rest of the week waiting for some unforeseen obstacle to arise. I found internship applications daunting, because they wanted me to submit my application six months ahead of the start date. A year passed, then two, then three, and four. Little by little, as I relented my skepticism of the future, I began to look ahead, the way those around me did. I wrote and translated, knowing that my literary output would not be contingent upon a government permit. I expanded an online literary journal that I had started a year before leaving Iran. I got married, and my wife joined me in South Bend, Indiana. We each applied to Ph.D. programs and were accepted. We moved to St. Louis. I started going to the gym. I imagined buying a house.
Then, on January 27, 2017, the executive order that came to be known as the travel ban barred Syrian refugees from entering the U.S. indefinitely and suspended immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries for a period of ninety days. Travellers from these countries who had boarded a plane with a valid visa arrived hours later to be detained at the border and denied entrance into the U.S. I received an e-mail that warned me that my visa, which would not have expired for another year and a half, had been revoked. My wife and I cancelled a planned trip to see our families, fearing we would not be allowed back. The validity of unexpired student visas was reëstablished within two days, but a fog of uncertainty lingered. I followed the news and fell behind in my school readings.
When the United States announced, in May, 2018, that it was unilaterally withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal and reinstating sanctions, I feared it would set off a cycle of escalating tensions between the two countries. I asked my mother over a video chat if she had enough money for daily necessities as prices rose. She reassured me that she did. But I knew that she would hide her hardships from me as long as she could.
In the months that followed, I kept working toward the one thing in the future that seemed definite. My first novel had found a publisher and would be released in 2020; I got a contract, worked with my agent and editor on revisions, approved the cover art, and received a galley I could hold in my hands. There was little doubt in my mind that the book would happen and I would be here to celebrate. I could see it. I looked forward to the future.


The Mail

Reading Jennifer Gonnerman ’ s heartbreaking account of Eric Smokes and David Warren ’ s efforts to overturn their murder convictions brings to mind two concepts that I encounter often as an attorney working on wrongful convictions ( “ Burden of Proof , ” March 2nd ) .
As agents of the justice system , we must always “ get proximate ” to our cases—a phrase coined by Bryan Stevenson , of “ Just Mercy ” fame , to describe the conscious act of becoming close to people and their experiences .
To understand why two men would relive the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in prison , one needs to understand what they went through .
Unfortunately , prosecutors and judges rarely spend time in prison speaking to people who have been robbed of their freedom .
Perhaps if they had with Smokes and Warren , they would not have made or considered disingenuous arguments about the men ’ s supposed financial incentive to seek exoneration .
Nor would they have believed , based on the fact that Smokes and Warren accepted responsibility before the parole board , that the men ’ s guilt was indisputable ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ almost certainly resulted in a denial of parole .
We must also be cognizant of how institutional bias affects our justice system .
It will always be challenging for conviction-review units in district attorneys ’ offices to find , and speak publicly about , wrongdoing , but that does not mean that they lack the power or the motivation to try .
Sadly , for Smokes and Warren , it seems that the review process was as flawed as the convictions themselves .
Nick Paumgarten , in his piece about the thrills and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the work of the psychotherapist Tim Tate , who helped found the North Face ’ s “ wellness initiative ” and has counselled its sponsored athletes ( “ The Altitude Sickness , ” March 2nd ) .
North Face ’ s president , Arne Arens , says that his company tries to make climbers ’ endeavors “ as safe as possible.
” Through my recent research into the effects of corporate sponsorship on extreme-sport athletes , I have found that sponsor contracts often encourage athletes to take dangerous risks in exchange for financial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is tied to media popularity .
Young , inexperienced athletes are particularly susceptible to the pressure to engage in “ adventure pornography ” on social media .
Many sponsors—including the North Face—also don ’ t provide athletes with health or life insurance , leaving them especially vulnerable when the worst occurs .
Both Arens and Tate are thus players in a cynical game , in which sponsors contractually incentivize athletes to court disaster .
Paumgarten ’ s insights into the allure of mountaineering align with my own experiences of hiking , climbing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ State .
In the past thirty years , I ’ ve had three close calls : during a rockfall , in which I was nearly decapitated ; while skiing over an ice cliff with a forty-foot drop onto bare rock ; and while punching through a snow-and-ice cornice , two thousand feet above the Stuart Glacier .
None of these experiences deterred me , however , because everyone who engages in risky sports makes peace with the possibility of death .
Letters should be sent with the writer ’ s name , address @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to themail @ newyorker.com .
Letters may be edited for length and clarity , and may be published in any medium .
We regret that owing to the volume of correspondence we can not reply to every letter .

Seeking Justice
Reading Jennifer Gonnerman’s heartbreaking account of Eric Smokes and David Warren’s efforts to overturn their murder convictions brings to mind two concepts that I encounter often as an attorney working on wrongful convictions (“Burden of Proof,” March 2nd). As agents of the justice system, we must always “get proximate” to our cases—a phrase coined by Bryan Stevenson, of “Just Mercy” fame, to describe the conscious act of becoming close to people and their experiences. To understand why two men would relive the trauma of their wrongful convictions and decades in prison, one needs to understand what they went through. Unfortunately, prosecutors and judges rarely spend time in prison speaking to people who have been robbed of their freedom. Perhaps if they had with Smokes and Warren, they would not have made or considered disingenuous arguments about the men’s supposed financial incentive to seek exoneration. Nor would they have believed, based on the fact that Smokes and Warren accepted responsibility before the parole board, that the men’s guilt was indisputable; maintaining innocence before the board would have almost certainly resulted in a denial of parole.
We must also be cognizant of how institutional bias affects our justice system. It will always be challenging for conviction-review units in district attorneys’ offices to find, and speak publicly about, wrongdoing, but that does not mean that they lack the power or the motivation to try. Sadly, for Smokes and Warren, it seems that the review process was as flawed as the convictions themselves.
Elizabeth Sack Felber
Legal Aid Society
New York City
Extreme Risk
Nick Paumgarten, in his piece about the thrills and grief associated with mountain climbing, features the work of the psychotherapist Tim Tate, who helped found the North Face’s “wellness initiative” and has counselled its sponsored athletes (“The Altitude Sickness,” March 2nd). North Face’s president, Arne Arens, says that his company tries to make climbers’ endeavors “as safe as possible.” Through my recent research into the effects of corporate sponsorship on extreme-sport athletes, I have found that sponsor contracts often encourage athletes to take dangerous risks in exchange for financial rewards, because the granting of bonuses is tied to media popularity. Young, inexperienced athletes are particularly susceptible to the pressure to engage in “adventure pornography” on social media. Many sponsors—including the North Face—also don’t provide athletes with health or life insurance, leaving them especially vulnerable when the worst occurs. Both Arens and Tate are thus players in a cynical game, in which sponsors contractually incentivize athletes to court disaster.
Horst Eidenmueller
Professor of Commercial Law
University of Oxford
Oxford, England
Paumgarten’s insights into the allure of mountaineering align with my own experiences of hiking, climbing, and skiing in the mountains of Washington State. In the past thirty years, I’ve had three close calls: during a rockfall, in which I was nearly decapitated; while skiing over an ice cliff with a forty-foot drop onto bare rock; and while punching through a snow-and-ice cornice, two thousand feet above the Stuart Glacier. None of these experiences deterred me, however, because everyone who engages in risky sports makes peace with the possibility of death.
Ira Shelton
Edmonds, Wash.
•
Letters should be sent with the writer’s name, address, and daytime phone number via e-mail to themail@newyorker.com. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium. We regret that owing to the volume of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter.


newyorker--2020-03-16--To Have and to Hold, in Quarantine and in Health

As millions of people in the United States begin self-quarantining , in order to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus , China , the first country to shut down , is in the process of opening back up .
In Xi ’ an , the capital of Shaanxi Province , more than ten million people were placed under lockdown .
When restrictions were eased , earlier this month , the city ’ s divorce rate spiked .
One official blamed it , in part , on the quarantine .
“ Many couples have been bound with each other at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evoked the underlying conflicts , ” he told the Global Times , a Chinese state-run tabloid .
Perhaps global pandemic and marital strife go together ; in the 2011 film “ Contagion , ” Gwyneth Paltrow dies a horrible death from a virus after cheating on her dutiful husband , Matt Damon .
Lawrence Birnbach , a psychoanalyst who practices in Greenwich Village and in Westport , Connecticut , predicts that the divorce rate will also rise in the U.S. as the pandemic unfolds .
( He co-wrote a book with his wife @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It ’ s Time to Go.
” ) Two of his patients are married , and are self-quarantining together , and both have reported trouble at home .
“ They ’ ve been arguing more than usual because one person doesn ’ t take precautions exactly the way the other one wants them to , ” he explained .
“ ‘ You didn ’ t wash your hands long enough .
You took the subway .
Don ’ t you care about me ?
’ ” ( Birnbach ’ s wife had told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Laura Wasser , a Los Angeles divorce attorney who inspired , in part , Laura Dern ’ s character in “ Marriage Story , ” weighed in : “ A quarantine experience , particularly where there are underlying issues of resentment and poor communication , could be devastating to a marital relationship.
” She compared the situation to couples who , after enduring the forced togetherness of the holidays , seek divorce in January—a busy month for matrimonial lawyers .
Does every quarantine scenario have to resemble Hitchcock ’ s “ Lifeboat ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ That takes couples with real empathy , ” Birnbach said , adding that that quality was in short supply .
Wasser was more optimistic .
“ It could be an excellent opportunity to reconnect with your spouse , ” she said , noting that , if a couple is on lockdown , it could reanimate their sex life .
How about some case studies ?
Katherine Codekas and Matt Smith , both fifty-seven , and both divorce lawyers , have been married for twenty-one years .
In February , they were trapped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suite on board the Diamond Princess , the cruise ship that was quarantined in the port of Yokohama , Japan , following a coronavirus outbreak .
“ We got along famously , ” Codekas said .
“ There were no outside influences to argue about .
No ‘ You got ta get groceries ’ or ‘ You got ta clean the litter box.
’ ” She passed the time by watching “ Say Yes to the Dress ” —a show that she had never seen before , and which she called “ completely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ social media , trying to contact the outside world .
Codekas ’ s main tip for the quarantined : carve out a space of your own , away from your partner .
“ When Matt was on Skype , I went into the closet , ” she said .
Think of it as a quarantine within a quarantine .
Tyler and Rachel Torres were one of the youngest couples on the Diamond Princess .
Both twenty-four , they were on their honeymoon when they were forced into quarantine .
Rachel cross-stitched a Christmas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to juggle .
Mostly , they just talked .
“ Tyler lived through Katrina , and we had talked a little bit about that before , but not as in depth as we did during quarantine , ” Rachel said .
“ We also joked about what it would look like to escape from quarantine , ” Tyler said .
Greg and Rose Yerex , a Canadian couple in their sixties , tested positive for the virus on the cruise , but they were asymptomatic .
“ We felt fine , ” Rose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in quarantine and couldn ’ t leave until they each produced two negative tests at least twenty-four hours apart .
“ We learned to talk to each other again , ” Greg said .
“ We ’ ve been married thirty-four years , and we ’ d drifted into some pretty serious bad habits.
” He went on , “ Being put together for twenty-four hours a day for two weeks , we wound up learning a lot about each other ’ s fears , hopes , and dreams.
” Despite being cleared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yerexes , who are now back home , in Port Dover , Ontario , have continued quarantining—voluntarily .
“ Greg and I decided that there ’ s a lot of fear out in the community and that people would feel more comfortable if we quarantined for another fourteen days , ” Rose said .
“ We have an acre of property .
We can go outside in the yard .
We can wander around the house .
It ’ s pretty cushy.
” ♦

As millions of people in the United States begin self-quarantining, in order to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, China, the first country to shut down, is in the process of opening back up. In Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi Province, more than ten million people were placed under lockdown. When restrictions were eased, earlier this month, the city’s divorce rate spiked. One official blamed it, in part, on the quarantine. “Many couples have been bound with each other at home for over a month, which evoked the underlying conflicts,” he told the Global Times, a Chinese state-run tabloid. Perhaps global pandemic and marital strife go together; in the 2011 film “Contagion,” Gwyneth Paltrow dies a horrible death from a virus after cheating on her dutiful husband, Matt Damon.
Lawrence Birnbach, a psychoanalyst who practices in Greenwich Village and in Westport, Connecticut, predicts that the divorce rate will also rise in the U.S. as the pandemic unfolds. (He co-wrote a book with his wife, called “How to Know If It’s Time to Go.”) Two of his patients are married, and are self-quarantining together, and both have reported trouble at home. “They’ve been arguing more than usual because one person doesn’t take precautions exactly the way the other one wants them to,” he explained. “ ‘You didn’t wash your hands long enough. You took the subway. Don’t you care about me?’ ” (Birnbach’s wife had told him to stop touching doorknobs.)
Laura Wasser, a Los Angeles divorce attorney who inspired, in part, Laura Dern’s character in “Marriage Story,” weighed in: “A quarantine experience, particularly where there are underlying issues of resentment and poor communication, could be devastating to a marital relationship.” She compared the situation to couples who, after enduring the forced togetherness of the holidays, seek divorce in January—a busy month for matrimonial lawyers.
Does every quarantine scenario have to resemble Hitchcock’s “Lifeboat”? Might some couples grow closer? “That takes couples with real empathy,” Birnbach said, adding that that quality was in short supply. Wasser was more optimistic. “It could be an excellent opportunity to reconnect with your spouse,” she said, noting that, if a couple is on lockdown, it could reanimate their sex life.
How about some case studies? Katherine Codekas and Matt Smith, both fifty-seven, and both divorce lawyers, have been married for twenty-one years. In February, they were trapped together for two weeks in a not-large suite on board the Diamond Princess, the cruise ship that was quarantined in the port of Yokohama, Japan, following a coronavirus outbreak. “We got along famously,” Codekas said. “There were no outside influences to argue about. No ‘You gotta get groceries’ or ‘You gotta clean the litter box.’ ” She passed the time by watching “Say Yes to the Dress”—a show that she had never seen before, and which she called “completely mind-numbing.” Smith spent his days on social media, trying to contact the outside world. Codekas’s main tip for the quarantined: carve out a space of your own, away from your partner. “When Matt was on Skype, I went into the closet,” she said. Think of it as a quarantine within a quarantine.
Tyler and Rachel Torres were one of the youngest couples on the Diamond Princess. Both twenty-four, they were on their honeymoon when they were forced into quarantine. Rachel cross-stitched a Christmas ornament; Tyler tried to learn how to juggle. Mostly, they just talked. “Tyler lived through Katrina, and we had talked a little bit about that before, but not as in depth as we did during quarantine,” Rachel said.
“We also joked about what it would look like to escape from quarantine,” Tyler said.
Greg and Rose Yerex, a Canadian couple in their sixties, tested positive for the virus on the cruise, but they were asymptomatic. “We felt fine,” Rose said. Still, they were put in quarantine and couldn’t leave until they each produced two negative tests at least twenty-four hours apart. “We learned to talk to each other again,” Greg said. “We’ve been married thirty-four years, and we’d drifted into some pretty serious bad habits.” He went on, “Being put together for twenty-four hours a day for two weeks, we wound up learning a lot about each other’s fears, hopes, and dreams.”
Despite being cleared by the Canadian public-health agency, the Yerexes, who are now back home, in Port Dover, Ontario, have continued quarantining—voluntarily. “Greg and I decided that there’s a lot of fear out in the community and that people would feel more comfortable if we quarantined for another fourteen days,” Rose said. “We have an acre of property. We can go outside in the yard. We can wander around the house. It’s pretty cushy.” ♦


newyorker--2020-03-16--Valery Gergiev Weighs Down the Met’s New “Flying Dutchman”

When , at the beginning of March , the powerfully political Russian conductor Valery Gergiev led the première of a new production of Wagner ’ s “ The Flying Dutchman ” at the Metropolitan Opera , a mild-mannered group of protesters gathered outside to object to his presence .
“ GERGIEV SIGNED LETTER BACKING THE ANNEXATION OF CRIMEA AND WAR IN UKRAINE ” read one sign .
It was something of an understatement .
Gergiev , the longtime chief of the Mariinsky Theatre , in St. Petersburg , has close ties to Vladimir Putin , and has repeatedly participated in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ current Russian regime , including making appearances in Crimea and in Syria .
In light of the regime ’ s well-documented involvement in domestic repression , assassination plots , efforts to sabotage Western democracies , and , not least , interference in American elections , Gergiev ’ s relationships with institutions like the Met deserve scrutiny .
Inside the house , other objections came to mind .
When Gergiev first emerged on the international scene , in the nineties , he often elicited performances of sensational force .
In recent years , his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an overfull schedule , and his “ Dutchman ” reached a new low , at least in my experience .
It seldom rose above the level of the acceptable , and at several moments it fell below the standard of a top-rank opera house .
Tempos were sludgy , entries were ragged , the emotional temperature was lukewarm , nothing sparked .
Dozens of conductors could have achieved superior results .
What is gained by hiring Gergiev ?
Whatever the rationale is , it can no longer be musical .
The production , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shutdown , arrived with problems of its own .
Expectations ran high because François Girard , the director , had triumphed at the Met with “ Parsifal , ” in 2013 .
That staging ’ s stormy skies , wasted landscapes , and lakes of blood showed visual invention of a high order , and the final tableau of redemption for Kundry had an air of authentic grace .
Girard appeared set to become the Met ’ s leading director of Wagner—to be sure , a title of no great weight , given @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the annals of significant Wagner interpretation .
The tale of the ghostly Dutchman , cursed to wander the seas until a woman saves him , is part of a long lineage that includes everything from “ The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ” to “ Pirates of the Caribbean.
” Girard ’ s intention , according to an interview he gave to the Times , was to detach the old legend from its supernatural trappings and transplant it to a more abstract , mystical realm .
In the libretto , the Dutchman lands @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a local captain , Daland , with his wealth ; and wins the hand of Daland ’ s daughter , Senta .
Girard , wishing to mute the apparent misogyny of the plot , made the Dutchman ’ s gold an array of glowing crystals , apparently of cosmic significance .
The change did little to redeem the transaction , and , in any case , it undersold Wagner ’ s powers of critique : the mercenary trading of women for gold is a recurring theme of his work , and he uses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the “ Ring ” cycle .
There are , of course , many different ways to stage “ Dutchman ” : classic productions by Joachim Herz and by Harry Kupfer framed the story as Senta ’ s dream .
Girard , though , jettisoned Romantic conventions only to land in a minimalist limbo .
The set design , by John Macfarlane , was dominated by the menacing prow of a ship—oddly , not the Dutchman ’ s but Daland ’ s .
The opera ’ s one surefire dramatic coup , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , passed by almost unnoticed , with a few Spielbergian cloud formations and flickering lights .
Act II was given over to a kind of ballet of intertwining ropes , which accompanied the Spinning Chorus ; it was arresting at first , then became labored .
In Act III , the bloodcurdling chorus of the Dutchman ’ s spectral crew lacked a persuasive visual component .
Throughout , motifs from Girard ’ s “ Parsifal ” reappeared , including barren terrain and scudding wrack , yet they amounted mainly to gloomy atmosphere .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ have sung the title role , but in January he fractured his ankle and withdrew .
His replacement , Evgeny Nikitin , is a favorite collaborator of Gergiev ’ s , and , more to the point , sang strongly as the evil sorcerer Klingsor in Girard ’ s “ Parsifal.
” The cutting snarl of Nikitin ’ s tone in the middle and upper registers conveyed the Dutchman ’ s menace ; the character ’ s melancholy ardor went missing .
The veteran German soprano Anja Kampe blazed intermittently in the role @ @ @ @ @ @ @ went astray , her Act II ballad was cannily plotted and urgently delivered .
Franz-Josef Selig was a sturdy , stolid Daland .
The young tenor Sergey Skorokhodov gave an attractive Italianate ping to the role of Senta ’ s suitor Erik .
David Portillo was similarly luminous as the Steersman .
The men of the Met chorus let out a potent nautical roar , even though they were often left to fend for themselves as Gergiev waved vaguely and gazed down at his score .
The following night , the mood at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ David McVicar production of “ Agrippina , ” Handel ’ s glorious satire of Roman decadence , was receiving the penultimate performance of its run , and the cast had the loose , convivial spirit of a team that has been working together for weeks and is preparing to disband .
A trio of devil-may-care female leads outdid one another in actorly extravagance .
Joyce DiDonato , as Agrippina , the last wife of Emperor Claudius , clip-clopped to and fro in high heels , smirking conspiratorially .
Kate Lindsey , as Agrippina @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spazzed out in a bad-boy style , burying her face in heaps of stage cocaine .
Brenda Rae brought down the house when her character , the fast-learning ingénue Poppea , drunkenly tried to hide behind a flower arrangement at a bar .
This was , needless to say , a modern-dress update .
McVicar had little trouble finding contemporary analogies ; indeed , he might have tried a bit harder .
Having Matthew Rose , as Claudius , wear a long red tie and wield a golf club , à la Donald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also did a disservice to the emperor ’ s legislative record ) .
Other interpolations hit home .
The countertenor Nicholas Tamagna , as the snivelling politician Narciso , sang the aria “ Volo pronto ” while sitting next to Agrippina at a plush theatre .
When the empress groped him during the da capo , he became audibly aroused , causing others to shush him .
The sequence was a little comic masterpiece , deftly integrated with the music .
At the heart of the show was DiDonato , who pulled off @ @ @ @ @ @ @ She used her dizzyingly precise and flexible voice to capture myriad nuances of Agrippina ’ s dubious character : insincere flattery , veiled contempt , sadistic flirtation , hidden fury .
The last element deepens the characterization—Agrippina is as much a victim of a corrupt system as she is its master manipulator .
Lindsey and Rae may not rival DiDonato in vocal agility , but they crafted indelible portrayals all the same .
The countertenor Iestyn Davies , as Ottone , made the most of the opera ’ s more serious moments : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brought the lunacy to a haunting halt .
Harry Bicket , in the pit , elicited idiomatic playing throughout ; he also made a cute onstage cameo , playing harpsichord continuo with the mannerisms of a lounge pianist .
Truth be told , this “ Agrippina ” was madcap to a fault , undercutting the leads with an excess of focus-stealing poses and pratfalls .
Still , it made a great old score come alive , and its portrait of a society ruled by cynicism and venality felt pertinent .
The delicious irony @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pseudo-happy ending is that Agrippina is destined to be murdered by the same son whom she schemes to place on the throne .
In Vincenzo Grimani ’ s brilliant libretto , her final words are “ Now that Nero reigns , I can die happy.
” DiDonato broke into a sob when she sang the line : her character glimpses what fate has in store .
♦

When, at the beginning of March, the powerfully political Russian conductor Valery Gergiev led the première of a new production of Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman” at the Metropolitan Opera, a mild-mannered group of protesters gathered outside to object to his presence. “GERGIEV SIGNED LETTER BACKING THE ANNEXATION OF CRIMEA AND WAR IN UKRAINE” read one sign. It was something of an understatement. Gergiev, the longtime chief of the Mariinsky Theatre, in St. Petersburg, has close ties to Vladimir Putin, and has repeatedly participated in high-profile propaganda efforts on behalf of the current Russian regime, including making appearances in Crimea and in Syria. In light of the regime’s well-documented involvement in domestic repression, assassination plots, efforts to sabotage Western democracies, and, not least, interference in American elections, Gergiev’s relationships with institutions like the Met deserve scrutiny.
Inside the house, other objections came to mind. When Gergiev first emerged on the international scene, in the nineties, he often elicited performances of sensational force. In recent years, his work has deteriorated, perhaps because of an overfull schedule, and his “Dutchman” reached a new low, at least in my experience. It seldom rose above the level of the acceptable, and at several moments it fell below the standard of a top-rank opera house. Tempos were sludgy, entries were ragged, the emotional temperature was lukewarm, nothing sparked. Dozens of conductors could have achieved superior results. What is gained by hiring Gergiev? Whatever the rationale is, it can no longer be musical.
The production, which closed prematurely because of the coronavirus shutdown, arrived with problems of its own. Expectations ran high because François Girard, the director, had triumphed at the Met with “Parsifal,” in 2013. That staging’s stormy skies, wasted landscapes, and lakes of blood showed visual invention of a high order, and the final tableau of redemption for Kundry had an air of authentic grace. Girard appeared set to become the Met’s leading director of Wagner—to be sure, a title of no great weight, given the company’s near-total absence from the annals of significant Wagner interpretation.
The tale of the ghostly Dutchman, cursed to wander the seas until a woman saves him, is part of a long lineage that includes everything from “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” to “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Girard’s intention, according to an interview he gave to the Times, was to detach the old legend from its supernatural trappings and transplant it to a more abstract, mystical realm. In the libretto, the Dutchman lands in Norway after a storm; impresses a local captain, Daland, with his wealth; and wins the hand of Daland’s daughter, Senta. Girard, wishing to mute the apparent misogyny of the plot, made the Dutchman’s gold an array of glowing crystals, apparently of cosmic significance. The change did little to redeem the transaction, and, in any case, it undersold Wagner’s powers of critique: the mercenary trading of women for gold is a recurring theme of his work, and he uses it to depict societal corruption, notably in the “Ring” cycle.
There are, of course, many different ways to stage “Dutchman”: classic productions by Joachim Herz and by Harry Kupfer framed the story as Senta’s dream. Girard, though, jettisoned Romantic conventions only to land in a minimalist limbo. The set design, by John Macfarlane, was dominated by the menacing prow of a ship—oddly, not the Dutchman’s but Daland’s. The opera’s one surefire dramatic coup, the entry of the Dutchman’s vessel, passed by almost unnoticed, with a few Spielbergian cloud formations and flickering lights. Act II was given over to a kind of ballet of intertwining ropes, which accompanied the Spinning Chorus; it was arresting at first, then became labored. In Act III, the bloodcurdling chorus of the Dutchman’s spectral crew lacked a persuasive visual component. Throughout, motifs from Girard’s “Parsifal” reappeared, including barren terrain and scudding wrack, yet they amounted mainly to gloomy atmosphere.
The star bass-baritone Bryn Terfel was to have sung the title role, but in January he fractured his ankle and withdrew. His replacement, Evgeny Nikitin, is a favorite collaborator of Gergiev’s, and, more to the point, sang strongly as the evil sorcerer Klingsor in Girard’s “Parsifal.” The cutting snarl of Nikitin’s tone in the middle and upper registers conveyed the Dutchman’s menace; the character’s melancholy ardor went missing. The veteran German soprano Anja Kampe blazed intermittently in the role of Senta; although some top notes went astray, her Act II ballad was cannily plotted and urgently delivered. Franz-Josef Selig was a sturdy, stolid Daland. The young tenor Sergey Skorokhodov gave an attractive Italianate ping to the role of Senta’s suitor Erik. David Portillo was similarly luminous as the Steersman. The men of the Met chorus let out a potent nautical roar, even though they were often left to fend for themselves as Gergiev waved vaguely and gazed down at his score.
The following night, the mood at the Met brightened considerably. A well-travelled David McVicar production of “Agrippina,” Handel’s glorious satire of Roman decadence, was receiving the penultimate performance of its run, and the cast had the loose, convivial spirit of a team that has been working together for weeks and is preparing to disband. A trio of devil-may-care female leads outdid one another in actorly extravagance. Joyce DiDonato, as Agrippina, the last wife of Emperor Claudius, clip-clopped to and fro in high heels, smirking conspiratorially. Kate Lindsey, as Agrippina’s deranged son, Nero, spazzed out in a bad-boy style, burying her face in heaps of stage cocaine. Brenda Rae brought down the house when her character, the fast-learning ingénue Poppea, drunkenly tried to hide behind a flower arrangement at a bar.
This was, needless to say, a modern-dress update. McVicar had little trouble finding contemporary analogies; indeed, he might have tried a bit harder. Having Matthew Rose, as Claudius, wear a long red tie and wield a golf club, à la Donald Trump, felt cheap (and it also did a disservice to the emperor’s legislative record). Other interpolations hit home. The countertenor Nicholas Tamagna, as the snivelling politician Narciso, sang the aria “Volo pronto” while sitting next to Agrippina at a plush theatre. When the empress groped him during the da capo, he became audibly aroused, causing others to shush him. The sequence was a little comic masterpiece, deftly integrated with the music.
At the heart of the show was DiDonato, who pulled off yet another vocal-theatrical tour de force. She used her dizzyingly precise and flexible voice to capture myriad nuances of Agrippina’s dubious character: insincere flattery, veiled contempt, sadistic flirtation, hidden fury. The last element deepens the characterization—Agrippina is as much a victim of a corrupt system as she is its master manipulator.
Lindsey and Rae may not rival DiDonato in vocal agility, but they crafted indelible portrayals all the same. The countertenor Iestyn Davies, as Ottone, made the most of the opera’s more serious moments: his lament “Voi che udite” brought the lunacy to a haunting halt. Harry Bicket, in the pit, elicited idiomatic playing throughout; the harpsichordist Bradley Brookshire made a cute onstage cameo, playing continuo with the mannerisms of a lounge pianist.
Truth be told, this “Agrippina” was madcap to a fault, undercutting the leads with an excess of focus-stealing poses and pratfalls. Still, it made a great old score come alive, and its portrait of a society ruled by cynicism and venality felt pertinent. The delicious irony that hangs over the opera’s pseudo-happy ending is that Agrippina is destined to be murdered by the same son whom she schemes to place on the throne. In Vincenzo Grimani’s brilliant libretto, her final words are “Now that Nero reigns, I can die happy.” DiDonato broke into a sob when she sang the line: her character glimpses what fate has in store. ♦
An earlier version of this article misidentified the onstage performer of the harpsichord continuo in “Agrippina.”


newyorker--2020-03-16--Briefly Noted Book Reviews

Briefly Noted Book Reviews

Golden Gates , by Conor Dougherty ( Penguin Press ) .
Time and again , in this sweeping account of San Francisco ’ s housing crisis , warring constituencies—tenants , techies , homeowners , builders , and activists—talk past one another , often with loudspeakers .
One woman suggests that the groups instead attend their opponents ’ meetings : “ Just show up , shut up , and sit there for half a year , listening.
” To Dougherty , such calls for empathy seem to offer hope both for Bay Area residents being priced out and for city officials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Although his book focusses on the zoning laws and economic distortions that created the shortage in the first place , at its core lies a subtle appeal against tribalism .
These Fevered Days , by Martha Ackmann ( Norton ) .
The Emily Dickinson who emerges in this vivid , affectionate chronicle is a complex and warm-blooded individual—as curious , defiant of convention , and passionate in life as in her poems .
Ackmann selects ten transformative junctures , portraying the poet as a sociable , self-assured teen-ager ; as a student struggling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ artist building a body of work and even beginning to publish .
Despite Dickinson ’ s legendary penchant for solitude , Ackmann sees the intensity of her relationship with the world—a world devastated by the Civil War but illuminated for her by correspondence with mentors and friends—as the ultimate sustenance of her poetry .
The Resisters , by Gish Jen ( Knopf ) .
In this dystopian work of speculative fiction , a young girl named Gwen plays on the coed baseball team of AutoAmerica as it competes against ChinRussia at the Olympics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ authoritarian society divided between the Netted , who are privileged and fair-skinned , and the Surplus , who live in swamps or on water .
Her talent at sports offers her a chance to join the Netted class .
The novel is narrated by her father , who wants to see his “ daughter , in all her giftedness and idiosyncratic humanity , bloom.
” As the family struggles in a fractured society , the “ hallowed meaning ” of baseball “ in our American dreams ” becomes pivotal : “ Was this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
” Romance in Marseille , by Claude McKay ( Penguin Classics ) .
A noted figure of the Harlem Renaissance , McKay had an itinerant career—travelling widely in Europe and North Africa , and eventually forsaking the Marxism of his early years for Catholicism .
This vibrant satire , begun in 1929 , later abandoned , and now published for the first time , follows a West African stowaway on a boat from Marseille to New York .
Discovered by the crew and shut in a freezing room , he loses both @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a twist based on real cases , wins a large settlement from the shipping company and is able to return to Marseille a rich man .
Encompassing a huge diversity of perspectives—including memorable evocations of Marseille ’ s black Marxist scene and of its queer subculture—the novel remains radical in its clear-eyed assessment of racism and unsentimental depiction of disability .

Golden Gates, by Conor Dougherty (Penguin Press). Time and again, in this sweeping account of San Francisco’s housing crisis, warring constituencies—tenants, techies, homeowners, builders, and activists—talk past one another, often with loudspeakers. One woman suggests that the groups instead attend their opponents’ meetings: “Just show up, shut up, and sit there for half a year, listening.” To Dougherty, such calls for empathy seem to offer hope both for Bay Area residents being priced out and for city officials facing resistance to building more housing. Although his book focusses on the zoning laws and economic distortions that created the shortage in the first place, at its core lies a subtle appeal against tribalism.
These Fevered Days, by Martha Ackmann (Norton). The Emily Dickinson who emerges in this vivid, affectionate chronicle is a complex and warm-blooded individual—as curious, defiant of convention, and passionate in life as in her poems. Ackmann selects ten transformative junctures, portraying the poet as a sociable, self-assured teen-ager; as a student struggling with religious faith; as a prolific artist building a body of work and even beginning to publish. Despite Dickinson’s legendary penchant for solitude, Ackmann sees the intensity of her relationship with the world—a world devastated by the Civil War but illuminated for her by correspondence with mentors and friends—as the ultimate sustenance of her poetry.
The Resisters, by Gish Jen (Knopf). In this dystopian work of speculative fiction, a young girl named Gwen plays on the coed baseball team of AutoAmerica as it competes against ChinRussia at the Olympics. She has grown up in an authoritarian society divided between the Netted, who are privileged and fair-skinned, and the Surplus, who live in swamps or on water. Her talent at sports offers her a chance to join the Netted class. The novel is narrated by her father, who wants to see his “daughter, in all her giftedness and idiosyncratic humanity, bloom.” As the family struggles in a fractured society, the “hallowed meaning” of baseball “in our American dreams” becomes pivotal: “Was this not the level playing field we envisioned?”
Romance in Marseille, by Claude McKay (Penguin Classics). A noted figure of the Harlem Renaissance, McKay had an itinerant career—travelling widely in Europe and North Africa, and eventually forsaking the Marxism of his early years for Catholicism. This vibrant satire, begun in 1929, later abandoned, and now published for the first time, follows a West African stowaway on a boat from Marseille to New York. Discovered by the crew and shut in a freezing room, he loses both legs to frostbite, but, in a twist based on real cases, wins a large settlement from the shipping company and is able to return to Marseille a rich man. Encompassing a huge diversity of perspectives—including memorable evocations of Marseille’s black Marxist scene and of its queer subculture—the novel remains radical in its clear-eyed assessment of racism and unsentimental depiction of disability.