By Ed Koenig Edited by Martha Greenwald On March 12 and 13, 2026, the American Folklife Center, a part of the Library of Congress, in Washington, DC,… Read more “Glossed Over: On Attending the Symposium at the Library of Congress”
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Why Caring for the Dead and Aid for the Living Matter: The Ebola Outbreak in the DRC
July 28, 2026 “There are a lot of customs, but traditionally, funerals are multi-day affairs. . . . which sometimes could take one, two or three days,… Read more “Why Caring for the Dead and Aid for the Living Matter: The Ebola Outbreak in the DRC”
March 2026 – Steeped in the Yellows of Early Spring: Rami’s Heart COVID-19 Memorial Sixth Annual Lighting Ceremony
On March 28, 2026, Rituals in the Making traveled to Wall, NJ to attend the sixth annual lighting ceremony hosted by Rami’s Heart COVID-19 Memorial.
At Naming the Lost Memorial, St. Mark’s in the Bowery
Date posted: November 16, 2025.
On November 2, 2025, a beautiful autumn afternoon in New York City, I attended the annual Día de Muertos ceremony sponsored by Mano o Mano, a New York City based Mexican cultural association. As part of this event, the COVID remembrance project, Naming the Lost Memorial, held its final presentation honoring the more than 46,000 New York City residents who have died from COVID-19. This concluded five years of work, throughout the five boroughs, putting names and faces to those who have been lost.
When tradition meets crisis: Egyptian Weddings during COVID-19
Date posted: September 9, 2025
Given the plethora of weddings I have attended, I naively thought that weddings were a fixed ceremony, a ritual with a durable sequence that brings two people together.
“They looked at me as if I knew everything—but I was just trying to survive”
Date Posted: 12 July, 2025.
Egypt confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on Valentine’s Day, 2020. Since then, different measures were actively endorsed to contain the pandemic: schools and universities closed their doors, social distancing became the norm, a nationwide curfew was enforced, and many public hospitals were repurposed to isolation wards. As of July 2025, there are 24,830 recorded deaths in Egypt. Yet, many human rights organizations accuse the Egyptian government of underreporting the real numbers. Still, behind these figures lies a strained health system marked by serious disparities in the distribution of healthcare workers and poor quality of care—particularly in the public health sector.
A Spring of Unravel and Confusion: Drinking from the Firehose of COVID (and Vaccine) Media Coverage, April – June 2025
Date Posted: June 26, 2025.
An overview of the COVID (and vaccine) media coverage we’ve been tracking this spring and early summer (2025).
The Fabulous Fifth Floor
Date Posted: June 13, 2025.
When I sat down to interview Dene Garbow, I was surprised to discover that she had started the building museum gift shop in the 1980s. Dene has been living in a newly renovated apartment at Ingleside, a retirement community in northwest Washington, DC, since early 2020. My job was to interview her about her experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From World War II to Covid-19
Date Posted: June 13, 2025
For Page Hawk, 2020 began like any other year, with the exception, she told me, “of massive construction at Ingleside and the rapid spread of COVID-19.” Hawk spent the majority of her life in Washington, DC. She described her decision to move into independent living at Ingleside as a practical one. “We moved here to socialize,” she told me matter-of-factly. “Back in 2020, there was a new director at Ingleside. His name was Felix. He was quite strict with us about social distancing and
following the rules.”
A Visit to the “Naming the Lost Memorial” on Opening Night 5/8/25
Date posted: May 30, 2025
Ed Koenig lives in New York City. Retired from a career in information systems, he is exploring writing and music. His partner of 33 years, Jody Settle, died during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020. He has found solace in sharing stories on the WhoWeLost website and supporting and participating in other memorial organizations. He’s travelled to Rituals in the Making activities in D.C. several times and participated in the In America: Remember remembrance event, with the Rituals team, in September 2024.