Archive for August 2020
Corona Moments
As I document the pandemic in my area, I’m heartened when I come across people who are making the best of things and are carrying on with their lives—just with varying degrees of protective gear and operating with new rules of social engagement. When I ask how they’re bearing up, most people respond that this…
Read MoreProse and the Pandemic
Inevitably, the topic for me and my students in the Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing turned to the effect of life on art – most particularly, the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the American social justice uprising on the creation of art. Our own virtual classroom, where we communicated as little faces…
Read MoreWaiting for This to End: My “Pandemic days” Project
During my art practice, I ruminate on an emotion brought upon by a personal or global issue — like my recurrent concern about the climate crisis. When the pandemic took over our lives, my full attention shifted to this new global calamity, its immediate and long-term consequences. In the beginning, creating any type of art…
Read MoreThe Good, The Bad, and The Coronacoaster
“Where there are humans, you’ll find flies. And Buddhas,” wrote the Japanese poet Kobayashi Issa. The pandemic seems to have sharpened the divide. Here are photographs of men sporting swastikas and toting long guns and Confederate flags, protesting government safety measures in Michigan’s state capitol. But here is the 28-year-old paramedic in Westchester, New York,…
Read MoreShelter from the Storm
Shelter has taken on a whole new meaning in the time of Covid. Stay-at-home orders were, at first, nothing short of terrifying. Never in my lifetime had I faced such a serious, yet invisible, threat. As days stretched into weeks, I both dreaded and eagerly anticipated the news. I was compelled to check the counts…
Read MoreHow Covid Changed My Art Practice
Most of my previous artistic work involved photography, shooting in black and white, usually film, but also digital. In the past, many of my photographic projects involved travel to New York and other places in the U.S., as well as travel abroad. But Covid-19 restrictions forced me to re-examine my practice. The pandemic reality has…
Read MoreChalk Signs
Writing in chalk on the sidewalk is common in my neighborhood these days. The statements are mainly about “masking up.” This one is perhaps the most succinct I’ve seen. Mind-boggling how a utilitarian public/personal health recommendation became a politicized lightning rod and a symbol of personal autonomy and power. But it’s not the first time.…
Read MoreFlight
The pandemic is decimating the airline industry. In addition to Americans having been banned from several countries because of our inadequate response to Covid-19, the airlines themselves have contributed to this debacle by selling all seats on flights and not demanding that people wear masks. This is my personal experience: I flew from PHX to…
Read MoreNew Rules for the (Farmer’s) Marketplace
The farmer’s market in Davis Square, Somerville (@massfmkts) is a much beloved tradition in the area. Every Wednesday from spring through the fall, you can find great produce, some prepared foods, and other delights in a municipal parking lot filled with vendor stalls. The market is once again open, but things are quite different. You…
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