Marshall Shepherd, a professor in geography department in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, was recently quoted in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article about Georgians discovering both old and new hobbies during the pandemic.
Stephen Mihm, an associate professor in the history department in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, was also mentioned in the article.
Shepherd started projects that hadn’t previously been on his radar. He self-published two books and began a third. He’s also taken a deep dive into gardening and composting.
“It feels like something I will do for the long haul,” he said.
Other Georgians reported picking up hobbies during the pandemic as well. This trend isn’t a total surprise, as it mirrors what happened during the Great Depression in the ’30s, according to Mihm.
For example, in the 1930s, the search for cheap entertainment led to an increase in activities like bird watching, backyard gardening, barbecuing and stamp collecting, he said. The pastimes endured long after the Great Depression ended.
The article continued to detail other Georgians’ pandemic hobbies and how they’ve affected their lives.