Postcards from a Pandemic

March 04, 2022 / 4:44 pm

caption: A mural of a healthcare worker wearing personal protective equipment is shown through the window of a passing King County Metro bus on April 28, 2020, along South Main Street in Seattle. As Seattle businesses, coffee shops and restaurants shut down amid the pandemic, plywood replaced their many entrances and windows. Artists transformed that plywood into murals bearing messages of hope and resilience.

This month, we mark two years since the start of the Covid-19 global pandemic.

We asked you to send us "audio postcards" to reflect on this time and share a moment that changed you or kept you going.

Here they are -- a time capsule for the next generation.

Drew Paxton, Seattle, Central District

“The I-90 bike tunnel is a place that's been a destination for me over the course of the pandemic, a turning around point. In the concrete is a little stencil that spells out ‘I’m am not OK.’ And it repeats itself, going most of the length of the tunnel, every 10 or 12 feet in that rhythmic fashion, almost like a song. About halfway through it’s almost like the song changes. The same stencil is still there, overlaid on top it, it says ‘but I will be.’ Seeing that message has been really a source of comfort and a source of resilience as I come through the tunnel each time. The pandemic will end and this art will still be here…”

KUOW would love to give credit to the artist behind these messages in the tunnel. If you have any clues, please contact ljones@kuow.org.