Between the beginning of last month and this point at which I am writing to you, our life during COVID-19 has changed significantly due to infection rates going downwards, the public becoming vaccinated against the virus and life seeming to open itself up in full again with the lifting of government mask mandates.
As for me, in my city, I am already seeing less and less mask wearing (especially at the grocery stores), and I have also been keeping tabs on how individual private businesses would be handling the lifting of mask mandates within their spaces (some businesses are requiring staff to continue wearing masks while optional for the public, while others are still requiring masks to be worn, possibly due to the size of the stores in question). For myself, I am still continuing to wear my masks, mostly due to my teaching profession and how the children are obviously not able to be vaccinated as of yet, and partially due to my own trepidation which falls into equal parts psychological and personal due to the cynical realities of human behavior.
As for returning to the movie theaters, that is a tricky one for me to navigate because it is difficult to jump back onto the horse and not having been on one for so terribly long, and even as much as I have missed it. Truth be told, I ventured inside my first coffeehouse since possibly February 2020 nearly two weeks ago and I also had my first fast food since possibly the very end of 2019 (!), just this previous weekend. So, racing into a movie theater feels very much like jumping into the deep end without knowing how to swim.
That being said, I know that I will have to try and especially if the pandemic numbers continue to shift downwards. My loose mental plan is to maybe return in late July to see the latest Marvel movie "Black Widow," but until then, I will continue to try and screen films here at home, something I hope I will have more time for as the main school year is about to wind down.
At this time, I have one review that I would like to try and write for a film I viewed a few months back and from there, we'll see. Returning to a certain fullness of writing power, such as it is, is a process and I am hoping that if you have stuck with me for this long, you will be happy to hang with me a bit longer.
To be continued...
