This edited collection highlights how people connected with friends and family, students and colleagues, leaders and communities, in their quest to persevere during the pandemic.

This edited collection highlights how people connected with friends and family, students and colleagues, and leaders and communities, in their quest to persevere during the pandemic. The chapters describe how people enjoyed their passions for the arts in new and unexpected ways, given the restrictions of COVID-19 safety protocols, and how scripted and reality television programming helped them escape, however briefly, from the traumas of the pandemic, the racial injustice, the political machismo and divisiveness of this time. This book will be of particular interest to scholars of communication, media studies, sociology, cultural studies, and gender studies.

Chapter 1: Introduction: Documenting Pandemic Stories

Michelle Napierski-Prancl, David Staton, and Deborah A. Macey

Section 1: Communication & Resilience

Chapter 2: “Don’t worry, we’re gonna figure this out”: Exploring Resilient Pedagogy during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Matthew J. Manierre, Jan DeWaters, Seema Rivera, and Martha Whalen

Chapter 3: COVID-19 Moments: The Photographic Narratives of Resilience and Productivity among MotherScholars

Sarah Symonds LeBlanc, Elizabeth Spradley, Heather Olson Beal, Lauren Burrow, and Chrissy Cross

Chapter 4: The Ritual of the Bering Sea: Commodity, Country, and Mortality in The Deadliest Catch

Derek Moscato

Chapter 5: Developing Voice Resilience: Building on Spiral of Silence Theory

Alana M. Nicastro and Shelly M. Valdez

Chapter 6: What Reassurance? What Reality?: Governor Cuomo, COVID-19, and the Politics of Masculine Protection

Laurie E. Naranch

Section 2: Creativity & Productivity

Chapter 7: Being There and Not: Slippery Simulacrums of Song

David Staton

Chapter 8: Theater Doesn’t Work: (Co-)Creation in Pandemic Theater-Making

Izabela Derda

Chapter 9: Projecting through the Mask: Theatre Techniques in the Hybrid Classroom

Alicia Corts

Chapter 10: Cultivating Student Creativity during the Pandemic: Short-term Remedy with Long-term Value

Heather J. Hether

Chapter 11: Creativity and Consolation in The Golden Girls: How Revisiting an Old Show Was a Balm for the New Hard Times

Lauren Kelly and Sarah Royal

Section 3: Connection & Comfort

Chapter 12: Walking My Way to Community and Connection during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Theory and Practice

Theresa Conefrey

Chapter 13: The Class of 2020: Parents’ Perspectives of the Pomp and Terrible Circumstance

Michelle Napierski-Prancl

Chapter 14: Bridging Social Distancing Boundaries: Food Consumption and Community during Quarantine

Edith Ritt-Coulter

Chapter 15: The Escapism and Social Bond of Pandemic Binge Watching

Gwendelyn S. Nisbett, Stephanie Schartel Dunn, and Newly Paul

Chapter 16: Ted Lasso: A Feel-Good Show in a Not-Feel-Good Time

Deborah A. Macey and Mary P. Erickson