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So that was May. No big deal. It lasted about 7 minutes while March lasted 432 days. What do you know?

Honestly, I wouldn’t even know what day it was were it not for doing this blog and podcast every seven days. And having had an abbreviated week due to Memorial Day, I had to look at my diary or my calendar app or both all week long. That’s me. Here’s what I know: I know we are starved for one another. For company, for a change of scenery, for the outdoors, for approval, for a feeling of security. These are the things most of us don’t have at the moment.

More difficult is daily life for the many people who live alone. Even if they have a million friends, these are lonely days. You don’t always want to talk on the phone, or on Zoom, or communicate using DMs or texts. And who doesn’t feel a bit of envy for people whose pictures suggest a more productive and fulfilled quarantine? Recently I had a very blue few days – I was on the verge of tears a couple of times, but my actual own exhibits™ helped me through them. So I am extraordinarily fortunate to have children who are old enough and wise enough to help a mother out.

If you are feeling frightened or lonely, please reach out to a relative or a friend. You can even write to me if you want. We are trying to do something our generation has never done before: With our reduced attention span and vast supplies of information, both real and fake, it is easy to be overwhelmed while trying to gauge feeling our ways back to a semblance of normalcy. We don’t know what normal will even be and when it will be. So we need patience and fortitude. We’ll get there eventually.

My guest this week is the actress, writer, and activist June Diane Raphael. You might know her as Brianna on Grace and Frankie. She’s stolen scenes in everything from Burning Love to Lady Dynamite, New Girl, and Big Mouth. June Diane has appeared in Blockers, The Long Shot, Anchorman 2 and others. A graduate of Upright Citizens Brigade, she is also the founder of The Jane Club in Los Angeles, a co-working space for women with tons of events, programs, and first rate child care. A longtime activist, June Diane has written, with Kate Black, Represent: The Woman's Guide to Running for Office and Changing the World," a step-by-step guide for women who are considering a political career.”

Our interview took place in Los Angeles way back in February. At the time, Elizabeth Warren was still running to be the Democratic nominee for president. Restaurants and theaters and malls and hair salons were all open for business. We spoke in a podcasting room at The Jane Club. Social distancing hadn’t become the way of the world. We shook hands hello and goodbye.

Host Lisa Birnbach and guest - actress, activist and writer June Diane Raphael.

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Today, I am talking to you from my apartment. I am fully dressed but thinking about what a different world we are living in from the carefree days of the winter.

The five things that made my life better this week are:

1. Comedian Sarah Cooper. She dubs statements of the president, and when she does, they are much easier to take. They are Tik Toks which I discovered her on Twitter. Hey that’s a sentence I couldn’t have written a year ago.

2. Exhibit C™ came for another visit. It was a spectacular day together. I enjoyed every minute.

3. My partner is transferring my hundreds of old video tapes (eek!) onto digital files. For every TV show I remember vividly, there is another of which I have no recollection. It’s weird. Mostly I like to look at my young hair, which was shiny and black.

4. We had our first social distanced visit with friends this week. I needed it. We were conscientious about wearing masks, staying 6 or so feet apart, and not touching.

5. Decency. It’s the minimum we should expect from one another and from our elected officials. When protesters showed up at the state capitol in Frankfurt, KY to protest the lockdown orders, they hung an effigy of Democratic governor, Andy Beshear from a tree. In A state with a history of lynching. That’s not decent. When the president golfs as the death toll of Americans approaches 100,000, that’s not decent. It’s not about politics. It’s about being civil and respectful. Who among us is against decency?