Calvert Morgan- Executive editor
What is your name?
Cal Morgan.
What do you do and are you still able to do it? If not what are you doing on a daily basis?
I’m a book editor at Riverhead, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The actual work of editing is easily done from home; in olden days, many editors used to wish for uninterrupted time at home to do so, and now, for better and worse, we have it.
Where are you social isolating (what country/city) and with whom? How is it being home with them all the time?!
In our sweet, tiny house just outside New York City, with my wife, Cassie, and our two tuxedo cats. I am delighted to be home with them; their results may vary.
Do you have a routine you try to stick to?
The one true upside to this new arrangement is that, instead of 5:45am, we now are able to sleep till around 7:30. After breakfast we are now able to take a morning walk, like civilized people, and are back at our screens by 9am. Our days are filled with email, WebEx calls, and a second walk at lunchtime, when I take a photo for Instagram when I can. Work continues through the afternoon, and then a third walk in the evening, another time for photos. Before this is over I expect to have Google Earthed the whole neighborhood.
Do you get dressed in the morning or stay in your PJ’s?
Dressed, but more comfortably than normal. Cozy shirts, untucked. Jeans, socks, mocs.
How is your life and your headspace changing as the weeks of isolation continue?
The first week was difficult, made more so by an undertow of grief from a pair of losses just before Corona: first my father, then the wife of a treasured friend. Losing the rhythm of the office, atop all this, felt a bit like losing the ground underfoot during an earthquake. The days have gotten better, though, thanks to the steadiness of family and friends and colleagues and work.
What frightens you the most about this? Do you have ways of calming yourself?
I’m frightened less for myself than for those who will die, or be endangered, or lose their livelihood, for reasons of government incompetence or malfeasance. Even among those who survive, the genetic memory of insecurity – of no longer being able to count on a shared lifesaving effort in times of crisis – may be more enduring than we know.
Have you managed to find any silver linings?
The last book I published before Corona hit was How to Be an Artist by Jerry Saltz – a soulful and moving invitation to bring art into one’s life – and I’ve been rereading it in this new context, finding encouragement in Saltz’s deep faith in the individual imagination.
People are saying this is a time for real change both personally and worldly. Do you agree and if so how do you see your life changing from this?
I don’t think we know yet. Cells realign slowly. I hope I am more patient, less anxious about everyday problems we can’t control, more grateful for every new day we can.
Are there any conspiracy theories you subscribe to?
Conspiracy theories seem less important, don’t they, when faced with actual conspiracies?
If you were president what would you have done differently?
Named Elizabeth Warren vice president and resigned immediately.
Using the color chart below please tell me in general what colors you are feeling.
Red- angry
Yellow- scared
Green- inspired, this is giving you time to reflect and/or create
Blue- sad/depressed
Pink- happy. You see and focus on the silver linings.
black- doomed this is hard
cream- you feel no difference
orange- over whelmed
Green with moments of light-to-medium blue.