"If you see me – shivering & dumbed with loss – stand by me. Because grief needs a witness.”

Today, people in the USA will come together in a moment of collective grief for the 400,000 souls lost to #COVID19 there

#CovidMemorialDay is a day for all of us
amnesty.org/en/latest/news…
Grief is the collateral damage of love. The deeper the love, the more painful the grief

Shakespeare warns
“Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak whispers o’er-fraught heart & bids it break”

#COVIDMemorialDay is a day to put words to our sorrow
covidmemorialday.org.uk/2020/12/20/cov…
One doesn’t truly recover from loss

If you are lucky, you will heal from loss

But never completely

Unless we process our grief it can turn into anger or depression

We've seen a lot of that over the last year

#CovidMemorialDay is a moment to remember

A moment to grieve.
“Everything I have ever learned
in my lifetime leads back to this

The fires and the black river of loss

Whose other side is salvation

Whose meaning none of us will ever know.”

Sue McAlpine reads ‘In Blackwater Woods’ by Mary Oliver for #CovidMemorialDay (via @CovidMemoryDay)
“Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.”

Actress/director, Simona Hughes (@about500theatre), reads The Stolen Child by W.B Yeats for #CovidMemorialDay.
#coronavirus #COVID19
“Even when the sky is grey
Even when the rain is falling down
My heart will never need no reason why
So when the night turns into day
We spread our dreams & lighten up the sky
Its on the wings of prayer that we can fly”
@ilanalorraine for #CovidMemorialDay
“Does grief exceed words, or is it the other way around? How do you give voice to the animal howling inside of you?”

Today, people across the USA will share their collective grief for 400,000 Americans lost to #COVID19

Take a moment to grieve.
#CovidMemorialDay #coronavirus
I’ve always remembered the 2007 @bruceparry documentary where he’s leaving a tiny island & the entire village with whom he’s lived, come to the beach

They all start to cry
Then Bruce cries
Then you cry

We’ve lost our rituals of grieving & of collective grief.
#CovidMemorialDay
The rituals of grief may be gone but the grief remains

We’re not shown or taught how to deal with loss: our own or other people's

We bottle up grief & are surprised to find ourselves weeping at the death of an elephant on a TV wildlife show

Yet our own grief goes unprocessed.
“To heal, we must remember. It’s hard sometimes to remember. But that’s how we heal. It’s important to do that as a nation.” @JoeBiden

Collective grief is powerful

It makes the weight of loss feel lighter. #CovidMemorialDay #COVID19 #coronavirus #COVID
“I had no idea how much that was needed.”

Because we bury grief

& avoid grief

& are even made to feel other people’s awkwardness at our grief

We can forget how important grieving is

When we allow ourselves to grieve, we feel better for it

We feel lighter.
#COVIDMemorialDay

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More from @StefSimanowitz

18 Jan
“Tomorrow , the people of America will not just be united in states, they will also be united in grief.

On 5 March, one year since the first Briton died of #Covid19, we will be marking #CovidMemorialDay in the UK.” @Independent

Follow @CovidMemoryDay
google.co.uk/amp/s/www.inde…
“One doesn’t recover from grief. If you're lucky, you heal from grief. But never completely. Unless we process our grief it can turn into anger or depression. We've seen a lot of that in America over the last year.”

PRESS RELEASE for #CovidMemorialDay USA covidmemorialday.org.uk/2020/12/20/cov…
"To live in this world you must be able to do three things:

To love what is mortal

To hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it

And, when the time comes to let it go. To let it go."

Sue McAlpine reads ‘In Black Water Woods’ for #CovidMemorialDay.
#COVID19
Read 9 tweets
15 Jan
Can anyone on Twitter tell me what this is? Thanks
Thanks for the responses!

It seems it's either a plant (oak gall or cedar apple) or a fungus (orange mycena or wolf's milk)

Apparently, they're collected & used to create a hair dye for Donald Trump

It shows what you can see when you look close enough 👇
“For millennia the pods floated in space like spores, propelled by solar winds, occasionally landing on inhabited planets where they would replace the dominant species by spawning emotionless, stony-eyed replicas...” (Invasion of the Body Snatchers)

ADD YOUR OWN GAG HERE👇
Read 4 tweets
14 Jan
Still lack of checks at airports. We know about Brazilian & S.African variants so why not close off the air corridors?

Victoria Aitkins: “Travel measures take a little bit of time...There’s a delicate balancing act btw controlling the virus & the economy”
Ystdy, @YvetteCooperMP asked the PM what the govt are doing to stop new S.African variant spreading in the UK.

Why have people been able to travel from SA to UK for last 4wks without being tested & can go on public transport.

@BorisJohnson didn’t know!
“Oh god!”

Questioned about his govt’s repeated inexplicable failures to try & control #COVID19 at airports & lack of action to protect the UK from a new Brazilian variant of #coronavirus @BorisJohnson appeared to mutter “oh god” under his breath.
Read 10 tweets
12 Jan
1/. The govt should stop blaming the public for an inadequate lockdown

Evidence suggests 80-90% of people are obeying lockdown rules

But an effective lockdown requires proper financial & practical support & clear messaging.

See @ReicherStephen👇#COVID19
2/. Whilst adherence & enforcement of lockdown rules is vital, the rules need to be clear & adequate support is essential.

I’m not against fining Covidiots who knowingly breach #COVID19 guidance but can we ALSO punish govt ministers who knowingly & repeatedly ignore the science?
3/. On positive note, Prof Reicher says “collective resilience is supplanting a psychology of individual frailty”

As we expand our capacity for cooperation the role of the state becomes “more to do with scaffolding & supporting communal self-organisation” theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Read 5 tweets
8 Jan
1/ #LiveFromTheWhiteHouse

“Alone in his decaying pleasure palace, Charles Foster Kane continued to direct his falling empire…vainly attempting to sway, as he once did, the destinies of a nation that has ceased to listen to him." (Citizen Kane)
#Trump
2/. Citizen Kane should be viewed as it was intended: as a warning from history

In 1933 Herman Mankiewicz, who co-wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane, wrote a screenplay about Hitler

The Mad Dog of Europe predicted a future genocide, but was never made
3/. “Farewell to the arts, to eloquence.” (Mary Shelley)

We naturally turn to science for solutions to #COVID19, but the arts shouldn't be ignored

Art & literature not only help us make sense of the world & our responses to it, but can also help uncover truths & offer warnings.
Read 7 tweets
8 Jan
David Bowie was born 74yrs ago today & died almost exactly 5yrs ago

Six days after his death, we organised an unofficial wake fror #Bowie.

900 people filled the Union Chapel for a 5 hour gig

More than 100 musicians & bands performed 33 #DavidBowie songs
Each performer or band played one #Bowie song

There were a number of highlights, but this version of Sweet Thing by @davidmcalmont, accompanied by @cliffordslapper on the piano, was a spine-tingling.

Watch the full version on @YouTube
I booked the venue on Monday

The press release went out Tuesday

On Wednesday, we sold out tickets (£3 each) in 35 minutes!

The gig was in four days & we had NO acts. NO team

But they’d come

For the love of #Bowie, they’d come

See @guypratt & The Egg
Read 23 tweets

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