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WW presents "Distant Voices," a daily video interview for the era of social distancing. Our reporters are asking Portlanders what they're doing during quarantine.
Corina Lucas is out of here.
In an age when most people are afraid to get on an airplane to anywhere, she's decamping to Mexico on July 2—permanently. Two weeks ago, a friend asked her if she wanted to move to Oaxaca, the lush state in the country's south, and she said, "Why not?"
"The world is in chaos right now," Lucas says. "We're going for it."
She's going for it, even though she's facing some particular challenges. Lucas transitioned five years ago and has just a few months of hormones. "I'm terrified about what's going to happen when the estrogen runs out," she says, "but that's a future Corina's problem."
Health care in Mexico is cheaper, though. She's confident it will work out: Lucas took years of Spanish in high school and college, and she's been buffing it up by flirting on Oaxacan Tinder. "You laugh with J's instead of H's," she says. "It's just jajajajajaja."
But what about comedy? Lucas was runner-up in Willamette Week's Funniest Five contest in 2018, and her work has been praised by The New York Times.
"A lot of people are hurting without standup, but I'm thriving," Lucas says. "I needed a break. My self-worth was so tied up in standup that it was unhealthy. I was already thinking that I had to stop for a while. And then coronavirus happened. I did it. I'm sorry. I created the virus."
When it recovers, the Portland comedy scene will miss Lucas for sure. But getting out of Trump's America during a vicious election to live in a place where a two-bedroom apartment costs $500 a month and the food is amazing might be just what the doctor ordered. Count us jealous.
See more Distant Voices interviews here.
