ANNEY BOLGIANO
The following are erasure poems of various apology statements made during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
[Zoom]
In light of recent interest in our encryption practices, we want to start by
apologizing for the confusion we have caused by incorrectly suggesting that
Zoom meetings were capable of using end-to-end encryption. Zoom has
always strived to use encryption to protect content in as many scenarios as
possible, and in that spirit, we used the term end-to-end encryption. While
we never intended to deceive any of our customers, we recognize that there
is a discrepancy between the commonly accepted definition of end-to-end
encryption and how we were using it. This blog is intended to rectify that
discrepancy and clarify exactly how we encrypt the content that
moves
across our network.
The goal of our encryption design is to provide the maximum amount of
privacy possible while supporting the diverse needs of our client base.
To be clear, in a meeting where all of the participants are using Zoom
clients, and the meeting is not being recorded, we encrypt all video, audio,
screen sharing, and chat content at the sending
client, and do not decrypt it at any point before it reaches the
receiving clients.
[Rudy Gobert]
I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of concern and support over
the last 24 hours. I have gone through so many emotions since learning of
my diagnosis…mostly fear, anxiety, and embarrassment. The first and most
important thing is I would like to publicly apologize to the people that I
may have endangered. At the time, I had no idea I was even infected. I was
careless and make no excuse. I hope my story serves as a warning and
causes everyone to take this seriously. I will do whatever I can to support
using my experience as way to educate others and prevent the spread of this
virus. I am under great care and will fully recover. Thank you again for all
your support. I encourage everyone to take all of the steps to stay safe and
healthy. Love.
[Compass Coffee]
This too shall pass.
.
As many of you know, the situation around COVID-19 has been
devastating for Compass. Our business is down about 90%. Last night, we
decided to lay off the vast majority of our baristas so they are eligible for
unemployment benefits from the DC and VA governments. As a small
business, after struggling for two weeks and coming up with projects to
keep people employed, we simply ran out of work, and could not afford to
pay people without things for them to do.
.
This was the hardest decision we’ve ever had to make. Compass is about
people as much as it is about coffee. We’ve spent years training, mentoring,
and building our team. We said goodbye to many good people. Our
decision was to make one, extremely deep cut, in order to preserve the
leadership that will rebuild Compass from the ashes of this catastrophe.
.
To the people we laid off: we’d like to apologize. We are deeply sorry. We
want to bring you back as soon as the situation improves. .
To our customers and the broader community, we’ll do everything we can
to find a way through this, and to get back to serving real good coffee in the
days ahead.
.
Anney Bolgiano lives in Washington, DC where she works as an adjunct professor and private tutor. She has an interest in, and has taught courses exploring, the rhetoric and composition of public apology statements. Anney received her MFA from George Mason University and her BA from Guilford College. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Nashville Review, Figure 1, Whiskey Island, Door is a Jar, Bending Genres, Funny Looking Dog Quarterly, A Velvet Giant, District Lines Anthology, and elsewhere. She is a Pushcart Prize Nominee, and a past resident of Art Farm Nebraska.
