Ny Times On Keeping A Virus Diary

[Fermata]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/smarter-living/why-you-should-start-a-coronavirus-diary.html?algo=identity&fellback=false&imp_id=664396412&imp_id=323179736&action=click&module=Smarter%20Living&pgtype=Homepage

 

Keeping a record of your thoughts and feelings may be a comfort to you and a record for the the future reader, so says NY Times.

[mhguda]

Interesting read, thanks for sharing. I'm actually doing something like she discusses.

[The Good Captain]

I keep a journal anyway - just mention COVID-19 in it, now and again. Nothing special.

[Paul-in-SF]

I keep a journal anyway - just mention COVID-19 in it, now and again. Nothing special.

 

Ditto. And there's no-one after I'm dead who would be interested enough to read it (f that was the idea behind the suggestion).

[Carrau]

Ditto. And there's no-one after I'm dead who would be interested enough to read it (f that was the idea behind the suggestion).

 

I'm sure Samuel Pepys thought the same thing during the Plague and Great Fire of London, and now it's the reason anyone knows his name. Then there are the occasional diaries/journals on Antiques Roadshow, from the Civil War/WWI/WWII that belonged to ordinary folks during those dark times. Who thought then anyone would be reading after they were gone.

And so to bed.

[mhguda]

What's the use of living in interesting times if you can't write about it?

[inkstainedruth]

I keep a morning pages journal anyway. I'm not going to start a separate one just for this.

I'm sure the article was interesting, but I wasn't able to access the article; I didn't want to log in via Facebook (I hate FB with a passion) or Google (I have a gmail account but I don't use it much -- mostly just as a spam filter). And I didn't want to sign up because I get enough stuff flooding my inbox already. Things I'm much more likely to be interested in....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[dogpoet]

Radio 4's Today programme is currently inviting listeners to send in their virus diaries or thoughts on the situation.

[brokenclay]

I didn't find that article terribly compelling. The Guardian had a similar article. I write most days, but my journaling has no method to it, nor does it have any sort of consistent audience - sometimes I write things out as if someone else might read it, but mostly it's stream of consciousness and I'm not sure how anyone else would understand it (and I'm not sure I would want them to).

 

I agree, though, that it's marvelous to have access to people's contemporaneous thoughts throughout history. I'm currently re-reading the letters of John and Abigail Adams, and there's so much there that we wouldn't otherwise know about.

[Fermata]

As an aside, it is curious which online newspapers we read, I am in London and read NYTimes, the above person reads the Guardian, I know several non UK people read the BBC news pages and the London Times.

 

For a news junky like me I like to read a different spin on my news although there are moments when I become incensed at the partisan treatment of a local subject by a foreign media who simply want to increase their sales, then I realise that their objective actually succeeded.

Edited June 28, 2020 by Parkette

[Pointyscratchy]

On 6/28/2020 at 4:49 AM, Parkette said:

As an aside, it is curious which online newspapers we read, I am in London and read NYTimes, the above person reads the Guardian, I know several non UK people read the BBC news pages and the London Times.

 

For a news junky like me I like to read a different spin on my news although there are moments when I become incensed at the partisan treatment of a local subject by a foreign media who simply want to increase their sales, then I realise that their objective actually succeeded.

Most people read the Guardian because it is free.It does keep asking you for money though which is annoying.It is very pompous- a beacon of independent journalism- keeping journalism alive- yet it is the most biased left wing sophistry passing itself off as neutral you will ever read.

 

As an example it routinely calls our prime minister a liar, and worse things about Trump when he was in power.If you disagree use logic, not sneering innuendo.

[inkstainedruth]

As a former New Yorker, I'm betting I've said PLENTY worse about the former President than ANYTHING The Guardian could come up with (and the fine citizens of Atlantic City NJ would probably beat me to the punch... and with both hands tied around their backs).

As for "sneering innuendo" I can think of a certain TV "news" program here in the US that -- the one time I got subjected to it as a "captive audience" had nothing BUT innuendo on the topic du jour....  Which I figured out in 5 minutes of the BS (lots of handwringing over "Isn't this simply TERRIBLE that places do X?" only they never ACTUALLY mentioned a location by name (which means that their legal department told them "Don't give any 'details' because if you give any particulars WE will get sued for SLANDER!"  (I was in a hospital ER waiting for a friend and after a little bit asked at the desk if I could change the channel because there was nobody in the waiting area but me -- they found the remote for the TV monitor but it didn't work and they couldn't find replacement batteries. 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: I could say a LOT more on both topics, but that would violate site rules about political discussions....

[Anne-Sophie]

 

Journaling is a way of life for many of us. What else one does but write, with a fountain pen?

 

I don't know about others, but I come to this forum to enjoy update on fellow members lives, their growing collections of pens, inks, paper, inkwells... and all other wonderful things associated with our delightful hobby.

 

The only news I am interested in, during those times, are accomplishments, good things happening and positive weather news from members.

[Kenlowe]

I had to stop journalling when my OH started reading my journals, I know some people take exception to others going through their cellphones, I don't mind that but I like, sorry did like,  to keep some private thoughts in my journals.

 

 

[Paul-in-SF]

6 hours ago, Kenlowe said:

I had to stop journalling when my OH started reading my journals, I know some people take exception to others going through their cellphones, I don't mind that but I like, sorry did like,  to keep some private thoughts in my journals.

 

It's a shame when one's other half believes that being a couple means neither should have, let alone express in any way, private thoughts. When I think of those people in the past who wrote their journals in code, I wonder if some of them weren't in the same situation. 

 

I am fortunate in that English is a second language for my husband, that he would have a very hard time deciphering my handwriting, and mostly that he is completely uninterested in my scribblings. I am only writing to write, not for posterity nor for anyone else to read. It is just to keep my hand in, and to maintain whatever skill I have at composition. I suppose I should leave instructions in my will for my journals to be burned or something, but I don't expect it will be an issue. They will probably end up recycled or in a land fill somewhere. 

[Kenlowe]

1 hour ago, Paul-in-SF said:

 

It's a shame when one's other half believes that being a couple means neither should have, let alone express in any way, private thoughts. When I think of those people in the past who wrote their journals in code, I wonder if some of them weren't in the same situation. 

 

I am fortunate in that English is a second language for my husband, that he would have a very hard time deciphering my handwriting, and mostly that he is completely uninterested in my scribblings. I am only writing to write, not for posterity nor for anyone else to read. It is just to keep my hand in, and to maintain whatever skill I have at composition. I suppose I should leave instructions in my will for my journals to be burned or something, but I don't expect it will be an issue. They will probably end up recycled or in a land fill somewhere. 

 

 

Thank you for your understanding Paul.

 

I heard of a story where a teenage girl hid her journal in the rafters of her house in 1939, the current owners of the house found it in 2010. I think that is a better ending for a journal than destruction, especially in this most awful of times when all our lives have changed so much and, as the op said, it may be a good time to record our thoughts, fears and hopes.