In an uncommon occurrence, I have an evening off from pretty much everything. This does not imply that I have a dearth of things to do. There are still boxes of crap all over my study from the deconstruction of my academic office that need to be sifted and put on to book shelves and in file cabinets. I have a few progress notes from this week that are not yet written. The writing projects pile up and I look at scraps of outline and think ‘not yet, not yet’ and I still have plenty of score study for Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci to do (but rehearsal on Monday showed me that I know it better than I thought). I also have to start giving some thought to The Tempest which I am directing this summer and figuring out how I’m going to configure it for our church basement performance space with limited technical capacity. I know what I want but how to do it on a budget of $1.95 and an old book of Green Stamps.
And so I am reveling in not too much to do and nothing due immediately. The weather is lovely so I have the doors to the terrace open. That may be a mistake because it makes me look closely at what I need to do to bring that space up to my standards of housekeeping and decor and there’s a bunch that needs to be done out there. But not this evening. I’ll make my trip to the garden center for pots and new plants sometime in April and, if the taxes are favorable, I’m thinking of getting some sort of recycling water fixture for my strange little courtyard that has no particular purpose. The HOA prevents bird feeders. I need to see if there’s anything about leaving out some peanuts for the crows so I can do my best Moira Rose.
Public health news remains strangely quiet, other than a proliferation of ads for various wellness regimens that seem to cross my social media regularly. All of them, which have the formal correctness, repetitiveness, and lack of any idiosyncrasies whatsoever that strongly suggest they were written by AI prompt, are urging me to uncover the secrets that modern medicine has tucked away for decades and that all of my ills can be cured by their patent formula of mushroom extract or antioxidants or jellyfish protein, etc. etc. Caveat emptor and good luck finding any peer reviewed science that will substantiate the manufacturer’s claims. Under US law, these products are considered food supplements, not drugs and therefore are not subject to FDA testing and regulation. There’s no requirement that they actually do anything (which is why they are sold for such vague conditions as enhanced well being) and there’s no guarantee that the contents of the bottle match what’s on the label. When my patients bring these products in, I give the same spiel – I have no science which tells me if this will be helpful or not. You’re welcome to try it and if it makes you feel better, great. I’ll keep my eyes on your liver and kidneys and other vital organs to be sure you’re not slowly poisoning yourself. (It’s happened a few times in my career).
We’re now a month into the Iran war. Billions are being spent. The president is being fed a pablum of talking points and film of things blowing up to soothe his nerves. The Secretary of Defense/War appears to be playing some sort of Christian Nationalist version of Call of Duty and there don’t seem to be a lot of adults with a true understanding of war and strategy calling the shots. More and more troops are being moved toward the Middle East which suggests there is some sort of plans for a ground assault somewhere. The Iranian army is nearly a million strong. The war is deeply unpopular as it’s unnecessary and it’s causing general inflation and economic chaos. The number of troops that would need to be committed to achieve any strategic goals in a ground assault is way beyond what we’re likely willing to muster. It could easily turn into another Ukrainian war with us playing Russia. This congress and administration can’t keep O’Hare and Hartsfield running smoothly. We’re expected to believe they can take Kharg island or reopen the Strait of Hormuz by force?
In the meantime, more and more dribbles out about just what’s in the Epstein files. I imagine some very rich and very powerful people are pulling all the strings to try and keep that bottled up within DOJ but the implications for the national security of other countries are strong and they have every reason to dig and I’m sure other intelligence services have copies of some of the more important and salacious material. DOJ is certainly not holding together well as a firewall directed at protecting the president at all costs. The release of materials related to Jack Smith’s case regarding Trump’s illegal retention of classified documents was certainly illuminating showing that it was all about the president and his family attempting to monetize state secrets. No wonder he was hell bent on the second term as those charges would likely have put him in jail for the remainder of his life. I have to wonder if those documents getting out was a mistake due to the caliber of folk left at DOJ or if there’s someone quietly working to slip damning evidence into regular outgoing document dumps.
The choice of TV tonight is The Pitt. I’m finally catching up with it. I’m about two thirds of the way through season one. It’s better than most medical shows. There’s obviously excellent technical advisors on set as I haven’t seen any false moves or mispronunciations. All of the cases are the kinds of things I’ve seen in ERs during my career. The only false note is that they’re having about six months worth of gut wrenching cases happening within a single twelve hour shift. We all have those days but THIS DAY is definitely fantastical. I am particularly taken with the portrayal of the med students and residents. They usually get the dynamics of learners all wrong but the writers have got the personality types and interactions down pat with all of the subtleties. Dr. Duxbury says two thumbs up.
We continue to live in interesting times. I can’t let myself get too invested in the craziness. It’s not good for my mental health. I’ll keep myself sane, involved in my usual pursuits, doing my best to leave the world better than I found it, and trying to stay calm and objective. It isn’t easy. But it’s all I can do.
Life, The Universe, and Everything 