Where To Now?

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Community happens on the dance floor. The deep sense of belonging crawls up your spine, bodies electric with joy and catharsis in pure ecstasy. For some, it's just a night out; for many, it’s a lifeline. The idea of returning after this traumatic period with no real roadmap of what we must do to not only  keep these spaces open, but also functional for the communities who seek it, would be to further endanger it.

Author: Carin Abdulá

Photo Credit: Filipa Aurélio

So, as ideas of normality approach us, I wonder: Where to now?

Almost two years after the world turned upside-down the long-lasting effects of isolation, fear, and grief are only starting to fully set in for me. On the last days of March 2020, right inside the eye of the storm, I wrote an article for Resident Advisor where I tried to imagine possible futures (full disclosure: this is a hobby of mine at this point). I remember feeling this intense need to remain optimistic above all else; we didn't quite grasp what version of the world we were about to enter, let alone what it would look like after that,  so I felt drawn to its potential. It wasn't a completely rose-tinte...