In Stillness
I want to stop having MS so I can just be afraid of the virus like everyone else.
Viral Education
Online education is, at best, a parachute until teachers and students can return to the classroom.
A Teacher’s View
Five weeks ago we sealed the school building, and along with it my excuses.
“Quand les Cartes Postales se Croisent” (When Postcards Cross)
Under these imaginative circumstances I can move around Paris with impunity, unlike my friends and neighbors.
Chalk Talk
The sidewalk was there before Covid-19, and it’s still here today, as solid as anything might feel to a kid right now.
“After the First Death, There is No Other”
Syria and its millions of refugees rarely make the news these days.
The Spuds Will Bloom in Baile Beag
There’s a scene in Brian Friel’s iconic play Translations (1980) that seems to me to speak to our current moment.
A Gathering Quiet
Silence is now, for the moment anyhow, pervasive. It is a presence itself.
Unfunny April Fools’ Day in Poland
Apparently the Polish PM’s repeated mantras are not enough anymore.
Self-Help in the Time of Corona
No disease or infection is an “enemy” — for that very reason, we never become soldiers.
It’s Our Turn
How many N95 masks would $4.5 billion buy? Roughly 2.5 billion. The aircraft carrier sits in Guam, dead in the water.
A Music Critic in Quarantine
I haven’t felt much like listening to music, and it’s not because I don’t love music any more.
Protests Under Cover
At the moment, a virus which doesn’t distinguish Muslims or Hindus has provided me with the cover I need.
We Are All Gazans Now . . . Sort Of
Enforced social distancing and isolation are something my family and I have endured most of our lives.
Downtown Crossing, Easter 2020
1 in 3 of the unhoused population of Boston have tested positive. We offer handmade masks, hand sanitizer, symptom screening, and calls to medical teams.