[dropcap size=big]A[/dropcap]ight, this situation sucks and we’re gonna be here for a while. Why not make the most of it?
The pandemic is happening and we gotta stay inside to save our healthcare workers, vulnerable peeps, and ourselves. That does not mean we stop having fun and being our cute selves. I’ve included events and things I found to be fun at home.
Sun Bathing
I know this one sounds silly but hear me out: Sunlight is actually really important for serotonin. It’s supposed to be good for your mood, vitamin D production, and helps your immune system (I’m not claiming it’s gonna help with ‘Rona though). On warmer days I set up shop in a sunny spot at home (on my bed) in a bikini I had ready for Spring, 2020. I sip on a quarantine mocktail made with Emergen-C and just chill or get work done. It’s a good way to partake in an activity you wouldn’t normally have time for while being out and about, but we all have time now.
Follow your usual routine as best as you can
I love to go out dancing on the weekends. The bars might be closed but that hasn’t stopped your favorite DJs from spinning vinyl in the safety of their homes. I tune in to my favorite ones on Instagram like Cumbia Fever, Linda Nuves, Sizzle Fantastic and dance in my room and practice my moves in front of the mirror. After having a White Claw or two last week, I ordered El Taurino. And honestly, it was the first moment I felt any normalcy in a while.
Communal meals with the people you live with
Chances are that your roomies or significant others that you live with are scared and attention-starved too. Eating together is a way to get that human interaction in and share food. Try browsing through the free archives on Bon Appétit to find something to cook with the ingredients you already have on hand. I’ve personally been working on making food that brings me comfort and closer to my roots. I’m half Mexican American and a lot of those delicious recipes never got passed down to me, if that’s you, or you need to brush up on it, or you just want to learn something new, go to MexicoInMyKitchen.com. Mexico in My Kitchen is a bilingual website that’s legit and judgment-free. It’s run by Mely Martinez, a former Mexican school teacher, home cook, and food blogger. I also recommend Laylita.com, it’s a bilingual Ecuadorian food blog (I’ve vetted some of the recipes with my grandma and mom, it’s legit). Pandemic panic is no match for seco de pollo, pan de yuca, or empanadas de verde. Pro-tip, Mexicanos that can’t have spicy food can find a home in Ecuadorian cuisine. Or if you can swing it, split it with someone and order takeout or delivery from your favorite spots that are still open. If you get delivery, tip really well, they’re the real MVPs. 25 percent at a minimum goes a long way.
Going for a walk or run
It is safe and recommended that you exercise, but don’t ruin this the way y’all ruined hikes and beaches. Just go out for a walk—or an “urban hike,” if you want to be fancy about it—around your house. It helps to have some kind of destination, whether that’s a viewpoint somewhere or a mural or a quick and safe grocery run. If you peek out and there are a good amount of people out, go back inside. Fellow joggers, don’t be a germ spreading asshole. If you see innocent and unsuspecting people on the sidewalk give them 6 ft of space, so idk go around them?
Your Story is Your Superpower Workshop
There is nothing more sacred than storytelling. Period. It’s what our ancestors did to entertain and share knowledge. Teatro Luna West and the Tamarindo Podcast are hosting this fire storytelling workshop via zoom, and it’s special because it aims to tackle a huge storytelling hurdle for people of color: imposter syndrome. If you’re the chisme source for your friends, you’re already a great storyteller. Go to this workshop to hone in your skills.
I personally want to join this, but I can’t :( so if any of you quarantine baes wanna help a girl out and share some notes with me, I would be ecstatic. Anyways get the deets here, it’s happening May 30th at 6pm.
Yoga from Huntington Park
Now all of Los Angeles can enjoy yoga straight from Huntington Park! No need to brave traffic to your favorite yoga studio. The only commute is to your living room. @Lunarjane_yoga is hosting Zoom classes Monday and Wednesdays, 7 to 8 PM. RSVP on IG via @lunarjane_yoga. This course is donation based, if you take her class make sure to donate if you can.
Pupu-Zoom 101 by Plantita Power
Wanna learn how to make pupusas? I sure do! You can learn how to make your own pupusas via Zoom on Sunday 4/5. Plantita Power is hosting a class just for you in English, Spanish, and ASL. The class is $20, but you can pay what you can if that’s too much. Go to their Instagram for more details and ingredients.
Meditation with Semillas Wellness
All this can get stressful tbh. Meditation is a good way to deal with it. Semillas Wellness, a SELA collective that’s really invested in making community wellness accessible, is hosting guided beginner meditation sessions during lunch (12 PM) and dinner (5 PM) for 5-7 minutes every Wednesday. Try it, they’re cool people. Go to their IG page at @semillas_wellness.
Virtual Dance Party with La Junta and Al Otro Lado
Does staying indoors have you feeling helpless? Same but we are NOT helpless. So get your cute ass onto a makeshift dance floor and shake it (bonus points if you practice and emerge out of this as the bad b*tch you were born to be). La Junta will be spinning records for you and will be accepting donations for Al Otro Lado’s COVID-19 Migrant Humanitarian Fund. The money goes to migrants in Tijuana and supports access to housing, medical care, and other humanitarian aid. Anyways, tune into @alotrolado_org on 4/4, donate what you can, and have some fun.
La Cita DJ Live Streams + Support La Cita (on going!)
Whether your night of choice at La Cita was Moist Monday, Perreo Wednesday, Cumbia Fever Thursday, or El Meneaito Sunday, La Cita made space and gave communities of color joy for over 60 years. This beloved bar is going to continue to bring people together and the party hasn’t stopped. La Cita is hosting DJ live streams, with the same DJ’s you always danced to, head over to their twitch. La Cita will also be hosting cocktail making lessons on Instagram live so you can be your own bartender until this is all over. Also, since the bar closed, all of the staff were temporarily let go, if you would like to support them, go to their Go-Fund-Me, funds are being evenly divided among those in the most need. If you take their cocktail classes, or dance to their virtual DJ sets, or have ever forgotten to tip them in the past, support them if you can.
Tamarindo Book Club: Mean by Myriam Gurba
The Tamarindo Podcast is a firme pod by none other than Ana Sheila Victorino and Brenda Gonzalez. The Tamarindo Podcast is light hearted and fun but also manages to delve into discussions on identity, race, gender, representation, and more. What could possibly be cooler than that? Throwing in firebrand Myriam Gurba, of course. Gurba is an author and is famous for leading the delicious take down of American Dirt. Tamarindo is hosting a book club featuring Gurba’s book, Mean. Mean is a “confident, intoxicating, brassy book that takes the cost of sexual assault, racism, misogyny, and homophobia seriously.” Anyways, it’s a free opportunity to read a great book and discuss it with brilliant women. Get more details and register here. The discussion is on May 7th.
Free Breathwork Meditation with Ana Lilia
We’re in a stressful af time that’s pretty uncharted, it’s totally normal to feel anxiety, fear and worry. Ana Lilia created her Online Community Gathering to remind you that you aren’t alone. Share your feelings and do breathwork, an active form of meditation, to release that stress right after. They meet on Zoom every Saturday. It’s free, get more deets here.
Open Mics / Poetry
All of this existential doom has me in my feels, if you’re making art with the feels head over to an open mic. Here are a few.
Flowers of Fire Open Mic by Corazon Del Pueblo
@corazondelpueblo is hosting an open mic with karaoke on Saturday 4/4! Tune into their IG live at 7 PM.
Da Poetry Lounge Open Mic
One of my favorite poetry spaces has shifted to the digital world. They already had one virtual event and will be posting more shortly (I would turn notifications on for them, tbh). Follow them at @da_poetry_lounge on Instagram. If you’re looking for online poetry lessons head over to @spoken_lit.
SELA Hip-Hop’s Lockdown Conferences
Miss going to SELA Hip-Hop? All good you can still tune into their “Lockdown Conferences” and honestly it’s great. They are entertaining af and pretty informative too. Head over to @selahiphop.
Ey Foo You A Rocker, a podcast for foos by foos
A podcast for POC metalheads by POC metalheads and rockers of all backgrounds and genres. Tune in if you need some rockero camaraderie, this is definitely the vibe for you. They speak about barrio politics, identity, choloisms, and cholo adjacent culture, and of course some good tunes to headbang to in between breaks. Our foo-in-chief, Javier is in the last episode.
Teenage Bonehead, multilingual Ramones-style punk
Noe Adame, L.A. Taco’s Valley Correspondent, also happens to be perhaps the world’s biggest archivist of three-chord punk. Imagine an entire world of “Hey, Ho, Let’s Go!” but in Spanish, Italian, Brazilian, and many more languages. For those of you who were rockeros in your younger years like me. After all, rockeros need love too. Find the podcast here.
Homeschooling resources
Almost every parent in L.A. became teachers overnight. It’s a hard job and your students don’t leave at 3 PM. Here are a couple of homeschooling resources.
Remember when we all sat in Math class thinking, “Wow when will we ever use this?” Only for some of us to have a child anxiously need guidance to find the derivative of something or another in 2020? Khan Academy is here to help. There is everything here from preschool math, to calculus, engineering, AP Art History, and much more!
Public Broadcasting Service
For those of us who never had cable, PBS was the MVP channel of our youth. It will make many of us extremely happy to know that they have recently extended their public services to include some homeschooling resources, including activities for young artists, or parents who want to make the best during these uncertain times.
Getting a mask but also supporting a small business and health care workers
I know folks are getting anxious about going to the store, which is totally valid. The CDC is considering recommending everyone wear cloth masks. Basically getting a cloth mask doesn’t take away masks from health care workers and all of us wearing one protects us. While they aren’t the best at filtering out viruses, they are fabulous at making sure you keep your germs to yourself. If a bunch of us wear one, we can protect each other. You can make your own, even.
Or, you could buy a nice cotton mask made by Ngozika O’keke which includes a filter, which is more protection than a regular cloth mask and filters out stuff down to 5 microns. Ngozika O’keke is a designer, businesswoman, and specializes in marrying fashion and philanthropy. These are a little pricey, but for every mask you buy, another one is given to a hospital in need. Anyways, I can’t emphasize how cute these masks are, you can definitely stay safe in style in one of these.
Anyways this is a living list and I’m going to update it throughout the month. If you or someone you know are hosting a cool and COVID-19-safe event email me or slide into those DMs.
