Challenged to craft a playlist of songs to characterize the last two years for me and my learners I came up with the following playlist.
Smell // Sleeping at Last
Taste // Sleeping at Last
Sleeping at Last dives into some specific aspects of life and writes songs about it in beautiful ways. These two songs are about the two senses taste and smell. I chose them for this playlist because of the heightened way I feel we were all paying attention to our own smell and taste in fear they might go away due to contracting Covid-19. There’s something sweet about appreciating what you have while you still have it. While there was an anxiousness to the surveillance of whether or not the senses were still there I think there’s a positive spin to it as well. When we notice something we get an opportunity to appreciate it.
Waving Through a Window // Ben Platt
This song is from the musical Dear Evan Hansen and reminds me of when we were all separated in our own homes. Waving at each other from a distance, separated and alone. There were so many barriers between people in attempt to keep everyone safe. This song touches on the feelings of being secluded from others.
Control // Tenth Avenue North
Tenth Avenue North’s song Control touches on letting go of control and trusting. There’s an illusion to control I feel like so many of us had before. The sudden global pandemic really revealed how little we can control our lives and execute the plans we make for ourselves.
Precious Puritans // Propaganda, KO
I’ve really appreciated this song for a long time. It examines Christian history as told in Western European and the United States often neglects the perspective of people of color. As a white Christian who teaches history, it’s a valuable song to remind me of perspectives other than my own when it comes to Christianity and history. As I craft a playlist about how myself and others felt in the perspective, this song is valuable as a reminder that the perspective I have and the experiences I had during the pandemic are not the only stories.
I Don’t Wanna Go // Chris Renzema
This is the song I was listening to when I decided to take my first teaching job and move across the country. I was terrified and tempted to pick something less risky. That was especially tempting when housing fell through and my contract wasn’t locked down. I was reminded through this song that I can trust my God- that the risk was worth taking. WOW was it. In coming out to Colorado, I met my husband, found an incredible Christian community among my house church, and have a really sweet job where I get to use my Spanish and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) to teach middle schoolers World History.
Songs I’d love to add but don’t quite exist yet: “Unmute Yourself” and “Fatigue”
What’s a song that would for sure be on a playlist you would make to characterize the last two years?
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