The Big Shut-In

More than 160,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the country, with over 32,000 of those fatalities in New York. There’s no way to measure the emotional and financial toll so much death has taken on the nation. But THE CITY, a nonprofit news organization covering New York, is dedicated to honoring the thousands who have lost their lives in New York. I spoke with Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism students Luca Powell and Michaela Roman working on the massive memorial project, “MISSING THEM.”

Yes, Georgia is a mess right now… and so is the criminal justice system. Courts are closed, people are sitting in jails waiting for trial, and no one knows how to move forward. All this and more in my conversation with Joshua Schiffer, Esq. of ChancoSchiffer, P.C., a criminal defense and civil rights lawyer in Atlanta.

School is out for summer here in NYC (whatever that means), and so we checked in again with 4th grade teacher Lindsey, who has a lot to say about remote learning past and future.

With the country a crazy patchwork of inconsistent policies and ever-shifting amounts of fear and concern, photographer Michael is doing something most of are still far from attempting – traveling for work. What’s it like to fly in coronaland? Stay in hotels? Visit offices? Let’s find out.

During a very strange and confusing week, where things seem to be improving here in New York and also going to heck just about everywhere else, we check in again with our very first guest, Angie – a graphic designer and mother of two who isn’t much more sure of where she stands at three months in than she was on day one.

Solidarity, surrealism, solace, and the betting odds on a second American Civil War, as we check in again with Wisconsin college professor Naomi, who has been finding a new way through the COVID crisis by attending Black Lives Matter protests.

Collin Lyle Howard is a singer and actor here in New York, and the explosion of the Black Lives Matter movement have inspired him to find himself in another way - as an activist.

Over the course of a weekend, everything changed again. Tragic violence brought simmering anger to a rolling boil, and many who had been self-quarantined were now hitting the streets to march and protest. I turn to one of my one of my closest friends to try to work it all through.

There's been a lot of support for doctors and nurses as they care for those who are entering the hospital with COVID-19... but far fewer are talking about those who care the worst cases as they leave. Let's hear from Kaliq, a technician at the office of the New York City Medical Examiner, one of the unsung heroes who process the dead.

Even for a supermom like Megan Harper (of Red Tricycle, Tiny Beans, and the instagram feed @GirlGoneChildinNYC) being on lockdown with a husband and three kids in a one-bedroom apartment is a lot. Really a lot. An awful lot. A lot.