Siege Diversions

(Apologies in advance if all of my suggestions fall into the category of the obvious. I used to say, hey I grew up in the Midwest, where we specialized in saying the obvious. That, of course, does not mean these insights are any less true.)

Here, we're ordering dried fruits and nuts to snack on during the day. After all, when you're cooped up, one thing you can do a lot of is to eat.

I suppose an option is ice cream and chocolate, but too much of that brings on other problems of course.

How about dried Turkish apricots, dried peaches, dried apples, yellow raisons, dried bananas (Filipino style whole bananas), sunflower seeds, cashews, pine nuts, pistachios, almonds, and peanuts?

As for entertainment, there are so many movies -- I toggle between adventures (Air Force One, Independence Day) and romantic comedies (Maid in Manhattan, Definitely Maybe). Getting lost in a movie is good for the soul. Always appreciate the writing involved.

Those with young children in the fortress may need to become especially creative. Here in El Cerrito, we have lots of schoolwork to help them with. I'm reminded of the methods I developed as a father -- encouraging phonetic spelling with young kids as they write their stories. If it is an open-ended writing assignment, "write what you care about, don't worry what people will think."

As one who supervised many writers over the decades, I always found of the two categories of stories -- those I assigned and those they self-assigned -- the latter turned out to be much more successful.

With math, get out physical objects to illustrate multiplication and division.

One of the best free time activities for children and adults is art. I always got a wide range of supplies for my young artists, because using mixed mediums yields wonderful results. Again, especially adults, don't care what anyone thinks.

Communication -- this is a great opportunity to return to an earlier era and send people home-made cards and letters. Especially if you are isolated, alone, reach out. Use the tools available. Facebook is free -- that's why I use it. Forget about their data collection practices -- all irrelevant now.

The simple luxuries matter. Coffee. Toast with jam, if you can get the jam.

If you cook, baking basic foods matters -- bread, cookies, brownies. Make your own granola.

Buying luxuries matters -- crepes, caviar, oysters.

Enjoying all of this, or other things, matters most of all. Try not to think about what you no longer can do; focus on what you can do.

I have a dear friend who used to stop by the Atlas Cafe every morning to pick up a coffee on his way to the office. Now he is homebound he can no longer do that but he can grind his own beans, heat his own water, filter the grounds and savor the result.

Shortages are a new reality. Buy/order just a little more than you need. Don't hoard. Supply will soon catch up to the new demand.

Try to fully experience this moment. Make of it what you will.

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