March 5, 2024
Random Acts… “Every Single Secret” a page-turning read
There are no secrets in life. As hard as we may wish to hide things, somehow, the truth always manages to reveal itself.
In Christina Dodd’s latest romantic thriller, “Every Single Secret” (Canary Street Press, 322 pp), secrets surround Rowan Winterbourne, as she plans revenge against Gregory Torval, a drug and arms dealer who murdered her mother and issued a vendetta against all in her family.
When Joe Grantham shows up on her doorstep, she lets her guard down – just long enough to have him blackmail her into going with him to Torval’s private island for his own private purposes.
Secrets begin to unravel as the two work together to stay alive during Torval’s decadent weekend birthday gathering. The meaning of family is explored as Rowan deals with the lonely life she’s lived in order to stay alive.
The characters Dodd draws are intense, and much of the book is a page-turner. What’s most interesting, perhaps, are the discussion questions at the end of the novel. It’s rare to read a thriller that actually has thought-provoking ideas at its heart.
Dodd reveals that the idea for “Every Single Secret” came as she wondered, “What happens when a young woman living an average American teen life has her life shattered by violence? How does she go on? What is the effect on her as she grows into an adult?”
With the constant mass shootings that seem to occur now, the threat of violence in our lives is very real. We watch news reports about young victims being killed in school and college settings, as bystanders are interviewed about those who have died. But all too soon, those reports give way to some other tragedy, and a mass shooting is quickly forgotten.
But so many people, like Rowan and Joe, are scarred forever by the violence they’ve witnessed or been hurt by. What will it take to do more than just accept violence as part of the status quo?
For the characters in Dodd’s book, who are all flawed and broken in some way, there is justice in the end. Some die, letting their broken hearts kill them. Some live, working through the pain that has long defined their existence.
It’s no secret that that’s a journey we all can relate to.
July 13, 2023
Random Acts… Humanity’s challenges reflected in ‘The Endless Vessel’
Are you happy? What would you do to grasp happiness, or joy? What would happen if you lost your ability to feel joy?
In a world not far in the future, humanity is challenged by a “depression plague” called “the Grey” that has no cure. Lily Barnes, a young Hong Kong-based materials engineer, struggles with the emotional fallout of a father who died years ago, and is doing her best to avoid getting infected by the plague. But when she is given an object that calls to her heart, she cannot turn away from taking an incredible journey through space and time.
In the 1789, Molly Calder loses her husband to a brain aneurysm, and wonders if she will ever be happy again, until she decides to explore the nature of death itself, hoping to bring her husband’s spirit back to life. She creates a ship that goes on to sail the seven seas, and that centuries later, draws Lily to its decks.
A thought-provoking novel that combines a near-future dystopian mystery with historical fiction, “The Endless Vessel” by Charles Soule (Harper Perennial/Harper Collins Publishers, 456 p.) will take you on a page-turning journey about what it means to be human.
On one level, the book explores society’s struggle to find connection and work together for a better world.
You can’t help but think about the partisan divide that plagues our nation (and the world) today. How can we connect with others when we think our perspective is the only correct one? If depression is anger turned inward, what do we do when that anger explodes outward?
On another level, the novel explores every person’s struggle to find connection and love.
The emotional journey that Lily takes is one that every daughter (or son) who has lost a parent – to death or abandonment – will relate to. Lily’s anger and fear, mixed with hope and love, leads her to the understanding that we all need other people… that we can’t go through life alone.
As the author writes, “ ‘The Endless Vessel’ is an adventure. It is a voyage, it is a treasure hunt, and a quest. This story started with a remarkably simple idea, an image I couldn’t shake – a ship that never stopped sailing, on a non-stop, centuries-long voyage. That’s the literal interpretation of the title, and we see that ship in the story.
“The more figurative version is that it’s about us – we are all endless vessels, constantly seeking to fill ourselves with experience, love, and the most important, elusive quality of all… happiness. Joy, even. Our souls are endless vessels. Humanity itself is an endless vessel.”
Here’s to getting in touch with that endless vessel…
May 26, 2022
Random Acts… Being neighborly needed more than ever
Newberry Medal-winning author Kelly Barnhill says she started writing “The Ogress and the Orphans” (Algonquin Young Readers, 390 pp) by accident.
“Like many people in this country, and perhaps some of you as well, I found the last handful of years difficult, weighed by heartsickness and worry and chronic rage,” Barnhill writes. “Had we really become this unkind to each other? This waspish and nasty, our aggrievements now weaponized? Were we so distrustful of our neighbors and communities that any hope for cooperation and collaboration was forever lost?”
So she started writing fairy tales, which led to the story of “The Ogress and the Orphans,” a charming and insightful book that asks important questions, like what does it mean to be a neighbor? What is the purpose of generosity? Does kindness matter? And what happens to a loving community “when it loses its heart, its conscience and its way?”
Her story centers around the once-lovely town of Stone-in-the-Glen, which has fallen on hard times after disasters strike. The people are bedazzled by the Mayor, who promises that he alone can fix their problems, but only the children at the Orphan House see the truth of what is happening.
Barnhill’s allegory is so close to reality that you may think you know all the characters in this tale, but you’d be surprised at who sees what in the end.
The events that unfold in Stone-in-the-Glen gradually change the community that once cared about its neighbors into a town that shuts its doors to anyone perceived as different, and becomes suspicious of any act of kindness. Rules that dictate behaviors are accepted as normal.
The author’s simple descriptions show the thousand little cuts that change an idyllic community into a closed society of unthinking people who automatically believe the worst of everyone. I wonder how many of us look at our towns and cities today, and can see that that is what is happening to us.
This land that was once a shining example of democracy has slowly devolved into a never-ending partisan contest of bickering and hateful rhetoric. We’re so busy shouting our opinions on social media, we can’t hear what anyone else is saying.
Disasters that have placed restrictions on our daily lives continue to plague us. COVID-19 is not going away tomorrow. The war in Ukraine is not going to end next week. Inflation is hurting everyone’s pocketbooks, and despite all the droughts, wild fires and changing weather patterns, climate change is still being debated.
We’ve become a country where mass shootings are normal and acceptable. We say we want an answer to the violence, but we keep electing politicians who do nothing about the problem.
In Barnhill’s book, there is a solution to opening the eyes of people who have deluded themselves into complacency, and forgotten what it means to care about others. You’ll have to read the book to find out how this fairy tale reaches its happy ending.
But here’s a hint…
“They remembered that a story, in the mind of the reader, is like music,” she writes. “And discussing stories among other minds and other hearts feels like a symphony. They remembered how ideas make their own light…”
December 10, 2021
Random Acts… A plug for Heartmob and holiday movies
As a journalist, I rarely plug specific causes. Instead, I write stories and columns, in hopes of moving people’s hearts. But I’m going to make an exception today…
If you, or someone you know is being harassed online, sign up to stress-test the updated Heartmob, Hollabeck’s platform where those experiencing online abuse can share their stories and get help. This stress test is being held to tweak the platform before it officially re-launches, with design changes made possible by Craig Newmark Philanthropies.
Newmark, the founder and creator of Craigslist, says, “I’ve seen a lot of pointless online abuse, harassment, over the last 30 years, and it really pisses me off. I’ve been and am being targeted by professionals, and really wish Heartmob was around to minimize ongoing damage.”
In addition to the relaunch of Heartmob, the Coalition Against Online Violence’s Online Violence Response Hub was set up to support women and gender-expansive journalists who are especially targeted for their gender, and just for doing their jobs.
I hope you’ll support both efforts.
And last, but not least, here’s a plug for my new movie. Yes, in addition to my journalism work, I write movies.
Hope you’ll watch “Christmas Takes Flight,” which premieres on CBS on Sunday, Dec. 19 at 8 p.m. Eastern/Pacific, and will be available on demand after that on Paramount+. “Christmas Takes Flight” is one of two new CBS holiday films, marking the network’s return to the genre for the first time in 10 years.
The other CBS holiday film, “A Christmas Proposal,” airs this Sunday, Dec. 12 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern/8 p.m. Pacific and stars an all-Latinx cast in a story that shares the joy of the season in a way that all families can relate to.
The stars and writers of both movies just participated in a Twitter Spaces conversation about holiday movies that you can listen to by clicking on the link below:
‘Tis The Season: A CBS Original Holiday Movie Conversation 🎄🍿 via Twitter Spaces
There will be silence at the beginning, but hang in there, and people will start talking after a couple of minutes. I had some technical difficulties with my microphone, and will chime in around the 20-minute mark.
You can also catch my holiday movie, “Christmas Inheritance,” on Netflix.
It was great fun writing these films. If you like heartwarming, positive rom-coms, these movies are totally worth watching, if I do say so myself.
Happy holidays!
Random Acts… Mysteries tease the brain for answers
The mysteries of life start popping into conversations as soon as two-year-olds start asking, “Why?”
For young readers, the mystery genre forces our minds to contemplate all sides of a question. In order to solve a riddle, we have to be open-minded enough to look at different perspectives.
If you’re still holiday shopping, there are a couple of great books out for the middle school reader (ages 10 and up).
“Cold-Blooded Myrtle” by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Algonquin Young Readers, 360 pp) is the latest in the Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery series, featuring a 12-year-old Victorian amateur sleuth and Young Lady of Quality who lives in the quiet village of Swinburne, England. Myrtle’s father, the town prosecutor, is a widower who tries to curb his daughter’s interest in criminology, but somehow, she always manages to stumble onto the town’s latest murder.
Aiding Myrtle in her investigations is her unflappable governess from French Guiana, Miss Ada Judson, who brings both calm and a diverse modern woman’s perspective to the scene.
“Cold-Blooded Murder” takes place at Christmastime before the turn of the century, when the owner of Leighton’s Mercantile is found dead the morning his annual Yuletide display is to be unveiled. The murder is somehow connected to Myrtle’s deceased mother, and she’s determined to follow clues that are likely to put her and Miss Judson in danger.
Along the way, Myrtle shares little tidbits that are interesting factoids, such as noting that the word scapegoat’s meaning today doesn’t match its origins. “It was once an actual goat released into the wilderness to carry away the sins of the people, escaping unharmed (theoretically, anyway) – while another, more unlucky goat was sacrificed.”
For those interested in exploring the meaning of life, the Japanese classic “How Do You Live?” by Genzaburo Yoshino (Algonquin Young Readers, 280 pp) offers much for young minds (and old) to chew on.
The foreword to the English translation was written by Neil Gaiman, who read the book because famed filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki is basing his next film on it. Miyazaki is known for amazing animated films like “Spirited Away,” “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Ponyo.”
But back to “How Do You Live?” Gaiman calls it “such a strange book, and such a wise book.” Written in two voices, the first perspective is shared by Copper, a 15-year-old boy whose father has died. The second voice is that of his uncle, who writes to Copper in a journal, sharing advice that all young teens should ponder.
The author, who wrote the book in 1937, crafts the story of a pre-war teenager in Japan, dealing with friendship, bullying, social class and bravery.
To be honest, the first 100 pages seemed dull. But after that, the book was full of important questions. When the uncle writes about social class, he reminds Copper that those who work at menial tasks (think garbage haulers, gardeners, cooks and those who make life easy for those who have money) are “the very ones bearing this entire world on their shoulders…
“Without the labor of those people, we would have no civilization, and without that, there would be no progress for society. And what about you? What will you create? You take many things from the world, but I wonder what you will give back in return?”
He reminds Copper that the world was built by people working together. The book was written prior to World War II, when Japan was becoming increasingly militaristic and authoritarian. Yoshino, who had attended political meetings, was arrested and imprisoned for 18 months.
After his release, he wrote this book, encouraging readers to think for themselves, and stand up for others in troubled times. It’s a message that is clearly still relevant today.
After all, solving the mysteries of life starts by answering the question, how do you live?
June 25, 2021
Random Acts… Don’t be afraid to intervene against harassment
It was a Sunday on the edge of downtown Detroit. The street was deserted as the young Asian American woman walked up to the building where she was working the weekend shift.
Suddenly, a truck careened around the corner. The Caucasian men in it were clearly drunk. One of them yelled at the Asian American woman, “Go back to China!” and threw a beer bottle at her.
She jumped back as the bottle broke into shards at her feet.
That young woman was me. The incident happened years ago, but I’ll never forget the hate that was spewed at me. I wish I could say that was the only time I’ve experienced racism, but it wasn’t, and I’m not the only person who’s been the target of prejudice.
Incidents of verbal harassment and violence against Asian Americans have increased so much in the last year that anyone with an Asian face probably knows of someone who has been affected by the shameful behaviors seen so often in the news now.
Stop AAPI Hate, a California-based organization, has recorded nearly 7,000 hate incidents involving Asian Americans nationwide since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Want to do something about this? Sign up for “Bystander Intervention,” a free, virtual workshop that will train you on how to stop anti-Asian American and xenophobic harassment, co-sponsored by Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) and Hollaback!, a global organization dedicated to ending harassment in all forms.
This one-hour training is amazingly effective. What can you learn in one hour? You’ll hear about the incidents Asian Americans are facing now, ranging from small acts of aggression to violence. You’ll learn how bystander intervention can make a difference, and how to prioritize your own safety while intervening.
Hollaback!’s intervention methodology includes using 5D’s:
* Distract
* Delegate
* Document
* Delay
* Direct
For example, if you see someone being harassed by insults on the street, you can use distraction to stop the incident. You could approach the victim (NOT the perpetrator), and ask something innocuous, like directions to the nearest grocery store. This breaks up the incident and creates an opportunity for the harassment to end before it escalates further.
There’s an opportunity at the end of the training to practice the intervention methods, and figure out what you’re most comfortable doing.
The simple methods Hollaback! teaches can be used to stop harassment against anyone, not just Asian Americans.
This Zoom webinar is an hour worth everyone’s time.
For more information, check out https://www.ihollaback.org/.
May 25, 2021
Random Acts… Having less means so more in today’s world
We all have different memories of what life was like before the country shut down last March for the pandemic.
My friend Zoe reminded me that we ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant on January 25, 2020 to celebrate the Lunar New Year. That was the last time we ate out together in a restaurant. A year and four months later, she and her husband have still only eaten home-cooked meals.
I have yet to dine out in a restaurant, too, but did start buying take-out now and then a few months ago. One thing is clear – restaurants from fast food to more upscale eateries reduced their portions without reducing their prices. That’s not surprising, since the restaurant industry has been so hard hit by the pandemic. Hopefully, the portions will grow as restaurants compete to get diners in the door again.
Last week, I went into a Marshalls for the first time in more than a year, intent on using a store gift card that I’d received for Christmas 2019. It was nice to see that the store emphasized safety. Capacity was limited by counting customers as we entered, and all were asked to wear face coverings. What wasn’t nice was waiting in a checkout line of more than 30 people, who stood almost on top of each other.
Marshalls and Home Goods, both subsidiaries of The TJX Companies, had knocked down the wall between their two stores, and customers were funneled into one checkout line. That would have made sense, if they had had more than three cashiers working. After spending an hour in that line, let’s just hope the economy recovers quickly so that more cashiers are hired soon.
It’s great that retailers are opening their doors to more customers, that workers are returning to offices, and students to schools. But it’s going to be a long time before things are “normal” again.
Just as children born after 9/11 will never know what airports were like without security checkpoints, those born after 2019 will never know the ease of life without mask mandates. Yes, we’ll be able to ditch the masks in public when governments deem the pandemic to be “officially over” in their countries.
But the end of this pandemic does not guarantee that another will not rise to take its place. Those who refuse to wear masks and get vaccinated are just dooming themselves (and the rest of us) to a continual cycle of outbreaks, requiring masks, social distancing, and more.
It’s a blessing to have food on our tables, and to have meaningful work (whether that takes place in the workplace or remotely from home). It’s a blessing to be healthy, to live another day and share it with those we love. It’s a blessing to realize that having less means so much more in today’s world.
Not being able to talk face-to-face with friends has shown which friends care enough to keep in touch however possible. Not being able to hug people has reminded us how important the feeling of being touched really is. Staying home during lockdowns has slowed us down and taught us to truly value what’s important.
As we move forward into the “new normal” life ahead, let’s hope we create a world that’s more generous, more compassionate, and more loving than the one we left behind.
December 23, 2020
Random Acts… Be at home in the heart of Love
This year has been a dystopian movie come to life, with turmoil in everything from the pandemic to politics. People have lost jobs, homes, and a sense of normality in our daily lives. We’ve lost family members and friends to COVID.
The other day, a sister yelled at me for asking whether it was safe for a relative, who wanted to go see a loved one who was dying, to get on a plane right now. With the holiday season upon us, it’s a wonder that we aren’t all screaming at each other in frustration. The need to be with family is clearly outweighing public health officials’ warnings against travel right now.
If anything, months of isolation should have taught us the importance of family – both the ones we call kin by blood, and the ones we choose to care for out of love. But there’s another family that also needs us now – the strangers who take care of us in the hospital when we get sick, the workers who stock the grocery shelves and pick up our trash.
A plumber who’s worked in our house let me know this week that one of his employees has contracted COVID-19, so he has shut his entire company down for two weeks, making sure that everyone quarantines and tests negative before going back to work.
Those who think COVID-19 is a hoax haven’t met enough of those family members to realize how simple actions like wearing a mask and staying at least six feet apart can save a life. Or, maybe they’ve just been lucky enough to know someone whose COVID symptoms were no worse than a bad flu. Still, the increasing numbers should be enough of a wake-up call to look up and do something to protect themselves, if not others.
Still, there are rays of sunshine that surround us.
I have a young nephew who has Down syndrome. He knows that he can’t hug his friends, go into a store, or go to the movies now, because of the virus. But what he can do is check on his aunties over the phone.
So every night, he calls me to ask, “What are you doing? What are you having for dinner?” And every night, I ask him, “What did you do today? What are you watching on your iPad?” At the end of every call, we say to each other, “I love you.” So no matter what happens in our lives, Love is the blessing that we can all share with each other.
I am grateful to have family in my life, and friends who make living through this pandemic bearable. I appreciate having food on the table and a roof overhead. There is a vaccine on the horizon, and life will get better.
As the holidays approach, my wish for you is to know that…
You are at home in the heart of Love. May your life be anchored in truth and peace. Share who you are from the inside out, and remember that you are part of a larger family than you know.
August 20, 2020
‘Emerald Blaze’ a fun escape for readers
My sister Linda is a connoisseur of romance novels and science fiction, so when she recommended the Hidden Legacy series by Ilona Andrews, I knew it would be good.
What I didn’t know was that the series would be set in Houston, Texas, where I’m currently riding out the pandemic with family. I’ve read romance novels that take place in major cities on the East Coast or West Coast, or small towns in-between, but this was my first read set in the South.
It was fun recognizing real life city landmarks in the made-up tales of a world where magic users coexist with ordinary citizens. And of course, you have to root for the Baylor sisters as they battle evil with their extraordinary powers and find love with men they’re clearly destined to be with.
The newest book in the series is “Emerald Blaze” ($27.99, Avon Books), which goes on sale August 25. The novel chronicles the adventures of Catalina Baylor, now head of House Baylor and the Deputy Warden of Texas, responsible for overseeing breaches of magic law in the Lone Star State.
Aided by the dangerous Alessandro Sagredo, Catalina must find a way to shut down the monster in “The Pit” (otherwise known as Jersey Village) and stop the use of an illegal power-granting serum that could end humanity as we know it.
I laughed at a line in the book that said: “There were three certainties in Houston: death, taxes, and never-ending roadwork.” You could probably say the same about most major cities, but the description of “The Pit,” which was abandoned because the land sank and the area flooded was spot on.
In reality, Jersey Village sits on poorly drained, moderately permeable soils that leave parts of the area susceptible to flooding whenever it rains heavily. I could easily imagine the monster in “The Pit” rising from White Oak Bayou, which runs through part of the area.
“Emerald Blaze” by Ilona Andrews. Book cover courtesy of Avon Books.
If reading the series was great fun, talking with the authors was even more of a treat. Yes, authors, plural. Ilona Andrews, it turns out, is the husband-and-wife writing team of Ilona, a native-born Russian, and Andrew Gordon, a former communications sergeant in the U.S. Army.
The couple, who have penned four New York Times and USA Today bestselling fantasy and paranormal romance series, write under the pseudonym Ilona Andrews because it was a condition for publishing their first novel, “Magic Bites” in 2007.
As Ilona explains, “The publisher (Ace Books) wanted to change the book title, change the main character’s name, cut about a quarter of the manuscript, and change the author’s name to a female pseudonym because books in the urban fantasy genre sell better under female names.”
As Gordon tells it, “My first name is Andrew, and my grandmother’s maiden name was Andrews. In the military, you tend to go by last name, and I thought of myself as Gordon.”
So the pseudonym became Ilona Andrews. When speaking individually, they become Ilona and Gordon.
Thirteen years later, the duo lives in Texas and have traveled extensively around Houston. Hence, the setting for the Hidden Legacy series.
Ilona says readers of romance novels usually expect stories to be about one couple per book, with happily-ever-after endings. “With Hidden Legacy, we wanted to raise the stakes, make it more exciting, with more challenging obstacles,” she notes. “The obstacles we put before the characters were too many to resolve in one book.”
So the two elder Baylor sisters — Nevada and Catalina – each got a trilogy of books. Whether the third sister – Arabella – gets her own trilogy is yet to be determined. (If Avon is smart, she will.)
In general, the books have come out a year apart, but with the COVID-19 pandemic, printing deadlines have lost their certainty. (“Emerald Blaze” is the second book in the Catalina Baylor trilogy.)
Ilona Andrews has a very active blog (https://ilona-andrews.com/), which includes a section of free fiction – short stories, deleted scenes from published novels and extra goodies for fans. When the pandemic started, the authors say they were deluged by sad and desperate emails. Readers would tell them that they were in the hospital, sick with the virus, or that their children had the virus.
An ICU nurse in New York City told them that reading snippets from their blog during her breaks provided a much-needed mental break from the constant stress of caring for COVID patients.
“We’re not doctors, nurses or scientists,” Gordon says. “All we can do is write.”
So that’s what they did. Picking up on the world they created in the Kate Daniels urban fantasy series, the two started a new book, “Blood Heir,” which received thousands of comments. With half the novel done, the authors plan to finish writing the other half, then will sell it online in January 2021 as the first book in the Ryder series.
In the meantime, for anyone in need of a little mental escape, try reading the Hidden Legacy series.
For as Ilona says, “We all need some magic in our lives.”
April 28, 2020
Random Acts… Coronavirus brings risks and connections
It’s been three months since I’ve written a column for this blog. A little something called the coronavirus pandemic got in the way.
The week of February 24, when news of the raging virus in China had started to pierce people’s consciousness around the globe, I got on a plane to Houston. The trip to visit family in Texas had been planned for awhile. The only change in my travel routine was to carry disinfectant wipes to clean off the seat, tray table and arm rests.
I offered wipes to a couple of passengers around me, and the fellow seated next to me took one. We started talking, and I learned that he was a Canadian, en route home after a quick business trip to Los Angeles.
We had a great conversation about our two countries, politics, climate change, and more. I learned that Chris Adamson, president and COO of Swidget, is a former engineer who designed systems for space missions, working with NASA, SpaceX, and Canadian and European Space Agencies.
Taking that know-how, he and partner Lowell Misener have designed Swidget, an electrical outlet that uses existing wiring and different inserts to turn homes easily into smart homes, while cutting down on techie clutter. (https://www.swidget.com/)
One day, instead of having an Amazon Echo device sit on a living room table, Alexa may reside in the Swidget in your wall, answering commands without you having to dust the device.
Beyond learning about new technology, the chance encounter reminded me how simple acts of sharing can turn strangers into friends.
When the recommendation to halt nonessential travel was made, I decided to stay in Houston with family until the coronavirus pandemic is under control. My sister Linda, with whom I’m staying, now works from home in the dining room. I’m set up to write in the study.
The rest of the family lives elsewhere in Houston, Dallas and Austin, and with a stay-at-home order in place, we mostly talk by phone or text. Ditto with friends elsewhere.
The people we talk with in person these days are other shoppers and clerks at the grocery store, the pharmacist, and an occasional neighborhood walker. While standing six feet apart is the rule, people are happy to talk to the nearest stranger, proving that even with social distancing, the need to connect will always bring strangers together.
At the bank this morning, two of us in line commiserated about needing a haircut. The other day, shoppers lined up in the parking lot of a grocery store, waiting patiently as the security guard let people in and out, keeping the number of people in the store to no more than 50.
I listened as my sister talked to a fellow nearby, saying this reminded her of hurricane seasons, when people lined up outside stores to get provisions after storms hit. Disasters always bring out the hoarders and the helpers among us.
I can’t imagine getting on a plane in the near future. When nonessential travel resumes in earnest, there will no doubt be requirements for temperature checks or antibody testing before boarding.
If airlines are smart, they will space passengers six feet apart, even if that defeats the purpose of those seat rows that have no leg room and the tiny lavatories, installed to pack more passengers on board to increase profits.
Face masks are a pain to wear, but will probably become a part of the “new normal” until it’s safe to breathe freely, and smile at strangers again.
This coronavirus pandemic will pass. Until then… stay home if you can, and be grateful for your health. Don’t obsess over every newscast. Reconnect with family and friends.
And reach out to those in need, however you can. It’s true what they say… strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet.
Dinah Eng 