Candid Covid Conversations with Mary

Mary and I are joined by our mutual friend and fellow educator Lauren to discuss parenting during the pandemic. We discuss our hopes for silver linings that might emerge from the current global health and economic crisis, from hopes for New Deal-style legislation focused on addressing the global climate crisis to the art, music, literature, poetry and theater that will emerge from this fraught time in history. Mary discusses Esther Safran Foer's new post-Holocaust memoir I Want You to Know We're Still Here, I talk about a recent interview with the acclaimed science and health reporter Don McNeil Jr. on the New York Times podcast The Daily, Lauren recounts her own Coronavirus scare, and Lauren and Mary discuss some creative approaches to teaching and learning online. Recorded on 4/22/20.

Mary and I are joined by our mutual friend and fellow educator Lauren to discuss parenting during the pandemic. Lauren is facing particular stresses; as the parent of two children under 5 years of age, she is also teaching, developing curriculum suited for online learning, taking administrative classes and doing an administrative internship. Mary is struggling to connect in a meaningful way with her grandchildren, spending many hours a week with her grandchildren with online storytelling and chats while also teaching online, which poses an entirely new set of technology challenges. Books discussed in this episode include Apeirogon by Colum McCann, The Plague by Albert Camus, and The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry. Recorded on 4/22/20.

Meet Mary, and find out how she is coping with the loneliness of self-isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic. We also discuss historical parallels, and she tells a funny story about a late '60s adventure.

Mary is a dear friend, an educator, a world traveler, and a funny, thoughtful and insightful human. We both live in Ithaca, NY, and this new podcast will explore our lives during the Covid-19 pandemic. What is daily life like for us, what is it like to try to teach remotely, and what kind of future do we imagine for our kids and grandchildren?