[This is my wife. After posting my own installment in this series a couple weeks back, it seemed only fair to ask her to do the same, given that we’re sharing such close quarters. She gracefully accepted the offer and the Q&A is below. I deeply appreciate her taking the time.]

The statistics of COVID-19 change with every news cycle, and with growing numbers, stay-at-home isolation and a near-universal disruption to society on a global scale, it is ever more important to consider the human aspect of this coronavirus. Amid the sad surrealism of living through social distancing, quarantines and bans on gatherings of groups of any size, creative professionals — artists, musicians, promoters, club owners, techs, producers, and more — are seeing an effect like nothing witnessed in the last century, and as humanity as a whole deals with this calamity, some perspective on who, what, where, when and how we’re all getting through is a needed reminder of why we’re doing so in the first place.

Thus, Days of Rona, in some attempt to help document the state of things as they are now, both so help can be asked for and given where needed, and so that when this is over it can be remembered.

Thanks to all who participate. To read all the Days of Rona coverage, click here. — JJ Koczan

Days of Rona: The Patient Mrs. (Parsippany, New Jersey)

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How are you dealing with this crisis as a band? Have you had to rework plans at all? How is everyone’s health so far?

So, I’m going to answer this as though our family unit is the band: JJ, me, and the Pecan. (Alternative take on that social media thing where you talk about your kids and pets as bad coworkers?) Our daily routines are quite disrupted, but in a pretty privileged way. Thus far, we haven’t experienced a loss of income — though my university is forecasting layoffs/furloughs starting in July, I don’t know how that will affect me/us. Fingers crossed for a one-day/pay period furlough—I’m pretty sure we can absorb that.

To-date, our close family has been fine. My father died, but that can really only be thought of as the silver lining of this pandemic. However, I do have a bunch of students who are/have been sick and I’m pretty concerned for them and their families. The university I work for serves a pretty precarious population and this will have rippling effects.

What are the quarantine/isolation rules where you are?

My last day physically at my job was March 12. In the week following, we (and our state) tightened up lockdown from there. The stay at home order gives exceptions for essential businesses, seeing family and exercising (and a few other things that don’t apply to us). We’ve also been going for drives here and again, just to get out of the house with a very energetic toddler. In addition to the formal rules, we have also adopted the recommendation that only one household member (JJ) actually goes in anywhere. I think the last time I went into a store was March 18.

How have you seen the virus affecting the community around you and in music?

Regarding music, I mostly just keep seeing all of JJ’s plans getting canceled. I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to live in a ‘between time.’ What I mean by that is that this pandemic is almost like a distillation of an ideology (?) that says do x, then you’ll be able to do y. Make some good money, then you can travel. Build a career, then you can think about your passions. In this pandemic, it’s wait at home, then resume your life. Life is ‘suspended’ between now and then. But this is our life, just a different moment of it.

I think the music scene resists that waiting ethos in many ways. So many people just make this music and art a central piece of their lives, whether it ‘fits’ or not. Others can’t quite make it fit, but try and hold on the best they can. What, then, does this moment mean? What can be learned about how we ought to and must live our lives if we’re never actually ‘between,’ we just are?

What is the one thing you want people to know about your situation, either as a band, or personally, or anything?

We in the US have been bemused/astonished/horrified at the rise (resurgence) of an ethnofascist state insistently driving towards crises of every sort; the absurdity of it all seems to be on full show in coronaland. I think this pandemic and our response to it is yet one more point of possibility. JJ tends toward political cynicism, but I still believe another world is possible. I don’t know the way there, but you know, if nothing else, unionize your workplace.

Tags: Days of Rona, The Obelisk, The Patient Mrs.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 1st, 2020 at 6:40 am and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.