Kiln, "Crane Ensemble"

Here’s what the immediate future will be like.

The latest installment of Ruth Curry’s Coffee & TV newsletter (Do you subscribe? You should subscribe.) links to a piece about how uncertainty causes more anxiety than actual pain, which explains why everyone is in such a terrible mood lately, because of the not-knowing just how bad things are going to be. Many of us are cycling through denial and despair (it is at least a short cycle), and with two weeks left before everything becomes official, I want to do my part to help you relieve some of the stress which weighs so heavily on you in this time of confusion: Things will be bad. As bad as you expect things to get, that is what you are about to at minimum receive. Terrible things will happen and for at least two years — and almost certainly longer — you will have to sit there and watch them happen. You may even get used to it, which will almost be as bad as the things that are happening, but will of course not be as bad, because the things will be pretty awful, especially to the people they are specifically happening to. Many of the things will happen gradually enough that there will be plausible deniability on the part of the people doing the things that they have even been done, which will make you feel more futile and crazy because it will be obvious that these bad things are happening but without concrete evidence you will be easily dismissed by anyone with an interest in pretending that everything is okay, but do not be doubtful or uncertain about it: Bad things are going to happen. Now you know. I hope you feel a little better.

Anyway, here’s some music. It’s pretty. Enjoy.