Skip to main content

Featured

Locked down but not out in Italy

Singing from the balconies! One nice thing about this crisis ... solidarity! “Guess you’re not living like a tourist anymore,” was the funny, truthful and somewhat gut-wrenching message of a friend the day the lockdown in Italy began. Today is day 6. My beloved Italia has been hit hard with the COVID19 epidemic. With the second largest elderly population in the world, the epidemic has meant a disproportionate amount of deaths in the country. So though I haven’t been worried about contracting it myself, this isn’t about me or someone like me who, if contracted it would probably have a sucky couple of weeks and then recover. It is about if someone like me contracted it and then spread it to a person with a complicated health history or an elderly person with a weakened immune system. Eerily orderly: Lines for the grocery store, each person one meter apart In a country with no concept (and no physical room really) for personal space, and in a city with reproachable hygie

Projects 14-16: The Snow Series

So I moved back to Baltimore, and apparently I chose a lucky day to do so. I happened to return to the East Coast on Monday, in the very small window between historic, record-breaking blizzards, lovingly called Snowmaggedon or Snowpocalypse.

The first blizzard that hit the east coast bathed Baltimore in 24 inches of whiteness. Three days later, 12 hours after my return, wave two came in almost as strong, and Baltimore got another estimated 20 inches to add to the original chaos.

Baltimore has had 72.3 inches of snow so far this winter (breaking the '95-'96 record of 62.5). About 40 these inches fell within the span of 5 days. As a measure of comparison, I am a mere 62 inches in height. After the snow plows came through to clear the streets, there were many snowdrifts taller than me.

If sheer numbers alone don't give you a sense of exactly what the city was up against, here are some visuals:







Witnessing (and shoveling) Snowmaggedon the sequel was experience enough to count this phenomenon as my new thing of Tuesday. However, it also meant that our cars were entombed and that virtually everything shut down for the next week; so, I had to get creative for new things to do in the coming days. Surprisingly, I found that snow days, even at 31, can offer fun times.

Day 14: Pretending that I grew up in Alaska instead of Baltimore.



Day 15: Making Snow Angels (as an adult)!



Day 16: Snowshoeing!



And not just any snowshoeing, old school snowshoeing- neither of which I had ever tried before. I have never felt more Canadian.



They are calling for more snow tonight- maybe even up to 6 more inches. Che sarà, sarà... besides I have yet to make a proper snowman.

Why am I doing this?

Comments