Quarantine Day 02
No new pictures today—the ones below are from a series I shared in the newsletter a couple of weeks back. Sorry about that but the mood isn’t quite right. It happens.
The snow is back. Nothing crazy, just enough to let us know we’re not out of the woods yet. I’m waiting for a book by Stephen Shore, ordered from Amazon right before we locked ourselves down. I saw a headline somewhere, mentioning that the virus could live on cardboard for 24 hours...should I wait when the package arrives? Wear gloves? I’ll need to verify the information. It may be total BS. Besides, there’s a limit to how much we can control.
No fever, no symptoms. We fill out the form around 1PM each day. We received a follow-up email from health services, clarifying that only Jacob needed to self-quarantine. Which is ridiculous, given our proximity to one another. This ain’t a six-story mansion with private quarters and bathrooms. It’s the kind of muddled message from authorities that won’t help the situation. We’re not going anywhere.
Our borders are now closed in Canada. Well, somewhat. And I’m happy to see a certain president finally acknowledging the severity of the situation—late but kudos nonetheless. Every bit helps.
...
I’ll end with a quick reflection on the soul of corporations. I noticed it only this morning, but it suddenly jumped out at me. When Nelson Mandela passed away, visitors to Apple’s homepage were greeted with a clean, simple, black and white photograph. George Harrison, Robin Williams, Steve Jobs himself eventually...all quietly moving tributes. Their design echoed the company’s iconic Think Different campaign for sure, but the non-jaded part of me also saw humanity at work. A connection that made Apple more than a mere device-selling business. They could step away from a sales pitch. They were part of us, mourning, just like us. They had a soul, as fragile as our own.
As we all come to grips with a new sombre reality; as our world becomes unrecognizable and most of us are facing levels of uncertainty we’ve never experienced before; as Italians sing arias from balconies, defiant in the face of fear and grief (1); as we all find ourselves isolated from one another, Apple’s homepage still greets us with...the iPhone 11 Pro.
It’s ok, I guess. Scrolling down the page, past banners for the iPhone 11 and the Apple Watch Series 5, between a trailer for a cartoon and another banner selling Apple Arcade, we find a link to Apple’s COVID-19 Response letter. And I know the company is doing its part to help its employees and the community at large. Like most businesses right now.
But I also know that once upon a time, this homepage would’ve been unique. It would’ve spoken in another voice, aspirational, perhaps with the hint of sacredness this moment calls for.
Once upon a time, it would’ve been different.
Stay safe.
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Some of these are fake apparently. Because of course people would take time to do that. Sigh. I’d like to believe this one is real.
