And The Band Played On: Finding Joy In A Global Pandemic

During this pandemic, I found my certainty in an unexpected place –– right outside my own front door!

Meet Paul Romaine, my neighbor and Founder of the Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts and leader of the band that played their hearts out night-after-night during the toughest part of the quarantine - the part that felt like it would never end.

The band started with Paul the drummer, then Rico a saxophone player and slowly, more instruments were added. Soon, our whole neighborhood was coming out every night fold up chairs in hand, sitting 6' apart to allow themselves to feel joy in a time of great uncertainty.

We decided to structure this episode a little differently. We call it "experimental" you might call it raw.

We wanted to fully embrace this feeling of uncertainty paired with the possibility of connecting to others in the community by showing what this really feels like.

Through this process, we found connections we didn’t know were there! 

Now is the time to play, now is the time to dance, and now is the time to find joy wherever you can find it.