{"id":20233,"date":"2020-11-16T09:00:48","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T17:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=20233"},"modified":"2020-11-12T13:23:14","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T21:23:14","slug":"open-space-isolation-has-taken-on-a-life-of-its-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2020\/11\/16\/open-space-isolation-has-taken-on-a-life-of-its-own\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Space<\/em>: Isolation has taken on a life of its own"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been almost a year since we first heard about COVID-19, but it\u2019s only been since March that everything has shut down. It\u2019s only been eight months. Considering that it feels like it\u2019s been eight lifetimes, I\u2019m amazed at how little I\u2019ve actually gotten done. The air feels thick, like I\u2019m constantly swimming through some sort of transparent fog, and it seems to fill my nostrils, my eye sockets; it seems to swirl inside my brain. When I think about it, I picture myself and everyone I know floating around as if there isn\u2019t any gravity, although that would undoubtedly be a lot more fun.<\/p>\n

What am I talking about? I\u2019m talking about the COVID-19 brain fog, this lonely space that I\u2019m occupying right now. And I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019m not the only one.<\/p>\n

Since the shutdown happened, I\u2019ve watched a new definition of \u201cisolation\u201d creep into my life. At first, I couldn\u2019t fathom having to stay at home all the time\u2014in fact, I thought it must be a joke. I at least had no idea it was going to be as serious as it is. Doing classes online? No more movies? No more coffee? I missed campus dreadfully, and I also felt bitterness when I heard the words \u201cWe stand together by staying apart.\u201d What the hell did that even mean?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Camosun’s Interurban campus during COVID-19 (photo by Greg Pratt\/Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But when I think about that slogan now, it\u2019s true. These past eight months have been not been even remotely about being together. People suit up, zip up, listen to the news, snap on their masks, check their fear, sanitize their hands, do their best not to interact as they buy their groceries, sanitize their hands, and get home. Then sanitize their hands again. They give each other dirty looks if they go the wrong way in a grocery aisle or if they get too close over the two-metre mark. It used to be that someone wearing a surgical mask around town must be really sick or really allergic. Now it\u2019s the norm, and it\u2019s even becoming a fashionable accessory.<\/p>\n

The only beef I have with wearing masks is you can\u2019t tell if someone is smiling or not. Although the discomfort of wearing one, I know, beats the hell out of being ill. I even felt slightly giddy when I was able to find one with Star Wars fabric. Our faces match the bleakness of the news.<\/p>\n

As far as online classes go, I have adapted well enough, although that\u2019s where I notice the social isolation of the students. Most of the students I know have cameras on their computers, however, when asked by the prof if anyone wishes to join in, most of them won\u2019t. Most would also rather type than share audio. It\u2019s a far cry from the animated class discussions that used to echo through Camosun\u2019s hallways.<\/p>\n

I remember once being confronted in person about something I had written in Nexus<\/em>. I never thought I\u2019d say this, but I miss that.<\/p>\n

It feels like people have accepted this isolation to the point that they are choosing to retreat further into themselves. I find that I am no longer yearning to leave the house, and that even going for those groceries feels a bit like swimming against the current. The mornings are heavy against the skull; it is difficult to get up, especially with nowhere to go. It\u2019s true: isolation has taken on a life of its own. I am going to try and prevail, though.<\/p>\n

As far as this isolation that has overtaken our lives goes, I\u2019m trying to fight it. I\u2019m still smiling widely at people under the damn mask, and I\u2019m also encouraging students to turn on their cameras when asked (even if you\u2019re still in your pajamas and it\u2019s 2 pm; no one is judging at this point). This won\u2019t last forever and we\u2019ll have some good stories to tell when we finally, blissfully, get to be together on campus again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been almost a year since we first heard about COVID-19, but it\u2019s only been since March that everything has shut down. It\u2019s only been eight months. Considering that it feels like it\u2019s been eight lifetimes, I\u2019m amazed at how little I\u2019ve actually gotten done. The air feels thick, like I\u2019m constantly swimming through some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-webexclusive","category-views"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20233"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20234,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20233\/revisions\/20234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}