Today Roy Suchow tell us about his work and his contibution to 'Aftermath'.

 

     

 

Tell me about your story  in  Aftermath - but don't give any spoilers! 

1)   My story is, first, a tribute to my mother, who died during the height of Covid. It’s also a story about the nobility of humanity; of a nurse who risked her career so that I’d be able to see my mother for a few precious moments before she passed.

     What inspired you to write this?

2)      In the Covid-19 anthology I wrote about the passing of my younger brother, who died a year before our mother. The beginning of Covid denied our family the chance to gather in person and honour his memory; the escalation of Covid denied almost all of our family the chance to see our mother before she passed. However, through both deaths and the aftermath of each, I experienced people giving of themselves to help in extraordinary ways. And so, to see such resplendent shining examples across a year of Covid inspired me to write this account. Through it all, people mattered, and that made this terrible time more bearable.

     Why did you think it important to contribute  to this collection?

3)      I believe it was important to contribute to this collection so that many unique voices from around the world could be heard. Together, they helped provide a global snapshot of Covid and its myriad effects on us. Time marches on and our recollections may change, but this anthology will endure as an emotional and historical document of what happened to us—as individuals and as global citizens—during this unprecedented time.

     How have you coped with the pandemic?

        With difficulty, as evidenced above; their deaths left me as the last of my birth family which took the better part of a year to process and heal from. As well, I went through a very difficult year while teaching/trying to teach high school during multiple lockdowns and quarantines. How I coped was by using resilience and faith. The true-life example of the angel-nurse—risking her career so that I could see my mother for 10 precious minutes at the most extreme height of Covid—inspired me to keep going. Her humanity showed us at our best during the very worst, and I will never forget it.

     Can you tell us about your other publications?

5)      Thank you for asking! I enjoy writing and speaking about the many unique teaching moments occurring in and around my classroom. These moments have appeared in The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) News, Leaders & Learners Magazine, RTJ’s Creative Catechist, The Journal of Catholic Education, and Alberta’s Centennial Anthology: 100 Stories About 100 Alberta Teachers. I received the ATA’s Golden Apple Award for best educational article (2009), and my first book (The Joy of Teaching!) was published in 2019. I’m currently working on the second volume, with a planned release for Christmas 2021!

The best places to find and follow me are on Amazon, Facebook, and Instagram.

https://www.amazon.com/Ray-Suchow/e/B08314JP8T?ref_=pe_1724030_132998060,

https://www.facebook.com/ray.suchow.1/, https://www.instagram.com/raymundo_6502/

                                                        

 

 

 

 

A continuing response by writers to the Covid19 pandemic in 2020 and during the ongoing aftershocks in 2021, this collection is of work by writers we have published before and whom we trust, and their trusted colleagues. When disasters strike writers respond and react in words. They share with us their hopes and fears. They describe and rationalise.