Thinking on and off about Fall classes and how to talk about mourning practices with students. I find myself stunned at the sheer numbers (and each a person) just in the US and the fact that the country is just moving along with business as usual.

How do we mourn the many losses brought about by the pandemic? How do we contextualize this latest epidemic, this latest instance of mass death? How do we frame the continuing work of racism in shaping death tolls and labor conditions? How do we care for our health and wellbeing?

On the one hand it feels like it’s too soon. But I’d like my class to be a space where we can process loss and acknowledge the continuing disruption of our lives. Still thinking through this. The class may end up reading narratives of joy, food, and companionship after all. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤷‍♀️" title="Woman shrugging" aria-label="Emoji: Woman shrugging">

(As someone who studied 9/11 and trauma, it’s striking to see that there aren’t calls for national sites and practices of mourning today. National trauma narratives of 9/11 were racialized and exclusionary in many ways but that’s a conversation for another day)