The Rich People Have Gone Away opens in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. What did you notice about the way Regina Porter described this period of time in the city? How did the dynamics between neighbors change? What could you glean about the relationship between Theo and Darla, without the context of what their relationship was like before the pandemic? What do you remember about that first year? How did your relationships change with the people you lived close to? In what ways have you changed since the pandemic started?
As for Debbie and I, we spent most of the pandemic in Los Angeles with my parents. It was a scary time and there was so much death but we also enjoyed so much time together. Debbie gardened. I cooked and baked. I read a lot. I tried and failed to write much. We watched the entirety of Columbo which was excellent. We got a puppy. We rode bikes. We watched our neighbors having wine with their friends in the driveway. We attended Zoom events and Zoom social hours with far flung friends. We had movie nights with my parents and enjoyed dinner with them every evening. They went to the older people Costco morning hours, A LOT. Like, daily. They are obsessed with Costco. Mostly, Debbie and I both slowed down, and it was necessary. If I changed at all, it was in recognizing that as Debbie loves to say, “busy is a choice,” and I do have the power to make a different choice. Taking that from theory to practice is, however, a different story.
Tell us things!
lockdown was a weird time for me bc I'm a therapist, so I was really busy trying to help support people going through the exact same thing that I was - feeling isolated, overwhelmed, worried about the future, and depressed. it also revealed some fundamental cracks in some of my closest relationships. and was also the time that I moved to a larger home and reevaluated a lot of my relationships overall. so, I felt like it was pretty traumatic in a lot of ways but I also grew a lot?
and, COVID is still here but people act as though it's over / not a big deal - to be fair, this is the message that's been sent by CDC and public health agencies in the US - so I actually feel a little more isolated now in some ways, as one of the only people I know that's still masking etc. (also I recognize that because of the trauma of lockdown, a lot of people WANT to believe that COVID is totally over and not a big deal, which is honestly quite relatable)...it's complicated!
The pandemic was tough. I admire those who really enjoyed all the time they had at home with loved ones. As a person who needs a lot of alone time to refuel I found it difficult to be at home every day with my significant other. I realized all my hobbies involved being out of the house. I took up doing puzzles and playing video games. Both of which can be very stressful. Lol. I felt extremely fortunate though because my wife and I were low risk, and living in Texas we had a bit more opportunity to roam. I’m an Aussie too and I found it difficult to see what family and friends were struggling with down there. I just hope we never have to go through it again, and if we do, that people can be kinder to each other.