Staying alert, bringing meaning to numbers

Last week, I was scanning the headlines and found myself completely unfazed by the announcement of that day’s “61 deaths due to COVID-19” in Minnesota. Ugh! I don’t want to be numb to the number of people we are losing due to this pandemic and our country’s lack of leadership and accountability for allowing it to reach exponential levels. I don’t want to gloss over the way it’s been exacerbated by the outdated “rugged individualism” and “American dream” philosophy in our society, politics, and economic system. Each one of these dots is, was, a person in my state. Even if they would hate my commentary two sentences ago, even if they were 102, even if they had other risk factors, I don’t want to gloss over their death as I scan the headlines. So I have started keeping a daily log of the people we are losing in Minnesota. It is mostly to keep myself aware, you don’t have to love it, but you’re welcome to join me in this one little attempt to avoid being numb to the loss we are experiencing.

From December 5-12, 2020, 575 people died of complications of COVID-19, as reported by the Minnesota Department of Health.

We will get through this

I have been listening to CIDRAP’s Osterholm Update podcast regularly throughout the pandemic. I often do so while working on art projects. It was only a matter of time, then that it would make its way into one of these projects. “We will get through this” is an often repeated phrase on the podcast. We will get through this, but it’s crucial we work together, acknowledge this is our “COVID year” and “stop swapping air.”

Each of these is made with about 100 little blobs. A few weeks before I made these, I had cut out 545 little pieces of paper to make a visual marker of the 545 children who remain separated from their families due to the current administration’s actions at the border. I grouped them in groups of 100 (and then 45) to keep track. I wanted to turn them into something else, but wasn’t sure what. As I was playing around with 100 of them on a sheet of paper, this concept popped into my head. So, in many ways, from something hopeless comes something hopeful.

We will get through this.

Quarantine Powers Comic on Graphic Medicine Site

The graphic medicine site is a collection of all things related to comics and medicine. Dr. Ian Williams coined the term, which he defines as “use of comics in medical education and patient care.” Needless to say, I’m a fan.

The site is full of information and comics or visuals related to the world of medicine. Lately, they’ve added a new section, “Covid-19 Comics,” which links to all kinds of comics that people have made in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Check it out!

Although the site is most focused on the world of medicine, they now have a teensy bit of law-related content because they’ve included my Quarantine Powers explainer comic in their list of educational Covid-19 comics!

Thanks, Graphic Medicine!