• Mark O'Toole, writer/director

    Three years and one pandemic later…

    Picture credit Thomas Concordia I took a long two year break from documenting the worst days of the pandemic here in New York – here’s a little update. I lost a few other folks along the way, including my brother. But here we all stand, a testament to resilience but really, more one of luck. I’d started writing this blog as a way to keep my sanity during the New York lockdown. I felt if I could pour words into what I was seeing, thinking, feeling, I could disassociate myself from what, at that time, seemed like an endlessly despairing path to hell. It was two years before I finally…

  • Facemasks & New Beginnings

    I’m doing a short post this week. It may be short, but it’s oh so sweet. (I’m working on a larger piece for the coming weeks). On the day the US Dept. of Labor announced another 3 million filed for unemployment (bringing the overall US total now to 30 million out of work), I started my new job. And have a terrific boss. It was a relief to have some good news in the midst of legitimate gloom and doom. And if it’s any indication of brighter things to come, I unbelievably had a second offer and another on the way. Onboarding a new job remotely has been a hoot…