Member-only story
How are we suppose to feel about COVID-19?
Finding the strength to sit with truth in our darkest hour.
My partner and I have established a new daily ritual. At the end of all the meals we share at “The Bistro” (our loving, COVID-induced name for the kitchen table), we each list five things that are still good about the world.
The Harry Potter books. Margaritas and tacos. The feeling of walking into your childhood home for the first time in a while. Sandy beaches. Snuggling.
It goes like that for a little while, and then we get up, wash our dishes, grab some coffee at the café (the 12"x12" of counter that includes the coffee maker), and get on with our new, strange lives.
As a reporter, I’ve struggled with the pressure to participate in the never-ending sprint of coronavirus coverage. But as a freelance reporter (with other ways to pay rent besides selling stories), I’ve had the privilege to be judicious about what that participation looks like. After the original pain of a months long reporting project getting shelved indefinitely, I took solace in the words of freelancers like Leah Sottile, who so wonderfully captures the conflict between the inherent desire, duty, and difficulty of being a reporter in a crisis without the protections or security of full time employment.
