Dan Ford
@danfordification (and #spaghettiotis) in our home after breakfast
-Theatre-
He kept telling me he shouldn’t count. He isn’t an “artist” anymore and no one would want to hear about what was happening to him.
This whole project was his idea. He pulled me out of my funk with the suggestion to just go take pictures of my friends and ask them how they were doing. He matters to me. He matters to my friends.
And I’m sure you want to hear what he has to say.
Interviewed 5.16.20
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Casey: Dan, what do you miss the most?
Dan: Well, beforehand, I thought the question was more about how things have changed.
Casey: You can answer that question.
Dan: The main part of my life is my work and at this point, my work is my day job. I marked my success by meeting goals, like financially for the company and now, that has severely changed. We lost 90 percent of our business. So we've really had to re-strategize. Now I've had to come up with a new definition of success. And I find myself feeling a lot more satisfied now with being successful with that new definition of work.
Casey: What did you find as your new definition of success?
Dan: Well, my goals aren't necessarily financially or revenue-driven, I guess. They're more... They're smaller. They're tasks that, before coronavirus, we would have considered as the mundane, I find that I'm... I might be a little happier through that.
Casey: So do you think you'll take that into post-corona life? That idea of like financial success isn't success.
Dan: Yeah, I hope so. I mean, everything's still really uncertain about the office coffee business.
Casey: Offices aren't really a thing anymore.
Dan: Exactly. So I hope I can do that. I hope I can pull that with me into this next chapter of life after the pandemic.
Casey: Do you have an idea of how you'll do that? When inevitably the priority will become making money again and probably making money faster, harder, sooner.
Dan: Well, I think, you know, the focus has not necessarily gone away from making money, but personally, in my work, I'm less concerned about it. They're not my goals anymore. They're just the goals of the company.
Casey: What are your goals then? I know that they are small task-oriented. But like, what's an example? Getting shit done?
Dan: Yeah. Getting shit done. Like corresponding with everyone that reaches out to me. That was a thing that I wasn't so great at beforehand. But, you know, this job is not something that I was trained to do. So it's a constant learning practice.
Casey: How are you emotionally feeling? Not about work, just in general.
Dan: I actually feel really good.
Casey: Why?
Dan: Well. I've had things to do. I've had work to go to. At the beginning, it was like two days a week and now it's gone up to... I've worked all five days this week.
Casey: I'm not talking about work. I'm talking about you.
Dan: But that's the thing is that I measure my happiness by how successful I am. And I feel successful in my job and I feel successful in my relationships.
Casey: So Corona, If anything, has made you happier,
Dan: I think it's made things slow down to my natural tempo. I'm able to keep up with everything. I was feeling stressed because I didn't feel like I had enough time in the day. And this pace is more in line with my rhythm.
Casey: How do you think your family is doing during this?
Dan: They sound good on the phone. I haven't been able to see them.
Casey: Are they following guidelines? Like are they staying quarantined?
Dan: Yes. My parents both have health concerns. So fortunately, my father hasn't had to adjust much with his routine. He's a one-man lawyer, doesn't have a secretary. He's... pretty sustainable. My mom's, you know, she... I imagine she's struggling, but not anymore than usual.
Casey: What do you miss the most? Or who. Who do you miss that you can't see from quarantine?
Dan: I had a trip planned with my sister that I wanted to go on. And we're trying to work that out.
Casey: What do you miss the most?
Dan: Probably seeing my friends on a more regular basis.
Casey: Did you see them on a more regular basis before quarantine?
Dan: I got out much more than I do now.
Casey: What do you prefer?
Dan: I mean, everybody loves to cancel plans, just stay home. I mean, it's kind of a given, but I dunno. I'm more of an introvert I guess.
Casey: I have two questions that I think are kind of silly, because I know you, but I ask them to everybody so I'm asking you too. Do you have any sort of new rituals or sacred spaces in quarantine that you want to take into post-quarantine life? Any new habits that you're enjoying, that give you solace.
Dan: I bought a Switch. I don't know that that's necessarily like the healthiest habit to have, but.
Casey: It gives you some sort of calm.
Dan: Yeah.
Casey: I feel like your life hasn't changed that much.
Dan: It hasn't. I don't think that it has. And I hesitate to... I mean, I definitely haven't seen my friends as much. And, you know, to go back to that in post quarantine life, my life hasn't really changed all that much.
Casey: Does that bother you at all? Like the fact that the world is in a pandemic and your life didn't change when everyone else has?
Dan: I mean, I guess it changed with all the precautions that I take when I go through my day.
Casey: What do you think of those precautions? What do you think about wearing masks? What do you think about, like, people being crazy and not coming close to each other and not going out?
Dan: I mean. I think that they're... I think it's necessary.
Casey: Can you imagine it will go into the future?
Dan: Oh, yeah, yeah. I think a lot of people are going to be severely affected by... everything going forward. I think there's gonna be those people who are just always gonna wear a mask because it doesn't sound like coronavirus is going anywhere. You know,
Casey: It's now a thing that exists.
Dan: And it... you know, it's so funny, like in the reading that I've done on the virus, the origins of these things go back to China and the live markets that they have and how so many animals are in the same spaces and that's how these viruses kind of populate. And I'd see footage from China or footage from overseas. And you see people wearing masks even a year before the pandemic. And it's like I wonder, like, what is that about? And now as Americans, we all know why. I think that the world has become more alike in that way and will be forever changed.
Casey: To get more and more alike as the world becomes more of a global culture.
Dan: And that's just one of the things.
Casey: China, like people from China, have a tendency to wear masks. Right? Like, it's almost a cultural icon. Like you're like, “People from Eastern Asian countries have a tendency to be extra cautious with respiratory wear.'“ Because there have been multiple of these outbreaks in recent history. And people just had masks. And because it's a communist country, they were just told to wear masks. And they just did it because they followed the instructions that they're given, generally. That's how the government works. That's how the people work. So, like, we think of it as like a Chinese thing, but it's more like a communist thing. The idea that this has happened to them multiple times within the last hundred years. You know, for us, it's like, “Oh, the 1918 was the most recent thing where people in America had to wear masks and stuff.” But in China, they've had like four or five big major pathogens in the last hundred years.
Dan: I don't know if it has much to do with... you know, in my opinion, I don't know if it has much to do with the politics of the country. But I think it definitely has a lot to do with the government trying to do something.
Casey: Protect their people.
Dan: Yeah.
Casey: Yeah. Yeah. I didn't necessarily mean, "They're Communists, so therefore they're used to wearing masks." The idea of they've had this before. And the theory is, because it's a communist country, they're really well-prepared and they follow the instructions that they're given. So, therefore, these pathogens don't necessarily make it to the rest of the world like - They find it. They isolate it. They control it. It's done. So that's why there've been a couple of these in the last century. They haven't spread as far as Georgia.
Dan: Right.
Casey: Are you creating? Why or why not? I'm not just talking about theatre. I'm just talking about in general. You are cooking, cooking is a version of creating.
Dan: Yeah, yeah. I mean, but that's something… Like I said before, my life hasn't. I feel like it hasn't changed much. And I was doing that before. So I'm doing it more often because takeout is 1) expensive and 2) not the same as going to a restaurant. So yeah, I would say that's probably how I'm creating. Is through cooking.
Casey: You're not playing Animal Crossing.
Dan: Definitely not creating in animal crossings. That's not something that I'm interested in. But, ya know, it's spring. There's lots of growth happening outside, and I am reinvigorated to take care of the yard and the house and. You know, I take my time when I mow the lawn, I try to make the rows real straight.
Casey: What's the one thing you think you'll take away from Covid? Like this is now something that will affect our... It's a part of our history, not just as a people, but as a me and you kind of thing. This is something that we've gone through together. This is something we'll tell our kids and our grandkids, you know, like, what do you think will be your overarching takeaway?
Dan: I think it'll be hard to forget the year that we got married.
Casey: If we get married this year. No, we will get married this year. We will. We will go down to the fucking courthouse and get married. So the takeaway is that...
Dan: “Listen, young whippersnapper, I tell you what. The Year that I got married was the year of the Coronavirus pandemic.”
Casey: How do you feel about the fact that a lot of people are like learning new hobbies or taking this time to self improve?
Dan: Gosh, I wish I had time to join them.
Casey: What do you think of all that? Since you don't get the opportunity to have that?
Dan: I do feel like I'm missing out a little bit.
Casey: On, like, covid culture.
Dan: Yeah. I mean, I've always had plans to revamp a bicycle that I have in storage and just work more creating in that way. So the excuse to stay inside and quarantine is... that's a good excuse to do those things. I don't think it's a bad thing. Now, when a person starts to feel guilty that they're not doing those things, that's when I have a problem with it. That's not productive for happiness.
Casey: So you don't feel guilty for not having those?
Dan: I don't.
Casey: Good. Anything else you wanna say?
Dan: I like that you're doing this. I think it's important.
Casey: Thanks
Dan: You're welcome.
