Journalism and writing takes work. It takes time to contact sources, to interview them, to sort through notes and recordings, and then to craft something readable. It takes time to edit that work, to post it and then to send it out into the great online maw.

There are a shrinking number of paid journalists, those working for small and large publications, both in print and online. Many of us have been “transitioned” from newsrooms — a fancy word for being laid off. Some of us have moved into public relations. Others have found corporate jobs, writing internal communications.

I teach and I continue to write, but I do so on a contingent basis. Unlike tenured faculty, I get paid by the class, and only get paid when I have classes to teach. The pay is nominal compared to the work, but it I do it because I like working with young writers. Unlike full-time staffers, I get paid by the article — whether it is when I write for The Progressive, The Progressive Populist, NJ Spotlight, or other publications.

It’s a tenuous existence, but the work is necessary. Journalism and commentary keep us informed and help us understand what is happening around us. The more creative work I do — poetry, essays — offers a different entry point, but still gives us an opportunity to understand the world.

So, I’m transitioning this e-mail/blog to a paid format for some content. There will continue to be free public posts, but paid subscribers ($5 a month) will have special access — paid-only posts, the ability to comment and participate, guest blogger opportunities. Subscribers also get a copy of As an Alien in a Land of Promise, my hybrid book of poetry, journalism, and photos about homelessness in the United States as experienced in the now-defunct homeless encampment in Lakewood, N.J.

If you are a $5-a-month Patreon patron, you have been upgraded here. I will continue to post in both places.

If you like the work, consider a paid subscription. It will allow me to do more reporting.

Thanks

Hank

This is the latest Instagram report.

By appointment only. No more walk ins. That’s the new rules. Recent rules. // He inserts the swab deep into my sinus. Spins it. Inserts it in the other. // Annie went first. Tickles. Makes her want to sneeze. Same for me. Susan’s next. All of five minutes for here people. Took longer to find a testing site. Longer to get here. To run the insurance card. // How busy are you? I ask the doctor. How many tests are you doing? // “Nineteen. Twenty.” He pauses. “Thousand.” We laugh with him. I appreciate the humor. These are trying times, and you have find those moments when you can exhale. // “The state is supposed to open testing centers, but they’re not,” he says. Instead, as we always do in America, we ask the market to step in. Private facilities like this one are tasked with keeping up with growing demand. They keep up as best they can, but it’s triage.//  “We’re heading in one direction,” the doctor tells me. “Disaster.”

#FrontLines, a #pandemicdiary 76. She’s right to be angry. She has COVID. Got it from a client. Despite her face shield. Despite her mask. Her client didn’t wear a mask. So many people refuse to wear a mask. // Kim DeChurch is a healthcare social worker. She helps people access medical and financial programs. Helps them navigate the healthcare labyrinth. // She’s careful. Always careful. Woke up Tuesday with a fever. Headache. Started with GI symptoms. Gastrointestinal. “That was the first but I didn’t correlate it with the headache and the fever,” she says. “So, that happened first, and I put it together after the fact.” // Her voice is hoarse. She lacks stamina. But the headache is the worst part. //  “A lot of COVID people describe it like having a vise grip coming from your back shoulders around your head and just digging its claws into your temples. Nothing relieves that. That headache. Nothing. Not Tylenol. Advil. Motrin nothing.” //  She was in bed four days. Started Tuesday. I talked with her Friday. Her headache subsided. Came back. // She knew when she woke up Tuesday what it was. “But when you’re told. When you’re actually given that result. The throat punch comes when you’re, like, ‘Wow, so I have the virus that the whole entire world is trying not to get.” // You think, “I could die. Or I can have mild symptoms. I don’t know yet.” //  She’s hopeful, but angry. She vented on Facebook. She’s in healthcare working extra hours because of COVID. Homecare workers are tired. Getting sick. We’re in round two. It’s going to be worse. “Be safe be smart. Don’t be an asshole.” // She laughs when I ask her about it. “It really isn’t about you,” she says. “You wear a mask for the other person.”

*

I posted this to Instagram yesterday. It’s part of a book project called Book of Plagues.

#FrontLines, a #pandemicdiary 75. Nothing at Walgreens. Nothing at CVS. Nothing at Urgent Care. Nothing available. System’s overwhelmed. // “Tricky to find,” he says on the phone. County rep fielding COVID questions. “All the test locations everywhere are overwhelmed with requests.” // We’re rationing care. Richest country in the world. Rationing tests. Watching numbers rise. // Quarter million now dead in United States, 1.4 million worldwide. Hospitals filling fast. Maxing out. Ambulances race in, are diverted. Hospitals play hot potato. And there still are few tests. // Trump says cases are up because we test more people. Implies testing is the problem. But deaths are rising. Hospitalizations, too. In Texas. The Dakotas. Utah. Field hospitals sprout to handle the overflow. Freezer trucks store the dead. // We saw this in April in North Jersey. Seeing it again in the southern counties. Seeing this second wave wash over, Wash out the shore line. // “Testing of all people for SARS-CoV-2,”  says the National Institute on Aging,  “will help prevent the spread of COVID-19 by identifying people who are in need of care in a timely fashion.” // An early diagnosis, says the NIA, means early treatment and isolation, “reduc(es) the chances that they will infect others.” Helps limit severity. Cuts “the risk of long-term disability, or death.” // We need to test more, but there are not enough tests. That’s what the labs say. They have to prioritize. Triage. Not everyone can get one. That’s shortsighted. That’s foolish. That’s deadly. 

There are about 2.3 million immigrants in New Jersey. An estimated 400,000 to 500,000 lack legal status and, because of this, they have been excluded from much of the assistance offered by the federal and governments meant to help workers survive as the coronavirus pandemic rages across the country.

Activists want to change that. They are pushing a bill in the state Legislature that would grant to undocumented taxpayers a one-time coronavirus relief payment — $1,000 for those with children, $700 for those married without children, and $500 for others — designed to provide short-term relief and to recognize the contributions they make to the state.

The bill sets aside $35 million in the state budget to cover the payments and could help, which could help up to 35,000 residents — a number that falls short of the kind of action needed, but one that might be politically palatable at a time when the state faces a budgetary crisis. It was introduced in May, but has not moved forward. It awaits hearings in both the Senate and Assembly appropriations committees.

Bill S2480/A4171 was introduced in the state Senate by Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), and Nellie Pou (D-Passaic), along with 16 Democratic co-sponsors. The Assembly version was sponsored by Annette Quijano (D-Union), Raj Mukherji (D-Hudson), and Yvonne Lopez (D-Middlesex), with 22 co-sponsors.

The legislation is long overdue. New Jersey was hit hard by the virus early on, and once again we are witnessing an upward spike in cases — we are back at the numbers we were seeing in April but, thankfully, without the deaths. We need to re-impose limits on the economy, minimize large gatherings, and do what we can to limit exposure. For many, this is not possible, because they have no choice but to work, often more than one job, to survive.

The Ruiz/Scutari/Pou bill is designed to offer some relief. During an online press conference on Monday, advocates for the immigrant community argued that the state must pass the bill and that Gov. Phil Murphy must sign it into law. They said many in the the undocumented community have lost their jobs and are struggling to survive. This not only affects workers, they added, but businesses serving those communities.

The Rev. Dr. Prince A.Z.K Adekoya II, president of African Diaspora For Justice, said the undocumented do the jobs “that other people will not do” and patronize businesses owned by other immigrants or that keep immigrant communities afloat.

“I think it is imperative that we look into this and ask our legislature to look into this and make sure they pass this bill to save a life,” he said. “Some of these undocumented families, (they are) a family of four, family of five, six and so on. How do they expect them to survive this situation?”

Abril Barrales, owner of Ay Chihuahua restaurant in Passaic, said it was many in her community were suffering. “We have left millions of people or almost a million people behind because we exclude immigrants from relief,” she said. “That means that they have been many months suffering, and they pay taxes. They’re contributing to our economy to our country. And it’s really unfair that we are not including everyone in aid.”

The undocumented community, she said, “contribute nearly $600 million in state and local taxes, in addition to their federal tax contributions, but still they are not receiving any help right now.”

Ruiz, in a May 11 press release, described it as necessary because undocumented immigrants were “intentionally carved out of the federal stimulus package and cannot access unemployment insurance, despite paying into it.”

According to the coalition supporting the bill, which includes Make the Road NJ, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Latino Clergy association and the National Action Network, immigrant communities have been hit hardest because they comprise a disproportionate number of so-called “frontline workers,” or those in health care and retail. They are the ones, the groups say, who “have allowed millions of New Jerseyans to shelter in place during the worst months of the pandemic.” They do not qualify for unemployment insurance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. and most other safety net programs. Emergency federal aid, like the one-time stimulus issued early this year and expanded unemployment, also were off limits.

The coronavirus has caused significant economic and human damage in New Jersey and across the country. Rather than finding ways to protect workers and make it easier for them to survive away from their workplaces, we have left all low-wage workers, but especially those without legal status, with a Hobson’s Choice: Go to work and potentially contract and spread a deadly virus, or stay home without a paycheck, which only creates a different kind of vulnerability for themselves, their families and their communities. So they work. They put up with the risk, put up with employers who often take advantage of them during the best of times, but now hold even greater economic power over their lives.

This is what the workers I’ve talked with tell me, the story the advocates offer. The work. They get sick and miss time. They lose their paychecks and have to turn to soup kitchens and pantries for help. Or, they lose their jobs when their employers close shop. Lacking access to aid, they turn to soup kitchens and pantries.

They shouldn’t have to beg for assistance. None of us should. That’s what government is for, to help. This bill is a modest step toward addressing this.