I've maintained friendships and actually had some friendships go a little deeper and strengthened over this because we found ways to support each other and care for each other from a distance. It helps me... It has helped me really appreciate the friendships where we practice really good like, checking in with comfort, good consent, good asking for what we need from the friendship from each other. So, those friendships, I think we have... I have good practice around most things with most of my friends, my close friends. So, we've been able to maintain but I really miss in-person and more impromptu gatherings. If you are going to gather in any way, there has to be, or at least, my approach is lots of planning and make a little set of agreed-upon rules almost before you get together physically. That helps me feel safe and I wanna help my friends feel safe.
So say, we celebrated a birthday yesterday in my family and we had four people total and we had some guidelines like, "Okay, you're gonna bring the cake. We're going to serve coffee. You can choose to bring your own coffee or we'll share ours, if that feels comfortable. We're gonna set up chairs in this area of the yard for you to sit. We're gonna sit over on the deck." You know, just making a little game plan so that... Yeah, and just define those expectations beforehand.
— Elizabeth Spehar
Stories of Wisdom from Bodies in Separation (SWaBS): Archiving the Coronavirus Pandemic Through the Lens of Humanities has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this project, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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