The way we work in the office, how we live at home, how we interact with family, friends and our neighbors: COVID-19 has changed our lives. The pandemic has forced us to socially distance from those we do not know and even distance ourselves from those we do. Many of us who are older began our careers in cubicled environments built by the individualist post-World War II ideal: a womblike space all ours to produce and achieve on our own spunk and merit. The technological culture of connectivity then forged a collegial environment of open spaces for collaboration and sharing. The pandemic has changed this, at least for a while, to larger cubicle spaces and smaller shared ones. We Zoom together; before we roomed together. Staying more at home, we have looked to home gyms and expanded offices and home-at-school spaces for the children. Not traveling, we are spending more money for upgrades or even buying new homes. We want, says one of the contributors, Zen.
