2020
April
10
Friday

Monitor Daily Podcast

April 10, 2020
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Peter Grier
Washington editor

Today’s stories include a look at how governors have stepped up during the crisis, how Britain’s pandemic battle is stirring a nation of volunteers, the effect on protest movements around the world, a survey of how small businesses on one Massachusetts street are tightening belts to survive, and a Good Friday essay on how a pastor of a 400-year-old church has learned new ways to minister.

Two weeks ago in this space I wrote about Chester, a foster beagle my family was about to take in to help him and us through the trials of sheltering in place. Chester sparked a lot of audience response, and so I’m happy to report today that he has fit right in to our menagerie. At this very moment he is patrolling the backyard with lead beagle Lucy, defending his new home against adversaries, real and imagined. 

His bark ends in a kind of howl. He sleeps on one of my sons’ beds. He leans against your legs when he wants to be petted.

Animals are soothing in trying circumstances. In mid-March, after we all started working from home, a Monitor staffer created an internal Slack channel labeled “pets.” Staffers can swap pictures and comments about their cats, dogs, and in at least one case, their hedgehog. Looking at others’ pets seems to foster a bit of togetherness.

And simple pleasures like that remain important in this serious time. Cat videos, for instance, may seem trivial, but they bring joy that cannot be denied. Even Werner Herzog, famed German film director and author, says he feels “rejuvenated” after watching them. 

That brings us to the closing point: Have you watched the dog videos narrated by BBC sportscaster Andrew Cotter? Where, deadpan, he describes – invents really – eating and chew bone competitions between his Labradors? If you haven’t you must. They are A1 shut-in entertainment. Chester is a huge fan.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Jason Cairnduff/Reuters
People applaud as the Harland and Wolff shipyard horn sounds in support of the NHS in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on April 9, 2020, while the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues. The horn has not been sounded properly in 20 years and is the loudest siren in Belfast.

A deeper look

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Michael Godfrey Perri cuts a cable at Philip A. Rand Wire Rope and Sling Co., in Watertown, Massachusetts, on April 8, 2020. The company has remained open during the coronavirus outbreak, with its employees supplying cables for tow trucks, shipping, and construction.
SOURCE:

Massachusetts Bureau of Geographic Information

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Jacob Turcotte/Staff

Essay

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Pastor G. Jeffrey MacDonald poses in First Parish Church of Newbury, on April 8, 2020, in Newbury, Massachusetts. Mr. MacDonald is now preaching online due to the coronavirus, because his congregation cannot worship in person.

The Monitor's View

David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports NPSTrans
Fans in Cincinnati, Ohio, take pictures outside Great American Ball Park on March 25, or what would have been opening day for professional baseball.

A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature
Emily Swanson

A message of love

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff/File
When I’m looking through my camera viewfinder, I’m always drawn to patterns. Sometimes I just have to look closely – or differently – to see them. “Some of nature’s most exquisite handiwork is on a miniature scale, as anyone knows who has applied a magnifying glass to a snowflake,” wrote conservationist Rachel Carson in “The Sense of Wonder.” In living things, symmetry is pervasive: Think of a tiger’s face, leaves, or a starfish. Of course, humans can create beautiful patterns, too. Carson was right about the power of a magnifying glass. But a camera is pretty good, too. – Melanie Stetson Freeman
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

Come back Monday. We’ll have a story on the calming effects of enjoying nature in a troubled time – and whether that can be done digitally as well as in real life.

More issues

2020
April
10
Friday
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