It goes without saying that what is currently happening around the world is shocking and unprecedented. Life feels rather surreal all of a sudden, like as if we are all extras in the 2011 film Contagion.
Around the world communities are going into lockdown, we are asked to work and study from home until the foreseeable future if at all possible and almost like an echo of the 2019/2020 Australian Bushfires it feels like people are losing everything or are about to.
At the beginning of the year I was rather hopeful that the lifting of the lockout laws would give a much needed boost to our local Goth scene here in Sydney however it looks like everything will soon be under lock and key in a more drastic fashion in order to save thousands of lives; this is a sacrifice I am sure the vast majority of us are happy to take.
But what does that mean for us? Well apart from all the livelihoods that will be in peril or utterly obliterated by the closure of venues and stores it also means that we will not be able to have a physical social space in which to foster our little community or reach out and make new friends. For those looking to enter the scene they will have to rely on online forums and wait to experience the club atmosphere that brings so many of us together.
Having said this it is important that even in extraordinary times such as these where self isolation is called for due to the greater good we must maintain our bonds of community and support our local scene however we can.
Give goth content creators and musicians clicks, shares and views, purchase that merch and wear it with pride, buy that music and talk to your friends about it or have a little online listening party. Join online groups and check in on your fellow goths and talk to them about what’s happening in their neck of the woods and how they are coping.
And when things start to normalise; as they inevitably will because this too shall pass, get back on that horse.
Until then dear reader, please look after yourself and your loved ones. Be kind, stay home as much as you possibly can, wash your hands and stay safe.
Menace Bunny 