Observe and Report
In The Viewing Booth, we’re effectively watching footage over Maia Levy’s shoulder, filtering our own reactions through hers, or at least accommodating them both. And as she tries to situate the footage, determining who made it and what they’re trying to achieve, we’re doing the same.
IT’S EARLY APRIL IN 2020, AND IN BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, the ambulance sirens are unrelenting. Also constant are helicopters whirring overhead—patrolling? Evacuating? Thousands upon thousands of people are sick with COVID-19. Today, Wednesday, April 8, nearly 800 died in New York, up from similar numbers the days preceding. Inside—always, infuriatingly, necessarily, inside—I’m searching for information, evidence, footage of what’s outside. A few days ago I watched a video recorded by former Fox News personality Todd Starnes outside of a quiet Brooklyn Hospital Center. “Why is an entire city of 8 million people on lockdown and there’s nobody in
