I recently led an online writing workshop about the unexpected good and bad of this pandemic. The good is dwarfed by the bad, of course, but it’s there and is worth exploring. In preparation for the workshop, I started thinking about my own experience. On a personal level, there were a number of things that made it on to both sides of this ledger I was making. When several other workshop participants also found this, it surprised me, but what surprised me more was the effect that making the list had on me. My ledger goes like this (many of these also apply in non-pandemic times but right now have gained a high level of intensity): The Good Toilet paper all for me! (Yes, I live with dogs, not humans.) It wasn’t until toilet paper rationing started that I even saw a roll on the shelves. I was almost ready to buy a bidet, because family members said that would reduce the need, and it was a rewarding luxury. We won’t go any further on that. My bathroom is not bidet worthy, so I was very happy to get my toilet paper, just for me. Dozing off without care. Fingers on my keyboard, I stop to think, and there goes the head drop forward and zzzz. Let’s call it power napping. No arguing about what to watch, delivery vs. pick up, money vs. safety and who ate my secret stash of Easter candy. So good. Zoom! Having scheduled conversations with advance knowledge of the topic. This is weird but good. Sound delays, time limits, and avoiding awkward silences have created this need. Also, I suggest you bring props to your next Zoom meeting. People love visuals. Seeing and talking with many of my extended family every week! We go the beach together every year but never thought to have get-togethers every week before now. Being outside many times a day just to breathe and feel the sun. Even when it rains, I go outside and breathe deeply and listen. This is amazing for people who work full-time inside a building with no windows. Sometimes, “I love you” comes right out of my mouth to the sun when it warms my face. Once, my neighbor broke the moment with “What did you say?” My public love declarations stopped. The Bad Arguing (with myself) about whether to watch Tiger King so I don’t feel even more alone when everyone talks about it. In general, watching too much TV, be it PBS or Bravo! No one to take turns with going out into the COVID-19 world. The lines, the fear and guilt of making the mistake of moving too close to another, the judging eyes on my questionable necessities. Zoom! Seeing and talking with many of my extended family every week: 24 screens, with an average of 3 people to a screen, except my little single one. And most of all, Zoom meetings with those Brady Bunch screens and silence: very awkward. Talking to myself. Pre-homestay, I talked often (some might say too much) with humans at work, or when socializing. Now, I don’t Zoom talk much: a sentence or two in meetings, though it really hasn’t become natural. But it’s also not natural for a human not to speak. Luckily, it seems I can talk to myself quite comfortably. And yes, of course, I talk to my dogs. Barking dogs! There is no good side to this. My neighbor dog, Elmo, an otherwise lovely dog, can bark for an hour straight, with my dogs helping out with the chorus. This made me a nervous wreck until I started wearing big headphones and having a dance party of one until Elmo was called in. The ledger goes on. It was a good exercise in relieving the internal pressure of the more serious side of this situation, the serious side that eats away at you: the sorrow for a cousin in NYC nursing the sick, and all the medical people, the food workers, all the essential workers earning low wages for dangerous work, and the greed of people making money off of tragedy. It can lead to some dark places even in the safety of my home, so to look at the pandemic's effect on my own everyday life let me escape from the enormity and feel the trivial. And I am grateful for the trivial. - written by Nancy Kirkwood, Center for Creativity Assistant. Find Nancy's work on Instagram. Illustrations by Mike Campbell, Center for Creativity Assistant. Find Mike's work on Instagram.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
WelcomeOur blog is a space for C4C staff and guest contributors to share thoughts on creativity, workspaces, processes, and more!
Archives
August 2020
Categories
All
|