Paradoxically, locked-down pandemic life can open up different possibilities.

Paradoxically, locked-down pandemic life can open up different possibilities.

Good morning. 

Tajha Chappellet-Lanier here, thinking about the ways in which, paradoxically, locked-down pandemic life can open up different possibilities. You may find yourself, like many people I spoke with this week for a forthcoming Pet Issue, suddenly in possession of the time necessary to bring a new pet into your family. You may find yourself, like me, building your life in a new place in a way that never quite made sense before, but feels perfect for right now. You may even find yourself connecting with people in new ways.

On this last note, the Panetta Institute for Public Policy announced the lineup for its 2021 lecture series and, kicking the whole thing off tomorrow, Feb. 22, will be a conversation between Leon Panetta and leading national infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984. That’s a big, exciting get even for this series—but this year’s lecture series will, due to Covid-19, take place via live webinar. 

None of this is to say that the Panetta lecture series doesn’t regularly pull in heavy-hitters. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper spoke in 2019; Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward spoke in 2018; former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to speak in May. But we’re still in the middle of a pandemic and Dr. Fauci is still working as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as well as chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden. He’s busy. 

Sylvia Panetta tells the Weekly it would have been “harder” to get Dr. Fauci to come in person due to his full schedule, but it still might have happened anyway. “Leon and Dr. Fauci have known each other for years,” she says. “They met at the White House, when Leon was chief of staff to President Clinton.”

Still, on Monday, Feb. 22 at 6pm, Dr. Fauci will be taking some time to talk with Panetta about the Covid-19 pandemic and our prospects for getting past it. Tickets to the event are pricey—$100 for the lecture or $400 for the whole series. The conversation will not be broadcast live anywhere else, but recordings will be posted to the website, and to YouTube, later this year.

This year’s series theme is “New Leadership in a New Decade—Can America Be Healed?” which is a question that is likely to remain relevant for a while.

-Tajha Chappellet-Lanier, Monterey County NOW editor, tajha@mcweekly.com