During the last eight months, our Brief But Spectacular team has profiled numerous brave voices whose work has been deemed essential and whose lives have been transformed by the pandemic. We reconnected with them this past week to ask how they’re doing and hear what they’ve learned.

Wildfires scorched millions of acres across the Western United States this past summer, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate their homes. Jocksana Corona and her family were among them, after flames reached their Talent, Oregon, neighborhood. They have been living in a Girl Scout facility since then. Corona shares her Brief But Spectacular take on surviving a wildfire.

Mahogany L. Browne is a poet, author and mother. In response to the police killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville in March, Browne wrote a poem called “Apply Pressure” for Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer. Browne offers her Brief But Spectacular take on honoring Taylor.

Pediatric nurse practitioner Deborah Fisher spent her early career working in intensive care units. The experience convinced her that more needed to be done to improve end-of-life care for children. Now specializing in palliative care at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., Fisher shares her Brief But Spectacular take on an important subject that’s difficult to discuss.