Small Things That Have No Words

When my father suffered his first heart attack in October, 1979, other farmers from our township brought their combines to our fields. They harvested our soybeans, loaded them onto their grain trucks, and drove them to the elevator, all on behalf of my incapacitated father. They did what their fathers had done, and their father’s…

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Delta Means Change

After getting vaccinated, I had curbed my (maybe unhealthy) fascination with my countys’ Department of Health data. And a handful of weeks ago? I had a skip-happy-hand-in-hand-with-the-CDC moment when I stopped for street corn, realized I had left the house without a mask, aaaand realized it was safe to pop in for my takeaway treat…

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Waters of Life

Among Judaism’s most ancient traditions is mikveh—the ritual bath. Contrary to popular misconception, ritual immersion is not about “cleansing” oneself from impurity. Rather, it is a ritual of transition, a shifting from one state of being to another. Such is our predicament today, as we move from the sheltered isolation of living in fear to…

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Together!

Was it only a year ago that life as we knew it, came to a swift and unexpected halt as, what was then, a strange new virus, Covid-19, was moving like wildfire through Europe and Asia and then it was suddenly on our doorstep. “A pandemic is upon us. Two weeks.” they said, “will allow…

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What now?

It’s like closing the door behind us and entering a familiar place we have not visited in a while. We know what we should do, how we should act, but there are behaviors from our recent past that we have now acquired as too essential for our lives to be whole. With hesitancy, yet with…

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Seasons of Love: A Covid Tribute

When I was fearing for my life in a COVID ER unit, I never imagined that a year later I’d be gathering Broadway performers, young adults bereaved by COVID-19, and home videos of those they lost. But this year has been full of wild surprises. While I’d struggled with long haul symptoms for over a…

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Turning the Corner

Not sure what’s around the corner, but it’s clear we’ve somehow turned the corner on the pandemic. On the road of life, uncertainty is always with us. But when knowledge, science and faith are all on our side, we can face the unknown with a smile. Moving ahead without fear is like a breath of…

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The Longest Shift

About the Project One year after the first stay-at-home order of the pandemic, workers who never imagined they would be on the front lines are still on the job. These stills, motion portraits and intimate extended interviews bring us closer than six feet to five dozen Los Angelenos who work the front lines of the…

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Monday “Masks of Boston” 2021 #17

Who do you wear a mask for? (Ed. Note: Each Monday, The Pandemic Lens publishes an image from Katherine Taylor’s “Masks of Boston” project. To date, Kathryn has photographed nearly 300 people from all walks of life. Visit Masks of Boston  to read the profile of each person and learn who they wear a mask…

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Quarantine Quilt: A Journal, A Meditation

On March 8, 2020, the cruise ship Grand Princess was headed toward the Port of Oakland, California, six miles from my home. Passengers on board the ship were suffering from a strange new Corona virus that seemed to be spreading like wildfire. On March 9, passengers infected with the virus were allowed to leave the…

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