KAT’S

MEOW

LET’S ALL GO TO THE MOVIES

March 20, 2020

All hell broke loose. The city of Chicago was now officially on lock down. Schools came to a halt while businesses tried to figure out what their next move was. Panic buyers stormed grocery stores and giant surplus conglomerates, to find and store as much as they could. The fear was real and for some (understandable but silly) reason, paper sanitary products, along with hand ‘sanny’ became gold. Not one day into lock down when I saw an individual dressed in what looked like riot gear on the corner of two northside streets. The lone soldier, in many attempts to wave down passing by vehicles, had something else going on. A hustle no one saw coming. Selling clorox wipes and mini bottles of hand sanitizer from his rather large overstuffed backpack. I took one look, shook my head, and thought, if it wasn’t evident before there was absolutely no doubt that we were living in a fever dream episode of The Twilight Zone. Do not adjust your television sets and be sure to keep both arms and legs inside for the duration of this ride. Things were changing and I knew it wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

One year to the date told a very different type of story. A year later over 100 million Americans have now received the vaccine. Indoor dining, shops, breweries, and many other businesses are now comfortably yet cautiously opening their doors. Like dusting off the cobwebs of an old guitar, clean it up, tune it up and see if that baby can still sing. The bones look good, our spirits are still high. Hope is in the air; we might just make it through this after all. So much lost and taken away from everyone, that it’s quite easy to get lost in the small things that we unintentionally took for granted. To find joy and enormous emotional relief in the things we held so dear, things that filled our days with inspiration and light. Having a drink with an old friend, being able to go to work and talk to another soul. Even something as small as giving a hug or handshake reminded us how important it is to have some sort of comfort. We all need it and we all deserve it. Too much paused for so long and in that limbo, we found time. The time to pause and self soothe to take care of not only our physical needs but our mental health as well. We found time to stop and reflect on not only what makes us happy but what makes us human.

Being tremendous home-bodies, my (much) better half and I both had a quick adaptive transition to this new way of life. As social as we could be (without being dragged out by the hair), we very much enjoyed not having to deal with all the social norms from before the (pandemic) pandara’mama. There’s no subtle way around saying it, for once we were able to slow down from the everyday chaos. It got to the point where we had to lie to people that would ask us how we were after telling us how much it sucked for them not to hang with people and go to bars. Feelings were

not mutual. Don’t be fooled by the smoke and mirrors, it wasn’t easy. The stress and creepy crawlers of uncertainty, on how the world was going to manage, still crawled in and out of our perforated skulls. However shortly after we’d given up the charade and start openly admitting, “yeah, this is kinda fucking awesome.”

We loved spending every waking second with one another but as we all know a little too well, all good things wind down. Months had gone by and even if one or the other didn’t admit it we were longing for some small grain of reality, some small fractured sliver of some kind of normal.

Going to work and coming home spending time on social media was another factor. Constant reading and viewing of how people were killing the time being as productive as they could be in our ‘new normal’. It became overwhelmingly difficult to muster up any energy, let alone the energy to take care of myself. I’d sit around walking from room to room playing and talking with my cat and rabbit. Cleaning and organizing as if a camera crew was following me around for my own special on, HGTV. Having beers and smoking one too many cigarettes while watching the world and my better half prosper, being productive and keeping busy. All the while I sat and wondered, where did my energy go? I had become a sloth uninterested and uninspired to write, read or work on things that made me happy. The world was shut down and closed for business, with the hours of operation still to be determined. I guess it made me think, why bother? I ain’t going anywhere any time soon.

A month or so later I struggled to bring myself from this hole that I had dug so deep and the one thing I despise so much awoke and via digital carrier pigeon, delivered me a piece of advice that deeply consoled me. A certain trendy-dance-ridden app spawned a video before my eyes, as I laid in bed late at night. I’m paraphrasing to my best recollection but

the gist of this hallmark esque quote was simple. “It’s ok to be inactive, it’s ok to take your time, there’s no need to rush or force yourself to be busy because you see everyone else is. Take your time.”

There’s so much truth coupled with hope in that slice of advice, especially in a time when we feel tense and alarmed at every moment of every day. With all the weight and noise, it’s necessary to pull over for a moment and put the vehicle in park. I was beating myself up for being lazy, when instead I should’ve been reflecting. We take care of our bodies, our social lives, and our financial status while most of the time our minds are set to idle. Our minds, our mental health above all else should be numero uno, top priority. With this newfound enthusiasm I grabbed hold and ran with it. I took time to breathe and think. There was only one thing to figure out after that: what makes ME happy?

As a child my mother would constantly take me to the movies, sharing her love of story and cinema. It was our special family outing and every other week there was always a new adventure around the corner. These moments that I hold so dear to my being, latched on to me like sweat at the brow and I never let it go. These stories and tall tales remind me of what it is to be human and how wonderful it is to share and experience the art of storytelling with the people you love. My partner’s birthday was just around the corner and an opportunity popped in my lap to do something special for her, for us. It had been too long since we were able to unclench and relax. I managed to get us a theater showing in a threelettered franchise cineplex where we both enjoyed a screening of one of our all-time favorite films. Something we bonded over early in our history. “Great Scott”, we enjoyed the living hell out of it. There we sat, eyes glued to the silver screen, beer in hand, popcorn, and ear-splitting laughter. At this moment, we were on a different planet, Planet Us, where only we existed with no troubles or noise but our own cackles echoing in the dark. Watching her light up at every scene made me smile and glow with appreciation. Appreciation, of not only how damn lucky I am to share my life with her but of how damn lucky I am to be alive. We all are, and it doesn’t hurt to remember that every now and then.

Going to catch a film, that one small activity, was just what the Doctor ordered. It was the spark we needed and ever since that day I’ve been happier and upbeat. I find myself more focused and eager for every morning that’s given to me. But I know myself and I think we all know that these feelings don’t last very long. What’s important is that we try to hold onto them for as long as we can, using that momentum to our advantage. Now I’m not saying go out and do exactly what I did to find some glimmer of sunshine but get up and find something for you. It’s very easy to get caught up with worries of what was and what will be, but what was, is gone. And what will be, hasn’t happened yet. The beauty of that, is that you are in control. Only you can change it. Unfortunately, it’s tough and certainly not something that can change overnight. It’s taken me years to do so for myself and I’m still trying. But if anything, do me a favor and do something for you. Do something that lights your spark. Reach out to a friend for a chat and start a conversation. Write that song you’ve been thinking of, build that thing and buy that outfit you’ve been dying to get. Find that thing that makes you happy no matter how big or small and hold on to it. Fall in love with it and make it a part of you. I want you to be happy and you deserve to be happy, everyone does especially through this apocalyptic episode of Earth. Sit up straight and breathe. Look around at all you have and be thankful you’re still here.

If you’ve made it this far through yet another bug in my mind, I thank you once again. If you are still reading, I hope you’re all being safe in this world and looking out for one another. I hope this finds you in good health and in even better spirits. It’s been a hell of a month and the sun has returned. The season is underway, the birds are chirping, and spirits are high. We here at ROC just want to thank all of you for all the love and support we’ve received this month after the release of our first issue. We hope to continue to bring and share all the stories, music, and art this city has to offer. I’ll leave you with this; do what makes you happy and block out the noise, all we have is today.

Cat translation: Meow

WRITTEN BY ROB KATT PHOTOGRAPHY BY HEX HERNANDEZ

Special thanks to The New 400 Theater 6746 N Sheridan Rd. You guys rock!