To F/friends one and all:
As some of you may know, last Sunday during announcements and again
during the Wednesday Town Hall gathering, I proposed an idea of reaching
out to our community to elicit your responses to this Coronavirus-19. This
is recording history as we are experiencing it.
Also, some of you may have seen a small blurb in the Washington Post
one day this past week about the District of Columbia encouraging people to
keep a diary of their lives during this pandemic. This is a unique time and
hopefully it won't be repeated anytime soon. The 1918 pandemic was a little
over 100 years ago. My own parents lived through that time as did many of
your parents or grandparents. I heard their stories and now it is our turn
to collect our stories as we experience it and not just recall it after it
is over. The pandemic of 1918 was a time that was vividly remembered.
After looking at various options for depositing and sharing our
stories, I have come to the conclusion that simply emailing your comments
to me will be an effective and easy method for collecting and keeping your
responses.
What I have in mind, is to ask you (in this our Quaker community of
LHMM) about your life during this time of Covid-19. Please feel free to
respond multiple times in the coming weeks about your life. This is an
open-ended collection of responses as there are no set questions.
Some suggestions to consider are
what are your health practices that may be unique
what do you do when you are feeling "down" or alone
what are your daily routines, practices and etiquette that may
have changed or modified
have some of your spiritual practices changed or altered
So, in general please share your story.
If there is something personal and you wish to share without
attribution, please feel free to send it to me by USPS without return
address.
My intent is to keep all responses and add to them over the next
several weeks until the social distancing is completely ended by the
governors of Virginia or Maryland or the Mayor of Washington, DC, whichever
comes last. Multiple responses during this time rather than just one time
are desired. After the end of social-distancing, I would like to hear from
as many of the respondents as possible at 6 months.
At 6 months, let's see how we have re-acclimated to our pre-pandemic life
or if there are permanent or semi-permanent changes in our lives. As to
extending beyond 6 months, I don't know.
If I don't hear from you, I may give you a gentle nudge to find out if
you have a comment and have not gotten around to responding. Of course,
this is all voluntary so if you do not wish to respond that is perfectly
alright. If anyone else is interested in this collection effort, please
feel free to join me and just let me know.
You have my email as above and my mailing address is 4919 29th St., N.,
Arlington, VA 22207.
Hoping to hear from you.
AND above all, please Be well,
Dona Manoukian
