Light Banter

Chapter 1, Different But The Same by Chrys Withrow, Covid-19 has affected us in ways we could never imagine. We created new routines to cope with the loss of physical connection and social interactions. For many, take-out food, curbside delivery, sweatpants, and Zoom meetings became the norm. A rare few coped by clinging to the simple daily rituals of showering, wearing non-athleisure clothing, eating healthy, and even wearing makeup--yes makeup--puzzling friends, family, and co-workers. This is the brave story of one woman's quest to not give in to a hygiene deficient lifestyle no matter how often observers laughed.

Chapter 4, Nerd Stuff by Elizabeth Gross, It's impossible to keep track of all the streaming services available to us from the comfort of our home computers. And it's not just the paid mainstream services ala Netflix, Hulu, HBOMax, and the other big dogs on the block. There's tons of international and independent content available for free to viewers. You just need to know where to look. That's where tapping into the nerd network comes in handy.

Chapter 3, Make Me Laugh by Rebecca Gross, Luckily, we haven't lost our sense of humor through it all. In fact, comedies and dramedies are in big demand. Laughter is essential to keeping our sanity and that is not an exaggeration. If you want a good laugh, you're in good company. Listen in as we discuss the shows we gravitated toward to get our daily funny quotient filled.

Chapter 2: Another Dimension of Sight and Sound by Quinn Barrett, Has the last year felt like our own personal twilight zone? It has for most of us only it's not fictional anymore. Ironically, it's science fiction shows that help to keep us from going over the edge. Staying grounded is more important than ever so the sheer entertainment of conceptualized worlds offers hope, giving us a sense that we'll make it through with resolve, compassion, and a lot of grace.

Chapter 1, Mom Gets A New TV at Work by Chrys Withrow, It's strange to go from watching little to no television to suddenly installing your own big-screen TV as a necessary pandemic appliance. Sharing one family TV just wasn't working so now everyone can watch what they want when they want. From the fantasy world of Disney+ to Star Trek, Discovery, the sky's the limit.

Chapter 3, Mix Tapes by Rebecca Gross, What happens when you find a Garth Brooks song on an 80s grunge mixtape? Denial, anger, rationalization, disappointment, and eventually maybe acceptance? Mixtapes are a tremendous opportunity to challenge what we think we like and eventually come to enjoy all types of music, especially the errant ones that seem completely misplaced.

Chapter 2, Live Music by Quinn Barrett, Live musical performances via Zoom are clever and fun, but not exactly like the concerts of yore. As much as music has the ability to soothe us during moments of crisis, it also reminds us of how much we miss the community experience that comes from shared moments of musical connection in theaters, stadiums, celebrations, and even neighborhood gatherings.

Chapter 1, Blasting Music at Work by Chrys Withrow, Managing and maintaining a 120,000 square foot facility with approximately a dozen people around is a lot of work with lots of walking. It's also a lot of alone time, which is a fantastic opportunity to blast your favorite tunes as loud as you want. There's no concern about interrupting anyone because almost everyone is working from home for now and the foreseeable future so crank it up!

Chapter 4, Watching People Watch the Internet by Chrys Withrow, You don't have to be a professional researcher to know that men and women use the Internet in vastly different ways. Whether it's watching professional gamers play live online, rust removal from a tractor-trailer, train and plane arrival schedules, or any other daily mundane minutia, there's no accounting for what peaks and/or holds Internet users very subjective interests. What might be boring to some is captivating to others and that fascinates us.

Chapter 3, The FOMO-YOLO Paradox  by Rebecca Gross, Initially, it would seem that the popular acronyms FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and YOLO (You Only Live Once) have a corollary relationship. For example, if you subscribe to a YOLO philosophy then you'll never have FOMO issues. However, a closer look into this social media-hyped wordplay could reveal a more paradoxical dilemma for social media enthusiasts in that the fear of missing out blocks people from being present to fully experience YOLO moments.