Gathering in person may be the most important resistance

In March of this year it began to feel to me uneasily like spring of 2020 when the news feed descended into darkness, lockdowns loomed, and pandemic life meant a life of surrogates, (to which I fear, we became accustomed and all too fond.) Everything that once involved face to face contact became remote, untouchable, and experienced through a glowing lcd screen or a gelatinous barrier of hand sanitizer. It was also, for those with money, appeaallingly convenient. Just order on app, and everything your heart desired came to your door without friction, the delivery mark-up paid for by the irrationally exuberant stock market.

I manned the barricades of my mental health in 2020 by collecting vintage newspapers from Ebay. Instead of turning to the New York Times mortality reports I turned the crumbling pages of 1915’s Musical America, relishing morning toast with news of the consummations and rivalries of contraltos and bassists in American drawing rooms and conservatories in the middle of WW1. The want ads were a revelation. Even war has its upsides, like discounts on cello lessons, provided by desperate (and famous in Moldavia) immigrant musicians.