Some moments we'll cherish from 2020

Hello friends,

Katie here, with an attempt to gather up some favorite moments from 2020, following up on our lists of favorite books and music from the year.

I can think so clearly back to 365 days ago, when I was looking forward to all the things I thought 2020 was going to be, blissfully ignorant of all the things it would become. I had great plans: a few terrific trips, a 100+ person family reunion, school spring musicals I was ushering into existence.

It took many months, but I have let go of that alternative universe, and now live fully in the present. It has been a year of much smaller moments for me: a deep appreciation for the way the sunlight changes in my apartment; an extended visit with my sister in the summer; humbly expanding my participation in the march towards racial justice; a phone conversation on Election Day helping a woman in Michigan get to the polls; the sadness, memory, and catharsis that comes at a funeral; weekly gatherings to read and discuss plays and their themes.

This world is a mess. I take a bit of comfort in the knowledge that this world has always been a mess, and this year continued to expose more and more of that mess. But I truly believe 2020 can help us put the world back together again. Through the heartbreak and the chaos, we all have a few moments worth remembering: some big and profound, some small and delicate. Some fiery, some upsetting, some passionate, some subtle. Memories that become core to our sense of self, and memories that emerge without warning.

Take a look at some favorite 2020 memories crowd-sourced from the TIA community. I am so grateful to have gone through this year with all of you. I would have been lost without Theater in Asylum to keep me focused, committed, and processing. Thank you all for giving me—and each other—moments from 2020 that we’ll want to hold on to. 

All my love,
Katie

Some of the TIA Community’s favorite moments from 2020

• The first time, after months of totally-solo quarantine, I spent a weekend with friends
• The first time I got to hug my grandmother again
• The first BLM protest in Flatbush/Prospect Park. It was impromptu, very powerful, and very intense.
• Picking up a new hobby (D&D!!!) and using it to keep in touch with people
• Meeting my baby cousin during the pandemic.
• Reading the part of a cat who becomes POTUS in a Cold Reading!
• The first beach day with my partner post-surgery.
• Phone banking for Biden in PA. Had a great conversation with a mother of three.
• Phone chats with my family. Even before the pandemic started, I was making more of an effort to do this regularly, and it's become that much more precious now.
• Taking a train trip across America
• Making radio theatre with someone I care about
• The BLM uprisings
• Teaching my niece about the gender binary. She’s in 3rd grade but so curious and it gives me hope.
• Spending more time with my mom than I have in years.
• Going to the beach with a dear friend!
• Working remotely meant I was able to leave the city for weeks at a time and spend longer chunks of time with my family (including baby and toddler niblings!) than I've had in over a decade.
• The day New York erupted when the race was called for Biden. Dancing in the street. Bars giving out free champagne. Being able to celebrate with strangers was a much-needed moment of release in an otherwise unbearable year.
• TIA’s What the Constitution Means to Me movie night!
  
• Walking over one hundred blocks to go to the farmer's market with my roommate in the first weekend of closures (pre-lockdown)
  
• Spending infinite time with my parents
• NATURE
• Meeting the wonderful TIA peeps!
  
• Having the time to read multiple books about race in America AND having lots of people to talk to about them. Suddenly we all had overlapping reading lists and it was so valuable.
  
• All the extra time to reflect on who I am and where I’m going.
  
• Time with my family.
  

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