Leslie Poynor – Medium

Jul 11

From the COVID Sickbed

Dear Friends and Family, I am writing to you from the COVID sickbed or rather, more precisely, the Omicron BA.5 sickbed. I am vaccinated and double boosted and unlikely to end up in the hospital, but I haven’t been this sick in decades-cough, fever, chills, sore throat, congestion, body aches…

Covid 19

3 min read

Jun 19

Juneteenth: Joy in the Midst of Trauma

Dear Friends and Family, Today is Juneteenth-a celebration of the day when those who had been enslaved learned, two and a half years after the fact, they were legally free. It was then, and is now, a celebration of freedom, a celebration of joy in the midst of trauma. Today…

2 min read

Jun 9

Before January 6th

Dear Friends and Family,

Insurrection

3 min read

Mar 15

Hula Hoop Happy Hour — Two Years Later

Dear Friends and Family, Two years ago this Wednesday, six Bay Area counties issued shelter-in-place orders and so began the COVID-19 Lockdown. Three days later, the state of California issued the most far-reaching shelter-in-place order in the nation. How naïve we were back then. My brother moved in with us…

5 min read

Dec 23, 2021

Hope is Our Requirement

Dear Friends and Family, Will this pandemic never end? Today is my birthday and every year (except last year) we’ve had Texas Sheet Cake and Eric’s Famous Eggnog for anyone who was around. Over the past 15 years we’ve had anywhere from three to thirty guests. …

Covid 19

4 min read

Dec 9, 2021

Something To Think About

Dear Friends and Family, I’ve noticed a pattern in my letters to you-I disappear sometime in the fall (August or September) and return in December. I don’t stop writing and I have half a dozen letters I started, but never finished. …

Covid 19

2 min read

Jul 29, 2021

Here we go again…

Dear Friends and Family, Just two months ago, I wrote you a letter full of hope, gratitude, and love for our re-entry into human contact and connection. And, now, here we go again. Masks? Check. Social Distancing? Check. Quarantining? Check Testing? Check Vaccinations? Ch-Oh, wait, not check. That’s why we’re…

Covid 19

2 min read

May 27, 2021

The Whiteness Letters

Still Reckoning With My Internalized White Supremacy I broke down last year when I heard that George Floyd played the airplane game with his daughter all the time. Was holding it all in until then. I broke down because that’s what his daughter, Gianna, loved the most about her Dad. She loved flying on his back. I…

George Floyd

3 min read

May 24, 2021

Re-Entry

Dear Friends and Family, This weekend Eric and I went for a walk in our neighborhood. We saw our neighbors without their masks. I asked if they were vaccinated (yes) and if I could give them a hug (yes). …

Covid 19

3 min read

Apr 23, 2021

Not Normal

Dear Friends and Family, A year ago, I wrote two letters about the new normal and grieving for the old normal, but today I want to talk about what is Not Normal. Zero mass shootings. Not normal, but I want it. Zero unarmed BIPOC men, women, and children killed by…

Covid 19

3 min read