Broad Street

Adieu, and Be Well … Broad Street is now closed.

One last time, and forever, we thank all of our contributors, our readers, our boards, and our editorial staff over the last almost-decade. We had a great run and published so much of which we are deeply proud. We started laying plans in 2011 with a dream and a shoestring...

“You Want Me to Be Happy About Dying” — an essay by Ramona Grigg.

Reflections on life, afterlife, and the reality of the dark, dark passage. “Nothing in my life will be erased after I die.” Photo by the author. To most of you out there, I’m old. I’m so old, odds are I’ll probably die soon. You can think on that for a few seconds and move...

“The Politics of Art, 2020”: Our interview with Alexandra Blum, mixed-media artist.

A pandemic and other global breakdowns inspire a visual journal of diverse styles and influences. “I think for me what is interesting about this series of work is the diversity of voices within myself.” “Vitriol.” Editors’ Note: Alexandra (Ali) Blum is a California-based artist who draws on influences from around the...

Taking Down the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia: On Civil War monuments, graffiti art, and protest. Photos by John Moser.

The BLM movement is writ large on the Civil War monuments of the Confederacy’s former capital. And now some controversial statues are being removed. “We Just Want Justice,” protesters and graffiti at the base of the Robert E. Lee statue. Broad Street’s home is in Richmond, Virginia, where Jefferson Davis once presided...

From the COVID Journals of Lise Haines.

On learning that she should sacrifice herself for the good of the public. pikrepo.com On the television this morning, an idea was floated with great sincerity. I could sacrifice myself for the public good. If anyone had to get sick or starve or die from a lack of oxygen, I was...

“who we were when,” a poem by Frederick Ramey.

“… I don’t know if his hands are moving but I bet they are somehow I’d feel washed over like that too and be so proud of us …” who we were when . Isn’t it a great country he asks me as we cross the Panhandle for the second time in three days...

“It Wasn’t Until …,” a memoir by Beth Uznis Johnson. On becoming essential during Covid-19.

“Even though the facility had kept the virus out of the building so far, the pandemic was killing my dad.” The author with her father, just days before he died. The first time I saw my father at his memory care facility, after ten weeks of Covid-19 lockdown, he sat at the breakfast table, slumped in his...

“I want everyone to know what’s really happening on the front lines”: video from Jane Soyka’s Covid-19 hospital room.

Jane survived Covid-19. Her roommate, Elida, did not. “I‘m not going to start the blame game … except to blame the government for sabotaging the CDC and science.” Stills from Jane’s video. Editors’ Note: Violinist Jane Soyka lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Covid-19 spiked dramatically in November. Her story shows how quickly symptoms can go from mild...

COVID Diary: A Physician Gets Sick.

Dr. Leslie Hayes took every precaution, but she still caught COVID — her thoughts on contagion, masks, the vaccine, and the holidays. “The virus had gone through 50 people before I got it. Many of them took precautions and then just got unlucky, but some of them were careless or didn’t think the rules applied to them …”...

Desperate times, new measures: Broad Street’s Pandemonium Blog.

We feel the need to do something. We make masks, we donate money, we protest and demonstrate … and still our spirits yearn for more. Solidarity and fellow-feeling, the companionship of … what we have, which is a computer screen, where most of us are glued all day and night. But there are people...