When I was looking at my first source on April 8th, I was considering my essential question, “How can communities stay engaged during a global pandemic?,” with the assumption that community is important during this time. I read about ways to foster community and connection virtually that the founder of the online magazine I work for put together. I learned from that document about the how of community engagement, but I realized I hadn’t really explored the why. For this assignment, I decided to search for a source that discussed the importance of community — what motivates my project. I found a Ted Talk by Rosalinde Spitters called “The Importance of Community: We Need to Connect the Dots,” about that topic. 

The Ted Talk is given to a university’s audience, which was helpful in thinking about the LREI community. Spitters begins her talk by pointing out the ways most people in society today experience being under pressure in school, work, or other spaces. She says this often feels like a lonely struggle, and that while there are tools out there like wellness and medication, that only treats the symptom of a larger issue of stress. She claims that the root of stress is marketization processes that have gone overboard, making it seem like everyone has to be constantly working the most efficiently and effectively as they can. Spitters says that the way to change this and remove this from society’s culture is to return to the “who, what, where” ideas of the community. This recenters the community and gives the work a purpose beyond simply production. 

When thinking about the LREI community, and any group during quarantine, Spitter’s message is really important. During a time when it seems like we have a lot of time on our hands–most events and activities have been cancelled–it’s easy to think that we should be producing a lot more work. When considering community engagement during a global pandemic, it’s important to go back to the values of the community and make sure it’s keeping its purpose.