Tomas Moniz, Writer
Oakland, CA
Tomas, sheltering in place in Oakland, CA
Aside from your creative work do you have any additional source of income?
I’m a teacher at a community college and I must admit that being able to do that during this time has been such a privilege because it’s been so grounding, giving me a sense of purpose. The first couple weeks were so hard when everything was canceled because all I could do was sit in my own discomfort and anxiety. Now, of course, I still sit in my own discomfort and anxiety. However, I also get to be the calming voice for other people which also helps me.
Who do you live with and how do you feel about that?
My partner and I split time between her place and my place. I was about to move my 72-year-old mother in with me right when everything happened, so now we’re kind of struggling about how to make that happen because she is living by herself in a small town in northern California which in some ways may be safer than being in Oakland right now; it’s definitely causing some stress.
How are you spending your time?
During moments of acceptance of the situation and the calmness that comes with that acceptance, I’m really enjoying having one on one conversations on the phone or through zoom in a way that I haven’t in a decade. Talking on the phone reminds me of being young and in love or hiding from my parents, when you grabbed the phone and sat in your room for hours at a time. I’m also reading lots of books in spurts and never really finishing anything but feeling somehow inspired by the words and my ability to pick up and put down whatever I want. And then, of course, just being in my yard which I am very fortunate to have.
How is the pandemic impacting you?
When I’m in those moments of anxiety and stress and discomfort, the emotional intensity is shockingly global and universal in its feeling and scope. Like I’m afraid to be in my yard because I might catch something; I’m afraid to drive to see my children; I’m afraid to get groceries. I think the kind of overall sense of fear is something so intense, how it permeates even the most mundane of daily activities. This experience has educated me in a profound way on how so many people feel this way so often in their normal daily life all the time: women in patriarchy, young men of color in white supremacy, all the things I understand… but to discover the analogous way living with all this fear and anxiety, all that emotional weight, can be so debilitating, exhausting, infuriating.
What do you want to accomplish personally and/or professionally during this time?
The only accomplishment I want is just to have a better appreciation of my body: the deep breath in my lungs, the walking in my neighborhood, the eating of the meals I actually took the time to cook, the stretching on my living room floor, the feeling of being alive every single day, another thing I took for granted. And then secondly appreciating the little things that hopefully can return: dance floors and punk shows, crowded bars, stinky loud BART trains. I even miss traffic.
What kind of world do you want to see on the other side of this?
I think I am so thankful for the writers out there writing right now about how we can imagine new worlds after this. They really help ground me and take me out of my pessimism and my fear. George Suanders, Arundhati Roy, Rebecca Solnit, so many of the poets I’ve been reading. There’s the potential here for really reimagining so many elements on a national level but probably, more importantly, on a community level between neighbors and friends. I’m ready for that world.
How can people find you and support you and your work (website, Patreon, etc)?
You can buy my latest book “Big Familia” at any local bookstore and you can check .out my website www.tomasmoniz.com