Dear Daughter: A Quarantine Essay

It is with heartfelt joy that I announce the publication of "Dear Daughter," a personal essay written about my quarantine experiences, on Nearness. As a site inspired by the need to share and seek solace from each other during the COVID-19 pandemic, I could not have found a better home for this piece. I also plan to submit the essay to the Greenburgh Library Covid-19 Memory Project and other such memory projects.

This personal essay grew out of a desire to record the rapid changes happening in the world and in my life. While the pandemic has certainly been stressful, I also found life-affirming moments by seeing, feeling, and experiencing firsthand the ups and downs of parenthood, especially during the time when my daughter entered toddlerhood. As an educational design expert, I feel like this time alone with my daughter has not only been incredibly valuable, but also magical.

I want to thank those who have provided feedback and encouragement: Phi Beta Kappa NY for its Quarantine Stories session, my colleague Juliana Loh, my fellow writers from my USC writing circle, and Alia Wilhelm from Nearness.

I don't often write personal essays, but in 2019, I did a reading of 3 personal essays about growing up in the Hudson Valley area.  "The Writer in Westchester" was part of a performance put on by Tutti Bravi Productions called Where the Heart Is: Reflections of Home in Westchester.

Here's the link!

"Dear Daughter"   Words by Sande Chen
You will not remember this year, your mother knows, but one day you will read this letter and see it as a record of your resilience
https://www.nearnessproject.com/dear-daughter

Sande Chen is a writer and game designer with over 15 years of experience in the game industry. Her writing credits include 1999 Independent Games Festival winner Terminus, MMO Hall of Fame inductee Wizard101, and the 2007 PC RPG of the Year, The Witcher, for which she was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award in Videogame Writing. She is the co-author of the book, Serious Games: Games That Educate, Train, and Inform, and was a contributor to Secrets of the Game Business, Writing For Video Game Genres, and Professional Techniques for Videogame Writing.