#PennRemembers

In challenging times in the past, we’ve gathered together as a Penn Community in front of the LOVE statue on College Green to grieve for the losses we are experiencing in our nation and around the world all around us and to support and encourage one another. We are feeling a need to make this sort of space now to grieve the staggering loss of more than 1,000,000 people to the worldwide pandemic (including now more than 200,000 in the US), to acknowledge the very real personal losses we may be experiencing along with the sense of displacement and separation caused by both the pandemic and its impacts on our daily life (mental health, economic struggle, educational disruption). In addition to the pandemic, we are all carrying many other burdens and struggles, including the impacts of natural disasters like the wildfires in the West and Hurricanes in the Southeast and the ongoing reality of racial injustice in the US.

In place of a campus gathering, we are inviting the Penn Community to observe a day to pause and be present with these challenges. We invite you to mark this day in your own way, wherever you are. You may choose to do this personally, with your household, virtually with your group, or on social media. We know that this simple act of pausing contains within it a radical resistance to the rushing pace of our days, and this simple act is important for our own wellness and for our communal wellness. By taking this time to be present together in this way, we are making an important promise to one another to support and care for our community together.

#PennRemembers video

Guest Column by five members of the Penn community | Join us for Penn Remembers: A Virtual Vigil.