A Change of Pace

Monday, November 14, 2022

This is not a goodbye, but a change of pace message. This blog and I share a long history together. I started back in September 2008 with two goals: A friend recommended WordPress to me as a site where I could have an online presence for my newly-published translation of al-Razi’s Book of Secrets, the subject of my master’s thesis. This page has been much-visited through the years and I have enjoyed the messages, questions, and requests about al-Razi that have come to me from all over the world. Of course that page will stay and I may even have time to improve it.

My second goal was to blog my experience of starting work toward my Ph.D. in 2008 at the age of 63. It didn’t take me long to learn that weekly blogging was not compatible with working on a doctorate. I began to write the blog every few weeks, more or less, whenever I could fit it in, on history-related experiences as the Muse moved me.

Then in March 2020, while I was in Portugal, the Pandemic was announced. Medical history was being made and I was an eyewitness, equipped with a medical background and a newly-minted history degree. There was so much to keep up with that I wrote about it every day at first and then backed off to weekly.

Now I’m in the final editing stages of a memoir, my third book, which will be published early in the new year. I call it “Time to Unpack.” At this point, I’m going to move back to writing my blog every 3-4 weeks to give me time for other projects, including my book and my 4-month-old puppy. I want to update my web site and maybe change the format. And of course there’s the upcoming holiday season, which I plan to enjoy thoroughly every step of the way.

I know that some news sources are pushing the narrative of a triple pandemic with flu, COVID, and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), but for now I consider this “click bait.” We’ve had bad flu seasons before. I will be following the news on COVID and other emerging diseases, and commenting as before, but less often.

In the meantime, stay well and enjoy the holidays. I’ll be back.

Today’s Notable Headlines

“Flu activity soars in California as respiratory illnesses threaten hospitals,” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 14, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-11-14/flu-activity-soars-in-california

“WHO reports 90% drop in world COVID-19 deaths since February,” CBS News, Nov. 9, 2022. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-deaths-drop-since-february-world-health-organization/

“Dr. Fauci reflects on more than five decades at NIH ahead of retirement from government,” FOX13 Memphis, Nov. 14, 2022. https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/local/dr-fauci-reflects-more-than-five-decades-nih-ahead-retirement-government/YJZSFO45WFFMLKBTENF2LYVETM/

Why am I doing this?

The coronavirus pandemic is a classic watershed historical event. People will be referring to “before the pandemic” or “after the pandemic” for decades to come. Since March 11, 2020, this blog has examined the modern pandemic experience, drawing on my background as a medical technologist, a historian, and an ordinary person living through an extraordinary world crisis.