The Future is Unwritten: Listening to the Rhythms of COVID-19

Abstract

This article asks us to listen critically to the rhythms of our time. COVID-19 has altered the pace and tempo of contemporary life; however, rhythm asks that we engage our moment in ways that account for the seismic shifts in how we live, how we teach and how we learn. We call leisure scholars to listen to the rhythms of our current pandemic, to consider how rhythm may suspend pace, tempo and meter to open space for a reparative leisure and critical appreciation of our current moment. Ultimately, we relate a learning activity whereby students reminded us that we are still alive. We present this learning experience, in candid, honest and vulnerably ways, to encourage our field to rhythmically engage our “new reality” within this pandemic.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• leisure
• listening
• rhythm
• soundwalk

Notes

1 We celebrate Strummer, the front man for the Clash, not because of the beats-per-minute by which his tunes can be measured (i.e., meter), but by the immeasurable social commentary that found voice within his tunes (i.e., rhythm). He pressed the edges of a milieu (e.g., rock “n” roll) to intersect with social commentary and sonic expressions of other milieus (e.g., reggae, ska, rockabilly) and/or chaos (e.g., first wave, punk, hardcore), producing a sonic clash of meanings, relevancy, and rhythm.

2 Although a “milieu” may commonly be defined as a social environment, Deleuze and Guattari (1980/2011) inverted the concept to stem from natural environments. They trace the shape of natural milieus as spaces informed by directional vectors and periodic repetitions occurring among various milieu components. For example, a marine milieu is informed, shaped, by the directional vectors of sunlight, weather patterns and various repetitions of activity occurring between aquatic life and geological structures. When such a milieu comes into contact with another milieu (e.g., land, shore or reef) rhythms occur.

3 For Deleuze and Guattari (1980/2011), chaos is not an unthinkable blur, void or vacuous absence; rather, they conceptualize chaos as a space consisting of directional vectors from which a point of order may spontaneously emerge (see Bogue, 2003, p. 17). Chaos is better conceived as the presence of every possible order existing simultaneously, prior to any actualization as a virtual potentiality (cf, Massumi, 2002).