Masks = kindness. #maskup #WearAMask @AlecBaldwin @JoeBiden @KamalaHarris #maskup360challenge @ewarren @BernieSanders @SpeakerPelosi #wearadamnmask @KristenBell @priyankachopra @CherylStrayed @PeteButtigieg @SenWarren @MichelleObama @BarackObama pic.twitter.com/kOSaE0xLE8

— @maskup360challenge (@maskup360) September 6, 2020

Feeling alone and disjointed? Out of touch with your community? So was Randy Schulman, an actor (Grimm, Wild) and writer originally from Los Angeles, now residing in Sellwood. So, he, his wife, and daughter decided to start a small movement of solidarity. They filmed themselves dutifully wearing their masks and doing a 360-degree video of their current environment. At his wife’s behest, he made it into a challenge. After dubbing it the #maskup360challenge and sending it off to people he knew encouraging shares and submissions, he had over 90 similar videos in a two-week period.

“I wanted to do something creative to bring people together, while so many of us still feel disconnected to one another, alone, afraid. I wanted to capture a moment relevant to the time we’re living in,” says Schulman.

He strung all the clips together. “At that point the video, for me, evoked an emotional thread, something that connected us. Without politicizing the act of wearing a mask, without the stigma,” says Schulman, “We’ve had clips from Germany, New York, Canada, Los Angeles, San Francisco and, of course, Portland, Oregon. I think the idea now is, how far can it reach?”

Check it out and consider submitting your own 360.