My sister this afternoon told me that her husband had been in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, and we agreed that she should cancel her plans to spend time today with our parents. Despite a significantly lower number of cases than where I live in Northern New Jersey, rural America–particularly the places […]
Tag: self-quarantine
Quarantine, Day 58
The world outside my window just seems so surreal, the way it’s picked up and continued as though there is nothing deadly and invisible all around us. From my window, you would think nothing had changed. From my window, though, my worldview is so incredibly limited. It’s within the house that I’m painfully more aware […]
One Month in Quarantine
A long while ago, in what now feels like another life, I was a painter–acrylics on canvas. I took it seriously enough that my portfolio at one point won me a $50,000 visual arts fellowship. I was, however, a terrible student of art. Something about being “assigned” an art project or having to work with […]
Quarantine, Day 27
My N-99 masks came–two of them with filters on the mask. They are black and make me look like Bane from the Batman series. To be honest, I’d feel guilty for having ordered them, knowing in hindsight they could’ve gone to someone in a hospital, except I ordered them back in February, before anyone was […]
The Lie of the ‘Great American Resurrection’
Last week when Trump said he wanted the country “open by Easter,” a Fox News anchor referred to it as the “great American resurrection.” The reference to the Easter tradition, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, is an obvious attempt to signal to Trump’s evangelical base that this president really is a person of faith, a […]
From Quarantine to the Cemetery
Taking daily strolls in the cemetery, because it’s the closest thing to me that resembles a park, has become a pastime of sorts during this quarantine. In some ways, it’s more sacred to me than stepping into a house of worship. The names and numbers and epitaphs tell so many stories, while simultaneously leaving much […]
Quarantine, Day 15
It feels like everyone I know right now has just enough of a sore throat to wonder. We just found out a day ago that we’re now one and two degrees away from fellow colleagues who have tested positive for covid-19. The creeping dread follows that knowledge. I check my temperature often. I shake off […]
Quarantine, Day 13
Right after I returned from twenty-seven months of Peace Corps service, the next three years were absolute mental hell. I had actually returned by boat, leaving from Barcelona and landing in Fort Lauderdale, and maybe it’s because of the sea legs I couldn’t shake for nearly a month, but I began to believe in the […]
Quarantine, Day 9
As of this evening, the county where I reside is under a lockdown and the New Jersey National Guard are activated and are on “high alert” with imminent orders forthcoming. Only businesses deemed “essential” like grocery stores and banks are open. In five minutes, as I write this, we begin an 8:00pm curfew. Today actually […]
