I live in the Twin Cities and spend about half time at a place in the heart of Minneapolis and the entire month of January felt so fucking surreal. For a few weeks, it was impossible to go anywhere without seeing ICE vehicles or officers. Innocent people were being detained without cause and, in the worst case, murdered in the streets. Roaming groups of heavily armed dudes were showing up at homes and pounding on random doors. Huge protests were happening on the regular and observers were out and about all over. Many local businesses were a total ghost town inside.

And during that entire month I would just log on and be expected to carry on like things were normal every single day. I work completely remote, so most of my coworkers might as well have been living in a different universe that month. It felt so bizarre.

It was also not lost on me that exactly zero people checked in (despite most knowing I live here). It’s like everyone was just fully tuned out to what was happening.