From This Collection

A poet’s take on “austerity”

Dec 4, 2020
Fred Joiner is currently the Poet Laureate of Carrboro, North Carolina.
Fred Joiner is a poet and IT professional based in Carrboro, North Carolina.
Photo by Jati Lindsay, courtesy of Fred Joiner.

"All the pandemic has done is shine a horrifyingly clear spotlight on every inequality in our community. And my community is the book community."

Dec 1, 2020
Independent bookseller Hannah Oliver Depp is struggling with suppliers in her mission to tell the stories of struggling people.
Loyalty Books, which centers the stories of people of color and queer people.
Courtesy of Hannah Oliver Depp

Working from home ... with a cat

Nov 26, 2020
Illustrator Heidi Moreno's cat Peanut is really more of a co-worker.
An image from illustrator Heidi Moreno's new book, "Working from Home with a Cat."
Courtesy of Chronicle Books

"And then it occurred to me that I could just make the box of supplies myself"

Nov 17, 2020
Teacher Nia Grigsby started The School Box Toolbox when her own daughters were running low on supplies early in the pandemic.
School Box Toolbox supplies for first and second grade students.
Courtesy of Nia Grigsby

How one professional singer is managing work from home

Nov 3, 2020
With live performances canceled, artists are finding creative solutions.
"When the pandemic hit, really quickly it became apparent that we wouldn’t be able to sing again with other people."
Courtesy of Ayana Haviv

Coronavirus is driving people to one family farm

Oct 15, 2020
"I guess, thanks in large part to COVID, we had a lot of people looking for outdoor picking and being outside at farms," says Red Apple Farm owner Al Rose.
Al Rose says in New England, people associate fall with going apple-picking.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images

How a coffee company CEO is getting through the pandemic

Oct 14, 2020
Keba Konte, CEO of Red Bay Coffee based in Oakland, California, recounts the challenges his business has faced due to the pandemic.
Keba Konte, CEO of Red Bay Coffee based 
 in Oakland, California.
Courtesy of Keba Konte/Red Bay Coffee

For public good, not for profit.

A Los Angeles bookstore owner on reinventing her small business during the pandemic

Oct 12, 2020
Celene Navarrete had to close her shop doors in March and is now growing her online store and attending virtual book fairs.
Celene Navarrete, left, and Chiara Arroyo, owners of LA Librería in Los Angeles.
Sergio López Valero/Courtesy of Celene Navarrete

"I like to think that it's traditional art — it's just the Black representation of that"

Oct 7, 2020
Atlanta-based Black tattoo artist Debbi Snax is breaking stereotypes.
Courtesy of Snax

“I like going on there and making sure that everybody’s still doing OK”

Oct 6, 2020
More than six months have passed since Veronica Coon started an online barter group to help people in need.
Veronica Coon started a popular Facebook barter group for people to trade goods during the coronavirus pandemic.
Courtesy of Veronica Coon