Are there any things about quarantine that you are enjoying?

[sashaburchuk]

I have been talking on the phone with different old friends for like 1-3 hours a day, and haven't been this social since I was in college. I am also enjoying reading for 8 hours a day, and I am getting enough sleep. I feel like an actual human being in community with other fellow humans in ways that I have not experienced in a decade.

I don't think I ever want to be "ambitious" again after this.

[richjensen]

I like that the revolution seems closer though it seems to be in a very tight race with the apocalypse.

The air seems cleaner and it is easy to get around if you are so inclined.

[sashaburchuk]

Last night I watched Naomi Klein and Angela Davis do a teach in for movements on coordinating direct actions and they, and Zizek, are definitely saying that great things have come out of moments of upheaval that resemble this one.

I have no hope that things are going to get better, but I am also going to work towards things getting better, cause that's the kind of person I am.

I like that the revolution seems closer though it seems to be in a very tight race with the apocalypse.

The air seems cleaner and it is easy to get around if you are so inclined.

[Abe]

I have seen an increase in gratitude and love, that is very nice. In my little SE suburban neighborhood people have been pretty nice about social distancing when I'm out for a run or social distance walk with Anna.

[Phil]

Yeah, I too am enjoying the forgiveness of ambitions that happens inside myself and maybe also out in the actual world. The permission to sprawl and do whatever. My daughter's Montessori teachers are like "Don't worry about it. Just pay attention to nature, talk about the alphabet and math if it comes up, enjoy each other." It's a surprising revelation to see that we all won't just decompose if we ease up on the deep habitual furious efforts.
Almost certainly accomplishment-mania will return, but for now this spaciousness is really nice.

[RCH]

I have to own up to my own perk: validation of my own loneliness. I've been isolated intermittently since 2015, stretches of seasons and years when I don't see a familiar face unless it's a clerk at the grocery store. Seeing how upsetting quarantine is to others for even a week makes me have more compassion for myself for experiencing it many more times over.

[m o l l y]

I like seeing how boring it is in most famous people's houses.

[yourfriendclaire]

I like that we’re finally part of a CSA! I will never go back to buying produce at the store.

[alex]

Is anyone else sleeping a lot better? I don't know if it is that things are much quieter (my bedroom is near the street), or my mind is much quieter (I never have anything to do the next day). I generally assumed my trouble sleeping was something wrong with me/my brain, but maybe society is the problem??

[ritchey]

Society is for sure the problem! I’m sleeping like a baby, up to nine hours a night, very unheard of for me.

[m o l l y]

Clapping out my window at 8pm is nice. I wave to the same neighbors every day. Most of whose faces I had never seen before. One dude gets up on the roon and bangs a cowbell and waves to the world like a Queen. It's great.

[Lucky Luc]

I'm saving so much money not buying gas, not going out or buying lunch at work, and not paying student loans that I have much more disposable income to indulge my eBay perfume addiction. Been stress-ordering and brushing up on my classic Guerlains and 90's favorites. Time enough at last.

[ritchey]

Haven't put gas in the car since March 13!!! We're only at half a tank still. Feels really weird and good.

[yourfriendclaire]

I am also really enjoying saving money! I set up a decently high-interest savings account late last year and am just lovingly putting every damn penny in there.

[m o l l y]

Been stress-ordering and brushing up on my classic Guerlains and 90's favorites.

Details please. Your taste in smells is impeccable.

[infopetal]

I like that we’re finally part of a CSA! I will never go back to buying produce at the store.

I just joined my first CSA! I'm a bit nervous I can get through it all but figured I will probably mostly be at home in the next months and it will hopefully inspire some more adventurous cooking. primarily motivated by the hopes of quality tomatoes.

[yourfriendclaire]

Hot tip for extending CSA veg: make soups and freeze them for later!

[m o l l y]

Tell me about your American CSA. They bring to house? Is selection of in-season treasures?

[yourfriendclaire]

Ours we have to pick up! In Los Angeles a ton of restaurants and cafés are turning their dining rooms into produce retailers and pantry staple shops, and some are also pickup spots for farm CSAs. I think it’s a really interesting and ultimately positive rearrangement of the supply chain, on a small scale! We’ve tried a couple CSAs—one from a farm run by a Laotian family that specializes in Asian veg (which was a bounty of mustard greens, bok choi, gai lan, those small wonderful Japanese sweet potatoes, scallions, green garlic, HUGE cilantro, etc) and one from an organic farm in Petaluma that is 80% salad greens. I find it super life-affirming and it inspires me to cook beautiful food and garden harder!

[m o l l y]

delightful.

[ritchey]

CSAs can differ from farm to farm! Some of them deliver a weekly box to your house and whatever's in it, you shut up and take. Usually the established ones are good at variety and pragmatic selections so you don't just get a huge box of stinging nettles or something, though. Other CSAs you go to the farm and pick up your box. Or some of them you go to a farm stand where they have a chalkboard that says what you are allowed to take (2 heads cabbage, 1 lb tomatoes etc.) but there's some leeway, like if you don't want tomatoes you can substitute more cabbage etc. One of the first CSAs I ever encountered was one Phil and Joey were members of where you went to the actual farm and picked a lot of it yourself. I remember I went with Joey one time to pick up their share and one of the things members were allowed to pick was "a handful of currants."

I totally agree that there is some really healthful shuffling of the supply chain going on in this regard. For example here COVID caused this emergency collectivization of a bunch of local small farms--they all got together and decided to pool their resources and offer all their stuff for sale on one online platform/at one pickup spot. So like the guy who just grows mushrooms; the couple that just makes hot sauce; the place that has all the eggs; plus many local small produce farms etc., now you can go online and order stuff from all of them at once, and they've collectively pooled labor, trucks, boxes, etc. to make it work. I feel like it's so nice and good for everyone and I hope it continues even after! I'm going to my pickup today.

[infopetal]

my neighborhood's CSA is one where you pay for the entire 25-week season up front ($620) and you have a window every Thursday to pick up whatever arrives from a local community center (usually a "share" of about 6–10 different types of vegetables, there are separate shares you can get for fruit, honey, mushrooms, etc.). you have to volunteer at least 2 shifts to facilitate pick-ups per season. I will say dropping so much $$ at once for something that will in theory last through the fall is terrifying given so much uncertainty about our world, but ~$25/week for an abundance of organic veg is good, right…?

[yourfriendclaire]

It’s definitely good! (And that’s around what we pay weekly too)

[infopetal]

p.s. I'm so jealous of friends in Los Angeles who have been able to take advantage of the new restaurant-as-pantry model [mention]yourfriendclaire[/mention] mentioned. maybe it's happening in Brooklyn/Lower Manhattan but I haven't seen anything like that around my parts in Queens. I would even love to even just get more take-out, but a lot of spots are only doing delivery, and you have to order through the apps, which I'm morally averse to using.

[RCH]

I tipped a fiver on my carry out order and it made ME feel good.

[Evan.V.N.S.J.]

I'm enjoying the lack of limits on HAMS

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[m o l l y]

Were there limits pre-quar?

[RCH]

I'm enjoying the lack of limits on HAMS

screen-shot-2020-05-04-at-5.13.19-pm.png

Me when I stand up from a squat

[yourfriendclaire]

I’m really enjoying FaceTiming with my friends’ children regularly

[matthew]

I like seeing how boring it is in most famous people's houses.

Lowlight seeing my therapist’s apartment

[meadows]

hahahahaha- was it upsetting? disappointing? ugly?

[jjstratford]

I'm enjoying not being in a hurry all the time.
Seeing the side effects of what happens when capitalism is halted like boarded up and empty stores and empty billboards.
Everyone having a renewed appreciation for basic things done IRL