<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class="">A Dispatch From Seattle</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 14px;" class=""><i class="">or, Nervous in the Hot Zone</i></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Yes, we’re scared but we also make</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> zombie apocalypse jokes</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">By texts. I don’t know when I’ll see</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> my friends in person again.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">We don’t want to panic and overreact</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> but we don’t want</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">To underreact. Some of my friends</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> are still hosting parties.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Some of them are still planning</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> to take their previously </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Scheduled trips overseas. Some are</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> the polite looters</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Who are buying all the toilet paper</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> in Seattle.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">“Good for you,” I text to one of them.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> “You’ll be</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">The most hygienic and well-stocked</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> shitter in the city.”</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Some of my fellow Native Americans</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> are performing</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">The highly sacred Indigenous shrug,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> as in, “Dude,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">They’re not giving us smallpox</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> blankets.”</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">But, hey, it’s the Trumps. Their</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> wicked incompetence</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">And delusional arrogance is</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> striking us</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">With smallpox of the soul.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> I try to listen</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Only to the health experts,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> but the dipshits,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Conspiracy theorists, partisan </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> hacks, trolls,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">And the mentally ill dominate</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> the discourse,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">As they always do. How did</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> we get to a place</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Where the borderline personalities </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> get quoted</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">As if they were experts by borderline</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> journalists</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Who also act as if they’re experts,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> as well?</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Maybe the true pandemic is</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> immodesty.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Maybe the true pandemic is</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> the loss </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Of a shared and common </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> decency.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">But, hell, that’s big talk</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> for someone</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Like me, who just angrily,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> impulsively,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">And paranoidly bought</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> $500 worth</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Of canned food. And yet,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> I also know</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">That people are good. I know</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> that most of us</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Will reflexively switch</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> into kindness</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Mode. That’s what humans,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> at their best,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Have almost always done.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> In the meantime,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Here I am, re-binging on </span><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><i class="">Parks</i></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><i class=""> and Recreation</i></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">As I serve myself another bowl</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> of lactose-free</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Ice cream and rhyme my way</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> through self-quarantine.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(14, 14, 14); -webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><font color="#0e0e0e" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(14, 14, 14);" class="">- Sherman Alexie</span></font></div><div class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><br class=""></span></div></div></body></html>