We’re moving through week three of “the after,” and if you’re like me, then you’re starting to feel lonely. Over the weekend, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s Digital Editor Colin Wolf—one of two remaining editorial staff here—shared that his three-year-old son wanted to build the CL office out of Duplo blocks.
“We think we nailed it,” Wolf wrote on Instagram. I’m a firefighter in the scene, and four CL staffers laid off two weeks ago are depicted by Batman, a knight and a redhead. Only our super part-timer Kyla Fields, played by someone with pigtails, remotely resembles herself.
“Plus, some asshole left the door open,” Wolf added. “Miss you guys.”
Some turd did always manage to leave the door ajar in our office, but I’d love to be staring at that open door frame right now. I’d love to be staring at anything that isn’t the white wall in my makeshift office. But with cases of the coronavirus rapidly on the rise in Florida, it’s never been more important to stay the fuck away from each other (and that doesn’t mean going on a boat or heading to the Redneck Riviera, people).
But being isolated doesn’t have to equal being alone, and so many of the stories and photos in this issue are about using your voice to not just communicate with one another, but to make a difference. Sure, some of those speaking are using their voice for evil (read: Tampa pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, who filled his megachurch and potentially exposed thousands to coronavirus on Sunday), but for the most part, folks are using their voices in the hopes that it can uplift and heal a community.
There’s Current Initiative’s Jason Sowell, whose Laundry Project is paying to wash the clothes of working class families and laid off hospitality workers. In Seminole Heights, and across Tampa Bay, restaurateurs are not just helping each other, but laid off front and back of house staff members looking for a meal. Elsewhere, a Vietnamese immigrant is one of a handful of our neighbors donating personal protective equipment to hospital workers looking at a dangerous shortage of it. At Bandit Coffee Co. in St. Petersburg, co-founder Sarah Weaver wrote a letter to the boss—her customers and neighbors—then asked them to please figure out how to better isolate themselves. And in the theater, Stageworks’ Karla Hartley spoke about what it feels like to see the shows not go on. Longtime Bay area songwriter Shawn Kyle even admitted that his biggest concerns aren’t even about music right now.
Then there’s this week’s cover. Photographer and musician Dave Decker shared some drone photos of downtown Tampa. The snaps spoke to me, but I was also going back and forth with artist Amanda LaForest (AKA The Peach Moon) about doing an online gallery of work she has available. CL asked her to illustrate Decker’s drawing in her trademark style. She traded her normal beachy palette for a peaceful tone; the change is fitting for these times. LaForest—like so many photographers, writers and artists who’ve reached out to CL in the last two weeks—quickly made it known that she wasn’t interested in collecting a fee for her work this time. So we agreed to donate the money to a local artist who solely relies on their art for income.
Looking at a downtown skyline from so far away does make me feel alone. Only seeing my co-workers in chat bubbles makes it worse. Having to tell my parents that they can’t visit their four-month old grandson anymore is heartbreaking.
But this distance is necessary to help stop the spread of a disease that’s killed 77 people in Florida and 3,173 in the U.S. as of Tuesday afternoon.
And those voices in the community are just as vital. So thanks to all of you using your voices, and your powers, to not just let us know that you’re here, but that you’re here for all of Tampa Bay. And unless you’re a crazy preacher trying to still have church in please, please don’t ever shut up.
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This article appears in Apr 2-9, 2020.