Professor, author, radio host Carolivia Herron reflects on COVID-19, racism in the United States, Black Lives Matter, the riots, anti-Semitism, and perceptions of Black Jews using the metaphor of a passing comet that overhears thoughts and actions of people living in the Washington, DC, area during the pandemic of 2020. Dr. Herron uses the “passing comet” metaphor as a method of framing ongoing conversations artistically and historically, her way of considering the nature of our current predicament with the context of our human and national origins and destiny.

Carolivia Herron is an author and educator currently teaching Classics at Howard University. Her best known works are "Nappy Hair," "Always An Olivia," "Thereafter Johnnie," "Peacesong DC," and "Asenath." "Always An Olivia" is a children’s book recounting her Jewish heritage from the Spanish Inquisition through today. She is an African American Jew through paternal lineage as well as through formal conversion. Her academic field is epic poetry, and she has held prior academic appointments at Harvard University, Mt. Holyoke College, Chico State University, and the College of William and Mary. Her doctorate in Comparative Literature is from the University of Pennsylvania, and she is a native Washingtonian. She is a member of Tifereth Israel Congregation of Washington, DC