The recent debate in federal court over a mask mandate for public transit has highlighted a polarizing question related to the pandemic: is it time to "move on?" While some people are ready to resume life as it was pre-pandemic, others say it's too soon, the risks are too great, and the losses have been too much to bear. Meanwhile, psychiatrists have added a new disorder to their field's diagnostic manual: prolonged grief disorder. The New York Times reports that the addition comes as experts are predicting a wave of severe bereavement.
This hour, we discuss pandemic-related grief, the forms it may take, and how local artists and creative professionals are working to help people process grief. Our guests:
- Annalisa Barron, artist and filmmaker in the College of Art and Design at RIT, and residency curator at Writers & Books
- Jaime Elizabeth Blackmon, psychology intern at Rochester Regional Health, and doctoral candidate at the University of Connecticut
- Susan Begy, interdisciplinary artist, and artist in residence at Writers & Books
- Teresa Schreiber Werth, writer, editor of "Navigating the Pandemic: Stories of Hope and Resilience," and certified funeral and wedding celebrant
