The COVID-19 crisis is the most calamitous global event any living person can recall. Millions of cases worldwide have claimed over 150,000 lives as epidemiologists predict far more mayhem before the virus is under control. The drastic precautionary measures necessary to stem COVID’s spread, like “social distancing” and the closure of many businesses, are perfectly […]
Archives for April 2020
An NYC Doctor’s Life During COVID-19
“I’m not heroic. I was never planning to be.” A 30-something year old New York City doctor gives an account of how COVID-19 has affected her life at work and home. The edited interview took place on April 6th and was given under condition of anonymity because she could be fired for speaking about her […]
Angola Prisoners Say: “This is a war – and we’re in it”
CJ LeBlanc is a journalist who writes primarily about issues related to criminal justice in the Deep South and seeks opportunities to amplify marginalized voices. In this short piece, CJ LeBlanc shares with us the communiques of incarcerated men inside Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, a former plantation and the country’s largest and most notorious […]
On Organizing the Grunts: COVID-19, the Sailors and Some Other World History
I don’t mean to sound old school here. When General Giap, a commander of the Vietnam Peoples’ Army, wrote in his memoir about the conditions that allowed a victory over the almighty US armed forces in his country, he gave a lot of reasons. A singularly important one for us was the resistance to the […]
Teaching in the Time of COVID
Like thousands of professors around the country and the globe, I suddenly find myself conducting all my personal and professional affairs through my computer screen. Stationed on my couch as my classroom, office, and Kanopy ‘n Chill station, surrounded by potato chip crumbs, with my cat wondering why his underlords are crowding out his space, […]
“We Need to Change the Way We Live”: An ICU Nurse Speaks Out
Today we caught up with Sam, a nurse working in a cardiac ICU unit at a medium-sized private hospital in Newark NJ. In Sam’s workplace, a nurse was recently suspended for organizing a gofundme page to raise money for more PPE equipment. Sam’s co-workers believe that she was targeted because management believed that she was agitating […]