Conflicting access needs (*)
Dec. 22nd, 2024 04:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soniaI went to see Kitka's Wintersongs concert last night. The singers recently returned from a study and performance trip to the Republic of Georgia, so the whole concert was Georgian songs, resonating through the high open space of the brick St. Paul's Episcopal Church. They sounded wonderful.
I was one of a handful of people wearing masks, nervously settling into my spot on a pew in a sea of unmasked people. Then a kid almost directly behind me starts up with a hacking cough. I turned horrified eyes on their mom, who looked back at me impassively. This happened several more times.
At intermission, I checked with one of the ushers, someone I know from Balkan choir. Was there anything we could do about the situation? She said yes, she could offer them a mask. That seemed like a good idea, intermediate between doing nothing and asking them to leave.
I didn't turn to watch the conversation, but caught something about "not sick, it's (allergies? asthma?)," and the usher said, "Just in case it's something else in addition," which I thought was a good response. Next time I looked back, their seats were empty.
On the one hand, if it really is allergies or asthma, now I feel bad about interrupting their enjoyment of the concert. On the other hand, they were for sure interrupting the enjoyment of everyone around them, and I wasn't the only one worried about illness.
I wish we had a stronger social contract in all directions. Wearing masks. Not attending concerts while ill. Access to treatment for asthma or allergies - that cough did not sound good, no matter what it was. In our current world, it feels like maybe I should have sucked it up and worried silently through the whole concert, or left myself. It was a full house, or I would have just moved.
Last year, I went to a Kitka holiday singalong in a less full space, and there was someone coughing and sniffling, no mask. I immediately moved away from them to the edge of space next to the windows. Two of the Kitka singers came down with Covid after that, and I haven't heard anything about a holiday singalong this year.
(*) Seejesse_the_k's comment about the post title.
I was one of a handful of people wearing masks, nervously settling into my spot on a pew in a sea of unmasked people. Then a kid almost directly behind me starts up with a hacking cough. I turned horrified eyes on their mom, who looked back at me impassively. This happened several more times.
At intermission, I checked with one of the ushers, someone I know from Balkan choir. Was there anything we could do about the situation? She said yes, she could offer them a mask. That seemed like a good idea, intermediate between doing nothing and asking them to leave.
I didn't turn to watch the conversation, but caught something about "not sick, it's (allergies? asthma?)," and the usher said, "Just in case it's something else in addition," which I thought was a good response. Next time I looked back, their seats were empty.
On the one hand, if it really is allergies or asthma, now I feel bad about interrupting their enjoyment of the concert. On the other hand, they were for sure interrupting the enjoyment of everyone around them, and I wasn't the only one worried about illness.
I wish we had a stronger social contract in all directions. Wearing masks. Not attending concerts while ill. Access to treatment for asthma or allergies - that cough did not sound good, no matter what it was. In our current world, it feels like maybe I should have sucked it up and worried silently through the whole concert, or left myself. It was a full house, or I would have just moved.
Last year, I went to a Kitka holiday singalong in a less full space, and there was someone coughing and sniffling, no mask. I immediately moved away from them to the edge of space next to the windows. Two of the Kitka singers came down with Covid after that, and I haven't heard anything about a holiday singalong this year.
(*) See
jesse_the_k's comment about the post title.
