A different theater experience
I miss going to the movies. Whether it was waiting in line with friends to see the premiere of “Black Panther” or catching a Sunday morning showing of “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” it’s hard to capture that same magic in my home. Like many other industries, the movie theater business has suffered tremendously since the coronavirus pandemic forced it to close doors. According to Forbes, AMC Theaters is expected to post a $2.4 billion first-quarter loss.
Even as some traditional theaters begin to reopen with new requirements like wearing face masks and limiting the size of the audience, the experience won’t be the same, especially when the threat of infection is still real. Luckily, drive-in theaters are seeing a resurgence, and Walmart recently announced repurposing 160 of its parking lots nationwide into drive-in locations. Although, it’s still too early to tell if the movie theater business will fully recover, your best bet and safer alternative will be from the comfort of a car.
Spencer Whitney, assistant editor
Before joining the editorial team, Spencer worked as the Multimedia Editor at the Oakland Post newspaper where he was responsible for organizing and producing web based content on a daily basis while also reporting on local politics, community news and education around the Bay Area.
Spencer graduated from Howard University in 2011 with honors and a degree in Print Journalism where he wrote for the Hilltop newspaper and worked as an on-air personality for the college radio station WHBC830AM. He then attended UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and had the opportunity to write for the hyperlocal news sites Richmond Confidential and Oakland North.
Before earning a Masters degree in journalism, he volunteered at San Quentin Prison weekly to help produce content for the monthly news publication San Quentin News. This included working inmates and giving them one-on-one feedback on how to improve their stories as well as collaborating with other reporters to research recidivism rates in San Quentin State Prison.
Spencer worked as the Ambassador for the Visiting Scholars program and was a speaker at the commencement ceremony for UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.