Loved this. I agree on the people who refer to "the pandemic" in the past tense, but I also have been thinking about it a lot and have basically concluded that it's not necessarily careless lack of awareness that it is very much *still* a pandemic but that they are referring to that specific first 3-4 months when we privileged New Yorkers didn't go further than the corner of our block and were the most locked down. At least that's what *I* mean when I catch myself referring to it in the past tense and what most of my friends have acknowledged as what they mean.
(That second sentence is like 6 lines long and probably horribly grammatically correct but I have lost the will to write in short, clear sentences.)
Loved this. I agree on the people who refer to "the pandemic" in the past tense, but I also have been thinking about it a lot and have basically concluded that it's not necessarily careless lack of awareness that it is very much *still* a pandemic but that they are referring to that specific first 3-4 months when we privileged New Yorkers didn't go further than the corner of our block and were the most locked down. At least that's what *I* mean when I catch myself referring to it in the past tense and what most of my friends have acknowledged as what they mean.
(That second sentence is like 6 lines long and probably horribly grammatically correct but I have lost the will to write in short, clear sentences.)
Well said, Helena. I am ready to read whenever you are ready to write.