The Woodnote: finishing touches

 Zoom-fatigue, red-zone isolation, and finishing touches at the Woodnote.

Our mailboxes were installed! Life at the Woodnote is starting to really take shape now, I never realised just how much having a mailbox made me feel like a real person.

Since I last wrote, most of the balconies have also been installed, the silver diamond-shaped siding has been finished, and the construction workers have started adding plants everywhere. It looks great!

Despite the exterior of the building really starting to come together, I still think the interior hallways need some work. I can’t help but wonder if the concrete floor will remain as is, and if they will add some kind of trim where the wall and floor meets. Right now, in the first floor hallway, there is about an inch gap where unfinished drywall should meet the floor.

Tenants received emails from the co-op board encouraging us to join committees. According to a document outlining membership involvement opportunities, several committees are being developed and will be proposed at the Woodnote’s annual general meeting on Oct. 18. These committees include Anti-Oppression, Safer Spaces, Member relations, Outreach, Labour, Arts and specific projects, and much more. Although nothing has come of it yet, I hope that I might be able to have a say in jazzing up the hallways a little bit as a part of the Arts and specific projects committee. I don’t mind the white walls, but some fun, artistic touches and murals couldn’t hurt (think, the murals in the staircase leading up to the greenhouse in the Hall building.)

It would be difficult to coordinate such a project now, under the current red-zone restrictions. Tenants have been asked to limit their interactions with others, in addition to using hand sanitizer at the entrance and wearing masks in the hallways.

All I can say is I’m glad I’m not living alone in this studio apartment. I know others that are, and it must be so challenging to keep from feeling totally isolated. Although online events have a great way of suggesting this aura of togetherness, the Zoom-fatigue is real and even as an introvert, I miss working around other people in the VA building’s studios. I wish there was a way for us Fine Arts students to work in the common room, socially distanced, with masks on. But sadly I don’t think that is a possibility in the slightest. The common room is still bare, safe for construction scraps, garbage and recycling. I wonder if it will be developed at all this year, and where the garbage and recycling bins will be kept once the common room is ready.

Documenting this move has definitely been an interesting exercise in self-reflection for me, giving me the opportunity to think back on the weeks prior, really notice all of the subtle changes and truly appreciate this space that I have come to love. I hope that this small series will inform and inspire future Woodnote tenants. This is an exciting place to be, and I’m glad I get to be a part of it.

Missed the last articles about The Woodnote? Read more here.

 

 

 

 

Photo by Chloë Lalonde, and video by Adam Mbowe.

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