Description
Book SynopsisIn Until Further Notice, Amy Kaler records a personal account of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in real time. She documents a series of jolts to her thoughts, perceptions, emotions, and habits—an internal seismograph of living through a global emergency. Kaler’s introspection underlines the universal experience of dissonance brought on by COVID-19 and invites readers to ponder its ambiguities. At the same time, the pandemic lets Kaler put down roots, as she rediscovers her neighbourhood and her city’s natural spaces. Reflexive and relatable, Until Further Notice captures fine-grained, everyday experiences from an extraordinary year.
Trade Review“Like Thoreau in his Walden woods, Amy Kaler is studying the natural and social environment around her and observing her own responses.” Alice Major, writer and poet
“Amy Kaler doesn’t pretend to provide answers or counsel the uncertain, but instead offers a record of in-betweenness–including crucial questions about work, identity, safety and health–in a time of change.” Tanis MacDonald, author of Straggle: Adventures in Walking While Female
"Amy Kaler puts a personal touch on her pandemic experience in Until Further Notice: A Year in Pandemic Time. Thoughts, emotions, habits: they all fall under the microscope and are fodder for observation. She also talks about how the pandemic forced her to be more engaged with her community and her city’s natural spaces, two positives in an otherwise horrendous mess." Justin Bell, Edmonton Journal, August 11, 2022
“[Kaler] offers thoughtful company along the path to a post-pandemic future that none of us can yet quite fathom.” Jenna Butler, Alberta Views, January 3, 2023 [Full review at https://albertaviews.ca/until-further-notice/]
Table of Contentsxi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction xvii The Beginning Spring 2020 3 Before, After 4 Concentration 6 Returns 8 Breathe 9 Airport Security 10 Crossing New Thresholds 12 The Crash Summer 2020 17 On Trails 18 What Are You Looking At? 21 Twice-Blooming Lilacs 23 Curiosity Cabinet 26 All the Futures 28 The Licence Plate 29 Bewildered 31 Covid Anxiety 33 Downward 34 Crime and Punishment/Everything Is Free 37 Objects 39 Where is Here and Where is There? 41 The End of Science World 43 Why I Can’t Think Fall 2020 49 Medicine 50 Masks 52 The Places Where People Are Not 54 Emergencies and Disasters 55 In the Airport in October 56 Peak Personal Responsibility 59 Resignation and the Second Wave 61 The River is Alive 63 De-Escalation 65 Normalized/Panicked 66 It’s All Fucking Bullshit 67 Watching the Election 68 The Fresh Horrors Device 70 The Campsite 71 Pandemic Melancholy Winter 2021 77 Time of Trial 78 Vacation Scandal 82 Schadenfreude 84 Hermits 86 Buffalo Bill’s Defunct 87 Be Kind 89 Like a Drug Deal 90 Hi Mom, It’s Me 91 Subtle Loss 92 Ice is Solid and Liquid 93 Rules and Vacations 95 Ice, Again 96 Who Are You Going to Believe? 98 No Time at the North Pole 99 Getting Better or Not? 101 Hard Freeze 102 Falls the Shadow 104 Jellyfish Time 105 Walking Into The Hill 107 Moon Illusion 109 Time-Dividend 112 Adolescent Bardo 113 Proprioception 115 Lost Places and the Annual Lockdown Spring 2021 121 Two Futures 122 Brain Studies 125 Skiing 128 This is Your Brain on Covid 130 Ravine and Downtown 132 The Place Becomes Strange 135 Life on Mars 136 Leonard Cohen at the Whistle Stop Café 139 Desolation Coda 147 Vaccine Theology 153 References"
