Everything Has Always Been Terrible

A series in which I recall that suffering in human life is something all humans have in common. Cadiz Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1800 You don’t know until you know. Is the vague statement I am making to begin this entry. (Apologies to Perd Hapley.) You don’t know if bad smells are the smell of […]

Things Have Always Been Terrible

A series in which I gently suggest that I’m not the only person to be frustrated, though it certainly feels that way. Quebec Smallpox Epidemic of 1776 Why isn’t Quebec part of the United States? Yes, it’s due to one of your favorite Terrible Things: smallpox. Notorious baddie Benedict Arnold was up north in the […]

Things Have Always Been Terrible

A series in which I reflect on all the bad things that have happened to people, in order to gain perspective on stupid shit that goes wrong. Middle East Black Death Epidemics You know Aleppo, Syria, where things were recently terrible? In October 1348, they had 500 deaths a day from the Black Death. THINGS […]

In Her Mind

“It’s important for a writer to know what’s going on in her mind,” Erica Jong told the New York Times reporter. The feature is “Sunday Routine,” and I was reading it in my pre-getting up cell phone reading, which is NPR stories, the NYT, WaPo, and perhaps CNN. I mean, that’s fine for Jong to […]