UPDATED: Introducing New York: Still Life, a Covid Oral History

[Cary McClelland @ NYSL]

A Covid Oral History NEW YORK: STILL LIFE A COVID ORAL HISTORY NEWSLETTER #1 | 8.15.20 Dear Family, Friends and Neighbors, Early in the pandemic, I wrote an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle. New York, then, was not ju NEW YORK: STILL LIFE A COVID ORAL HISTORY NEWSLETTER #1 | 8.15.20 Dear Family, Friends and Neighbors, Early in the pandemic, I wrote an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle. New York, then, was not just the national but the global epicenter, and there was a sense that California somehow had spared itself the worst.  I wrote that New York had a lot to learn from other states’ preparations, but it had a lot to teach as well.  It is an impossible city, always collapsing and rebuilding at the same time, and, during this pandemic, we have been digging ourselves out while the buildings are still caving in, just like we did during 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy and every blackout and blizzard and riot and great fire.  Civilization might be fragile, but it is also a stubborn thing. Just a few months later, the situation has tragically reversed:  California, along with so many states, posts record Covid numbers, and New York, for the moment, has “flattened its curve.”  The lessons from New York’s resilience are even more necessary today, before the whole country turns into a hot zone. Hence, this project, New York: Still Life.  A collection of stories from New Yorkers at the center of the city’s outbreak—spanning the diversity of the city and putting readers on the frontline of a national crisis.  These are voices doctors and health care workers, of course, but also teachers paying to keep the lights on in their kids’ homes, artists building mutual aid networks, clergy becoming anti-eviction advocates.  At a moment when we've been ordered to keep apart, this project wants to reconnect us.  It is also a chronicle of this city’s inequality—arguably the worst in the nation—and the long-neglected fissures along race, gender, age, etc. that are becoming visible to those who benefitted from them.  A time when many of us have to be frank about the privileges that protects us from the worst of this crisis.  A time when our governments are unwilling or incapable of rising to the challenge.  And a time when more weight is being placed on the shoulders already carrying too much.  We are starting to learn who can step up and put some of this back together. Today, we are sharing the first three voices.  Leslie-Bernard Joseph, the head of a Brooklyn charter school who has been wrestling with the impact of dual epidemics in his community, Covid-19 and racism, and has been innovating ways to turn his school into an engine for equity and justice.  Mariana Quinones-Negron, an immigration advocate working with children coming out of detention, many of whom are facing this pandemic alone.  And Dr. Gary Belkin, a psychologist and former NYC public health official, whose commitment to building grassroots resilience and civic muscle may help address the wave of mental health problem that follows the virus. Click below for our homepage or directly to the stories themselves. Each is paired with links to related organizations and efforts. So as you read, consider supporting with donations or as a volunteer. We look forward to hearing from you with feedback, reflections, and ideas for our next stories. And please share and share alike. Instagram | Twitter READ MORE MAKING A WAY OUT OF NO WAY Leslie-Bernard Joseph A teacher by training, Leslie runs Coney Island Prep, a charter school in Brooklyn. In March, he decided to close their doors days before the Department of Education and the large charter networks, later criticized for their lagging response. Since then, Coney Island Prep has taken on its shoulders the responsibility of not just teaching its students at distance, but supporting their families and expanding their equity mission. At a moment when the city and state are proposing austerity measures and cuts to school budgets, their work highlights the necessity of doing more, not less, and how narrowly we have imagined what schools can do. Leslie and his school have placed themselves explicitly on the front lines of the many American epidemics converging on their community—not just Covid, but racism, inequality and beyond—and have dug trenches for the long haul. READ MORE LIKE ARGUING A DEATH PENALTY CASE IN TRAFFIC COURT Mariana Quinones-Negron When Mariana moved here from Puerto Rico, she was an artist. She would make these huge installations critiquing the War on Terror. She wanted to challenge the United States, a country that hasn’t experienced war first hand—to feel the consequences of its foreign policy. Her work made Americans see their country from outside in—made their homeland feel foreign. Roll forward ten years: “I didn’t just want to make art, I wanted to directly change things.” Today, she is an immigration advocate, working on behalf of unaccompanied minors, kids who were detained entering the country and now are often alone fighting to get their footing in this country: their fight can be easily forgotten in the midst of this pandemic. READ MORE THE GREATEST ANTIDOTE TO DISTRESS IS ACTION Dr. Gary Belkin For more than four years, Gary served as the Deputy Health Commissioner for New York City. A psychologist by training and public health expert, he has spent much of his career advocating for “task sharing”—teaching teachers, social workers, clergy, and service workers to tackle some of the work traditionally dedicated to doctors and therapists. Much of his work for the city fought to increase the capacity of grassroots organizations to serve the mental health, resilience and wellness needs of their community. This often meant taking on the mental health work too often carried by the police and injecting it with a critical consciousness on race and socioeconomic disparities. READ MORE NEW YORK: STILL LIFE New York Still Life, 55 Water Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA Powered by Squarespace Unsubscribe