It's Brian Lehrer and this is my daily politics podcast from WNYC Studios.

It's Monday, March 16th.

Good morning everyone.

I wish I could say good morning individually to every one of you listening right now because we all need each other that much.

And a special good morning to everyone who doesn't usually listen at this time of day, now home because your kid's school just got canceled, or you're now working from home or suddenly out of work, I know.

So good morning. As here we all are,

trying to get through the coronavirus crisis together, through the health crisis, through the economic crisis for many families that is coming as a result, if not already here, and through

the anxiety that is gripping so many people not knowing what might be

around the corner. It is definitely an anxiety crisis in addition to everything else, right? And

it's probably best for everyone who is experiencing anxiety to just say that out loud. And just

that can be settling. And to remember that most of us and most of our loved ones are going to be fine.

But the Russian roulette aspect of this, the randomness is very real.

So let's look it in the eye and move on together.

And we're in this extreme paradox right now.

Another thing I guess we need to say out loud, we're in this extreme paradox right now, another thing I guess we need to say out loud,

we're in this extreme paradox right now of the need to support each other and isolate from

each other at the same time. We'll keep doing our best from our end to provide information

and community to both of those contradictory ends, support each other, and isolate from each other,

let's figure it out. One program note on the isolation side, as with many companies, WNYC is having

as many people as possible work from home, and as of today, that includes me. I've never done this

before. Wayne Schulmeister from our amazing engineering

staff has spent hours setting this up. Thank you, Wayne, and team. So hopefully this sounds normal

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