This year marks the 30th roster of Arkansas Times Academic All-Stars: 20 exceptional students chosen from a pool of applicants from across the state, each nominated by their high school counselor or principal.
They all cry, naked in their grief.
One woman can t speak without weeping. Another said she didn t expect to get emotional, but when she begins to talk about her mother she asks for a moment to right herself under the unsteadying weight of loss. Another remembers the last time she saw her mom, separated by glass, anguish braiding the breath that catches in her throat.
For people who lost their mothers to COVID-19, this Mother s Day is a reminder of a freshly gaping void. Some won t celebrate the day at all. Others will mark it quietly. Before this year, I always joked with my children and said Mother s Day was the most important day of the year, said Ashlyn Fox, whose mother and grandmother died of COVID-19 six days apart. This year, I don t want it to exist at all. I want to pretend it doesn t exist.
By ALIA E. DASTAGIR | USA Today | Published: May 8, 2021
Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See more staff and wire stories here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription. (Tribune News Service) They all cry, naked in their grief. One woman can t speak without weeping. Another said she didn t expect to get emotional, but when she begins to talk about her mother she asks for a moment to right herself under the unsteadying weight of loss. Another remembers the last time she saw her mom, separated by glass, anguish braiding the breath that catches in her throat.