Sparkling Isolation - Day 64 | The Local Tourist

May 20, 2020 // by Tommy Hensel// Leave a Comment

The good old days.

Today I have been struggling with feeling of melancholy and a sense of general hopelessness. It comes and goes, not overly strong but enough that I notice it and have to stop and acknowledge that it’s there.

Tomorrow I start a ten-day vacation in order to use up some time that I will lose if I don’t use it before June 30. Of course, I’m not going anywhere. I am stuck at home with nothing to do and nowhere to go to make this “staycation” much different than my prior nine weeks of working from quarantine. It’s depressing to think about the fact that before all of this happened I was scheduled to be in New Orleans next week for a conference and then a vacation.

Instead, here I am in what feels rather like a living version of the “Groundhog Day” movie. I am generally not one to long for the past, but I do find that I am waxing nostalgic for the good old days of January and February.

As I thought about what to write tonight, I ran across an article by Homaira Kabir on one of my favorite ‘feel good’ websites: Happify.com. Since Homaira wrote about this far more eloquently than I could, I am going to let her speak for me tonight.

Here’s the direct link to the article:

https://www.happify.com/hd/longing-for-a-pre-covid-world-here-is-what-to-do-instead/

I guess it’s time for me to find a new story for my life.

It’s only Quarantine if it comes from the Quarante province of France. Otherwise, it’s just Sparkling Isolation.

About Tommy Hensel

Tommy Hensel is the Director of the Fine and Performing Arts Center at Moraine Valley Community College (www.morainevalley.edu/fpac), a position he has held since January 2008. A native of Columbia, South Carolina, he has worked for more than 35 years as a professional actor, singer, stage manager, director, and arts presenter. He holds a B.A. in music and a B.A. in communication from Florida State University and an M.A. in theater from the University of South Carolina. He currently serves as Chair of the Illinois Presenters Network and is a board member of NAPAMA. He served as co-chair of the 2018 Arts Midwest Conference and currently sits on the professional development committees of both NAPAMA and Arts Midwest.

Prior to his move to Chicago, Tommy was an 11-year resident of the Seacoast region of New Hampshire where he served as Executive Director of the Rochester Opera House and sat on several non-profit arts boards. He has served on grant review panels for the New England Foundation for the Arts, New Hampshire Arts Council, Vermont Arts Council, and Illinois Arts Council. During his years as an arts presenter, he has also served on the juried showcase panels for the Arts Midwest Conference and Performing Arts Exchange.

Among his many theater credits, Hensel was the founding artistic director of the Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival (now part of the Gamut Theatre Group in PA). He has over 50 professional directing credits to his name and an extensive resumé as a theatrical performer and cabaret singer. In Chicago, he has a side "gig" as a restaurant reviewer for The Local Tourist website (http://chicago.thelocaltourist.com) and blogs about travel and food at https://www.tableforoneplease.com.