In 2020, the State Archives of North Carolina and the North Carolina Museum of History launched Your Story is North Carolina’s Story, a community-based initiative to collect materials that document personal experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a Greensboro resident, I decided to contribute my personal reminiscences to the project. Written over 16 months (April-December 2020 and June-December 2021), these reflections were published as a collection in 2024. The resulting My Coronavirus World: A North Carolina Story is in the Private Collections of the State Archives of North Carolina (DoG_PC2240Addition_COVID_202408.doc).
I started journaling in the panicky, early days of the pandemic when people sheltered at home and routinely wore face masks in public. These musings cover a wide range of topics–from the unexpected kindness of strangers to the almost universal outpouring of anger over George Floyd’s brutal killing by law enforcement officers. Over 16 months, I moved from being blithely self-absorbed with the restrictive, new norms of my personal life to a heightened awareness of an upside down world beyond my doors. Throughout the life-threatening pandemic, writing eased my mind and calmed my troubled spirit, helping me overcome many anxious moments.
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