Fear and uncertainty permeated the very air we breathed in New York and New Jersey in early March 2020.
So begins a remarkable collection of first-person writing and photography produced when New York and New Jersey became the nation’s first COVID-19 epicenter. Inspired by a Zoom writers’ series led by Editor Lorraine Ash, the words and images offer an intensely personal look at people’s lives amid a global disaster. Readers experience what it was like to give birth at the height of the pandemic, contract the virus, struggle to breathe, watch the death tolls rise, go out on ambulance calls, see makeshift morgues in the streets, socially isolate, sanitize every grocery purchased at supermarkets, battle anxiety, feel the triumph of connecting in new ways, and much more.
Though inspired by the Zoom series, the scope of the project didn’t stop there. The thirty-five participants were encouraged to share the opportunity with others. They did, and the essays and photos poured in. Corona City is more than just a book: it is a community of people who shared a life-changing experience.
Explore the online portion of the project below. For more photographs and writing—essays, micro-memoirs, prose poems, and diary entries—purchase the book; visit the Amazon page here. Because COVID-19 has sharply increased hunger in America, all proceeds go to meeting that need.
Lorraine Ash, MA, is a New Jersey-based book editor, author, and literary coach.
Corona City Online
Take in some of the stories and images here:
Grounded
Newark Liberty International Airport, Terminal C, June 9, 2020 (Photo by Virginia Cory-Carhuff)
An Unforgettable Ride
Margaret Buchanan
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Family Physician, Family Man
Nico Ferreras, MD
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Climbing Corona Mountain
Corinne Carhuff-Pickell
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Into His Arms … or Not
Jean Sheff
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Lost and Found and Lost
Lorraine Ash
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An Italian-American Lesson
Margaret Kazancioglu
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Suddenly Sick
Laura Carriere
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Addie’s Observations
Karen Rippstein
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Mining for Joy
Martha Marvin
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Remember the Children
Donna Grahl
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The marquee at the Lafayette Theatre in downtown Suffern, New York, September 27, 2020 (Photo by Lorraine Ash)
Speak! Good Dog! 