The world is mutating. Some things we took for granted just a few weeks ago will never be the same. For better or worse the world as we knew it is gone. It may take months or years before we can grasp what takes its place. To linger longer in denial that change is happening will mean losing exponentially more to the invisible enemy. 

As we find ways to occupy our minds in isolation, or dawns our masks and venture out on our essential errands, there is plenty of time to reflect on which phase of grief we’re passing through. Alone, and as a global society. If nothing else, the coronavirus has shown just how interconnected we are, regardless of distance. 

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross didn’t dictate a particular order or time-frame for any of the emotions we might feel as we experience loss, nor is there a rule against revisiting emotions as much as needed. Just don’t get lost in them, or give in to despair. Joy will return to life even if it’s absent for the moment. As long as there is life there is hope, as long as there is hope there is life. 

This edition of Pandemic is a special one. There is no theme and no set time limit. For as long as we are in a world on pause this issue will be open. We look forward to seeing what you’re inspired to create.

Sincerely,
Pandemic 

The post Introduction: PANDEMIC appeared first on Pandemic Magazine.

As our attentions rise further and further from the ground, we leap from platform to platform, until all we have built is surrounded by air. Those with vertigo grow dizzy and fall. Those with good lungs climb another rung on the stair.

“As well as holding plants to the ground, roots hold the ground together,” we read from the screens that relieve us of boredom as we tower in isolation.

Each step that we take that is not grounded in our roots but sprung from thin air wobbles the teetering structure. We continue, realizing that the higher we reach, the smaller the changes on the ground need to be to cause our towers to tumble.

“Who is making the Earth quake?” we scream, from our stilts as we point to muddied figures below in the muck. We stomp our high heels angrily, severing one more branch from its roots, causing the Earth to crumble further.

We hope to see you on the ground.

Sincerely,

Pandemic

The post Introduction: Roots appeared first on Pandemic Magazine.

The Earth has survived for one more year. Little has changed between today and yesterday, but small changes can grow to be massive.

The Butterfly Effect. Chaos theory. Marty McFly’s hazardous journeys to the past to ensure the desired future. Micro changes constantly present themselves as contenders of structural change, and yet – spectacle-focused society that we are – we tend to require constant reminding.

What is considered ‘micro’ is a matter of perspective: What is a galaxy to us could be only the nucleus of a cell; and while a pulse from our heart merely a flutter to our eye, it sends blood roaring through ventricles, valves, chambers, pipes and pistons. Even the small word ‘like’ – systematically peppered through vernacular language – can be seen changing our patterns of thinking. Belittling people, their actions and efforts can be a strategy of disempowerment; and acknowledging them can have the reverse effect.

To begin 2019, Pandemic’s creators give their two cents on Micro Changes. If they inspire your own reflections, researches, stories, or thoughts, we would be glad to hear them!

After all, every penny counts!

All our best,

Pandemic

The post Introduction: Micro Changes appeared first on Pandemic Magazine.

There are many forms of political organization that exist, have been proposed, or tried and failed. A key aspect fo their differences is how their leaders are selected.

Monarchies try their best to maintain a consistent hereditary lineage. In democracies, people are represented by politicians they elect based on shared ideals. In a technocracy, leaders are chosen based on their expertise. More often than not once a leader is in place they select technocrats to oversee the bureaucracies that make up a government.

As technology has integrated itself into every aspect of our lives, more power has been given over to experts of IT, economics, and psychology than was initially intended.

The recognition of this shift in power, which can be used for good and ill, serves as the inspiration for December’s theme: Transformative Technocrats.

As we head into the holidays it is inevitable that some of us will be given a new piece of technology or digital service. This month we ask that you reflect on how this new addition to your life might change your life, however subtly.

If those insights inspire you to create, we hope you’ll share your creations with us!

Sincerely,

Pandemic

The post Introduction: Transformative Technocrats appeared first on Pandemic Magazine.

The body is a delicately balanced composition of limbs, organs, fluids, textures. It is a collectively working series of systems, forming an organism with reflexes, motor skills, gut feelings, and muscle memories. The body, both the lens through which we experience the world and the physical material that makes us part of it, continually adapts and evolves within our lifespans – and the larger span of time.

And yet, despite only knowing life through our bodies, at times we begin to feel trapped, dissatisfied, or uncomfortable. With the chemical balances of our bodies. With the limited timeframe of being singular entities. With the dissonance between the way we feel and the way we are seen.

The body can begin to feel like something from which we wish to escape.

This month we hope to explore these dissonances: What lies behind the feeling that our bodies are miss-fit? How have people around the world, and throughout history, dealt with this notion? Where do we search for symbiosis? Who has inspired us out of this clash? Why does the clash even exist?

This month, our staff writers are channeling their own experiences, memories, and knowledge towards the topic, The Body As A Prison, hoping to unpack it, one creation at a time.

If you have any perspectives to share, hunches to work out, or images to show, we welcome you to make a contribution.

All our best,

The Pandemic Team

The post Introduction: The Body As A Prison appeared first on Pandemic Magazine.