Reflections on the Pandemic

COVID and Social Crises in the Year Everything Changed

Edited by Teresa Politano

Rutgers University Press

Reflections on the Pandemic: COVID and Social Crises in the Year Everything Changed is a collection of essays, poems, and artwork that captures the raw energy and emotion of 2020 from the perspective of the Rutgers University community. The project features work from a diverse group of Rutgers scholars, students, staff, and alumni. Reflecting on 2020 from a number of perspectives – mortality, justice, freedom, equality, democracy, family, health, love, hate, economics, history, medicine, science, social justice, the environment, art, food, sanity – the book features contributions by Evie Shockley, Joyce Carol Oates, Naomi Jackson, Ulla Berg, Grace Lynne Haynes, Jordan Casteel, and President Jonathan Holloway, among others. This book, through its rich and imaginative storytelling at the intersection of scholarly expertise and personal narrative, brings readers into the hearts and minds of not just the Rutgers community but the world.

Contributors include: Patricia Akhimie, Marc Aronson, Ulla D. Berg, Stephanie Bonne, Stephanie Boyer, Kimberly Camp, Jordan Casteel, Kelly-Jane Cotter, Mark Doty, David Dreyfus, Adrienne E. Eaton, Katherine C. Epstein, Leah Falk, Paul G. Falkowski, Rigoberto González, James Goodman, David Greenberg, Angelique Haugerud, Grace Lynne Haynes, Leslieann Hobayan, Jonathan Holloway, James W. Hughes, Naomi Jackson, Amy Jordan, Vikki Katz, Mackenzie Kean, Robert E. Kopp, Christian Lighty, Stephen Masaryk, Louis P. Masur, Revathi V. Machan, Yalidy Matos, Belinda McKeon, Susan L. Miller, Yehoshua November, Joyce Carol Oates, Mary E. O’Dowd, Katherine Ognyanova, David Orr, Gregory Pardlo, Steve Pikiell, Teresa Politano, en Purkert, Nick Romanenko, Evie Shockley, Caridad Svich, and Didier William.

The accounts within this volume tell the story of the COVID-19 pandemic and its complex intersection with every facet of our lives. Our shared trauma, loss, resilience, and hope are reflected in its pages. I thank the Rutgers community for these important reflections and for all they did to propel us through those difficult days. Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey

In Reflections on the Pandemic: Covid and Social Crises in the Year Everything Changed, stories of personal experience and scholarly expertise shine light on the intricacies of the pandemic years...[it] covers a range of topics that were relevant to the pandemic, including science, health, racial injustice, environmental issues, politics, relationships, mortality and more. New Jersey Monthly

TERESA POLITANO is an award-winning writer, editor, and educator. In 2022, she won the International Association of Culinary Professionals Award for Personal Essays / Memoir. She is the author of Celebrity Chefs of New Jersey (Rutgers University Press, 2010). She teaches at Rutgers University and is part of the university’s Academic Initiatives team.

Preface

Reflections in a COVID Photograph by Jonathan Holloway
pantoum: 2020 by Evie Shockley
Mercy (As If) by Mark Doty
Writing My Last Book by Rigoberto González
Taking the Court by Steve Pikiell
The New Normal by Revathi V. Machan
Emerging Not Stronger or Weaker but Different by Stephanie Bonne
Looking for a Better End Game by Mary E. O’Dowd
Pandemic Dispatches (East Africa–North America) by Angelique Haugerud
War of the World: How Humans Became a Destructive Force of Nature by Paul G. Falkowski
Jared (2020) by Jordan Casteel
Reflections on Being Human in the Twenty-First Century by Yalidy Matos
Risking Delight in the Middle of a Pandemic by Yehoshua November
Days of 2020: Fear without Knowledge by Mark Doty
A Litany for Survival by Naomi Jackson
Sojourner Truth, Founding Mother by Grace Lynne Haynes
A Letter to Juneteenth on the Embodied History of Life in 2020 by Gregory Pardlo
We Cannot Escape History by Louis P. Masur
Paying Attention by James Goodman
A Reckoning with Names: Signs, Symbols, and the Meanings of History by David Greenberg
The COVID States Project: Empowering a National Response by Katherine Ognyanova
I’ve Missed You (2021) by Didier William
Burning Bologna, 2021 by Susan L. Miller
Pandemic Theology: “Bliss and Grief” by Susan L. Miller
Kid’s Cloth Face Mask from Cat & JackTM by Belinda McKeon
Call the Midwife by Leah Falk
Slap Roti and the Story of New York City by Marc Aronson
From The Journal of a Therapy Cat by Joyce Carol Oates
Black and Gray by Teresa Politano
Playing with Anxiety by Christian Lighty
Virtual Class #219, March 2021, 2:50 p.m.–4:10 p.m.by Mackenzie Kean
It’s Harder for Extroverts by Kelly-Jane Cotter
The Old Has Passed Away, Behold, The New Has Come (2 Corinthians 5:17) by Stephen Masaryk
Rutgers Spit Test by Nick Romanenko
Connectivity, Connection, and Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic by Vikki Katz and Amy Jordan
The Faculty Parent: Juggling Parenting, Teaching, Research, and Writing in Uncertain Times by Patricia Akhimie
Resiliency, Resourcefulness, Responsibility, and Reinvention by David Dreyfus
COVID-19 and Spaces of Confinement by Ulla D. Berg
STOP! (2021) by Stephanie Boyer
The Climate Crisis and the University by Robert E. Kopp
2020: A New Jersey Economy Reinvented by James W. Hughes
Work in the Pandemic and Beyond by Adrienne E. Eaton
The Tolling Bell by Katherine C. Epstein
Stagecoach Mary by Kimberly Camp
On Racism in Museums by Kimberly Camp
STYLE Bird by Grace Lynne Haynes
Meet Me at the Theater at the End of the World: Thirteen Illuminations and an Afterglow by Caridad Svich
What Kind of Pain by Leslieann Hobayan
Be Still by Leslieann Hobayan
Sorrow by David Orr
The Only Replacement by Ben Purkert