Items

• 
  2023-07-13

  Post-Pandemic Trip to Seattle

  Like it did for many people, the start of the Covid-19 pandemic canceled multiple travel plans for me. I applied for my passport in 2018 with the intention of going on a study-abroad trip my junior year of undergrad. Instead of travel memories, I have a memory of sitting in my PoliSci class and discussing the news with my classmates that the university might shut down for a few days. We didn’t go back, and I still haven’t used the passport. Once travel restrictions were lifted it still took me a while to get back out into the world. The first trip I took was in July of 2023. I traveled from Minnesota to Seattle, Washington with some of my friends from high school for a week of sightseeing. We chose it because most of us had never been to the Pacific Northwest. It was my first time in an airport since December of 2018. I remember having quite a few lingering anxieties related to Covid, to the point where I was actually dreading the trip before we left (even though I ended up having a wonderful time). I had some struggles with health anxiety during the pandemic. Before tests were widely available I remember frequently being so paranoid I had Covid that I would convince myself I did and actually make myself feel sick with anxiety. Since restrictions have been lifted this has stuck around, and now takes the form of me getting excessively anxious about getting Covid before important events (like the trip, and my wedding just a few weeks before it). I also was nervous about going to the airport because I didn’t know what to expect in regards to how many restrictions would still be in place. It turned out there were no restrictions remaining in the MSP or SeaTac airports beyond some signs reminding people to not enter if they felt unwell (I am certain most people who make it far enough to see the sign still enter). Once the actual boarding of the plane went fine, I entertained myself with anxieties about the odds of someone on the plane having Covid and all of us breathing circulated air. I actually had Covid once in the fall before the trip, and got the highest fever of my life but was ultimately okay. Interestingly, this didn’t really ease my fears during the flight. Nobody got Covid from the Seattle trip (though we were probably just lucky) and instead I got some of the most precious memories of my life so far. I also had a surprising lack of anxiety once we got there. We visited a long list of places including most notably the Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum, Seattle Aquarium, Pike Place Market, and the National Nordic Museum. There were no Covid-19 restrictions remaining in any of these places. I had packed one reusable mask in my backpack in case I needed it, and it turned out the one time on the whole trip that I entered a space where masks were required (a small independent bookstore) I didn’t have it with me and had to borrow one. I still thought about Covid every time we pushed through a packed crowd in Pike Place Market, but more so than being afraid I thought about how during the peak of the pandemic I was convinced it was something I would never do again. I don't believe the pandemic is truly over even now, but I drastically felt how much things had changed in that moment. The picture I included to tell my story is of my friend Carlie and I on the top of the Space Needle (I am sitting on the right). We went back twice, and spent literally hours sitting on the glass floor and watching the city go by as it slowly rotated. It's one of my fondest memories of the trip. I’ve heard some people say the Space Needle is overrated, but as small-town Midwesterners we were pretty fascinated. I’m grateful to those who spent the pandemic under harsher restrictions in bigger cities like Seattle so that I can visit these places now. It was nice to feel so small looking down on Seattle after the world felt so small during restrictions just a few years earlier.
• 
  2020-05-14

  Virtual Film Festivals

  After years of working on a new short film about the Seattle's iconic Space Needle, it was scheduled to screen at a number of film festivals. But then came the CoVid19, quarantine, closures of movie theaters, etc. Several film festivals either cancelled their festivals entirely, or transitioned to virtual film festivals online. Normally, film festival premieres come with lots of face-to-face parties and networking - hanging with other filmmakers and celebrating the excitement of taking our work out into the world. It's a time to 'stand in the spotlight' and connect with live audiences. But instead, a new type of festival experience is happening, and for me, it hasn't been bad, just very different. The Cascadia International Women's Film Festival screened my "Space Needle: A Hidden History" in May. Located in Bellingham, Wash., the festival organized a live conversation with an art critic, one of the participants in the film, and me. We talked for about 40 minutes - longer than the typical Q & A at a traditional festival. I answered questions from the comfort of my living room and toasted the event online with a beer. I felt honored by the thoughtful questions of a journalist and a brilliant dancer in the film, and the fact that we didn't have to squeeze in to a 10 min. window. The interview streamed on Facebook. Viewers tuned in from all over the country and the world. (Hopefully, they'll start referring to the Needle as a 'she' since the shape was inspired by a sculpture called, 'The Feminine One.') I later learned the organizers had as many, if not more, viewers as in previous years. For another festival, By Design at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle, I videotaped an introduction to the film that screened before a real-time stream. That was convenient though I felt a bit stilted talking to the camera on my computer. As a film festival attendee, I liked that I was able to watch films online during a window of time, instead of having to make painful decisions about which films to see when several were scheduled at the same time, and if lucky, I could watch on my own time during a designated window. No hassle standing in lines to get tickets, waiting to be admitted and scrambling for seats. No sticky floors and spilled popcorn, coughing or snoring audiences. I'm glad I didn't have to fly anywhere or drive long distances, though I miss being with fellow filmmakers and the in-person synergy that happens when a bunch of us get together in the same space.