Derrick Z. Jackson: Systemic Racism Continues to Plague Pandemic Response
The chaotic roll-out of the vaccines has meant that people with access to the internet, reliable transportation and flexible hours have a much easier time getting vaccinated.
Tom Engelhardt: The Sports Pages of Death
Life in a Wounded and Wounding Land
Naomi Shihab Nye & Michael Simms: Writing Prompt # 7 | Dear Vaccine
As we enter our new lives
will we remember
the faster we moved
the sicker we got?
Rachel Hadas: Holding on to hope is hard, even with the pandemic’s end in sight – wisdom from poets through the ages
As we begin to glimpse what might be the beginning of the end of the pandemic, what does hope mean? It’s hard not to sense the presence of hope, but how do we think of it?
Owen Hughes: Vaccination
After the shots
Not a fever
No side effect
Except this pause
William Petri, M.D.: How effective is the first shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine?
After a single dose of either vaccine, you have very high levels of protection after your body has time to build immunity, about a week. The scheduled second dose of these vaccines makes them even more effective.
Derrick Z. Jackson: States Dismantle COVID-19 Safety Protocols at Our Peril
Many policy makers have completely forgotten the deadly consequences of last spring’s abrupt, premature ending of lockdowns.
Rajan Menon: A Covid-19 Hell on Earth
How This Country Fails Its Most Vulnerable: A Field Guide to Our Threadbare Social Safety Net.
Derrick Z. Jackson: 500,000 US COVID-19 Deaths and Counting | A Shameful Public Health Failure
The 1918 flu claimed an estimated 675,000 lives in the United States. With no drastic action, we will surely surpass the 1918 toll before returning to anything resembling normal life.
Rachel Hadas: Trying to Get to School
But making my way from A to B
could not be managed easily.
Locked courtyard, blocked alleys, a high wall –
I had to cross or climb them all.
William Torphy and Ted Torphy: Lessons from the Pandemic
The crisis has revealed structural dysfunctions as well as human courage and resilience, providing many lessons that cannot be ignored.
Lyndsey Stonebridge: The plague novel you need to read is by Bachmann, not Camus
What does it mean to live in the plague – every day, across generations and without an exit strategy?
Paul Christensen: The Muse of Memory
Nothing stirs but the wind that rattles rain gutters and pulls on the hinges of blistered shutters. A pair of boots has been left out on a patio of gray flagstones, the mud still clinging to their heels like forgotten promises.
