Starting to read this book again reminded me why I love John Green. This essay about plague feels so hopeful especially when I know it was written in the middle of, if not directly after the worst of, the COVID pandemic. I genuinely didn't have any clue that the response to the influenza and black plague pandemics was so similar to that of what happened in 2020.

Green's assertion that our response to plague doesn't have to be a one star experience does evoke some sadness for me though, as often I find myself wishing the people around me still cared about COVID as much as the disabled community does. The lack of concern around sickness is so jarring considering the flu right now is killing people and COVID is giving people chronic health issues for the rest of their lives - and yet only the activists I know are the only ones wearing masks.

I am debating listening to this in bulk or piecing it out and digesting it one essay at a time.