Good Friday, 2020

In retrospect, the horror of watching the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris collapse into billowing flames was just a foretaste of horrors to come.

Live news coverage of the fire at Notre-Damewhich happened a year ago this monthfelt like something out of an apocalyptic movie. It was the bracing experience of watching centuries of human achievement, beauty, and resilience come crashing down into a pile of ashen rubble.

But that experience is now the new normal. I feel it almost dailythe surreal,...