Laughing Through Tears

by BRENNA DAUGHERTY GERHARDT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

After direct contact with an infected person at work, my husband recently took a COVID-19 test for the first time.

When he came home, and I asked him how it went, he said, “It made me laugh and cry at the same time. The nurse shoved a long Q-tip up both my nostrils for what seemed like an eternity, and I found it so uncomfortable and bizarre that I couldn’t stop giggling as tears poured out my eyes.” I’m sharing this story with you because the fact that laughter can be a coping mechanism for uncomfortable absurdity and pain is exactly why we chose to compile Humanities North Dakota’s first-ever humor issue during a pandemic and election season.

I hope the short stories and poems in these pages, many written by North Dakota authors, give you a brief respite from 2020. We’ve all earned it.