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 …”...
“Screaming at the Brooklyn Bridge,” a poem by Mari Pack.
Nobody wants to live with a corpse … Screaming at the Brooklyn Bridge After Robert Lowell’s “Waking in the Blue” * I weigh one hundred and five pounds after my New York breakfast of vanilla Soylent, all I can keep down these days, thanks to the anti-depressant. I swallow it, beige smoothie, every four to six hours....
“On Giving Up Antidepressants During a Pandemic,” an essay by Kirsten Parkinson.
The author goes meds-free when the world is having a major depressive episode. “Maybe depression is a normal response to a global pandemic. We don’t really have benchmarks for such an event. If I get down, what can I use to help me bounce back?” * I do not plan to cry. I am lying on...
“I Don’t Want to Go Back,” by Zibby Owens.
A New Yorker contemplates back-to-school season from the countryside–a mother’s call to arms. “I want to do the right thing. I just don’t know exactly what that is right now.” * I don’t want to go back. As a lifelong New Yorker, I hate to admit that. But it’s true. I’m worried. Worried about what will happen...
“Bottled,” a short film about grief by Christine Sloan Stoddard.
Mourning a great-uncle and a world before quarantine. “My real-life grief hadn’t vanished, but it felt lighter, more manageable. Then the shutdown hit …” To view the film, click here or on the link at the end of the artist’s statement. Artist’s Statement Sometimes art is an oracle. Two years after the death of my Uncle...
