In a weird way COVID-19 connects us all; how coronavirus is affecting our friends in Australia

An interview with Felicia Asplet, by Zoe Schulz

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

My name is Felicia (or Fe for short). I’m originally from New Zealand but I’ve called Australia home for the past five years, previously Sydney but I relocated to Melbourne in 2019 for new adventures. I work in the film and television industry as a producer, production manager and director’s assistant. I also play around in design and writing silly narrative stories too.

Fox Studios Australia, filming Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway

We’re currently seeing coronavirus have a tidal wave affect around the world, how has it affected your community in Australia?

The coronavirus hit my community pretty early on in March, which seems like a lifetime ago now! It was confusing to understand what the impact was going to be initially because of the rapid pace in which it’s been unfolding. As I work in the arts, and specifically in organising medium-large film shoots, our industry was hit immediately due to introduced restrictions. I have a lot of friends who also work in the arts, or hospitality who were hit suddenly too. When that happened, I think I was in shock for a number of days and couldn’t quite grasp what this meant for all of us. As it began to sink in, it became quite terrifying. It’s like you’re in a car that’s going really fast, but you aren’t driving, you’re actually in the boot, it’s dark and you can’t see anything.

It’s now been about three weeks since I was personally impacted, and the days are slowly but surely getting better. I’ve had plenty of free time to do lots of introspective thinking, begin adjusting to the “new normal” and allow myself to accept I’m not in control of this situation. I’m not steering the vessel at the moment. I’m aware now that I need to take each day as it comes. I’ve certainly slowed down a lot!

What affect has this had on daily life?

It’s like my daily life was put into a blender on maximum power without the lid on. My daily life has completely changed. Back when life was “normal”, can you even call it normal these days? I’d be up early to head out to a job, or to meet up with potential employers, then catch up with friends, go on a date with my girlfriend, attend talks or gigs, head to the pub for trivia or ride my bike down to the park and have a picnic. I love being outside and I love connecting with others in person. COVID-19 has meant that none of the above is currently accessible and it’s super challenging to try and navigate. I’ve had to become very creative with how I can do the things I like, in a completely different way. I’m still trying to figure that out.

How about the impact on your work life?

Simply put, I don’t have ‘work life’ at the moment. The impact is substantial. Due to the nature my job, there’s always the risk of being in close physical contact with many humans in a small space on set. It’s what I actually love about it. You have to get to know people when you’re standing in a room with sixty people for twelve hours. As a result, I lost all of my upcoming work in one day. I’m now brainstorming ways to transfer my skills temporarily into an essential job or service.

How have those around you been affected?

It’s had a huge impact on everyone around me. So many of my community have also lost their employment and are just as concerned about the immediate implications on their finance and mental health. My girlfriend was one of the lucky ones as she still had employment until last week, where her main client had to let her go because they couldn’t afford to keep her on. My family live in New Zealand and have been in complete lock-down for a week now. It’s hard not being with them. They are worried about me but I’m glad they are together and safe. I was supposed to be home visiting right now, but my flight was cancelled, and I couldn’t leave Australia in the fear of not being allowed to come back.

Felicia with her girlfriend Carol

As queer people, we often find respite within our community. How has the LGBTQ+ community of Melbourne reacted?

Considering it’s affected the majority of the world, including privileged cis white straight men, the impacts on the LGBTQ+ community, some of whom are already vulnerable and have been through a lot, will be major. Melbourne has a very united LGBTQ+ community, and I feel grateful to be part of it. I’ve already seen friends who run events for LGBTQ+ people lose direction, because they know how important these events are for the community. They create a safe and connective space. So, they’ve had to react fast in finding other ways to bring that space to another platform. Because it’s more important now than ever to stay connected. Fortunately, the LGBTQ+ community all over the world are a resilient bunch due to large chunk of the community having to deal with adversity on the daily.

I think we are all trying to cope with the world changing around us, have you found any techniques that help you?

A lot of meditating, mindfulness, speaking to friends and family, and surprisingly, reading about stranger’s stories in light of this bizarre time. Knowing that everyone has a story during this madness, is somewhat calming. Checking my privilege and having perspective is a big one. I’m grateful that I am to be able to sit here in the comfort of my apartment doing this interview, knowing I can use my savings to pay my rent next month. Keeping my house clean, being a yogi, up-skilling and baking banana choc-chip muffins helps too. Lastly, accepting I’m not in control here and waking each day knowing I’m not driving this car but I can choose to make the drive a bit more comfortable by looking after the important things, i.e mental health, is doing all kinds of good.

Knowing that if I wanted to, I could sleep in till 11am, wake up and cry and pity myself and feel sorry for myself and repeat it, makes me want to take an objective approach here, open my eyes, slow down and try get something out this

It’s a bizarre time, but we all need connection – how have you managed to connect to your loved ones?

Facetime and good old-fashioned phone calls! I’m going to try out the Houseparty app tonight too because apparently you can play trivia!

What advice would you give to people in other countries who are in a similar situation?

Exactly that. Remember you are in a similar situation to so many other humans, all over the entire world. It’s weird to say this but, COVID-19 connects us all. We all have had to adjust to “unprecedented” being the new normal, some more than others, but all of us together, not just one person or one country. If you have a roof over your head, think about those who don’t. If you’ve lost your job, think about how your skills could be transferrable into an essential service or supporting an essential service. If you’re not into that, maybe this is your time to slow down, open your eyes and do something random. Learn a new skill (from home), pick up the phone and call your grandma, she’ll appreciate it so much. Accept you are not in control, none of us are. Watch that film or paint that painting you’ve put off for so long.

Although surreal and scary, has the experience taught you anything?

It’s taught me that society is weird. I kind of already knew that, but it really is. And well, humans are the product of the society we’ve built. We’re these creatures just rushing through life, so busy trying to get somewhere and not stopping even when we get it, that we don’t take a moment to slow down and look at where we are, until we are literally forced to. And then we don’t know what to do. We take so much for granted. At least, I definitely did. When this first hit me, I thought my entire livelihood had diminished in front of my eyes. Then I realised how superficial my livelihood must have been for me to be able to think that. I’ve learnt to slow down, take the pressure off and really appreciate the fundamental things in life.

Have you come across any stories of hope or inspiration?

I don’t have one inspirational story but seeing how many people have put their hand up to support strangers during this time just completely restores your faith in humanity. I’m part of a bunch of Good Karma Networks in my community (there’s one for each metro suburb!) where literally twice a day there’s a post from someone offer their time, their vehicle, food, toilet paper, to others who might need it. The outpour of support from young people to elderly people and others just offering to have a chat with someone who might need it, is beautiful. Seeing the videos of people dancing on their respective balconies in Italy was a tear-jerker too.

For many, this experience has been very lonely, do you have any advice for LGBTQ+ people that may be feeling isolated?

Simply, you are not alone. You’re allowed to feel alone, it’s a valid feeling. But so many others are feeling alone at the same time. Which means, we’re not. We’re all connected. We are literally all in this together. I’m quite an extroverted person, my energy comes from being around my community and having physical interactions with them. I can’t do that right now. So instead I’ve swallowed my phone calling anxiety and made a call to one friend, which allowed me to make a call to another friend, who then called me back another day and so on. Now I’m so excited for my evening chats with people. Because I know they need it too. This is social interaction for now, this is the safe place. We’re in a time where people need you as much as you need them. As human beings, we need connection with other humans to survive. It makes the world a less daunting place for us all. Try it, pick up the phone and call someone. If you don’t want to call, record a voice message. If you have no one to call, so does someone else. Find some LGBTQ+ Facebook groups (or join an international one!) and put up a post saying that you’re happy to have a wee chat with someone who needs it. You will get a reply. Go all 2001 and find a pen-pal. Why not. For majority of us, all we have is time. Why not use it to connect? We will get through this, together.