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writing
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2021-03-31
Gyre Oral History, 2021/03/31
Self-Description: “My name is Gyre. I am a multidisciplinary artist based in South Africa with global ambitions. I specialize in music, but I also work as a freelance writer as well as in dance. I’m a dancer learning to choreograph. Political commentator, particularity with regard to the LBGTQA+ community. I identify as queer. I am homoromatic and homosexual at this point in my life. You never know honey, it’s a spectrum. I had my first venture into artistic expression that is rooted in queer rights and queer understanding and queer theory, was my debut album, titled Queernomics, which was a documented audio-visual book about the contemporary experiences of a Black queer South African male, and that has gotten me into the positions that I express myself in, both out of passion and out of profession. Inkosi Yenkonkoni, which means “The Gay King”, in my native language which is Zulu.” Other details available here: Works produced during the pandemic: Kithi, International LGBTQ+ Rights Festival, writing on football. Some of the things we spoke about included: “What happens at the top is just politics, what happens at the bottom is real life.” Thinking about the term “pandemic” Listening to the body The pandemic exposing state corruption Having written a song called “Quarantine” in 2018 The inadequacies and privileges of Medical Aid in South Africa, having aged out of Medical Aid before COVID, the personal impact of worse-health insurance during pandemic, the importance of demonetizing health care Pre-COVID keeping busy: organizing, walking, collaborating Transit during COVID, sub/urban and outskirt disparities Canceling shows and taking dance classes and rethinking what it means to be productive Global Americanization and the impact of Trump’s pandemic denialism on South African health Moving out of disbelief about the severity of COVID after losing a loved one in the first wave Gratitude for the global influence of the Black Lives Matter movement, and sadness that tragedy in the diaspora brings neocolonialism to the fore The importance of social media for queer counter-violence and activist fractures among LGBTQA+ Feeling allyship with the #metoo movement How homophobia intersects with everyday altercations about social distancing The anxieties of hooking up during the pandemic The importance that scientists learn to speak in lay terms about climate change and vaccines Existence as resistance and creating art “Spread love not tolerance” Other cultural references include: Trans Day of Visibility, astrology, and the TV series Pose. -
2021-01-26
For The Sake Of My Time
At first it was nothing, Then something for all. I wrote and I drew, I played ball. The wind blew outside, strong and loud, But I was inside, away from the crowd, today was no day, for something out loud. And when my notebook fell to the floor, I cried. When my mask shifted on my face, “They could die” But at the end of the day, I picked up my pages for the sake of my time. Author's (Explanatory) Note: I stitched this together through scraps in my notebook that I had written over the year. Some of them on simple topics, others on grave events. This is important to me because it's some of my writing that didn't come planned and pre-packed, but an experience and struggle put together through snippets of my life and genuine, if simple, emotions that are coursing through every single one of us, only to be amplified in times like these. -
2021-01-26
For The Sake Of My Time
At first it was nothing, Then something or all. I wrote and I drew, I played ball. The wind blew outside, strong and loud, But I was inside, away from the crowd, today was no day, for something out loud. And when my notebook fell to the floor, I cried. When my mask shifted on my face, “They could die” But at the end of the day, I picked up my pages for the sake of my time. Author's (Explanatory) Note: I stitched this together through scraps in my notebook that I had written over the year. Some of them on simple topics, others on grave events. This is important to me because it's some of my writing that didn't come planned and pre-packed, but an experience and struggle put together through snippets of my life and genuine, if simple, emotions that are coursing through every single one of us, only to be amplified in times like these. -
2021-01-17
Potato Chips, Prana, and Perambulation: My Favorite Things to Weather the COVID-19 Storm
This submission is a description of the five favorite things I have used to help me get through the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly as I have had to transition to working from home. -
2021-01-16
Falling Back On My Escapism
As the title suggests, this is a description of my favorite things that helped me through the pandemic. I think it's important to capture the pleasures we've fallen back on despite all the negatives. -
2020-10-01
Jewish Melbourne: Jewish Women of Words - Atida Lipshatz
Atida Lipshatz wrote a piece for Jewish Women of Words reflecting on food during the pandemic -
2017-10-16
Jewish Melbourne: Jewish Women of Words - Lisa Farber
This is an article by Lisa Farber, talking about her child finishing school in 2020, during the pandemic -
2020-09-26
Jewish Melbourne: Jewish Women of Words Lara Lubitz Neilah drash
A drash written by Lara Lubitz for Neilah 2020, published on Jewish Women of Words -
2020-10
Jewish Melbourne: 'Thoughts on Isolation' by Stan Marks
Stan Marks, who is 91 years old, reflects on living during the pandemic, and also shares a letter he wrote to share with the students in Year 12 at Brighton Grammar, his old school -
2020-08-04
My Gratefulness Notebook
I chose this object because it really represents the way I have been able to use this pandemic to change my mindset. I received the journal at a time when everything in my life was changing really fast, and not in a positive way. There was so much loss and pain. I started filling one page of this journal every evening with things I am thankful for, and though it was really difficult at first, I found that it grew easier with time, and now I am finding things to be thankful for in every situation. This pandemic reminds us that we have to be thankful for what we have in every moment, because we never know when that could be taken away, but also that when it seems like everything has been taken away, there is still many things in our lives left to hold onto. -
2020-05-26
Writing to fight fear
I am a writer of fan fiction (informal stories about published works). While I was in quarantine, like much of the world, I was very nervous about the future. It was then that I saw a post that was similar to the one that directed me to this site. EarlyBloomingParenthesis knew that some people were driven to write during this pandemic to relieve stress. She suggested that we make a collection for works that we write during this time, and that we explain WHY we wrote them. As I began to worry more and more about the virus being persistent and immunity not being permanent, I wrote a story about how I imagined such a world might be from the point of view of a child. I published it on Archive of Our own (archiveofourown.org), the Hugo award winning fan fiction website. I have resubmitted it here because I think it fits what you were requesting. I also suggest you check the other works in the collection. Although most of them are unrelated to the pandemic directly, they reflect on how people deal with these challenging times. Some people use fantasy to get away, some use it to face their fears. The introduction to the collection says: "Hello! We live in strange times! A lot of folks have been talking about the importance of fic and fandom communities in this moment. This collection wants to know: how is the global crisis of the coronavirus impacting the fic we write? How are we using fic to cope? This is an attempt to document the relationship between fic written during the crisis and the experience of the crisis itself. Each fic includes an end note about the impact of the coronavirus situation on the fic/writing process. Hopefully we'll all get a chance to process our feelings together and feel a little less alone!" It helped me feel less alone to know that others like me were going through the same thing, and I was pleased that my worried thoughts and plans could help others to make sense of our times, and the times to come.