Zooming The Pandemic - Ep. 8 - One Year Later

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Zooming The Pandemic - Ep. 8 - One Year Later

Zooming the Pandemic writer Deni Loubert continues to look at how the pandemic is affecting the local citizens of New Westminster. In this episode she interviews three residents to talk about the past year and how the paths they took to arrive in New Westminster at this time have affected their ability to cope with a worldwide pandemic.

Raymond Liens talks about how his childhood in bomb shelters during the bombing of Saigon resonates once again for him when facing the challenges of the unknown of a worldwide pandemic. For Michi - a recent immigrant from Japan who had opened his tattoo shop only months before the beginning of the pandemic, it represents all his careful preparations thrown into disarray. Questions of financial survival mix with philosophical questions about how we are all facing our true lives in this pandemic. Healthcare worker Anna Schier talks about the joy she found in her life before the pandemic as an airline steward and the fears those final flights brought as the pandemic shutdown began.

But the pandemic also gave many a time to explore new ideas, find new skills and come to appreciate many things in life we often have overlooked. Each of our interviews continues the conversation with a discussion on the things they came to see in a new light during the pandemic. Raymond talks about the unexpected pleasure of spending more time with his long-time companion Richard and how he appreciates that relationship of thirty years even more. Michi shares his new found love of self-taught iconic artist Bob Ross and the lessons he learned from his shows. Anna shares her quiet days paddle boarding in English Bay with a friend and learning to cook as time becomes a new-found gift.

In the end, the pandemic may have given us a few silver linings in with the fear and isolation of this pandemic. Each interview in their turn tells us about those silver linings. From time to appreciate the quiet times in life to having the luxury of time to read books we have wanted to read for years, each have found both the introspection to look at life anew and the strength to continue into the unknown. As Raymond says at the end - we have found that we can take on more than we thought. So bring it on. Bring on what it will give, and we will all find a way to continue to rise above this pandemic and all its limitations and pain.

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Video Upload Date: April 24, 2021

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