Susan and I used to survive election nights by going to the movies. We'd watch Jeff Bridges for several hours, then drive home, turn on the TV and discover in a minute which candidate for President had run second and thereby won.
In a plague year, our quick approach is not available. Movie theaters here are closed. But I came across a passage in a Joan Didion essay that suggested another approach. In November we will watch early election returns at home after pulling brown paper bags over our heads.
Many people say they will be doing this in November. There will be two likely outcomes.
1. The scientific object, of course, is to retain carbon dioxide in our lungs by rebreathing our own breath inside paper sacks. If we were to lose CO2 by shouting and hyperventilating into the open air, the tissues in our bodies might malfunction.
2. Sadly, this approach brings with it distance and perspective. For example, I prefer to think of myself as an important vaquero-poet with a tame wolf as my sidekick. It's hard to maintain that image with my head in a bag.
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