Date posted: 8/13/26
The losses at the height of the pandemic were real. The peril and exhaustion of essential workers. No effort to punish Anthony Fauci changes that.
Tag: Memory
Glossed Over: On Attending the Symposium at the Library of Congress
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”
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.
The Relentless Bully
Date Posted: March 23, 2026.
In the process of finding her voice as “a writer, observer, critical thinker, resister, and ally,” Dawn is continuing to evolve “as each new story finds its way into existence, continuously changing and transforming.”
Ordinary Necropolitics: Presenting Loss at the 17th International DDD Conference in Utrecht, Netherlands
Date posted: September 19, 2025
The interdisciplinary space of the conference in the Netherlands provided members of the project a chance to present findings, learn from other scholars, and exchange ideas about death, mourning, and memorialization.
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.
Vignettes of Time: Reflections on the Week COVID Came to Be with Hanaan and Avery
Date posted: March 14, 2025
For Hanaan, COVID began in December when the news began reporting it, working as a volunteer in the ER and seeing people come in droves, fearing they had contracted this virus. But the world officially ‘ended’ when everything in the United States shut down. For Avery, it was a slow trickle, then all at once with her birthday on the 14th of March in Texas – a state that would become contentious in the debate over covid restrictions that came from the community efforts to stop the spread of the virus.
Because You Have Already Buried Your Dead
Date Posted: August 2, 2024
Elsa Maldonado’s quest to bury her mother reveals the human cost of institutional failures during Ecuador’s COVID-19 crisis. Her story of dual loss – a misplaced body and unidentified ashes – exposes the struggle for dignity in death amidst overwhelming casualties.
Memory Loss: COVID as a Slow Disaster
DATE POSTED: AUGUST 2, 2024.
On March 5, 2024, the Rituals in the Making team kicked off its pandemic reflection series with a virtual seminar and discussion on historicizing COVID-19 and its global commemoration.