Something Is Happening Here

Something Is Happening Here is a collaboration between The Nation and Kopkind, offering scenes from a pandemic—a series of dispatches from Kopkind’s far-flung network of participants, advisers, guests, and friends. Edited by Nation contributor and Kopkind program director JoAnn Wypijewski, it will appear weekly on thenation.com and kopkind.org.

Kopkind is a living memorial to radical journalist Andrew Kopkind, who from 1982–94 was the magazine’s chief political writer and analyst. For 20 years, the project, administered by Andy’s life partner, John Scagliotti, has held summer seminar/retreats to support and spark the work of political journalists, activists and, with the Center for Independent Documentary, filmmakers. “Only connect,” Andy liked to say, an idea that Kopkind fosters among groups that are diverse in identity and area of work but for whom dynamics of power and liberation, in their many forms, are always central.

balloons floating in sky

Untethered, or The Year of Living Virtually Untethered, or The Year of Living Virtually

Reflections on ruptured time.

Jul 14, 2021 / Patricia J. Williams

honey baked ham made by the author

The Art of the Meal The Art of the Meal

Sharing recipes and dinner-plate photos was a balm for isolation, and a reminder that magic is made in breaking bread together.

Jul 7, 2021 / Mary Lewis

beach

Maybe We Shouldn’t Go Back to Normal Maybe We Shouldn’t Go Back to Normal

“Normal has always been a perilous reality.”

Jun 30, 2021 / Bri M.

Work in Progress

Work in Progress Work in Progress

Making a film together, alone, on two continents, in two languages, in a pandemic.

Jun 23, 2021 / Divad Durant

Loss Runs Like a River Through My Life

Loss Runs Like a River Through My Life Loss Runs Like a River Through My Life

On grief’s unequal racial burden, and the Internet as a vehicle to negotiate survival and turn collective grief into collective action.

Jun 16, 2021 / Malkia Devich-Cyril

DC capitol

Democracy on a Ventilator Democracy on a Ventilator

Two crises, two emergency lockdowns, but only one is called a matter of public health.

Jun 9, 2021 / S. Eudora Smith

A Prisoner Videotaped Covid Conditions Last Year. Where Is He Now?

A Prisoner Videotaped Covid Conditions Last Year. Where Is He Now? A Prisoner Videotaped Covid Conditions Last Year. Where Is He Now?

Of life on the line.

Jun 2, 2021 / Zia Jaffrey

View of the Ravi

News From Home, and Other People’s Homes News From Home, and Other People’s Homes

When there is everything in the world but hope, yet nothing in the world without it.

May 26, 2021 / Hira Nabi

‘I Don’t Want to Die Here’

‘I Don’t Want to Die Here’ ‘I Don’t Want to Die Here’

For Louisiana’s incarcerated children, their families, and their friends, Covid-19 is one more survival test, one more demand on resilience.

May 19, 2021 / Gina Womack

‘Sometimes I Miss the Lockdown’

‘Sometimes I Miss the Lockdown’ ‘Sometimes I Miss the Lockdown’

On silence, solidarity and a feeling, a year later, of life on thin ice in the city.

May 12, 2021 / Thomas McKean

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