Reflections on the Pandemic
274 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2
11 color images
Hardcover
Release Date:12 Jan 2024
ISBN:9781978831100
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.
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.
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.
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
Acknowledgments
Notes
Contributors
Text Permissions
