Through Smoke and Flames

As students departed Charlottesville given the University's decision to send everyone home in late March, 2020, a proportion of out-of-state students would journey back to their homes in California, Oregon, and Washington. To many, the University's decision to suspend class is the novel coronavirus' first distinct intrusion into daily life. These students traveling back to the West Coast would have more than COVID and online classes to contend with, however: a wildfire season hitherto unprecedented in its length and devastation. In this episode, some of these students describe their unique remote college life amongst COVID and the 2020 West Coast forest fires. Host: Emma Ross Researchers: John Sun, Daniela Moreno Fournier, and Mohit Srivastav Producers: Ella Anderson and Christian F. Jung The Global Inquirer is a production of the International Relations Organization at UVA, and affiliated with TEEJ, UVA’s podcasting network.