Taking the Pandemic to the Page

Wednesday, March 20, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
Free

Rabbi Moses Maimonides, the Rambam, wrote that in a community crisis, we must discern what’s in need of repair or improvement, that we must become introspective. When the Covid-19 Pandemic broke, we were forced inside in more ways than literally: we looked inward when we could not go out.

All of us have been touched – even changed – by the past several years. What are the stories we can tell about it and what can we take away? How can we reflect on these changes? In this Ritualwell Event, we’ll look at writings that speak to the experience of this collective trauma. We’ll generate pieces of our own from the vantage point of four years later. If you’ve been wanting time to reflect on what the pandemic experience has meant for you, this is an opportunity to get some thoughts on the page. You will be welcome to submit your writings to Ritualwell to be featured in our Covid-19 section or on our Ritualwell Blog.

All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Ellen Blum Barish is the author of the spiritual memoir Seven Springs (Shanti Arts, 2021), the essay collection Views from the Home Office Window (Adams Street Publishing, 2007), and a contributor to Chicago Storytellers From Stage to Page (Chicago Story Press, 2020). You can find her personal essays in Tablet, Lilith, Brevity’s Blog, Full Grown People, Literary Mama, and The Chicago Tribune and hear them on Chicago Public Radio. She founded the literary publication Thread, which earned four notables in Best American Essays. Ellen has taught writing at Northwestern University, Chicago-area synagogues, and writer’s studios, including Story Studio Chicago and Lighthouse Lit Fest. She works privately with writers on essay collections and memoir.