Numbers and Narratives

Send us Fan MailGEORGE:Today: Bills of Mortality in plague London—and COVID dashboards in our century.How counting the dead can help a society tell the truth…and how counting can also numb the heart.GEORGE:Quick reminder: my Shakespeare can look back from the present day.He can read scholarship, watch modern productions, react to modern claims—but he cannot predict the future. No prophecy.WILL:I am allowed memory.Not foresight.George, one might say that numbers become a character in epidemicsGEORGE:When plague strikes, people don’t only want comfort.They want certainty.And certainty often arrives wearing a disguise: a chart.WILL:Because a chart feels like a railing on a steep stair.You clutch it, even if it won’t stop you from falling.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.