Day #34: Sunday, April 19, 2020

Day #34? It feels like day #6389. At this point I don’t even know how to describe what my life is like during this quarantine; it’s just one big cycle of nothing really. The days all blur together and I have serious cabin fever. Typically I wake up late afternoon and stay up until the birds start chirping and it’s light outside.

As for occupying myself, during the week I’ve just been trying to keep up with all of the E-Learning assignments which has been overwhelming to be honest. I know this seems like a no-brainer but learning online is NOT the same as learning in a classroom setting. My reason for stating the obvious is that I’ve realized how much we (students) take for granted: hands-on/in-person learning, the well thought out lesson plans teachers prepare for us, tutoring offered by the school, quiet study locations, emotional/mental support from faculty, face to face communication, etc. Due to the lockdown, all of that has been reduced to links and Google Documents. 

Furthermore, it’s just so hard to stay motivated enough to complete homework assignments these days especially since we now know we’re officially not physically returning to RB for the rest of the semester. Not to mention, it doesn’t feel like I’m learning anything, just completing assignments to get them done. While some students love the idea of just doing assignments for completion, the idea scares me especially with AP tests right around the corner. 

Of course my lack of motivation is no one’s fault, I have the cabin fever and social disconnect to thank for that. My teachers have been trying super hard to help their students as much as they can during this troubling time. 

As for the weekends, my breath of fresh air, I get to take a break from E-Learning and fall into the endless circuit of Netflix shows, Disney movies, and YouTube videos. 

A healthy distraction for me during quarantine has been college. I currently am undecided on which university I’ll be attending but merely pondering my choices, filling out scholarships, and planning for the future has given me a bit of hope and has shined a bit of light on this dreary situation. It gives me something to look forward to. That being said, with the current progression of the coronavirus and the daily news updates, the possibility of universities starting late or an online first semester terrifies me. Putting a pause on my college experience would just add salt to the wound prom’s cancellation already created. 

All of this being said, I have also used this time of isolation to reflect and think about things on a worldly scale. Black and Brown communities are being disproportionately infected; the working class and the impoverished don’t have the same access to treatment or tests as the rich do; the economy could possibly face a devastating collapse; not everyone can afford to miss work for months; Black people in China are being discriminated against and racially targeted; some tenants aren’t given leeway with their payments. This is a sad time we’re living in and the intensity of it all just doesn’t seem real. The least we could do, though small and simple, is stay inside and wash our hands.