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In the time of coronavirus

A collection of stories submitted by the public on their experience of living through the time of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The coronavirus pandemic has changed our lives. Globally the scale of human suffering as a consequence of Covid-19 has been very great. Everywhere people are now reflecting on what this major and previously unimaginable global crisis means for us, as individuals, living in the 21st century. This forum offers a space for writers to reflect on their experience in Aotearoa and to consider questions such as: What might we need to remember and preserve? What has been my experience, my observations, how might my priorities have shifted, in a good way, as a result of the lockdowns? If you would like to contribute to the re-collective effort through any of the following life writing formats — journalling, nature writing, memoir, commentary, poetry, notes on work in progress during lockdown… — please make initial contact through my contact page. Next prepare a page of A4 writing, starting in the present moment and moving where you need to into the recent past and forwards from that point, with a title, brief bio, photo (optional) and your contribution will be added to the repository of important writings flowering in this space.

“Securing the memory of COVID-19 is the minimum we owe to each other in the aftermath of this catastrophe.”

Richard Horton, “Covid-19 and the Ethics of memory", The Lancet , 6 June 2020
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Sleeping Out by Liz March

6/6/2020

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Liz feels her past lives of science technician, mother, teacher and photographer still impact her current slower more observant life.

My six year old grandson has decided to sleep in the camper van outside the garage. I am not sure if he will go through with it but his parents and I are willing to give it a try.

In level four lockdown I notice how we are all that much more patient and open to his ideas. He is making a bed in the back of the van and I agree to stay there with him until he is asleep if indeed he manages as he is normally afraid of the dark. I let him fuss around about exactly what he wants in there for the night. Several times he asks if it is dinner time yet, and I realise he can’t wait. Finally the time comes, the bath first with specific toys already planned out. I don’t talk about sleeping outside in case he loses confidence. I remember how, often, he gets frightened in his own room at night, as I dry his hair and clean his teeth. We walk to the van and climb inside. He has prepared everything; two Doctor Seuss books are placed in the front, a bottle of water, a lunch box with snacks and a torch. 
We read the books and then lie down, the torch goes on and off under the blankets and up on the roof of the van. He wriggles and twists and after a while I say that's enough now you don’t want to wear out the torch battery, we are quiet together.

It is a very dramatic sky outside speckled with small fluffy clouds each of them glowing around the edges lit from the moon which is extra large and bright tonight. Earlier the TV weather lady had announced it was a super moon and that when it reached full again we would be near the end of level four lockdown.

It is strangely grounding just lying there looking at the moon, there is a stillness like a song that soaks in to you. I can’t help reflecting that if I was inside the house I would be looking at another blue light, the computer screen whose energy is like heavy metal in comparison. This moon is connecting me to the rest of the world's suffering in a strange sort of way.
 
My eyes adjust to see a star appear from behind a cloud. I feel the warmth of a small foot on me and the sound of deeper breathing. I have explained I will leave as soon as he is asleep but I realise there is nowhere I would rather be at this moment experiencing our planet floating in vast space, all of us united in facing the same things. The feeling of this child beside me.

As each day has passed there have been news updates and projections of how it will all pan out. A financial crisis, a depression, a huge shift in the social fabric of society, all of the above? We are not quite sure which new crisis will happen but unlike an episode on Netflix I cannot choose to stop watching.
​
If there is something new and good to emerge from this will it be in my lifetime?

I gaze at the star its infinite distance from me and the vastness of this universe. Then I reflect on the microcosm of my own body where a small planet-like virus could invade, multiply and take over.
I have no fear and nor does he, this little boy who sleeps beside me now.
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    Authors

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    Ruth Bonita
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    Sandy Plummer
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    Sylvia Nagl
    Tessa Duder
    Tony Eyre
    Trevor M Landers
    Yvonne Van Dongen

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Deborah thanks Rangimarie Kelly and Pikau Digtal for website design and artist Karen Jarvis for her image ‘Writers at the Devonport Library,’ (2023)
Writing Memoir
Defining Memoir
The Participatory Model
Tips on Writing and Posting a Story
​From Writing Course to Book Publication
Your Writing Space
​Writing on a Theme
Reviews of Memoir
Writers Stories
​
Events
​About
Testimonials
What People Say

Media
​Contact
Copyright © 2023 Deborah Shepard
  • Home
  • Books
    • The Writing Life >
      • Reviews & Interviews
    • Giving Yourself to Life
    • Her Life's Work
    • Translucence
    • Between The Lives
    • Reframing Women
    • Tributes
    • Personal Writings >
      • Conference Paper
      • Lockdown Journal
      • Travel Journal
      • Elegy for a friend
      • Christchurch - Post Quakes
      • On a residency
      • Deborah’s Love Letter to the Women’s Bookshop
      • Deborah's Q & A With Unity Books
  • Writing Memoir
    • Defining Memoir
    • The Participatory Model
    • Tips on Writing and Posting a Story
    • The Value of a Writing Class
    • From writing course to book publication
    • Your Writing Space
    • Writing on a Theme >
      • Window
      • Surviving a Crisis
    • Reviews of Memoir
  • Writers' stories
    • Writer's Stories
    • Covid-19 Stories
    • Writing Guidelines
    • From Being Mentored to Book Publication
  • Events
  • About
    • Testimonials
    • Media
  • What People Say
  • Contact