Stuff to do while social distancing during COVID-19
/Right now, we are experiencing a global COVID-19 pandemic which is causing most people to practice social distancing as an effort to flatten the curve. Epidemiologists are telling us, if you can stay home, stay home. Cancel everything. This is not possible for everyone, of course. But it is possible for me to help flatten the curve and work toward protecting community well-being as a therapist through video, or “teletherapy.” In many ways, this is heartwrenching. The relationships I have with the people I work with are based on presence, on artmaking, on the subtle expression through body movement that is easier to detect in person. I look forward to seeing the people I work with, welcoming them into my warm studio space, and offering them tea.
Suddenly, I am instead welcoming people to therapy through the click of a button and a couple of screens. While it has its drawbacks, it is offering something new: a shared experience of resiliency and adaptation during tough times. An opportunity to self-reflect on why video therapy was not already an option for increasing access for disabled people. A chance to see the plants and pets and makeshift art supplies in your space instead of mine (speaking of pets, my cat Jane has made more than one video art therapy appearance). A chance to not rush around commuting— to allow for space.
Beyond teletherapy, what can help us get us through this time? I am starting to collect resources of stuff to do while we are at home. I categorized them, so we can mindfully think about which type of care we need in each moment. I anticipate editing this as I find more. If you have ideas, get in touch. Updated 3/25/20.
Absorb art.
Neil Gaiman offers free stuff.
Metropolitan Opera free streaming.
The African-American Art Shaping the 21st Century.
Free catalogue of Indigenous films.
Free livestreams from Center for Puppetry Arts
Audible Stories - free kid/youth audiobooks.
National Film Board of Canada has 4,000 free streaming titles.
Chicago Public Library online resources.
Full length dance performance archive through Columbia College Chicago.
The Social Distancing Festival.
Search youtube and instagram for comedy, music…
Make art.
Lunch doodles with Mo Willems.
Lynda Barry teaches you how to draw.
Swear word coloring pages for adults.
Sew CDC-compliant face masks for staff.
Artists, this is what we train for.
Make a movie using your phone.
Write, make comics, make stuff out of whatever you can find in your home, build a fort.
And countless craft tutorials on youtube…
Share stories.
Another collection of COVID comics.
Disability Visibility Project.
Learn.
JSTOR makes database accessible to the public.
UIC library free online resources.
NASA makes entire media library accessible.
10 university art classes you can take for free online.
Ten free e-books from Haymarket books.
Yale offers The Science of Well-Being Class for free.
Guggenheim releases over 200 modern art books online for free.
Experience nature.
Garfield Park Conservatory digital tour.
Birding is the perfect social distancing activity.
Take a walk. Look at the sky. Look at the lake.
Cope.
Care for your Coronavirus anxiety.
How communities are coping during coronavirus.
youtube or on-your-own yoga, dance, stretch, move, exercise, meditate.
Support/get support.
Chicago COVID-19 Mutual Aid Volunteer Sign-up
COVID-19 Mutual Aid Fund for LGBTQI+ BIPOC folks
Rogers Park Community Response Team.
Ways to support Rogers Park small businesses.
Reach out to friends, make a phone call, write a letter.
Disrupt racism.
Coronavirus fears show how ‘model minority’ Asian Americans become the ‘yellow peril’
Disrupt ableism.
Disabled oracles and the Coronavirus.
Podcast.
11 podcasts feminists should listen to while social distancing.
How to survive the end of the world.
Play.
Improvise over video chat with friends.
Feel your feelings.
That discomfort you’re feeling is grief.
What do we lose when we stop touching each other?
Hope.
Artists developed an app that allows strangers in quarantine to talk to each other.
Rogers Park mother and son paint rocks to spread positivity during Coronavirus pandemic.
Quebecers are putting rainbows on windows for people to find during walks.
Sign up to receive daily Storycorps stories to lift your spirits.
Dolphins and swans appear in Venice canals during quarantine.
Do nothing.
Slow down, practice stillness, make food, move your body, show the people you love that you love them, allow yourself to not be productive.