While the COVID-19 virus technically emerged in 2019, the pandemic got very real very quickly in the US in March 2020. It was a stark enough change that I still remember some of my ‘lasts’ from that March. I worked my last in-person shift on March 9. I attended my last in-person activist meeting on March 10. Last trip to the movie theater: March 11. And last trip to a coffee shop: Friday, March 13.
I’ve done a couple of those things again in 2021 or 2022. But it was a huge gap. It’s hard to believe it’s been a full 2 years since the start of the pandemic. It hit home for me a few weeks ago when the Englert Theatre notified me it had canceled a Dweezil Zappa show. A show originally scheduled for late March 2020. So, yeah, it’s been a long time.
It’s a good time to check in. Have we learned anything?
Political Change?
Maybe.
I wrote recently about the pandemic and political change. On that topic, I concluded that the pandemic produced mostly temporary change. US politics opened up quite a bit to new ideas in the spring and summer of 2020. Republicans and austerity advocates across the political aisle suddenly supported large relief funds.
We also saw lots of movement in the early pandemic on issues of racial justice. Including here in Iowa City. As well as a lot of early noise around rent strikes.
Unfortunately, this all produced little in the way of sustained change. The left simply wasn’t in position to build and wield power. And while it did a great job mobilizing people in the short term, it didn’t really do much to build longer term structures of power. Instead, we saw a lot of social media expressivism and various attempts at taking shortcuts. While the mobilization was great, the lack of organizing was dispiriting.
And so, political change emerged as incremental and rather minimal.
Personal Change
I’ll say a few things on a more personal note. I used the pandemic to re-evaluate a lot of things about my personal life and how I spend my time. As of February 2020, my schedule had become chaotic and crowded. I worked a full-time, in-person 9 to 5 job. And activist and community meetings jammed up most of my weekday evenings after work.
It wasn’t a sustainable situation. I really wanted lots of those meetings to move to the weekend. And I needed the option to do some of those things online rather than in-person.
The pandemic offered a promising path forward on these things. It allowed me to move my schedule around. I could review all my meetings, keep attending the most important ones, cancel or reschedule others, and hold some of them online. As a result, I have a much friendlier schedule now than I did 2-3 years ago. And, to boot, I do most of my job from home. I still go to the office here and there, but not even close to daily. This all suits my schedule and style of work very nicely!
And so, in lots of ways, I’m happier. I feel better about my job. And I feel like I can use my activist and community time more effectively and productively.
A Question for Readers
I’d like to end with a question for readers. How has your life changed as a result of the pandemic? Do you still work the same job? Is your schedule better or worse? Are you more or less stressed out?
