Radishes and Flowers (Official Video)

In March as the Covid-19 death counts just kept rising in the US and around the world, the numbers were getting to the point that they were hard to comprehend. Hard to connect to any individual people. The media also shifted story from the virus to the politics that circled it. Just another news cycle.

At the same time, I had thousands of dandelions growing in my backyard. I awoke one morning thinking of the callous the political responses, and how disconnected those actions and words are from the people they impact.

Thinking of this brought forward the image of a flower removed from the scene. Not for any purpose, not for display, just silently removed.

So I went out to the backyard with a camera and scissors and cut down a few dandelions. It made me feel awful. Not because of the dandelion, but the image was so striking. It connected this nameless faceless number of 5000, 10000, 100000 to an actual individual that’s just been removed from the scene.

Grief is tricky and very personal, but I think one thing that’s important is to look death in the face and then decide which way to turn after that. No more averting of the eyes to the facts.

For me, creating this video helped me move through my own process of grief. Grief that was once just anticipatory, now is real. And it’s still going on for all of us, mostly unannounced and hidden.

You can hear the song in a great playlist of indie folk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3Jy1wc8pOg

Dandelions, a music video, and numbers too big to comprehend