Ann Jillian is a bright shining star. Credit: Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration, 1984 (NAID 6380303)

At 5 PM Saturday, March 21, Governor J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 Executive Order No. 8, aka the Stay at Home order, took effect. Here’s a daily-ish journal of how Reader staff, our friends, family—and our pets—are spending our time.

Days 22 and 23: April 11 and 12

What we’re reading:

  • Blue Nights, Joan Didion’s 2011 meditation on the loss of her adult daughter. It’s available from the Chicago Public Library as an e-book or downloadable audiobook.

What we’re listening to:

  • Various films from the South Side Home Movie Project digital archive (just leaving them on with the volume turned up to pretend that there is a lot of noise outside)

What television programs starring actress Ann Jillian that we are telling friends about when they try to make us watch new television shows:

  • It’s A Living: Ann plays the brassy waitress Cassie Cranston. If you have a digital antenna converter dealio on your TV and can watch “regular TV,” it airs sometimes on Antenna TV (channel 9.2). Season one is also available on Amazon Prime.
  • Jennifer Slept Here: in which Ann plays a ghost that haunts her old house and becomes a mentor to the disaffected teenage son who lives there. There are a few episodes loaded to YouTube by fans, including the opening credits:

What online livestream events we’re looking forward to:

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