In the park I practiced handstands against a tree. People passed by with their signs, Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police, on their way to the protest. Someone in a full Spiderman costume asked if I could teach him how to do handstands. At the vigil people handed out candles and neighbors gave each […]
Tag: pandemic
Characters
I took an intro to creative writing class with Sidney Offit a few years ago. He gave us an assignment. “Write the first chapter of the story of your life.” A student asked, “Does it have to be real?” Sidney shrugged. “You are all characters to me.” There is: a man on the first floor […]
A quarantine compromise
There are four of us in our apartment. When the pandemic hit, one of us went to live with his girlfriend. That left three. One, a hypochondriac (and I mean that in the best way possible). Two, a public health professionial. And three, a classic American turd (that’s me). One and two were pretty into […]
Past life
I miss my old life. I miss my friends. I miss the regulars at Sunday night yoga–how we would all help the teacher close down the studio after the last class and linger chatting at the door. I miss my writing class in the LES studio apartment with a drafty window. I miss the bike […]
Paradoxical thoughts
Today a kid riding his BMX bike on the sidewalk almost ran into me. I froze, deer-in-headlights and waited–hoped–for him to look up and see me (which he did). But in that brief moment I had a flash of a thought: please don’t look up. Please run me over.* I want this to be over. […]
Experiments in social distancing (quarantine day: unknown)
A few days a week I run to the top of the tallest hill by my house. (Oh have I mentioned?–I’m a runner now.) The road that goes up the hill is quiet. There are few houses and no shops. A long long time ago glaciers inched across New York State slowly pushing rocks aside […]
A rant (that might not be about what you expect)
I have thought about going back to school many times. Many. Times. I have considered: a nursing degree, a masters in education, a tesol certificate, a master of arts, and a masters of fine arts (which I did actually apply for once but only to schools that did not require the GRE and I did […]
Telling a story: day 22
“All of [the transformative movements from the past] understood that the process of shifting cultural values–though somewhat ephemeral and difficult to quantify–was central to their work. And so they dreamed in public, showed humanity a better version of itself, modeled different values in their own behavior, and in the process liberated the political imagination and […]
Day 20: the collective, the enforcer
Welcome to our brand new world! In a matter of weeks a country of over 300 million people of all shapes, sizes, colors, and belief systems has put itself on lockdown. (Mostly.) While a giant Cheeto tries to sell malaria drugs from his pulpit, local officials and individuals enforce the greatest national feat that I […]
Day 4 adventures in quarantine: urban foraging and navigating the American welfare system
This morning I woke up to a text from the front-of-house manager saying she was at the restaurant with my check if I wanted to swing by today. So immediately my day went from no plans to PLANS. Water, teeth brushing, pants, bike, out the door. My weather app said it wasn’t raining out but […]
Anne Foster 