Issue 05: A Return to Normalcy
Not much happened yesterday politically, and I liked it.
This was a rainy, chilly week in San Francisco and I’ve felt reflective as we near the end of the first month of 2021. California reopened this week to the Purple Tier, restoring parklets, outdoor dining, personal salons, retail to 25%… But with variants continuing to spread undetected (we are 43rd in the world at genomic sequencing) - there are still plenty of ‘unknown-unknowns.’ Stay safe out there! Level up your safety routine and use better masks — or double-mask.
Since the Inauguration 10 days ago, there has been a palpable, collective sigh of relief. We now wake up to quotidian, dare we say ‘boring’ tweets from the leader of the free world. Anyone else feel a literal weight lift from their shoulders?
As I’ve wished before, “Bring on the khaki pants and Dad shoes of news!” We need it, after the four years + January that we have had:
One more — on Wednesday, January 26th, the House of Representatives delivered the articles of Impeachment to the Senate for the second time.
What a return to normalcy looks like so far
The Trump White House performed incredibly poorly in their response to Covid; that we have over 439,000+ Covid deaths in this country is a tragedy. As the Biden admin picks up the pieces, we’re learning exactly how misinformed, disorganized, and misguided their plans were.
In March 2020, the grassroots Covid 19 Tracking Project was created by writers at The Atlantic to provide missing data on testing and cases. I remember this site was just scrappy readouts from Excel spreadsheets in the beginning. Since then, they have become the primary source of data used by major news outlets to keep us informed. In a podcast interview the founders shared that they thought they would shame the Government into releasing the data:
”But by far the most shocking thing [for us] was that the government didn’t have this data. When we actually came to realize that — that was probably one of the worst days in the Pandemic — because of what it said about the overall rest of the capacity of the federal government to do this response.”
The Biden administration has also unlocked what Covid data the Trump administration did collect, but hid from the public. In July 2020, the WH required hospitals to report data to them directly, bypassing the CDC — so they could control the messaging. In a ‘return to normalcy,’ weekly COVID-19 state profile reports are now public, as they always should have been.
At the first WH Coronavirus briefing, an accomplished team of medical experts and public health professionals led the update: Rochelle Walensky of the CDC, Andy Slavitt, and Marcela Nunez-Smith, MD MHS. They will be working alongside Dr. Fauci, who has been more transparent about his silencing and treatment by the Trump administration in interviews.
To me, a ‘return to normalcy’ means accountability for the Capitol attack on January 6th. Five people have died as a result of injuries during the riots, and an additional 2 have died by suicide. Over 400 suspects have been identified, 135 have been arrested as investigations continue.
For all these efforts, Biden’s initial approval rating (64% acc. to Pew), is higher than Trump’s ever was. Trump left with a 29% approval rating, the lowest of his Presidency.
Creative to Creative
For me, the Inauguration — not January 1st — felt like ‘New Year’s Eve.’ A fresh administration and a fighting chance to combat Covid, political incompetence and downright cruelty. This is what we have been waiting for.
So I wanted to switch gears for a moment and think about what it means to be ‘creatively resilient’ in these times. How do you stay inspired when stuck at home? What has been giving you life? What do you find inspiring, interesting and invigorating in 2021? I’ll be sharing about my coffee chats with creatives, makers, and founders whom I admire and whose work I enjoy in a recurring section called ‘Creative to Creative.’ First up 👇🏻
Georgia Dant, Founder of Marfa Stance
Originally from London, Georgia creates products I like to describe as ‘architectural’ in nature because of the way they are conceived. As a former designer at Burberry making Transatlantic commutes from London to New York, she felt the pain point of traveling across multiple time and climactic zones — and then set out to design for it. Marfastance products are thoughtfully designed in the UK and crafted in San Zenone degli Ezzelini, Italy.
We chatted about how Marfa Stance’s modular components like vests, collars and hoods allow each piece to be configured and adapted to the local climate and preferences of each person. There could be dozens of women in a room wearing the same coat, but styling it differently. As a person living on the West Coast of California, not traveling during Covid, I think the success of her work today is showing something else — that casual, slow, long walks in the countryside (metaphorical and literal) can be a source of inspiration for fresh, thoughtfully considered pieces.
I lamented to Georgia that women’s clothing, in contrast to traditional men’s clothing, always seem to have pockets that are too small (I stan large pockets!). When out, I’m carrying my iPhone, hand sanitizer, masks… it seems no pockets can be big enough for all the things. A seasoned world traveler, she too, felt this pain point and translated it into generous pockets in her beautiful, quilted coats. To me, her line signals a return to cozytecture, a word I’ve made up for myself (I don’t expect this to take off 😆) to mean all things cozy that seem to structure our days in Covid. That these pieces are also sophisticated enough for city life when it reopens, is an absolute bonus.
I’ll pause here, and leave you with a few sources of creative inspiration from Georgia:
I have a few audio suggestions of what's been keeping me going! Music or sound is soothing for my sometimes overactive mind and helps focus my creativity. Here they are:
A piece of music I love that I play for calm /reflection but also for hope: Richard Hawley, Last order. I usually play this in the middle of the day to level set.
For an upbeat energetic mood: Sonny Clevelend, Move on. A great morning revitalization!
For general curiosity of how others have been coping with this situation (Covid), I think Grounded by Louis Theroux podcasts are so interesting. I play these when boxing up orders ;)
Thanks for reading, and have a great Sunday, everyone 🤍
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References
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/01/15/biden-begins-presidency-with-positive-ratings-trump-departs-with-lowest-ever-job-mark/
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/536341-white-house-releases-previously-hidden-state-covid-data
https://beta.healthdata.gov/browse?tags=covid-19-spr
https://theconversation.com/trump-white-house-goes-300-days-without-a-press-briefing-why-thats-unprecedented-130164
The Trump administration went 300+ days without Press Briefings. They are now consistent again under WH Press Secretary Jen Psaki. And they’re not belligerent in tone, a welcome change.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55626148
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/L-A-s-reopening-plan-resembles-S-F-s-15903752.php
https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Newsom-lifts-state-stay-home-orders-15896015.php
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/01/27/961155874/watch-bidens-coronavirus-team-gives-first-briefing
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/podcasts/the-daily/anthony-fauci-donald-trump-coronavirus-pandemic.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/us/politics/trump-cdc-coronavirus.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2021/01/08/genome-sequencing-in-the-united-states-or-lack-thereof/
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/29/politics/biden-executive-orders-climate-health-care-coronavirus-immigration/index.html
Biden has signed 42 Executive Orders since taking office, many of them reversing decisions by Trump and restoring decisions by the Obama administration.