Davin News Server

On 10/14/2024 10:31 AM, Dave Smith wrote:
> By coincidence, they were just a few hundred yards from where the other 
> group had had a similar experience, and at the same time.  It turned out 
> these two groups have been howling to each other.

Howling was Covid morale builder in some places, oddly:

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/colorado-coronavirus-howling-moon-scream-stay-at-home-order-pandemic-denver/

DENVER (AP) — It starts with a few people letting loose with some 
tentative yelps. Then neighbors emerge from their homes and join, 
forming a roiling chorus of howls and screams that pierces the twilight 
to end another day's monotonous forced isolation.

 From California to Colorado to Georgia and New York, Americans are 
taking a moment each night at 8 p.m. to howl in a quickly spreading 
ritual that has become a wrenching response of a society cut off from 
one another by the coronavirus pandemic.

They howl to thank the nation's health care workers and first responders 
for their selfless sacrifices, much like the balcony applause and 
singing in Italy and Spain. Others do it to reduce their pain, isolation 
and frustration. Some have other reasons, such as to show support for 
the homeless.

In Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis has encouraged residents to participate. 
Children who miss their classmates and backyard dogs join in, their own 
yowls punctuated by the occasional fireworks, horn blowing and bell ringing.

RELATED: LISTEN: Elk Joins People Howling At Moon During Stay-At-Home Order

"There's something very Western about howling that's resonating in 
Colorado. The call-and-response aspect of it. Most people try it and 
love to hear the howl in return," said Brice Maiurro, a poet, 
storyteller and activist who works at National Jewish Health.

The nightly howl is a primal affirmation that provides a moment's bright 
spot each evening by declaring, collectively: We shall prevail, said Dr. 
Scott Cypers, director of Stress and Anxiety programs at the Helen and 
Arthur E. Johnson Depression Center at the University of Colorado 
Anschutz Medical Campus. It's a way to take back some of the control 
that the pandemic-forced social isolation has forced everyone to give 
up, Cypers said.

"The virus' impact is very different for everyone, and this is a way to 
say, 'This sucks,' and get it out in a loud way," Cypers said. "Just 
being able to scream and shout and let out pent-up grief and loss is 
important. Little kids, on the other hand, are really enjoying this."

Maiurro and his partner, Shelsea Ochoa, a street activist and artist, 
formed the Facebook group Go Outside and Howl at 8 p.m. The group has 
nearly half a million members from all 50 U.S. states and 99 countries 
since they created it as Colorado's shelter-in-place order went into 
effect last month.

"We wanted to do this mostly because people are feeling isolated right 
now," said Ochoa, 33, who works at the Denver Museum of Nature & 
Science. "I think it hit on something others needed."