How We Get Through
One night back in early april, after the 7 o’clock cheer had died down, I noticed a second one rise up about 10 minutes later. I live (and now work from home) in the West End, just a few blocks from St. Paul’s Hospital, and that nightly salute (especially during the early COVID-19 days) was a ritual I looked forward to—seeing my neighbours clap from their windows helped ease some of the anxiety of isolation.
The next night I kept my head out the window a little longer, and heard two voices launch into a Great Big Sea song, alongside a round of happy applause. Between each verse, the singer would shout out “To the health-care workers!” to more cheers.
So, I decided to wander over the following night and see if I could locate the singers. About a block away, I spotted a homemade “Songs of Thanks” banner hanging over a high-rise balcony; around me on the street, a small group of West Enders had gathered to listen. The couple kicked off their post-cheer “concert,” with all of us below keeping physically apart but still swaying together to the music. That night, the couple—who I later found out was two members of a local band called the Town Pants—played one of their own songs, “Coming Home,” which reminisced about beers on English Bay and spending time with friends. I smiled, felt my heart surge... and cried.
It’s a moment that has stuck with me many weeks later. Those tears were a multilayered reaction to what it all meant for me: happiness that these two people were reaching out with live music and giving us all something to enjoy together, scared for what this massive shift in reality meant for everyone, so much worry... you know. But it was a moment of release that I was grateful for, and I’m thankful for those nightly concerts and how they helped us get through. (You can read more about them on page 36.)
For this special issue of VanMag, we’re looking at all of the different ways our community has come together over the past few months. From drag shows inspired by quarantine to feeding the city’s neediest through the Food Coalition to manufacturers pivoting to produce PPE, there are so many reasons to celebrate how this city has managed, shifted, grown and been downright inspirational during the COVID-19 crisis. As chef Warren Chow told me (see reason #16, page 32), “Our mission was to show that there are still people out there willing to help, who they can lean against during this hard time.”
And there are still people willing to sing, too.
Anicka Quin editorial director anicka.quin@vanmag.com @aniqua
Follow me on Instagram!