On the need for depolarization and dialogue — I recently posted a recommendation on Facebook for a podcast, The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling. I’d listened to the first two episodes (all that had been released at the time) and found them fascinating — full of cultural history from the 90s and 2000s that I vaguely remembered but…

A couple of weeks ago, President Biden declared the pandemic over. Pundits and the great masses on social media descended on this pronouncement like carrion birds on fresh roadkill. “Yes! Finally!” some crowed. …

On evading the hall monitors in the world and in your head For much of May and June I was in rehearsals at the Guthrie Theater, covering two different tracks as an understudy for actors who were out with Covid. For the first ten days of rehearsal, I played one…

Mayo Clinic experts on the leading theories and the symptoms parents should watch out for. — On May 5, 2022, Dr. Sara Hassan, a transplant hepatologist at the Mayo Clinic Children’s Center, and Dr. Nipunie Rajapakse, a pediatric infectious disease doctor at the Mayo Clinic Children’s Center, answered questions at a media briefing on the surprising uptick in unexplained, severe hepatitis in kids around the world.

I broke on through to the other side — I woke up with a mildly scratchy throat on the Monday before Christmas, 2021. A little achy, a faint malaise. I took a home rapid COVID test, and it was negative. But I had a hunch it was wrong. The ache in my collarbone was becoming substantial. I trundled off…

Two renowned experts weigh in on antigenic imprinting, the post-vaccine “worry window” of immunosuppression, myocarditis, and “natural” immune boosting from breakthrough infections I posed five of my most burning questions on vaccines, boosters, and Omicron to Dr. Gregory Poland, MD, a vaccinologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and the…

Why I’m holding off, at least for now There’s tremendous pressure at the moment from the media, politicians, and public health officials for every eligible American to receive a booster shot. When I started working on this article, that meant everyone over the age of 18 who’s more than six…

On the Great Resignation, healing, meaning, and a new path forward — I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more No, I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more Well, I wake up in the morning Fold my hands and pray for rain I got a head full of ideas That are drivin’ me insane It’s a shame the way…

Ethics aside, it’s a risky thing to do — A friend of mine is very worried about the Delta variant. He received an AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine last spring in Mexico, where he lives part-time, and then a Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the U.S. a couple of months later. …