Expo-ing in a time of a pandemic

Dunedin Speculative fiction stall at the Edge of the World Expo 2020 at Edgar Centre Dunedin with book poster, stacks of books for sale and t-shirts for sale

We live in a rapidly evolving time.

A couple of weeks ago, it felt as if we lived in a world of abundance. If you had the money, you could buy the things you wanted because you wanted them, and you didn’t have to worry too much if that left much in your savings account. Sure, saving is always a good idea, but didn’t it feel, not that long ago, as if the world would provide? I don’t know about the rest of the world, I admit, but Aotearoa had been ticking along quite nicely with relatively low unemployment. True, we’ve also been struggling with poverty, as that seems to have been growing despite all our advances as a species… but that is another topic.

Fact is, from where I sit now, things are still kind of the same, and yet… different.

I’m lucky enough myself and my family are healthy (well, we’ve all got a minor cold, which is a bigger deal these days, but nothing drastic). So far, community transmission of Covid-19 seems to be non-existent, despite a bit of a scare at a local High School. (Note: I wrote that yesterday, and today there does seem to be possible community transmission in New Zealand… How things change).

Like many people, I have had moments of anxiety over the previous week, especially when it officially landed in our city. And then the panic buying really ramped up. I guess I’m lucky I bake bread anyway (sourdough), so it’s normal to have some flour in the house. And I do have baker’s yeast for standard loaves… that expired in July & October last year… Eh. They’re still good. Baked a loaf yesterday afternoon, in fact. Thought I better extend the flour a bit, just in case, and substituted some for whizzed up oats. Came out yum. Today: a sourdough loaf.

So, yes, our supermarkets are struggling to keep toilet paper, flour, yeast, hand sanitizer, and various cold and flu remedies stocked, just like much of the rest of the world.

Anyway… stockpiling and mass fear is not what I wish to cover with this blog post. It’s all too big of a topic for me to write without preferring to blur it with a veneer of fantasy, anyway. My empathy meter is swinging pretty erratically these days. I’ll wear myself down if I dig too honestly into how I feel about it all.

I wanted to talk about last weekend. Right before it all got too close to home.

The Edge of the World Expo went ahead because we had nothing to fear down here in Ōtepoti, Aotearoa (aka: Dunedin, New Zealand). So long as everyone respected personal space and washed their hands well, all would remain well.

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Sir Julius Vogel Awards 2020

Advertisement image for the Beyond the City Limits Anthology. IMages of book cover and cover on an ereader on a cloudy night background with text that says Anything can happen

Hey team (o: You can HELP! Some of my local writerly friends and I worked hard over the last year to put this book together and it would be awesome to be in with a chance for recognition for our writing. Having been published in 2019, our anthology is eligible to be nominated for Best …

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The Fallacy of Reap What You Sow

I read an opinion piece in an online newspaper on Sunday just been. And then I went on to read the comments. Possibly a mistake, but, meh. It happened. The article was about private property vs a community’s right to protest what the owner of the property wants to do on or with that private …

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Writing is easy

“All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.” ~Gene Fowler I had to look this quote up. This one is very similar: “There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” ~Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith …

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