“It feels like everybody here is trying so hard to be cheerful, but boy does it take an effort. The other day was supposed to be the beginning of baseball season, and I love baseball, and the anchor came onto the local news and said: ‘Let’s all try to look on the bright side! Let’s find a way to celebrate Opening Day even though nobody is playing.’ He showed pictures of fans wearing their Minnesota Twins T-shirts, or rubbing hand sanitizer onto a baseball to play catch, and I thought: You know what I’d really like to do right now if I’m being honest? I’d like to find a bat and a ball and go break a few windows. I apologize to God for feeling this way, but he made me how I am. I’m over this whole thing. I used to be an optimist, but I’m not anymore.” During this pandemic, there’s nothing more powerful than hearing the unfiltered voices of ordinary people, some of whom are doing extraordinary things, some of whom are enduring extraordinary pain, and those who are just experiencing it all and hanging on. No one captures those voices better than WaPo’s Eli Saslow. Gloria Jackson, on being 75, alone, and thought of as expendable.

+ Here’s a look at the whole series so far, a perfect Sunday read. Voices from the Pandemic.

+ And if you need some new nightstand material, Saslow wrote one of the most informative and interesting books that I’ve read in the past few years. Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist.