I remember the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a world in panic, a world drenched in uncertainty and despair. This was truly a dark time for the world and many people, with people losing their jobs from shutdowns, the amount of death, and just pure isolation from loved ones. I know during this time I was struggling along with most of the world, I couldn’t talk to my classmates, I couldn’t hang out with my friends, and worst of all I couldn’t see my boyfriend. This for me, and a lot of people took a toll on my mental health. However, amidst all the darkness there was one thing that helped me, and many others get through the worst time of the pandemic and that was the arts. I remember during the beginning of the pandemic many artists where using music, plays, and other mediums of art to not only help their mental health, but to help the mental health of others. Artists used their respective mediums to help spread hope, give everyone something to relate to, and give everyone a way to come together. One of the artists that did this was The Backstreet Boys who performed their hit song from the 90’s I Want It That Way in a virtual music video mash-up that featured each group member singing their part of the song from their home. This music video was part of the iHeart Living Room Concert for America, which was performed has a way to give America hope and a sense of coming together during these dark times. This concert also helped to spark a surge in Americans getting into arts and crafts as a coping mechanism and as a way for people of all backgrounds to come together. For many people were starting to use social media has an outlet to share their art projects and comment on others, giving everyone a way to socialize and bring forth a way to bring everyone together. However, this not only something that happens in the real-world. Some fictional works highlight on the theme of the arts in pandemics, with a common one being Station Eleven. In Station Eleven art is seen has something that endures, something that remains, even when things like technology don’t. This is evident from the very first scene and last scenes of the book where the famous play King Lear is shown. By placing King Lear in these scenes, we get the message that even after everything is gone and even after a mass amount of death, art still exists and remains a part of the human soul. Not only does the novel imply this, but it also implies that art survived because it was vital and connected to human life. All throughout the novel we see many characters using art to relate to the world they lost and has a way to connect with others. For example, we see the members of The Traveling Symphony preforming Shakespeare to towns they visit and even just for themselves. They often rehearse lines and even play musical instruments. They also, when raiding empty buildings often look for musical instruments. Another example comes from Miranda, before the pandemic she created the comic Station Eleven. This comic was her way of escaping life, while also drawing parallels to it. This comic book is another piece of art that survives after the pandemic and it acts as an escape and point of relation for many characters. For Tyler, it’s a way to go back to the past, it’s something that allows him to cope with the current situation of the world. For Kristen it’s away for her to remember the past that she so often forgets, while also giving her hope, giving her hope that things will return to normal. However, the biggest thing this comic does is connect people, think about the final interaction between Kristen and Tyler. In their interaction they both keep quoting lines from the comic, while quoting lines they form a connection and have a since of connectedness, in the end this saved Kristen’s life.
The parallels between the arts and pandemics in both Station Eleven and real life are easily seen. With artists in both using the arts to bring people together and give them that light in the dark they need. I for one believe art has saved a lot of people during these dark times and it’s something that is often overlooked. Links: https://variety.com/2020/music/news/backstreet-boys-reunite-i-want-it-that-way-concert-coronavirus-1203548696/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/people-are-getting-crafty-while-they-stay-home-180974811/
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The date is April 11th, 2019 and Governor Mike DeWine has just signed The Heartbeat bill into Ohio law. On this day, the reproductive rights of women in Ohio once again where shrunk. For those you who don’t know The Heartbeat bill prohibits abortion of a fetus if the presence of a fetal heartbeat can be found. Meaning that if a woman wants to abort her baby when a heartbeat is present, she can’t, she is forced to carry her baby to term. The only ways to get around this are if a physician deems the pregnancy to be a danger to the mother or if a method used to detect a fetal heartbeat malfunctioned. In none of these circumstances does the women get a say, another machine or person decides for her whether she will carry a baby to term. The other unfortunate part of this bill is that it’s not just law in Ohio, it’s law in many other states as well, making women all the over country forced to, in most cases, carry unwanted pregnancies. However, this not where this lack of rights ends, even in states where the heartbeat bill isn’t present, women still must jump through hoops to prevent and terminate pregnancies. I mean just think how hard it is to gain access to resources like birth control, the morning after pill, and other basics. Not only this, but women who seek these resources or those who seek abortion are often called names, looked down upon, and even are sometimes victims of crimes. Just think of all the news stories that showcase the mistreatment of women who enter and even work at places like Planned Parenthood. Because these mistreatments of women and the mistreatments of their rights is so prevalent, we have seen people expressing their opinion on these mistreatments in forms of media. Future Home of The Living God, is a current example of this, all throughout the book themes of mistreatment of pregnant women and woman’s reproductive rights are discussed. Cedar and most of the women she encounters are stripped of all rights pertaining to reproductive areas. First, there is an amendment made to the Patriot Act that allows The Government to obtain the medical records of all women and use the information in them to track down pregnant women. Once The Government finds a pregnant woman, the woman is taken against her will and put into compound, to be treated like a prisoner. Not only does this violate a women’s right to privacy it also paints pregnant women as criminals, therefore giving them no rights. In the compounds, which where renovated jails and old hospitals, the pregnant women are confined to single room, with the bare necessities needed to live, and forced to live out their terms in this room. On top of this women are forced to eat rotten and discussing food, forced to have daily checkups where they are tested, they are not told any information on their baby’s, can’t see their ultrasounds, and the compound where they are held is heavy guarded. What’s worse is that is that these women can’t leave and if they try to, they will be punished or worse killed after delivering a child. The number of rights that are stripped from pregnant women in this novel is astounding, they get no say in the care that their wombs receive, no say in the care they receive, and what I find to be the worse, they get no information on the health of their baby, they get no information or say about something inside of them, something they made. That’s just beyond nuts and to make matters worse, these women don’t even have the rights to their child after they are born, The Government does. Plus, if The Government deems the baby to be de-evolved or have some type of issue, they are killed, and the mothers never know about it. All of this would, very understandably, make women not want to children, however The Government in the novel doesn’t give women this choice. Most women are forced to have children, regardless of if they want them or not. This happens in a variety of ways; one is that The Government makes women sign up for draft to be womb donators. If a woman is picked they must be inseminated and carry a child to term while being held in a compound. To make matters worse there is no guaranty that once a woman has their child that they will be let free, especially if the women gave birth to normal baby. The women who gave birth could be forced to carry another child and live in the compound. The second way that women are forced to give birth is simply that if you get pregnant you have to have the child, you can’t get an abortion, for it’s outlawed. In relation to our world, as stated above, we also have strict laws about abortion, and even though it may seem crazy, some of the things I have described in the book happen in real life. Take immigrants for example, here in the U.S. along the border we have a compound where we keep immigrants who are trying to enter the country. A lot of these immigrants are pregnant women or women with baby’s, often at times these women are treated like criminals in this compound. They don’t get medical treatment, are forced to eat terrible food, and live-in conditions worse than Cedar in the novel. They have no rights and to makes matters worse they often have their children taken away from them, sometimes to never see them again. Even minorities who are U.S. citizens have less rights and accommodations when it comes to reproductive health and they often get their children taken away from them too. Something that Cedar, being indigenous, can relate to. Lastly, many women here and around the world, are forced to carry babies they don’t want all the time, with an abortion being almost impossible to obtain. There are even women in our country, like in the book, who are forcefully inseminated like in the case of Rape, who, because abortion is either outlawed or because rape isn’t deemed an exception to abortion law, are forced to carry children they don’t want. Future Home of The Living God, I think does a great job of highlighting the struggles women go through when it comes to reproductive rights and showcases what can happen when these rights are too restrictive or non-existent. We see a society in chaos, we see people turning a bigger blind eye to the issues at hand, and people who should be on the same side betraying each other. With the parallels this book has to real life, I fear that if reproductive rights are not taken seriously, we could see chaos like this unfold and it could lead to the downfall of society as we know it.
Links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartbeat_bill https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CERD/Shared%20Documents/USA/INT_CERD_NGO_USA_17560_E.pdf |