Dreams and Nightmares in the Age of Coronavirus
Scary and surreal — a new survey chronicles our dreams during the pandemic
Last night, I saw a naked figure prowling in my backyard. Peering through the French doors, I thought it might be a disoriented neighbor and cracked the door a bit. The bald figure bounded for the door, and I could see from a closer view “they” had no genitalia. I flipped the lock back, but they began to dismantle it with a desperate efficiency, and in no time, pulled out the entire mechanism. They were getting in.
It was only a dream. But a dream in the age of coronavirus, where our nighttime journeys are now viewed through the dark lens of the pandemic. Where will our dreamscape take us now that our waking life has become a nightmare? To a comforting time before the outbreak — a realm oblivious of the spreading virus? Or to a white-knuckle theater of our fears aligned to the new reality, and spinning out into surreal terror?
I recently surveyed the CoasttoCoastAM.com audience, asking them to share their dreams and nightmares during these tumultuous times. In just under ten days, I detected movement from symbolic accounts to more realistic and medically oriented stories, perhaps reflecting our entrenchment in the COVID-19 miasma.
