Bread and Circuses

Ruth Wilson and Tom Burke in True Things (2021) Photo courtesy of BBC Films.

A few days before Christmas, we met a friend at a fancy grocery store in Hudson, where people sit at a long table, drinking lattes and eating focaccia. We hadn’t seen our friend in a while. She looked happy in the way of people who have recently jumped out of an airplane. I said, “I was thinking about Jesus.” She said, “I thought you were Jewish.” I said, “I have a feeling it wasn’t easy for him to make friends, what with all the . . .