The first tangible response I had to the pandemic was, “I am unimportant”. Frontline healthcare workers and essential workers, they matter. Everyone in the middle needs to stay out of the way. I am part of the middle. Cue the existential dread. If you had the choice of being stranded on a desert island with a doctor or a visual artist/writer/yogi/ whatever the hell I am, who would you chose?

This is the second time in so many months that I’ve written about a Japanese term. Admittedly I know little about Japanese culture. I do love Whistler sushi, however. Spice agedashi tofu aside, in this time of COVID-19 I couldn’t help but think about the concept of hikikomori, or “pulling inward”.

The COVID-19 outbreak is unsettling. Few of us have experienced anything like it in our lifetime. When it comes to people’s behaviour as of late, I’ve found myself see-sawing between anger and curiosity.

My favourite Latin saying translates to "through hardship to the stars". My brother, who knows a thing or two about history, told me these pieces of space trivia related to the saying: The Royal Air Force (RAF) uses a derivative of the maxim as their motto.  Per ardua ad astra, or "through adversity to the stars", speaks perfectly to the sacrifice and glory of war.