ON THE PHONE–arranging, calling, sending voice memos–THE REQUEST
AT THE DOOR–welcoming, hugs and kisses, greetings–THE PORT
AT THE HALLWAY–taking your shoes, jackets, hats, apprehensions off–RADIO WAVES
AT THE KITCHEN COUNTER–cooking, arranging, plating, carrying–THE WIRES
AT THE DINNER TABLE–eating, talking, laughing, anecdote-sharing–ELECTRICITY
AT THE SINK–washing, rinsing, putting away, afterlife of food–BITS & BANDWIDTH
A sick host will take into consideration everyone's sickness (including their own) …
…they do not host if their illness can spread. They inform the immunocompromised and ask the same of their guests.
The sick host informs of vulnerabilities in a technical and colloquial or shared jargon…
…they try to understand the languages their guests speak. They provide the source information as technical or medical code, always supplemented by the real implications on everyday life. They use metaphor, jokes, puns, embodied experience and memes, knowing that languages are infrastructures that can exclude too.
A sick host is not…
…a care-taker or a care-receiver. They live in the space between the two.
A sick host might need you to pick up tasks that they cannot. They will ask thing of you. They will trust you. The moment they open the door to you, they might make this very clear.
A sick host leaves amble space in their storage for emergencies…
…medical aid, pain killers, vitamins, allergy pills…
…guest rooms, matrasses, extra pillows…
…protocols for changing how they accommodate the space, based on their own and their guests needs.
