So I mentioned before that The Atlantic’s coverage of the pandemic, especially in giving space to field experts as contributors to the “Ideas” section, is one of the best in the game right now (they’re definitely the best in blunt headline writing, at the very least).
But I think How Will the Coronavirus End, by staff writer Ed Yong, is the most unforgettable one yet — a solutions-focused piece that is clear, measured, and not just hopeful, but almost impossibly moving.
When I reread it this morning, I realized I was getting chills because, between the structure of Yong’s arguments and the vivid, rather patriotic imagery used — the line about the “Gen C” kids writing school essays about growing up to be epidemiologists made me gasp — the whole piece reads like a sermon, or a generation-defining speech, like the kind they’d play clips of in the future when they want to reference this specific moment in this specific time. You’ll see what I mean.
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> This is just to say, keep your fantasy orator of choice in mind when you start reading
i.e. google a clip of Ed Yong speaking