Installation 8: March 31, 2020

Hi all,

For the last two weeks I’ve been reading and interviewing dozens of thinkers who focus on crises and their relationships to politics/history, including Naomi Klein, Rebecca Solnit, and Mike Davis. My attempt at synthesizing their perspectives––on crises in general, and Covid-19 in particular––is today’s Guardian “long read,” cheerily titled “We Can’t Go Back to Normal.” (The phrase is a quote that appears in the piece from the climate activist Margaret Klein Salamon.)

It’s been strange having the familiar anxieties of forcing a piece into shape bleed together with the anxieties of living through a global pandemic. Perhaps more than usual, there’s a voice in my head whispering that the piece is dumb, pointless, the worst––or that it would have been better if only I had five more weeks, quoted five times as many people, and wrote something five times longer. But I can’t deny that this version conveys something about how I see the world, and that I’m grateful to see it published.

My editors at the Guardian are my favorite editors, and they dragged me across the finish line; it was moving to see them going about their jobs with even more determination than usual.

I hope you’re all staying safe and doing as well as possible. As always, I look forward to your thoughts if you get a chance. And if you know anyone who might enjoy getting these updates, please send them my way (petercbaker.substack.com).

Thanks, —Peter

petercbaker.com