Hi, it's Jeff Krasno and welcome to the Commian podcast, skipping the preamble today and jumping right in.

Okay, so we are hearing medical officials and news people talk a lot about precautionary measures to quash the spread of COVID.

And social cohesion around mask wearing, social distancing,

avoiding super spreader events, etc. is absolutely essential. But there is a dearth of discussion

around our underlying well-being or lack thereof. And this is a lengthy exhortation on that subject. I encourage anyone who is

interested to read the original article at onecomcom slash commusings, as it has dozens of links

to source data. So without further ado, laced with some madcap personal anecdotes as usual,

here are my thoughts on the other epidemic. We're late for soccer. It's always the elusive

shingards hunkered away in some shadowy corner. I suppose I too might sequester at the prospect of the

flailing cleats and errand kicks of 10-year-old girls. Lolly sanctifies punctuality,

an odd proclivity for someone her age. Any remote intimation of tardiness plugs the chatterbox

that normally lives inside her head, into a speaker,

and an endless stream of anxious inner dialogue is amplified out into the world. I wonder where

she gets this loquacity. I'm channeling all my parental empathy to pull back from DefCon 5. Lolly is fiddling with the ASO app,

checking the game schedule for the 10th time when she discovers that I am the responsible parent

for bringing this week's snack. Fucking snack. Obviously, I've not procured the cursed snack.

This post-game pastime is often more sacred than the game itself.

Somehow, when a parent provides a superlative snack,

there's a mystical halo effect that gilds the child

with a profound sense of belonging and confidence.

The beleaguered designated parent saddled with

bulging satchels of mystery grub are eyed with the scrutiny of a military aid carrying the nuclear

...