How to Have a Dance Party in a Pandemic

of 2023

Introduction to Us, Introduction to Joy

They spoke about their friendship –– one that spanned nearly all of their talks on a topic of their choosing. Most who are picked present solo, but joint talk instead –– switching back and forth between each other to tell their story.

Student Life has condensed and edited their speech for clarity.

Micah Sandman: We’re here today to a fantastic, wacky, [and] wonderful through –– and crucially, because of ––a global pandemic. We’re here to talk about our apartment, our relationship, college.

about creating joy and how crucial it is for existence in general and particularly our existence together.

IM: For a talk about joy, it might simple. [It is] the opposite of shallow because it comes from life, which is complicated and deep. We feel that joy for us, as opposed to other forms celebration that occurs not in spite of the challenges of life, but — crucially — because of them. takes time. It comes from a history of knowing someone and learning all of their beautiful and strange idiosyncrasies.

Our Relationship and our Home

that encapsulates the idea that interests us: “Be joyful, though you by all experiences of life, including

IM: We met freshman year during a was with friends, and she had, perhaps, together in this space of unknown faces that seemed to know where they were and what they were doing, and we didn’t know any of that.

March, I knew I wanted to be back in who was in the middle of the woods leading a backpacking trip at the time, fortunate leap of agreeing. made into syrup herself — and then she orders it neatly and aesthetically. She brings the art, the doodles, and the scribbles from the inside of her brain and throws them all up on the walls.

IM: We all know that life is hard and it’s not all fun and games. We became friends amidst a global pandemic impacted greatly. In our time together

Our world is by no means an easy thing grounded by our relationship and our home, and so that’s what we wanted to share with you all today.

MS: So, to turn to the topic at hand — what does joy look like in our relationship?

IM: Joy, in its simplest sense, is pure — is happiness. But I feel that this it is so much more nuanced than we make it out to be. For us, joy is about spontaneity and shamelessness. It is a feeling, but more than that, it is a practice. It is intentional, earnest, and it often requires taking a step back from all of the things that weigh us down — if only for a moment. In our relationship, Micah spontaneity. Together, we create a beautiful chaos.

We got to talking about sweet potatoes, peanut butter, and how sort of started our friendship — but that our friendship actually began to blossom.

MS: By that point, we’d all been sent home because of the pandemic. It was summer, and since WashU had long and empty and barren. I brought some furniture from home, and we for other bits and bobs, until we had something that looked sort of like a furnished home (in the loosest sense of the term). particularly in our relationship, is trust. I think that in order to truly experience pure joy, we need to trust the people we also need to trust that they will reciprocate all of these gushy feelings is the physical manifestation of our brains. sharp eye and her taste and her brain that bring wackiest shit off of the street — like a stone alien head or a broken coffee table or a tiny jar of tree sap that she

IM: Micah brings color and warmth and eternal sunshine to our home. She is the person who will pick a dandelion and declare it to be the most beautiful walls with crayon doodles and decides that random objects are art.

Our items and doodads accumulate in a way that somehow works, despite their complete and utter randomness. completely comfortable and at ease in this space. around each other.

MS: In the morning, we make a pot of coffee. We share groceries and cook

Meister, and I am Sous Chef/Head Dishwasher.

IM: Between the two of us, there is always something cooking (literally), so our home is constantly infused with yummy aromas that occasionally clash.

MS: We often go on long walks on weekend mornings, and we debrief our days. We sit and talk on the couch, we sing silly songs, dinners. out to people, like a bunch of grandmas, because we are both grandmas and children at the same time.

The Dance Party

IM: So, at this point you may be wondering, “Why is the title of this Well, we’re here to tell you.

Picture this: it is the dead of winter in St. Louis. The sky has been gray for months, and seasonal depression is in full swing (in addition to the other ongoing mental health cocktails). It is snowing hard outside, and not in a romantic way.

no idea what that means, except that it is scary and that masks make breath smell bad. We are studying, or writing a paper, or staring blankly at the screen for the 14th hour of the day.

MS: Since we can’t go to parties or see anyone or do much of anything social, about twice a week, we would turn off all of the lights, plug in our disco lights, and create our own party and dance until we legitimately get and being friends, about creating joy where it seems like there may not be and left turns that life has to offer. has taught me the importance of not taking yourself too seriously and knowing the importance of people get to a point where they start to act like kids again? It’s this understanding of the importance assesses life’s sharp edges and proceeds in admiring those edges as well as all of the amazing surprises

In the grocery store, in the kitchen after a long day, when we’re making pancakes and drinking coffee in the mornings, and before we go out somewhere.

MS: But there is something larger dancing, which is this mutual understanding that at any moment in time, one of us could do something completely random and the other one would join in without a moment’s hesitation.

IM: I think it is important to note that neither one of us is a dancer. Mike has some natural tendencies toward rhythm, but I think it is fair to say that we are not winning any competitions in the near future. But that is not what about letting go and trusting each other to create something new and fun and wacky.