Wild Ideas Worth Living · Tuesday, September 8, 2026
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alison Mariella Désir and her husband, living in the Bronx, found themselves isolated and concerned by the proximity to Randall's Island being used as a temporary morgue. This difficult period prompted them to re-imagine their lives and move to Seattle, seeking easier access to the outdoors.
“So we were living in, um, in the Bronx at the start of the pandemic. And if you would ask me if I'd ever leave New York, let alone go to Seattle, I would have said, definitely not.”
“But we lived really close to Randall's Island and they had started using Randall's Island as a morgue essentially.”
“But we started imagining what life could look like somewhere else where we could get outdoors more easily.”