Lockdown Stories

In the award-winning film “Cast Away,” the main character, played by Tom Hanks, finds himself alone on an island after surviving a horrific plane accident in which he is presumably the only survivor. The film is a study of how one might survive for a long time with no human contact. It challenges the conventional

A few months ago, G had a harrowing return flight from a business trip (remember air travel?!). It was in the middle of a terrible storm and was extremely bumpy. The fact that he was suffering from food poisoning made the trip even more terrifying. It was one of those flights where the thought of

When this crisis is over — and it will be over, someday, in some form — few people believe we will simply throw open our doors and windows and stream, en masse, to the streets. It won’t look like the photos after the end of World War II, as people celebrated wildly and held victory parades.

This article in The Atlantic, by physicist and MIT professor Alan Lightman, issues an invitation. With more quiet time, more privacy, more stillness, we have an opportunity to think about who we are, as individuals and as a society. ALAN LIGHTMAN, “The Virus is a Reminder of Something Lost Long Ago,” The Atlantic, 1 April