Covid-19: The Mask Maker

When I started this project, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I thought I’d do some interviews during the summer and follow-up with second interviews after the pandemic was over. I mistakenly assumed everything would be over by the end of 2020. Boy was I wrong!

As I work though my interview archives, I’ve noticed that a lot has changed in the intervening years and follow-up interviews simply aren’t possible for some folks. Carol Kampehnout falls into that category.

I completed my interview with Carol at her home in Moscow, Idaho in August 2020. Continue reading


Covid-19: Voice of the Dead

As of the writing of this post 968,663 people have died of Covid-19. That’s more people than the entire populations of the states of Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Sometime in April, the State of Delaware will be added to that list. That means, nearly everyone in America knows someone who has died of Covid-19.

I personally know 5 people who have died of Covid-19. Among the people I know, the deaths of Don and Sharon Fiscus seem the most mind-boggling. One day he and I were chatting at the Potlatch Community Library while the kids did homework—3 weeks later he was dead. Sharon died the week after that. Continue reading


Covid-19: Disappointing Death Toll

Imagine waking up tomorrow, only to find that every man, woman, and child had disappeared from Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, or North Dakota. Vacant farmhouses, deserted freeways, and a host of newly abandoned ghost towns paying a silent homage to the missing. Would there be a national uproar? It seems not, but a lot of things about this pandemic have left me befuddled.

While listening to news coverage of the 20th anniversary on the 9/11 attack, I had an epiphany of sorts. Continue reading


Covid-19 Milestones

Today, the United States reached another grim milestone for covid-19 deaths. More people have died of covid-19 than the entire populations of the states of Wyoming, Vermont, and Alaska. If the current trend for daily covid-19 deaths continues, North Dakota will be added to this list before Christmas.

This cartoon was published in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, November 2, 2021.


Covid-19: Surviving Isolation

I seldom panic and wasn’t going to prep.  Then both of my kids asked me about Covid-19.  And then the President declared a national emergency and the CDC said we should have a month’s supply of “stuff” on hand.  And now, we’re supposed to avoid places with more than 10 people.

Thanks to the wisdom of my ancestors, who instilled in me the need to preserve and store large quantities of food, I’m still not going to panic.  Some of you may remember the last government shut-down in which I went eight weeks without buying groceries and suffered no adverse effects thanks to my “Mormon Pantry.”  At the time, I joked that it was a dry run to see if I could survive the Zombie Apocalypse.  Turns out, it was a test run for surviving Covid-19.

For the benefit of my children (and possibly their friends and random strangers) I have created menus and a shopping list detailing the items one person needs to shelter in place for a month.  Since most recipes serve four or six, you’ll be eating left-overs several nights in a row, but it beats starvation. Continue reading