In one interview, high school senior Kris McDaniel offered his thoughts on having an alternate graduation and prom. Blanchard expressed, among its greatest strengths, adaptation and determination in providing a drive-thru graduation and outdoor prom for high school seniors.

All were centered on the rural experience. These events range from a church’s first virtual service to an encouraging graffiti message. They cover the local community of Blanchard and capture dozens of events. These quiet stories may never make the national news, but their value remains. After three months working on the collection, I’ve learned that rural areas like Blanchard are processing the pandemic through three distinct realities: adaptation, quiet voices and the common good. They offer a glimpse of the uniquely rural experiences of loss and hope during the pandemic. This collection counterbalances the otherwise dominant role of metropolitan areas in national media.

The Journal of the Plague Year captures those stories in the “Rural Voices” collection, inspired by the local community of Blanchard, Oklahoma. As COVID-19 constrained daily life, rural lives were affected in quiet ways. Her daily visits to the cemetery marked an otherwise unbroken routine for over five years. As the nightly news rattled off statistical numbers, my grandmother sat quietly in her house, mourning a loss, unable to see her husband’s grave.

Marisa fuentes dispossessed lives