As we wrap up the 65th year of Synapse’s publication, I’m reminded that in 2019, we were preoccupied with fake news. We were convinced that bubbles were the problem.
On a sunny weekend in February, my friend met me and opened a backpack to reveal a small measuring device shaped like a c and a slip of paper. This was a California fishing license, and we were about to go foraging.
It’s my first year of grad school. Because of the pandemic, all of our classes have been online, so the first time that I actually met my professors was at an end of quarter breakfast hour put on by a few of my classmates.
The proximity to death was palpable. After several months of learning medicine from the comfort of my home, being in the cardiac ICU transplanted me into another world.
The year 2020 is truly one for the history books. COVID has dominated our lives, prompting people to work remotely from home, schools to switch to virtual learning, and businesses to undergo repeated cycles of closure and reopening.
Noah writhes in his hospital bed. Largely non-verbal and living with severe intellectual disability, he moans repeatedly in pain as his nurse adjusts his morphine. His mother appears on the iPad we’re holding. “Noah, it’s Mommy.
