The importance of investing in the arts

This week, my local hospital in Laramie made masks optional, rather than required, for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. Although COVID is still a threat to the community, there is room for celebration. This “mask optional” sign at the hospital had me thinking back to the hardest times of the pandemic, when we all turned to the arts to add beauty to the world around us. We read books, watched movies, binged TV series, all of which we have to thank the creative minds of authors, screenwriters and actors. The irony of the world turning to the arts during the pandemic is...