Diana doesn’t go home

Community Cats Build Community

During the lockdown, people were isolated at home. This was also the case in the student apartment where I lived. Fortunately, there was a courtyard in the student apartment where there were always a few cats, which became a comfort to the residents. People needed to socially distance themselves from others, but not from cats. The cats comforted the students, and the students fed the cats and made cat memes and crafts. I set up a cat Instagram account (@Dianadoesntgohome) to share the daily life of the cats and their interactions with residents, which gained a lot of followers and likes among local residents. By interacting with cats, people became less isolated and seemed to move from their private spheres into the public ones. I found the followers are not only the residents of the student apartments but also the neighbours and the cats' owners. They also shared the cats' stories with me. Because of the cats, people tended to have more forms of conversations, such as conversations with the reception officer about the blanket given to the cats, conversations with roommates while putting goods and uploading photos and posting messages on the cat's social media. The community residents interacted in the virtual and real worlds through the cats, and the community ties also grew during the process.