Answering the call

The idea for COVID-19 Diaries emerged on March 11, 2020, during the last in-person meeting of the “Global Palestine” seminar taught at St. Lawrence University by Weave News Editorial Director Dr. John Collins. As we prepared for the period of remote learning, students expressed interest in gathering short, audio testimonies from people around the world regarding the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. We immediately drew on the Weave News network of citizen journalists to put together a working group, and on March 16 we issued a public call for audio contributions. Over the next two months, we received dozens of submissions from individuals in more than 20 countries and gathered them into episodes of the Interweaving podcast (originally launched by Weave News in 2019).

In particular, we invited our citizen reporters to think about and consider responding to these questions:

• What have been some of the most important effects of COVID-19 in your community? For example, has the pandemic brought specific issues or problems to light in a new way? Has it changed the way people relate one another?

• What are you seeing and experiencing around you right now that might help illustrate these effects?

• As you think about the future in light of COVID, what are you most concerned about?

• What is giving you hope?

• Are there aspects of the COVID-19 story that need more or better media coverage, whether in your community or beyond?

• How has COVID-19 affected the way you see the world?

Scroll down to learn more about the COVID-19 Diaries series published between March and May 2020 as well as a special short documentary produced on the St. Lawrence University campus.