For Media Monday:

A friend shared this article last week, and I’m not sure how I missed it earlier. Mass death and the effects it has on last responders is an issue I’ve long been interested in. This article mentions 9/11 because it is focused on New York during the height of the pandemic, but I cannot imagine the trauma of last responders in places like Sandy Hook, or Orlando, or Las Vegas after mass shootings, or after natural disasters all over the globe. The podcast Death in the Afternoon devoted an episode to the aftermath of Jonestown and the horrific sorting of bodies and legal shuffling of responsibilities for them.

Last responders get little thanks, attention or celebration from the public, because they deal with death, and because we as a society try so hard ignore and deny it. I’m so glad this article was written and hope you’ll take time to read it, and thank a last responder.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/06/inside-the-coronavirus-crisis-at-a-queens-funeral-home