I’m still wearing masks everywhere and people are still getting Covid. The pandemic isn’t over. But some would disagree with that statement, which to me indicates that we’ve entered a different phase of it. Who We Are Now is a fascinating oral history of the first phase of the pandemic in the US, from March 2020 to the mass rollout of vaccines in spring and summer 2021. Fishburne lost her job, became an empty-nester, and had an expiring lease in early 2020, so once the pandemic hit, she took to her RV and drove around the country several time to conduct interviews organized around the question, “What was your 2020 supposed to be like and what did it end up being like, through to the present?“

Fishburne smartly chooses not to draw sweeping conclusions about a barely over, unsettled period of history. Instead, she mostly presents short monologue excerpts framed only by a pull quote, the speaker’s first name, self-described occupation, and the month of the interview. We are left to explore their witnessing on our own.

We all live in some kind of bubble, so this volume will introduce us to the kinds of people we know alongside the kinds we don’t. Some medical professionals have a grueling time combating Covid on the front lines. Some business owners fear the economic consequences and want reopening (sometimes I empathized with this, and sometimes people enthusiastically praised Ron DeSantis). And some of the occupations themselves were things I would have never considered.

My heart broke at a number of stories about surviving Covid, living with long Covid—the awful impacts of the disease itself. I was surprised that George Floyd only came up twice, in the testimonies of a young reporter from Indianapolis and a formerly incarcerated entrepreneur who, because of his criminal record, was ineligible for a PPP loan.

I’m still trying to untangle everything I personally experienced in 2020 and 2021, and I wasn’t even on the front lines of anything. I appreciated getting to read all these other reflections on things lost, gained, and confounded over those years.

I have been waiting to see something like this since the pandemic began. I think everyone is going to have stories to tell about their experience whether good, or bad. I felt that this writer was really brave to go out and collect these stories from the road and to collect and share them with the world. I really enjoyed reading the experiences and would really like to see more of these stories. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

Like Michelle said, "meeting people during pandemic it's not easy" honestly I agree with her. She was able to meet with 100 individuals who shared their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her goal was to find out how people were doing, share their stories through social media and hopefully gain employment by January.
The report she got from different individuals are really touching, honestly people went through a lot of pains during the COVID-19 pandemic.
I sincerely felt bad when Michelle met Zeev a New York resident with COVID-19, the story was so touching. The only sound they hear in the street was siren which means a neighbor, friend or a loved one is going to the hospital for COVID with unknown chance of surviving.
Another person she met was Sue who is a Las Vegas Tourist. Sue picked up her friend's daughter at the airport and was taking her to Las Vegas as she promised for her 18th birthday celebration. Their plans got ruined when they got to a Hotel at Treasure Island only to find out that Vegas would be shut down at 6 O'clock, it was the weirdest experience Sue had in Vegas. Seeing it shut down was so strange to her. The friend daughter's birthday celebration got messed up due the COVID-19 pandemic.

The stories are indeed touching.
Thanks to Netgalley for ARC of this book, there are lots of stories in this book.