A year or so after I moved here, the walls came down.
The tumbling of our newsroom cubicle partitions wasn’t as dramatic as say, the fall of the Berlin Wall, but those wry journalists still made plenty of references to it, and somewhat grumpily. The vibe was definitely territorial and “build that wall.”
Besides providing privacy and a place to push-pin favorite “The Far Side” comics, those worn and dusty teal walls framed “our” spaces. How would any of us focus, conduct interviews or turn typo-free copy?
But the cubicle tumble ushered in a new era — one of more light, germ-transmission, and noise-canceling headphones.
My desk, previously occupied by legend and 30-year veteran Loraine Anderson, is smack-dab in the center of everything. The only way to get more traffic by my workplace would be to install an espresso machine. I play this up by further baiting, I mean incentivizing, a little social time by bringing in “community” gum, tea and snacks.
Consequently, I get sneezed on and coughed on a lot, especially this time of year.
Respiratory infections tend to surge in our captive months and currently colds, flu, RSV, COVID-19, walking pneumonia and other various illnesses are making the rounds.
I also recently learned that, among health departments, January is Social Determinants of Health month.
Not knowing exactly what “social determinants” the health departments were referring to, I assumed it was a celebration and acknowledgment of the irony that socializing simultaneously spreads germs, yet adds years to our lives and keeps us healthier in all the important ways, like physically and mentally.
I thought about my cubicle, and how installing sneeze guards would be one of those juice-not-worth-the-squeeze scenarios.
Of course I was wrong — social determinants are well-defined things like access to health insurance, housing, food, transportation and dental care … and their screamingly obvious impacts on health.
Oh. Not my desk, then?
When the walls came down, I was new and neutral. For better or worse, I can get used to most anything, included courting germs and the occasional distraction. The payoff is in those gems of chit-chat and the camaraderie, which is definitely airborne.