Time for a thread. I have something to say.

Twice now, in this crisis, I have been called or messaged by reporters asking how this virus has affected my life. That's fine, I get you need quotes for your story and I appreciate that you saw my TL and want my perspective. BUT!

The story isn't here. The story isn't in the annoying little stay at home order where I can't go watch the Blackhawks and get chicken wings, or how I spent my birthday and Easter away from my family. That's a puff piece, it's relatable to 75% of us. Great. That's not the story.

It's not in the amount of liquor or marijuana or porn that Americans are consuming. There are a hundred people telling about the failings of the administration's response. There's a story there, but it's not *the* story. It's certainly not in the 2020 election.

The story is buried in mass graves in New York City. It's in the black and brown bodies piling up in hospitals, the casualties of a race war that they were born into, the prey of a system that devalued their lives in every way.

It's in the workers, the essential workers, forced to continue the labor that their managers and bosses are doing from home for more money and better benefits despite the risk that those still working are facing.

Frankly, it kind of diminishes journalism to chase the easy story. There's a lot of me. There's a lot of people like me who are stuck at home and watching TikTok and sitting in their pajamas, wishing that we could go out and grab a beer at the local bar.

Those stories are easy to write. They don't challenge anyone. They don't need to, they're just slice of life. And I know it's tough out there for writers, but leave that stuff to the bloggers. We have never had a time in American history where we needed good journalists more.

Please, someone, step up. Chase the story. Please, stop worrying about the drama and chasing the clicks. Everyone wants to understand what's going on, and fear comes from the lack of that understanding. Stop calling people like me. Find the real cost of this virus and response.

Go find the people trying to grab power over this. Expose the liars and frauds and grifters trying to elevate themselves over this. Because it's not just Trump. And it's not just virus-related. It's the courts. It's corporations. Please, find them.

America needs everyone to do their duty right now. We're all at home, we're doing what we can. We need you to carry your load. Not to talk about the drama of the end of the Democratic Primary, not to talk about Trump golfing, not the menial stuff. We need real journalism. Please.

One last thing. We shouldn't have one more piece about how this is affecting upper-middle class white Americans until we know the names of everyone in those mass graves. They deserve to be known, for now, and for history.