The Story of 2020: Isolation and Community, All at the Same Time

So... 2020 huh?

It's 10:15 am AST as I start this, so I'm still a little hesitant to say 'we've made it y'all!' because... 2020. 

In fact, as I write, the volcanoes La Soufriere in St. Vincent and Mt. Pelee in Martinique are bubbling, prompting the second-highest alert level in SVG and a yellow alert in Martinique - which hasn't been given since 1932.

Just 2020 doing what it has done. If I had a dollar for every time this year I wrote in a speech or press release about what an "unprecedented" and "extraordinary" year this has been, I'd have a nice little stack.

For me, it begs the question - what will the story of 2020 be? Not the 'story of the year' - we know that is the COVID-19 pandemic, but when we tell the story of this year in the future, how will it be told?

Earlier in the year, I saw a comment on an Instagram thread about how challenging it will be for students in the year 2050 when they have to take the 'History of 2020: Society and Culture' course. I mean... it has to be split across at least two semesters. No way that's all fitting into one semester!

Perhaps because history has always been one of my favourite subjects, that both tickled and fascinated me in equal measure.

How on earth will we be able to sum up the story of such a turbulent, emotionally wrought, unpredictable year?

Will it be seen as a nadir? A great reset? The end of a terrible period for humanity (lest we forget, we've also experienced 9/11, the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, and the Great Recession in the last 20 years)?

Epoch-making is the only thing I can think of that even comes close. Or at least, I hope so - and in the best sense.

I would hate to think that we have gone through all of the many, many trials of 2020 and that we don't get a huge, positive shift in society out of it.

Not since the World Wars of the 20th century have we experienced such a global event in which truly every country was affected.

And COVID-19 affected us all in such a deeply personal way as well - keeping us away from each other. And even when we're together, we can't be too close. Over the Christmas holidays, I saw two of my closest friends, whom I hadn't seen in person in nearly a year - and I hugged them. And immediately both times, we said 'well you know we really shouldn't be doing these things now' but damn it... I wanted to hug my best friend, who's been in my life since we were 11 and my university sistren who I've known for 20 years. 

But 2020 has been a year to feel unsure about a hug. That perhaps will be the story of this year when it is told.

And yet ironically, as we were forced to retreat from each other, suddenly the screens which we'd decried in recent years as having taken over so much of our personal interactions, became our lifelines.

We had giant family Zoom calls with everyone from my 80 year old uncle in Toronto and my 60ish aunts in England and Barbados to my cousins and our kids who are mostly 10 and under.  

I created a Zoom study club for my daughter and her classmates during that long stretch of uncertainty from March to May when we were all locked down away from each other and didn't know when or how school would resume.

And of course, we formed community on Instagram around dance challenges, Verzuz and partying with Michelle Obama in DJ D-Nice's Club Quarantine.

So perhaps that will be the story of 2020 - that it was a year in which we we were inventive with technology and used it to create a shared sense of community, rather than allowing it to isolate us.

And against that hopeful background, I'll make bold to say here - Happy New Year everyone! I know we're scared to say it but may 2021 truly be our year. Stay safe in there tonight!