There is a weariness about life at that moment that I haven’t felt since I was in Iraq reporting on the war. War reporters are used to risk calculations, and it’s an odd thing to get used to, but we do it because otherwise everything would feel too dangerous or nothing would. When nothing feels…
What pulls Gary Schwitzer from sleep at 3 a.m. these days is a mixture of personal and professional worries. Personally, Schwitzer is aggrieved by his battle with board members of his homeowners association, who he said have resisted his recommendation for residents in his Twin Cities condo complex to wear masks. Professionally, it’s journalism, specifically…
My physical world, like many of ours, has become smaller in recent weeks even as my digital world has expanded. I’m working from home, and as an editor, I don’t have to be out reporting in the community to do my job. I can minimize the risks of exposure (for me and my family) to…
Former U.S. Surgeon General Antonia Novello once said, “Viruses and bacteria don’t ask for a green card.” In 1990, she became the first woman and the first Hispanic to be named Surgeon General of the United States. George H. Bush was then president. Now 30 years later, with the Covid-19 worldwide health pandemic, we are…
At first, I wasn’t that concerned. The coronavirus seemed like other global health scares before it. As a photojournalist in northern Illinois, I had watched these stories unfold from a distance. Even my first assignment on Jan. 31 didn’t hint at what was to come. I documented how a local hospital was preparing to handle…