Gulp: Documenting Life in the Time of Coronavirus

In this final episode of season one, Risa and Maureen look back at the last few months of working on the podcast. They revisit interviews that didn't make it into this first season but were crucial in their journey chronicling the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. hic·​cup: a usually minor and short-lived interruption or disruption, or change Though this is the end of their official season, Hiccup episodes will be scattered throughout the year. So stay tuned!

We explore how education is evolving in different parts of Michigan, a state which often serves as a barometer of things to come throughout the United States. Paula Alejo (a sophomore in high school) and Nashawn Longmire (a senior in high school) speak with us about their final months of this school year and their hopes for the next. Heather McKaig, a high school English teacher and theatre director, opens up to us about her concerns for students during this time and into the future. And Aaro...

At the start of California's Stay-at-Home orders, Maureen and Risa speak with actors William Jackson Harper (NBC's "The Good Place") and Haley Joel Osment (Hulu's "Futureman", "The Sixth Sense") to discuss what is entertaining them in quarantine, the future of Hollywood, and the "new normal".

Annie Wild shares her experience of having her father in the memory care unit of a nursing home in Michigan. Sarah Slocum, Co-Director of Altarum's Program to Improve Elder Care, gives a brief history of elder care in the United States and hope for where it is heading.

Prison populations across the country are being devastated by COVID-19, with few state governments intervening to help. In order to protect those within the prison system at risk of needlessly contracting the virus, Yosha Gunasekera, a public defender in New York, is advocating for early prisoner release for numerous clients at Rikers Island. José Saldaña shares his struggles and triumphs in the work he does as Executive Director of the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign, as well a...

Deonta Williams is an educator and photographer residing in Davison, Michigan. He talks to us about George Floyd's death, documenting peaceful protests in Flint, and inspiring his mostly African American students in painfully difficult times like these. Elz Cuya Jones is the Deputy Director of North Star Fund, a social justice nonprofit supporting grassroots organizing in NYC and the Hudson Valley, led by communities of color. She shares her thoughts on what it means to be an ally, acti...

Roxxann, a mail artist and USPS letter carrier, describes her struggles working for an under-resourced government agency serving every corner of our country, including the most underprivileged populations.

Dylan Hales, an Australian restaurateur residing in Brooklyn describes surviving COVID-19 during New York City's initial surge, when little was known about the virus itself and less was set up to help those suffering from it.

An ICU nurse from Texas, who wishes to remain anonymous, discusses the impossibility of end of life care during COVID-19 and her mounting anxiety concerning the statewide coronavirus shutdown ending.

In this episode, Dr. Moira Carroll, a first year attending physician in the Emergency Department at a public hospital in Queens, NY, talks about working in the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Co-hosts Maureen Sebastian (actor/writer) and Risa Sarachan (journalist) share stories that archive life in the time of the novel coronavirus, in a new podcast called Gulp.