A few pandemic prompts

In this time of global COVID pandemic, I have found a few prompts to be particularly helpful for me. I have engaged with most of them verbally, taking turns responding to them with a partner, but they can also work quite well as a writing activity. I would recommend picking a series of 3 or 4 for one session. As my dear colleague Sarah Nahar says, “while we are all in this [pandemic] together, we are each in it differently.” What has been some of your experience and perspective?

How has your life been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic?

What feelings does it bring up for you?

As Ruby Sales asks, “where does it hurt?”

Where do you see or experience the structures of society perpetuating privilege and marginalization?

Is there anything that feels easy to accept about this moment? 

What feels difficult to accept about this moment?

What feels completely unacceptable about this moment?

What’s possible now that wasn’t possible before?

What is now impossible?

How do you see Business As Usual stopping or being interrupted?

How do you see Business As Usual accelerating?

What is unraveling? What evidence do you see of the Great Unraveling?*

What is turning? What evidence do you see of the Great Turning?

In the rush to return to “normal,” what is worth returning to, and what isn’t worth returning to?

What is it too late for?

What is it not too late for?

*Joanna Macy offers a narrative called the three stories of our time, which holds that simultaneously business as usual is operating, systems are unraveling, and a Great Turning is underway to a life sustaining civilization.