Since March 2020, life has looked very different. Despite the challenges we have all faced - it has been inspiring to see so many people that have taken a positive approach to their additional time at home and flexed their creative muscles!
With the new year, and a new lockdown, we thought we’d look back on what the world has been getting up to, and celebrate everyone who has taken a creative approach to putting smiles on people's faces.
(You may even find some inspiration for your Da Vinci Art of Medidicine Competition entry!)
Cooking and baking
Hands up if you made (or attempted to make) any of the following during the first lockdown: 1. banana bread 2. sourdough starter 3. rainbow themed cakes or 4. dalgona coffee. The MedNews Team are guilty as charged.
Yes, as the UK went into lockdown suddenly it became very difficult to buy yeast and flour. INews reported that “by the end of April 2020, internet search for banana bread had soared by 525 per cent and pictures of successful bakes were posted on Instagram more than 45,000 times”. As of today, that figure now stands at a huge 1,800,811. Who knew that banana bread was so Intsagrammable?
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In Jan 2020 the new kid on the block has been the TikTok 'wrap hack' - it tastes amazing but please do be careful not to destroy your toaster!
Rainbows and street art
Student doctors are well aware of the amazing work the NHS does, and the public have shown their appreciation in many creative ways over the last year.
Rainbows popped up in windows across the UK with messages of support and hope. This nspired Sir Antony Gormley’s The Great Big Art Exhibition which was a show of imagination and optimism displaying artwork from windows and gardens up and down the country.
Closer to home, Liverpool’s Zap Graffiti Art have been spraying shop shutters across Liverpool to pay homage to the NHS. Those of you who live near Kensington may be familiar with this shutter.
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Music and entertainment
With gigs, concerts, plays and festivals all cancelled in the last year and the recent announcement of Glastonbury being cancelled again (boo!) it’s been a tough year for music and theatre lovers but it has been great to see how the industry has responded, with creativity, positivity and innovation to try and provide us with some much needed entertainment.
The Beeb came through with The Big Night In, raising money for a number of charities including NHS Charities Together, as well as releasing a Stay at Home Live Lounge edition, all for the same good causes. If you haven’t listened tothe All Stars version of the Foo Fighter’s Times Like These, we highly recommend you go check it out on YouTube.
Joe Wicks hasn't been the only well known face doing his bit via the internet. Gary Barlow started a series of ‘Crooner Sessions’ performing live duets with guest stars over Zoom - and we hope some of you have been enjoying the Friday night disco in your kitchen with Sophie Ellis-Bextor - because it is a real mood booster!
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Many theatres have been releasing online versions of their plays and, as the Metro says, at least “there’s no queue at the bar in the interval.” See their list of the top 12 online plays. Just us then who still has Hamilton on our ‘to watch list’?
Lockdown poetry
People have also been putting pen to paper to immortalise their thoughts and feelings around the pandemic. Matt Haig has been a strong voice for mental wellbeing and a constant source of strength and inspiration to the nation.
Matt's poem, penned at the start of lockdown, urged us all to ‘write a better infinity’ out of this new blank one.
Similarly, Glasgow poet Jim Carruth, who is also part of the NHS, encouraged us to prepare for the great feast ahead when we emerge from our strange hibernation in his poem, The Long Bench.
Viral crocheting
Millions tuned into the historic inauguration of the 46th Presidenrt of the United States (flags as the audience? a real moment in history!) but we don't think anyone expected one man and his mittens to be the picture that went viral.
We’ve really enjoyed the Bernie Sanders memes in the Mednews ‘virtual’ office, see the funniest ones collected by CNet.
Even the Library joined in.
Bernie just waiting outside the SJL while we fetch his Click & Collect order... @LivUni pic.twitter.com/hLKN7V71ud
— Uni of Liverpool Library (@LivUniLibrary) January 21, 2021
This was taken to a whole new artistic level when a crochet artist turned the viral Bernie Sanders image into a doll that sold for $20,000! (Proceeds going to charity again! Surely a sign the world isn't all bad.) Read more on The Guardian.
Show off your creativity!
We know our student doctors are also full of imagination. The School is offering the opportunity to show off your creativity and artistic talent and have your artwork displayed in Cedar House - where we can all enjoy it just as soon as we get back there. Find out more on the student intranet and send in your submissions to the Da Vinci Competition.
You can also submit any COVID-19 inspired creations to the University Library's Pandemic Archive - a collection of staff and student experiences during the pandemic. Find out more on the Library website.
Stay safe, stay inspired - and if you want to share your story with the Med News team, we are on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook - and you can drop us an old fashioned email: mednews@liverpool.ac.uk