Krista is Diné (also known as Navajo), and is a reporter for the Navajo Times, a daily newspaper out of Window Rock, Arizona. Her community was hit tremendously hard by COVID, and she’s struggled throughout with losing not only friends and family, but also the people she sees as the very cultural lifeblood of her tribe.

Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday… but how fat will it be, in this extremely lean year? We check in with Andrew, a resident of New Orleans and a true believer in that city’s power to rise and overcome, to learn about how to party in a time of plague (and why).

Rae was over the moon when she found her dream Ph.D. program in Tokyo Japan. Unfortunately, as the pandemic unfolded she found herself isolated in a tiny apartment in a strange city and unable to communicate with those around her for months on end.

Janet is a Korean-American mother of two navigating the expatriate life in Hong Kong, a not-quite-exactly-Chinese city struggling with the upheaval of massive political protests on top of COVID lockdowns. Stuck for more than a year in a tiny apartment with two small kids in a destabilized city where she doesn't speak the language while she watches her native Los Angeles suffer from afar, is it any wonder she feels torn and crazed and disconnected?

Naz had already taken on a huge responsibility when she moved in with her very elderly mother and became her caregiver. Then COVID hit, and the merely challenging became almost overwhelming. She dug deep, though, into her faith and her own strength, and found ways to not only push through but even see the blessings in the time they had together.

Mosaic NYC is a small neighborhood church that decided to open a food pantry last April, with the idea that it might help a few hundred neighbors who were suffering in the economic wake of COVID-19. Now, 9 months later, they are serving 2,000 families every week and the need continues to grow. We talk to Sofia, who has dedicated to herself to the project despite her own financial struggles.

Carletha knows how to work, there's no question about that, and she's been working very hard this year. Her job at an assisted living facility has been overfull of challenges and loss, her family is busting the seams of their apartment as they struggle with health challenges, and somehow she finds time to volunteer with the Red Cross and donate food, money, and time to neighbors whose struggles are even greater than her own.

So, we just had an election. Maybe you noticed? Post-game analysis and other topical musings with the always-astute Daniel J. White.

Nicole is a person of rare drive and resourcefulness… but with her small business on the rocks and children in open revolt, even she is finding that 2020 is a lot to take.

Checking in back in September with Paul Boschi, event producer extraordinaire (but with very little now to produce), and also an American abroad, to get his perspective on life in Europe and also on the sidelines. Also – there’s an election coming up. Maybe you heard?