Playing Busy like a Fiddle While the World Burns

As early as April 2020, a debate raged about the responsibilities of those of us turned safely inside during this global storm. For those time privileged enough to find their calendars suddenly cleared, what should we do with all this newfound time? Should we perfect our baking skills? Learn another language? Launch a business? Organize the pantry and the photo albums? The New York Times regularly featured exactly these sorts of ideas, and I did feel better when, on a spring Saturday, we hung garage shelving to organize bikes, sports equipment, and snow shovels. But in her article for…