Not the Before Times, the first few weeks and months after they ended. Before the bodies started piling up, when we were all stuck at home staring at the world like cats in a window.
That brief, stunned interlude before we figured out how we were going to fight over covid. A flash of bonhomie as we all asked ourselves what the fuck is going to happen. Felt like of an echo of that sense of common cause that followed 9/11, and abated even quicker.
It's fascinating to me how when the situation seems dire people can pull together but as soon as circumstances or the perception of them changes our ability to cooperate seems to evaporate.
There's a moral here but it slipped my mind. Was going through some photos from that time and had to edit a few and see if I could capture something of the mood of that period.
Can't serve all with no booze or change in the building. I'm curious, did anyone else have places putting up 'nothing good to steal here' signs where you live?
Went wandering downtown at the end of March in 2020 and it was slightly eerie how deserted it was. Only slightly though, when I lived downtown a decade before it got like that most weekends.
Things had apparently changed with the new arena but covid was like a nice injection of bleach, put a stop to that rather quickly. Just as things were starting to open back up the city came down with a bad case of the protests, all the buildings grew a plywood shell, and the white people got even more scared of downtown.
"Closed temporarily until further notice" just makes me cringe and hope Professor Mackey never sees it. As long as you weren't hungry it was kind of nice, you could almost imagine you had the city to yourself for a bit.
Not ordinarily one for self portraits but strange times call for stranger measures. Or strange mirrors.
We had more of a lockdown over Breonna Taylor than we did covid-19, downtown was deserted voluntarily that March. Then again most people here don't go downtown voluntarily so it wasn't really much of an ask.
"We will reopening after the pandemic." Are we there yet?
When the luxury hotel throws in the sheet, you know shit's getting serious. On a totally unrelated note, this was also the location of some strategically located construction supplies when the protests broke out eight weeks later.
Alright, enough reminiscing.
No one can forget that terrible period and it was a very shocking time for all of us because we have never seen a situation like this. I am glad for the people who are still safe after this pandemic.
Yeah, never thought I'd live through something like that, could do without anything like it ever again. May we all come through it healthy and whole, or as close as it gets in this day and age.
The good days for sure
🤣🤣🤣
Just wait, if my pessimism proves correct we may yet look back on those days fondly. Lol, I had a thought while writing this, can you imagine what its going to be like dealing with a generation that doesn't remember the Before Times?
I do. I loved lockdown because it was the first time in many years that I had a total vacation of nowhere to go, nothing to do. I cashed out crypto to survive because my employer sent me home without a cent and I was back at work after 6 weeks because my charming employer got special permits. I loved going to work without encountering much traffic.
I'm old enough to have had an analogue childhood so I have an inkling of what that's like...
Yeah, I loved it too, it reminded me of growing up out in the boonies, just stay home and keep to yourself like it's 1994. My crypto met the same fate, albeit without a shitty employer to blame. Driving was so nice then, traffic dropped dramatically although traffic deaths actually managed to increase.
Ah, gotcha. I was at the very tail end of the analogue childhood, the internet came calling about halfway through, so mine was a bit of a weird mix.
Where all the madness began...
Sometimes it is hard to believe that this time period existed and it was two years.
At least in the lockdown creativity came to the fore.
By the way, terrific photos!
Indeed.
I live in Louisville, Kentucky and about two months after these photos were taken the Breonna Taylor protests started and added a whole new layer of madness. What a time to be alive.
Thank you!
The pandemic was just like a shock and pause on the world because almost every activity stopped but I’m glad things are back to normal
Above all, your pictures are beautiful
Yeah, that was a once in a couple lifetimes kind of disruption, everything changed and fast. Are things back to normal, or have we just adapted to a new normal?
Thank you!
I was naïve enough at the beginning to think the pandemic might actually bring the people together...
I remember a sign on a locked porta potty that said "this toilet does not contain toilet paper or hand sanitizer."
It did bring people together...just not all the people. Early on (before it made it here) I naïvely thought they'd have the sense to dust off Obama's Ebola playbook and run it and it'd never get beyond a minor news obsession but I don't think they even knew it was there.
Oy vey. Here we had to make a minor ruckus to get the city to put out porta pots for the unhoused population when everything shut down.
I gotta say, Portland was on that shit, pun intended. But even some of the henhouse liberals complained about having a toilet parked outside their home. So signs started appearing on the toilets explaining how they were more than just a toilet, they were a human right.
I'm glad it wasn't ebola because I think I got covid at the very beginning.
Que época tan terrible 😔 esa del covid-19 , pero en algo tienes razón se vio la unión entre los seres humanos, yo recuerdo que un día me pidieron una colaboración para un enfermo que necesitaba una bombona de oxígeno y yo sin conocerlo accedí a colaborar, y muchas acciones más ..
¡Bien! Fue gratificante ver suceder todas esas pequeñas cosas, sólo desearía que pudiéramos descubrir cómo tratarnos así unos a otros todo el tiempo.
Thank you!
It was a very troubled time when we were all locked up inside the house and there was a lot of trouble because we were all used to going out and working but those two years were There were a lot of problems.
Right, I just wish the problems would have went away once they let us back out of the house.
Yeah.
Congratulations. Today's #monomad first place is yours.
Thank You very much for participating and for being part of the Black And White Community!
Woot, thanks so much!
I call it the old good days 😁
That is truly the old good days