BYELLENMCCARTHYIt’s August, andAmerica’sparentsare on the prowl.
They’repostingpersonalads onlineand havingawkward
Zoom dates withnear-strangers. They’rescouringmessage
boardsfor potentialmatchesandaskingfriendsandfamily
membersif theyknowanyonewhomightbe available,
interested and —thisisthe hardestone —compatible.
There’s nothingthrillingor romanticaboutit. This is
aboutthe kids,and the challengeofsurvivingthis nuclear
winterof aschoolyear.Quaran-teams,doublebubbles,
pandemicpods,micro-schools—whatever you wantto call
them,youngfamiliesare seekingsomefriendsfor the end
of the worldas theyknewit.
Desperation?Palpable.Hurt feelings?Inevitable.
“Itfeelslikespeeddating/Match.combut withmuch
morehighstakes,”saysElizabeth Morin Burns,aD.C.
motherof a6-year-oldson and 3-year-olddaughter.“And
it’s emotionallytaxing.The timelinesare startingto catch
up.It’s like,‘Ineedtofindmy partner.Ineedtofindmy soul
mate, fast, and figureout howwe’regoingto manageit.’”
Whenschoolsfirstshutteredin March,the movewas
presentedas ashortpauseto suppressthe spreadof the
novelcoronavirus.Theclosurecontinuedthroughthe end
of the schoolyear;familiesmuddledthrough.Now, as the
virushaseludedcontainmentandworsenedin many
states, parentsare wakingup to the ideathattheywillbe
moreor less on theirownfor anothersix to ninemonths.
Improvisingwon’t cutitany longer.It’stimeto Figure
SomethingOut.
Burns,whoworksfor the Navy,isspendingher days
mentallyrotatingthroughthe array of potentialsurvival
tactics she and her husbandcouldpursue.Move to Florida
to be closeto family?Take aleave of absencefromher job?
Comeup withthe moneytopay for privateschool?
Formingateam withnearbyfamiliesin the same
situationseemedlikethe bestsolution,so Burnssetupa
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MONDAY,AUGUST 10 , 2020. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/STYLE EZ RE C
BYTRAVISM.ANDREWSAboutadozenyearsago, Jason
Moore noticedan erroron the
Wikipedia pagefor one of his fa-
voriteRufus Wainwrightalbums.
Anyonewithan Internetconnec-
tioncaneditthe online crowd-
sourcedencyclopedia,sohedecid-
ed to setthe record straight.
“Ijustreallyenjoyedtheinstant
gratificationof making the Inter-
netbettersoeasily,” Mooresaid.
The35-year-oldworksas astrat-
egistfor adigitalconsultancyin
Portland,Ore. But, likethousands
of others, he hasmoonlighted as a
Wikipedia editor,goingby the
usernameAnotherBeliever and
makingmorethan350,000edits
sincethatfirstfix.
Moore generally seeksout top-
ics he’s interested in, suchas his-
toricbuildings or public art, and
either expandsan existing pageor
creates one from scratch. Al-
thoughmedicineisn’t his forte,
whenthe mainstreammediabe-
ganreportingonthe novel coro-
navirus in China, he thought,
“This was goingtobemuch, much
biggerthananisolatedmedical
outbreak.”
He,ofcourse,was right. As the
virusand the diseaseit causes,
covid-19, overtookthe globe,it
sparkedone of Wikipedia’slargest
challenges: to chronicle amassive
news event in realtimeas infor-
mation constantlyshifted and
misinformation constantly
spread, putting the site’s tried-
and-true process to the test.
As of the end of July,according
to Wikimedia Foundation spokes-
womanChantal De Soto,more
than67,000editorshadcollabo-
rated to create morethan5,000
Wikipedia articles in 175different
languages aboutthe virusand its
variousimpacts. Someof these,
SEEWIKIPEDIAONC3Wikipedia
takes on
challenges
of covid-19
BYREBEKAHFRUMKINThetragedy of an overdoseis
frequentlymetwithlittle under-
standingor compassionfromthe
nonaddicted. Theunluckyaddict
“threwher life away,” or “had it
coming,” or “wastoo far gone to
be helped.”
This was
howIthought,
too, before I
trieddrugs.As
achild, Ihad
known adults
whowerealco-
holicsand I
waspuzzledby
my parents’
kindness
towardthem:
Surely all
healthyadults
were disci-
plinedand mo-
tivated by good
things,andal-
coholics were
undisciplined
andmotivated by bad ones.And
thenItried drugs.
Rose Andersen’s “The Heart
and OtherMonsters”is the story
of an addictwritten by an addict
thatwillbeheart-rending for
anyoneto read,thoughIcan’t
imagineanyone’s heartwillbe
rentin quitethe samewayad-
dicts’ will.Andersen’s sister Sar-
ah diedat 24 of amethamphet-
amineoverdose:Sarah’s drug of
choicewasheroin,andthereis
evidenceto suggest thatshe was
giventhe meth as a“hot shot”—a
lethal injection of an IV drug
intended to kill her —while
underthe impressionthatshe’d
be getting anonlethal amountof
heroin.
Growingup, RoseandSarah
werejuggledbetween twosetsof
parents(thewomenlovingand
lostand the menincompetentat
bestand abusiveat worst), Rose
SEEBOOKWORLDONC2BOOKWORLDPreserving
the legacy
of alost
sister
THE HEART
ANDOTHER
MONSTERS
By Rose
Andersen
Bloomsbury.
212 pp. $27BYJEREMYBARRCablenews networkscompete
aggressively to hirethe freshest
and mostpopular politiciansand
politicalstrategists to serve as
paidcommentators.
These contributorsare essen-
tiallypaidguests whosigncon-
tracts to appearexclusivelyon
onenetwork(or familyofnet-
works),generally agreeingtogo
on-airas frequently as the news
cycle demands.But theyexistina
sortofgrayzonebetweenfull-
timeemployeesandunpaidin-
terviewees,whichmakes discern-
ing whattheyare allowedto say
and do off-camerachallenging.
That’s especiallysowhennet-
workcontributors step on the
campaigntrail. Someof the most
in-demandcontributorsare of-
ten thosewhoare still activein
the politicalarenaor harborfu-
turecampaignaspirations,creat-
ing potentialconflicts of interest.
CNN,Fox News Channeland
MSNBChave not previouslysaid
publiclywhat constitutesaccept-
able political involvement for
theirpaidcommentators,which
hasmade it difficult to know
wherethe line is —and has
played intoaccusationsof politi-
cal biasin the mediafromboth
the rightand left.Whenasked by
TheWashingtonPost to detail
theirguidelines,the threenet-
workssaidthatcontributorscan-
not run for office or be paidby a
campaign while maintaining
theirpositions, but theydiffered
on otherdynamics of political
engagement.
CNNfacedquestionsWednes-
daywhenJoeBiden’s presiden-
tial campaign announcedthat
Ana Navarro, apaid political
commentator for the network,
wouldhosta“Hispanic-focused
virtual organizing event and
roundtableconversation”to“dis-
cuss JoeBiden’s agendafor the
Latinocommunityand the im-
portantroleFlorida Hispanics
will playinmaking Donald
Trumpaone-termpresidentby
organizing andmobilizing His-
panic communitiesthroughoutFlorida.”
ThewebsiteMediaite,which
chroniclesthe intersection of me-
dia andpolitics,wrotethat“the
event is an unusual onefor a
network contributor—particu-larlyonemarketed by the net-
workas amemberof apolitical
party otherthanthe onefor
which theyare campaigning.”
(Navarrois alongtimeRepubli-
can whohas emerged as astri-dentcriticof PresidentTrump’s
administration.)
But Navarro’s participationin
the Bidenevent did not violate
CNN’s rules. Thenetwork said
Fridaythatitallowscontributors
to appearat politicalevents—
justaslong as theyare not paid
by campaigns. (A Biden cam-
paign spokesperson confirmed
thatNavarrowas not paidfor her
participation.)
“CNN’scontributors bring
theirdiversepoliticalpointsof
viewtoour audienceacrossour
platforms,”anetworkspokesper-
son told ThePost. “Somechoseto
supportcandidates or policieson
CNN,atpoliticaleventsand with
theirwallets. We are transparent
aboutthe causesand candidates
our contributors support.”
Navarro said duringthe Thurs-
daycampaignevent thatshe is
supportingBidenbecause“he’s a
good anddecentman”who “can
actually articulate complex
thoughts.”
She is not the onlyCNNpoliti-
SEECABLEONC2For cable contributors, political campaigning is amurky arena
JASONKEMPIN/GETTYIMAGESFOR POLITICON
AnaNavarroandDavidUrbanspeakatPoliticonin 2019.Navarro,
aCNNcommentator,hostedapoliticaleventThursday.Banding together against chaos
Astheschoolyearapproaches,familiesarefranticallysearchingforothersto‘bubbleup’with
PHOTOSBY RALPHLAUERFOR THE WASHINGTONPOSTTOP: JeffreyHenry watches sonJacksonassembleacrab
robotinhis learningarea. ABOVE:JenniferHenryhelps
sonJonesintoaspacesuit.TheHenrys areoneofmany
familiestryingto join othersinpandemic-relatedbubbles.