The Nation, check out our latest issue. Subscribe to Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine? I went to a birthday party recently. The celebrants greeted each other with hugs on the patio. After an outdoor barbecue dinner, we stood shoulder to shoulder around the island in the kitchen, eating cake from small paper plates. We sang “Happy Birthday.” Ordinarily, an event like that wouldn’t be worth noting, but these aren’t exactly ordinary times. In this twilight world of ours, half-in and half-out of a pandemic, hanging around without masks and within spitting distance of vaccinated friends should be considered just this side of miraculous—a combination of luck, privilege, and a stunning series of events on a national scale that would strain credibility in a work of fiction.