In April, we put out the call for submissions for first-person accounts of life in the contagion. The frustrations, the joys, the disruption, the boredom. We asked for journal entries, to-
do lists, letters to dead relatives, manifestos, cries in the dark, homilies—every scrap of it. We wanted to get a snapshot of what it’s like to live right now, during this very strange time.
We were a bit (delightfully) overwhelmed by the response: We received over 100 submissions for this section. (Phillip Levine, our poetry editor, put out his own call and received 1,200 poems!) The writings were randomly paired with COVID-19 photo/artwork submissions.
Thanks to all who submitted. Many worthy pieces didn’t make the cut simply because we didn’t have enough room.
Here is a collective portrait of life under COVID-19. May we never pass this way again.
—Brian K. Mahoney
This article appears in May 2020.
