Recent Work

Seeing the National Guard in your community can mean there’s a crisis — whether it’s the coronavirus pandemic or protests against racial injustice. They are often deployed to assist local law enforcement under a “coordinated command structure.”

Tear gas can degrade lung health and make a person more susceptible to coronavirus infection, said a UCSF doctor. Being arrested and detained in close quarters also increases the risk of exposure to the virus.

What happens when a building of strangers comes to depend on each other to stay healthy? One person’s COVID-19 exposure could endanger others in proximity. We all need to protect each other at the same time.

My 119-unit building has about 180 residents. We’re all be living and working here under coronavirus lockdown, separated by a concrete wall and under one roof. I started wondering: How are we all coping?

The problem with all our fears is that they tell good stories. The plots may vary, but the core message is unsettling. It’s about uncertainty, about our profound lack of control over our lives, on this planet, in this universe.

We find so much comfort in the presence of others, sometimes without realizing it. Even having someone in the next room is a comfort. But when the house is still and there’s nothing else to do, the self confronts. And we would do almost anything to avoid hearing what it has to say.

At night, by candlelight, the world feels enduring, ancient and slow. To sit and stare at a candle is to drop through a portal to a time when firelight was the alpha and omega of our days.