After the onset of COVID-19, I discovered that the New Jersey YMCA State Alliance, in collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Health, and Healthy NJ 2030 were gathering stories and artwork to document what NJ residents experienced throughout the pandemic. I submitted two poems, “Sleep Cycle” and “Pandemic Living 101,” both of which were accepted. 

As the days and months went by, I learned more about the project. According to the organizers, “Community Conversations: Pandemic Perspectives, NJ’s COVID-19 Storytelling Project gathered, documented, and analyzed the personal accounts of over 580 New Jersey residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project captured the experiences of residents with an emphasis on those who have faced increased risk because of the pandemic. They collected stories from all 21 NJ counties from August 2020 through March 2021. Submissions included individual interviews, focus groups, social media dialogues, creative artworks, and journaling.”

Recently, invited to present my poetry at the 9th annual conference as an Essex County resident at the Building a Culture of Health in New Jersey: Healing Communities and Connecting Voices conference, I was overwhelmed by participants’ stories, poetry, artwork, musical compositions, and dance performances. 

Ambreen Ali, for NJ Spotlight, wrote an article, “Community Conversations: NJ’s time in COVID,” about the project. https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2021/12/covid-19-coronavirus-variant-delta-omicron-masks-mask-mandate-long-haul-covid-19-vaccination-cdc-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-pandemic-pediatric-covid-19-front-line-workers/, in which my work is mentioned. 

History and art are both passions of mine. As everything in the last year and three-quarters has unfolded, it has been important to me that beyond the science, artist’s accounts were being recorded and preserved for prosperity. 

If you would like to learn more about Community Conversations and their plans for sharing this body of work, log onto https://www.njymca.org/communityconversations.