The Afterlife

With a vaccine to the coronavirus now being distributed, we may be able to begin seeing some outlines of what life and work will look like when the COVID-19 pandemic passes. The spread of the virus in the past 12 months has forced countless adaptions upon almost all of us, whether we wished for them or not. And there is no adequate way to express of the impact of the lives lost.

In this new department called The Afterlife, LMU Magazine, with the help of thought leaders and experts among the LMU community, will explore the ways in which the pandemic may change us in our interactions and daily work.

We welcome submissions. Tell us in 250 words about the most important change, for better or for worse, that you see as long-lasting in your world of work or expertise. Email your reflection to magazine@lmu.edu, along with your name and a phone number, your relationship to the university, and your profession or area of expertise/work and we’ll post some to the LMU Magazine website here on the Afterlife page in the coming weeks.—The Editor.
PODCAST

Ernesto Colín ’99, M.A. ’01

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted far more than the day-to-day operations of America’s schools. “What happened here is that the pandemic has revealed the fissures that we have in education settings and amplified all of them,” says Ernesto Colín, LMU professor of education. Colín talks about what we’ve confronted and what we’ve learned.

Losing Touch

A cost of the pandemic is loss of touch — bodily, physical contact. Brian Treanor says he’s learned again about “the richness of the tactile world.”
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The Laws of Dance

The compression of movement has become a symbol of the pandemic. If dance is a compressed art on our computer screens, we may value more the theaters and environments where space and human motion intersect.
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Ingenuity Amid Crisis

The pandemic has thrown another harsh light on barriers to equity in K-12 education. If this era teaches us to address those inequities, suggests Ernesto Colín, we will have learned a valuable lesson.
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COVID and Careers

The virus has reshaped the economy, the job search and how employers seek employees. Branden Grimmett reflects on what career development means now and post-pandemic.
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The Spirit in the Pandemic

If we’ve constrained the movement of the Holy Spirit within our churches’ walls on Sunday, Jason Sexton suggests, then perhaps our virtual gatherings have offered a vision of the Spirit unloosed.
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