Filipinos #CopingWithCovid — Linda Ty-Casper, Massachusetts USA

 

The fol­low­ing is part of my series, Fil­ipinos Cop­ing with Covid.

Lin­da Ty-Casper is a mul­ti-award Fil­ip­ina nov­el­ist not­ed for her his­tor­i­cal fic­tion set in the Philip­pines. She is the author of over 16 books and has been award­ed the SEA WRITE Award, Rock­e­feller (Bel­la­gio), Rad­cliffe Fel­low­ship, among oth­ers.

Respond­ing to my inter­view ques­tions, Lin­da describes life for her in Mass­a­chu­setts, USA, dur­ing the time of coro­n­avirus. This was writ­ten on May 24, 2020. ~ Cecil­ia Brainard

Life in Mass­a­chu­sets, USA dur­ing Covid 19
By Lin­da Ty-Casper

Dear Cecil­ia,

We’re still in lock­down and I have been in for over two months now. I’m in the house by myself but neigh­bors look after me, bring me take outs, include me in their gro­cery deliv­er­ies. A friend’s daugh­ter asks for my gro­cery list when she shops for her moth­er. I get help with the com­put­er and, once, check­ing the fuse box for the refrig­er­a­tor.

We prac­tice social dis­tanc­ing, so we talk at the door, keep­ing it open a bit. We have stopped vis­it­ing.

I work at the piles of mate­r­i­al and let­ters — lat­er this year, will go on to the box­es of pho­tographs. So this stay-home pol­i­cy is help­ing me do the jobs I should have done before. I rest my eyes from read­ing by look­ing at the riv­er. A pair of swans have been stay­ing around and must have a nest either in the island or cove, and I see them most of the day, chas­ing Cana­di­an geese. It would be a good time to gar­den but I can’t bend any more so I gar­den stand­ing up, along the dri­ve­way. I can’t go to plant nurs­eries because I have to call ahead and I can’t tell what I want unless I browse. But some peren­ni­als are bright­en­ing the beds.

Luck­i­ly, I have not been affect­ed finan­cial­ly, but I have so few needs now, I can even help oth­ers.

I’m up by 5 am. Say prayers for those who have asked for them. I check the news on TV, check the emails, then have break­fast. I gar­den if I feel good enough, then work on files on the din­ing table, most­ly look­ing over old notes, diaries to make sense of the years that have passed almost unno­ticed. Not always hap­py, news of deaths among fam­i­ly and friends dark­en the day. A friend shares her cook­ies and meals she still makes at 97. I feel guilty. In between, I call friends here and in the Philip­pines, it is good to talk to them; besides emails.

I got my first set of masks from a stu­dent of Tina who made them to donate to caus­es, but since I stay home, have not used them. I talk to neigh­bors at the door, spray mail and deliv­ery bags with Lysol. I also spray sur­faces. I’m think­ing of hav­ing my meds deliv­ered.

I take the car out for a dri­ve, just to drop off mail at the mail­box in front of the post office. I make a loop around the riv­er and come back. A neigh­bor said I have to do that for the car.

I wor­ry about how long this cri­sis will last, espe­cial­ly for those with chil­dren. I lived through the Japan­ese Occu­pa­tion so I have some sur­vival instincts. And I don’t have any plans for trav­el any­more. Or have any ideas for writ­ing. I’ve writ­ten all I need to write.

We all need patience to get through this, need hope, for which we need trust and faith that we are in His good hands today, and tomor­row will come with good news for all. And Gretchen and Tina will be able to vis­it again.

Ingat,

Lin­da

Read also:
Coro­n­avirus: The Begin­ning, by Cecil­ia Brainard
How Fil­ipinos Are Cop­ing With Covid, Part One (Cecil­ia Brainard, Pos­i­tive­ly Fil­ipino)
How Fil­ipinos Are Cop­ing With Covid, Part Two (C. Brainard, PF)

Inter­views fol­low:
Lia Fer­aren, Ger­many
Tere­sa Con­cep­cion, Cana­da
 Ofe­lia Gelve­zon Tequi, France
Reine Marie Bon­nie Melvin, France
New Zealand: Jay Mon­til­la & Moni­ka Tawngdee
Lin­da Ty-Casper, Mass­a­chu­setts, USA
Bar­bara Ann Jacala, San Diego, CA, USA
Bri­an Ascalon Roley, Ohio, USA

tags: #coro­n­avirus #covid19 #covid #Fil­ipinos #cop­ing­with­covid #Paris #France #Europe #Fil­ipinoFrench #French­Fil­ipino #Fil­ipinoAmer­i­can