Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

“I Had To Tear Down A 150-Year-Old Barn.”, Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpts from Oral History Interview

“I Held My Breath The Whole Time, I Didn't Know What Else To Do.”, Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpt from Oral History

“Calling It The China Flu Is Kind Of Rough To Hear.”, Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpts from Oral History

“Two Very Different Ways Of Approaching This Pandemic.”, Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpts from Oral History

“They Just Handed You A Ziploc Bag With A Little Water Bottle And A Snack In It.”, Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpt from Oral History.

“I Have A Feeling Within A Year, There's Gonna Be Some Real Shortages.”, Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpts from Oral History.

“Two Very Different Ways Of Approaching This Pandemic.”, Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpts from oral history.

"If We're Gonna Survive, We Gotta Find A Healthier Way To Do It.", Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excepts from Oral History.

“I’M A Gamer So I’M Really Into Online Communities.”, Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Except from Oral History.

“Support The Folks That Strive For Peace And Justice.”, Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpt from Oral History.

"Everybody Was Nervous, Everybody Was Upset, Everybody Was Scared In One Way Or Another.”, Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpts from oral history.

“Don’T Be Afraid To Trust Even If You Can’T Hug That Person.”, Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpt from Oral History.

"Nobody Come Downstairs. I'M Down Here.", Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpt from Oral History.

“It's Like Almost Like A Tornado Struck Or Something.”, Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpt from Oral History.

“Some Friendships Go A Little Deeper.”, Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpt from Oral History.

“I Think More What Stresses Me Out Is How People Are So Divided About It.”, Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpt from Oral History

"Maybe If I Just Stay Home, It'll All Go Away And I Won't Have To Deal With Any Of That.", Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpt from Oral History

“We Can't Escape The Cultural And Historical Moment That We Live In. I Can Fully Accept That”, Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpt from oral history.

Semester At Sea In A Pandemic, Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpts from "Stories of Wisdom from Bodies in Separation (SWaBS): Archiving the Coronavirus Pandemic Through the Lens of Humanities."

"Oh, That's Not What I Pictured Your Face To Be Like.", Stories Of Wisdom From Bodies In Separation (Swabs)

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

Excerpts from oral history interviews.

Archiving The Coronavirus Pandemic, Michaela Stram, Cheryl Reitan

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

This article contextualizes the submissions in this special issue which were collected within an NEH grant, "Stories of Wisdom from Bodies in Separation (SWaBS): Archiving the Coronavirus Pandemic Through the Lens of Humanities."

A Department Responds To Covid, Jim Coby

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

In his work The Culture of Calamity, Kevin Rozario explains that “it is conventional, and by no means inappropriate, to think of disasters in strictly negative terms, but calamities have often presented opportunities” (3). Following the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the rapidity with which faculty members and students were asked to adapt to new modalities was unprecedented, and not without difficulties. At the same time, opportunities presented themselves in the midst of the chaos and confusion. In this collectively-authored essay, faculty from the English and Language Studies Department at Indiana University Kokomo reckon with the …

The Shortcomings Of Support: A 2020 Meta-Reflection, Emily Abellon

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

This reflective essay explores the shortcoming of social support experienced in 2020, through the navigation of the pandemic, becoming a mother, and through progressing in a doctoral program. Through this meta-reflection, social support is discussed, specifically in regard to new motherhood, the challenges of enacting it during a pandemic, and how the practice of self-compassion needs to be normalized and can provide aid in times when support is lacking. The argument is made for further research and education on social support to be done to better prepare for challenges and obstacles that people of all backgrounds, from all industries and …

Teaching And Parenting During Covid-19, Erin Lord Kunz

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

This creative nonfiction project examines the relationship between work, motherhood, creativity, and advocacy. With increased quarantines and illness, mothers in particular have felt more strain to provide care to their children while also trying to maintain a professional life. This has often created an absence of these mothers in the professional sphere, and their creative work is performed from home, sometimes with the support of their employers and sometimes without. While supporting their families, students, colleagues, and own creative pursuits, mothers often have the additional burden of advocacy given their proximity to so many who have been negatively impact by …

Life And Lemons: Struggling With Productivity During A Pandemic, Joseph Patrick Richards

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

If the academic environment depends on the violent directive to “publish or perish,” what happens when we are trying to publish while lives and ways of living are perishing? Stemming from the real need to create a final paper for a spring 2020 feminist ethnography class, this paper explores what it is like to be a person trying to write an academic paper during a pandemic, while finding oneself both utterly incapable of thinking about anything but an invisible virus. Mixing creative nonfiction, autoethnography and journal entries, the author questions the limits and harms of maintaining a dedication to academic …

Sewing Self-Efficacy: Images Of Women’S Mask-Making In Appalachia During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Melanie B. Richards Phd, Mildred F. Perreault Phd

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

“I could get out my sewing machine and do something to make a difference.”- Gwen

In the early days of March 2020, news regarding COVID-19 spread in hushed tones throughout medical offices and church hallways in small cities and towns in the Appalachian Region of the United States. Although case numbers were quickly rising in major U.S. metropolitan areas, the virus was just becoming a known risk in Appalachia. During this time, Appalachian women gathered information about prevention efforts, and quickly acted using what resources they could access to provide homemade masks for themselves, their families, and their communities. …

We Cope By Coming Together: Chaplaining During Covid, Melissa Kreider

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

A hospice chaplain reflects on the effects of isolation of nursing home residents and their loved ones during Covid. The author describes the suffering of disconnection, and affirms the ways that connection has brought healing and meaning in the midst of the pandemic.

Volume Up, Cameras On: Zooming In On Covid-19 [Co-Editor's Introduction To "I Think You're Muted": Voices From The Coronavirus Pandemic], Sarah Lawler

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

The narratives shared in this issue allow readers to commiserate over experiences that may have mirrored their own, to empathize with emotions they can only guess at, or simply to listen to and learn from one another in this historic moment of crisis. We thank our authors for sharing their vulnerabilities with a wider audience, and we hope that in sharing our stories, we can respond and adapt in ways that will shape our shared future.