42 Comments
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Steve Lovelace's avatar

Colds suck. Feel better.

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Nikki F's avatar

Feel better soon.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Already better today. Thank you.

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Mary Kay's avatar

Hope you feel better soon.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

I have improved. Thank you.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Sorry to hear you're unwell, Shrman. I Actually think we did remarkably well, developing vaccines. When you think of previous pandemics like the Spanish flu and bubonic plague, I mean. Anyway not sure if you're familiar with this, but it might cheer you up: frank Sinatra has a cold, by Gay Talese: https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a638/frank-sinatra-has-a-cold-gay-talese/

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Joan DeMartin's avatar

Hope you're feeling better by now! I use the Zinc drops (honey flavored)—they work for me. Think you're getting enough advice for treating a cold?

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Meg E's avatar

I can identify! I hope you feel better soon. I, too, caught my first cold in years just this past week. I've been masking but you can't always escape those germs, and my students (first year community college students) are all hacking all over the place, too. Thank you for recognizing the lasting damage this pandemic has had on the kids. For most of my students, their entire high school career was impacted by the pandemic, and they are lacking a great many skills and experiences because of it. The population I work with was already high risk; now they are not only behind in the material but also in learning and life skills, and on top of that, there is a prevalence of anxiety and mental exhaustion (that I think we all have). Collectively, we are not "back to normal" and we may not ever be the same again.

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Mary Hollowell's avatar

The painkiller aisle is decimated too, as is the digestive aide section.

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yvonne's avatar

Masks are a pain but I think they kept colds away. I haven't had a cold in a very long time but I stopped wearing a mask so I might be asking for it. Feel better soon. Don't forget the Vaporub.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you! Vaporub certainly reminds me of childhood.

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Annie's avatar

Why not write an Ode to the Immune System? Much misunderstood, neglected if not abused... a target surely as deserving of poetic attention as a pack of cough drops. It won't be surprising if there are a lot more colds this year than past because we've concentrated on specific immunizations rather than systemic ones. Might be good to keep wearing masks for now and take lots of Vitamin C and fluids.😱

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

I still wear a mask but door handles don't!

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Rebecca Watts's avatar

Colds are such a drag. Feel better soon, Sherman!

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you!

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Stephanie Cox's avatar

I remember watching that trailer years ago and thinking "No way I'm watching that movie! That's the stuff of nightmares!" Now, I wish I were still that person. These days, my students are coughing too, but they are also damaged from getting used to the isolation, anxiety and the sadness of pandemic era. Thanks for sharing something even though you're feeling crappy. I got it too after a couple of illness-free years and it took 3 weeks to cycle through all sorts of unpleasant symptoms. I hope you find some cough drop and you feel better soon!

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

As a teacher, you are on the frontlines of the educational effects. Damn.

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Travis DeVore's avatar

I hope you are back to throwing up triple-doubles soon.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thanks!

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Dan Hunt's avatar

That may require a recovery of an entirely different magnitude ........ ;-)

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Hahahaha! I was seeing that only as a metaphor!

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Dan Hunt's avatar

I'm all for it.

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Kelly Wallace's avatar

Oh Sherman!! I had the same cold or whatever it was! It took FOREVER to go away. No strep, Covid, or flu so no antibiotics for me! I hope you get better soon!

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you, Kelly!

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tridukes's avatar

I have to disagree with you about Trump--his taped conversations with Bernstein show clearly that he made decisions about the pandemic based on his own self-interest rather than concern for anyone else. Best wishes for your speedy recovery from whatever it is that you caught.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

I wasn't speaking of Trump. I was talking about the CDC's policies over the last two years.

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tridukes's avatar

Leadership starts -- or ends -- at the top. The CDC was hamstrung by a President who neither understood nor wanted to solve the problems.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

I'm not sure what you're saying. Trump was President for the 10 months of the pandemic. Biden has been the President since.

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tridukes's avatar

I'm saying that was a crucial ten months that Trump wasted on downplaying the pandemic, offering false solutions, undercutting trust in medical authorities, making hollow promises, preventing knowledgable professionals from doing their jobs -- all in the service of looking good while doing nothing constructive.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Ah, I see. But the school and work shutdowns began in March of 2020 during Trump's Presidency and continued during Biden's. The school shutdowns under both Presidencies harmed children, especially poor kids. We're going to learn more about the damage in the coming years but we're gonna find that public school urban poor kids of color have been hurt the most. That group has paid the biggest pandemic price.

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tridukes's avatar

I agree with you about the incalculable but inevitable destructive impact of various aspects of the pandemic on students of all ages, certainly on the poor and under-privileged more so. They usually tend to take the brunt of all the bad!

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Elena Solow's avatar

Why do you have so many colds? I had one a couple of weeks ago and it lasted eight days. Last evening I got my booster covid shot across the street at the drugstore. My atm aches a little but that’s it. The pharmacist was nice. I’ve beet eating really well all day. Lots of ice crea. It’s the news that is sickening. Trying not to watch. But I have to know what the devils are doing. So scary. What should I do? Iloce seeing Obama, both Clinton’s, Biden. Bah humbug.👿eat chicke barley soup and get well.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you, Elena!

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Tara Lundon's avatar

You’re not wrong: we WILL have another pandemic, and we WILL be collectively fucked. But maybe, like the dinosaurs, humans aren’t supposed to be here for an eternity.

( meanwhile, keep searching the skies for signs of incoming alien overlords...when you’re feeling better, of course.)

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Hahahaha! In the meantime, I'm rewatching How I Met Your Mother

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