LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Editor in Chief P.J. O’Rourke handed over the pen to Managing Editor Laura Greaver for this month’s Letter From the Editor.
IS IT SAFE TO GET BACK IN THEWATER?
Look how far we’ve come, world... This time last year, we were fearful, anxious, and about to experience the summer that wasn’t ... Now, we’re ready to tear off our masks and revel in crowded cookouts, packed concerts, and water parks teaming with germs people. ‘Merica! I remember last summer when our community pool opened, it felt like a small slice of normalcy in the abyss of weirdness and panic we’d been experiencing since the onslaught of the pandemic in March 2020... And while yes, it was wonderful to be back, it was a strange experience: swim team canceled, masks had to be worn unless you were swimming, temperature checks at the front gate, and families had to sign up for three- hour increments at the pool, with tables and chairs being sprayed down with sanitizer in between sessions.
People timidly waved at each other from afar... Pool friends are hard enough to recognize a whole year later anyway. But add a mask and it makes almost everyone look like strangers. But my family went, enjoying the sunshine and cool water, happy to be out of the house, using careful sunscreen application so as not to get mask tans. Fast forward to this year... Our pool opened Memorial Day weekend and things were “back to normal,” packed to the gills with swimsuit-clad bodies everywhere and no restrictions (other than don’t come if you feel sick, but wasn’t that a good rule of thumb pre-COVID anyway?). Swim team resumed, with my son joining the masses of kids in the swim lanes, limbs splashing through the water like a frenzied school of feeding fish. Everyone seemed giddy with excitement to be back, and for the nightmare to be over...
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American Consequences
7
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