The World Stopped When I Was In High School, Part 5
Contributors: Olivia Gobel, Hunter Brackett, Alex Emery, Kiara Lovejoy, Summer Grant
Olivia Gobel
it’s been so long
that their faces are starting
to blur
not helped by the fact
that all we ever see
are our names on a screen
black rectangles
Instead of our classmates
reminds me how much i miss:
political debates in math (don’t ask)
random convos in roundtable (definitely don’t ask)
chalk markers on the table in science
unflattering selfies at lunch
the smell of the halls on doughnut day
the despised forty-five minute bus ride every day
every possible aspect of softball
sitting next to my best friend in global studies
helping my friend pass English (or attempting to)
laughing so hard my sides hurt (in every class)
listening to Mr. Williams tell us something fascinating
the freedom to go out and see the world
without worrying for myself and
everyone around me
but there’s a silver lining
however thin:
quarantine helps us realize
that the lives we live are a gift
the freedom we have
and we’re the lucky ones
with homes to retreat to
and the ability to communicate
with the people we love
so maybe this will give us all
a little
Gratitude
Hunter Brackett
Since Covid-19 closed our school my life has changed so much. I have had very little social contact with any of my friends – unless you count Zooms, texting or video games.
School is a lot easier – which I do not like. You just have to show up for class and get the work done and not even try. I would rather be at school, learning face-to-face with my teachers.
Some of the positives from this are that I get to golf three or four times a week, and I get to work on my basketball game and get stronger. One of the biggest losses for me is that I am not able to participate in drivers ed, which sucks because if I had already gotten it down I could have logged lots of driving hours when I'm not doing school or when my mom is not at work.
The only people that I have really talked to through this whole thing are my family and my grandparents and my neighbors.
Alex Emery
In the COVID pandemic, there is mass worry everywhere, and to be honest, it’s kind of obnoxious for it to happen at this time, in the spring and summer. When I sneeze because of my allergies, heads turn and I feel guilty, even though I can’t control it.
Also, I hear a lot that people are super-bored and that they have nothing to do. I can’t really relate to that too much because, in all honesty, Hulu has a whole bunch of shows that I can watch, like South Park and Ramy. Work is also going pretty nicely. For the past month I’ve been booked full-time so that I could make a lot of money, although recently we got a new recruit. Because of that, we’re splitting our time, so my income has been affected. On the other hand, I can finally take a mental break, so … thanks, new worker!
Just to close up, this pandemic really sucks, but a lot of good has come out of it, and in order to grow as a person I need to be able to see the obscure good in the blatant bad, and I feel that as a society, we all could work on this.
Kiara Lovejoy
My life has changed a bit since school was canceled for the year. I went from going to school every day, getting my work done, to being lazy and slacking. I’ve noticed my actions and I’ve been trying to fix them. It’s definitely a confusing time with not being able to go out and do things, and being out of school for so long. I think my relationships with people from school have drifted away, which kinda sucks. Again, I’ve been struggling with getting my work done, and although I’ve been trying to fix that, I have also struggled with losing my cat. He hasn’t been home in more than a week, which has been hard on me.
Something I have gained from this experience is getting closer to my mom and spending more time with her. Some observations I’ve made globally is that people are starting not to care about social distancing. I think that is very selfish.
Summer Grant
(Inspired by Walt Whitman’s poem “I Hear America Singing”)
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of doctors singing as they sew their patients back to life,
The lawyer singing as she closes a successful case,
The fireman singing as he puts out the fire,
The policemen singing as they round up a gang of crooks,
The military personnel sing as they fight for their country,
The teachers singing as they teach their students to become great people,
The therapist sing as they help us heal ourselves and pain,
The counselors singing as they help us ready ourselves for the future,
The singing of the medical scientists as they find a cure for COVID-19,
All their harmonious voices singing their own song of what belongs to them,
and to no one else but them,
singing all day long with their beautiful harmonious voices.
Contributors: Olivia Gobel, Hunter Brackett, Alex Emery, Kiara Lovejoy, Summer Grant
Olivia Gobel
it’s been so long
that their faces are starting
to blur
not helped by the fact
that all we ever see
are our names on a screen
black rectangles
Instead of our classmates
reminds me how much i miss:
political debates in math (don’t ask)
random convos in roundtable (definitely don’t ask)
chalk markers on the table in science
unflattering selfies at lunch
the smell of the halls on doughnut day
the despised forty-five minute bus ride every day
every possible aspect of softball
sitting next to my best friend in global studies
helping my friend pass English (or attempting to)
laughing so hard my sides hurt (in every class)
listening to Mr. Williams tell us something fascinating
the freedom to go out and see the world
without worrying for myself and
everyone around me
but there’s a silver lining
however thin:
quarantine helps us realize
that the lives we live are a gift
the freedom we have
and we’re the lucky ones
with homes to retreat to
and the ability to communicate
with the people we love
so maybe this will give us all
a little
Gratitude
Hunter Brackett
Since Covid-19 closed our school my life has changed so much. I have had very little social contact with any of my friends – unless you count Zooms, texting or video games.
School is a lot easier – which I do not like. You just have to show up for class and get the work done and not even try. I would rather be at school, learning face-to-face with my teachers.
Some of the positives from this are that I get to golf three or four times a week, and I get to work on my basketball game and get stronger. One of the biggest losses for me is that I am not able to participate in drivers ed, which sucks because if I had already gotten it down I could have logged lots of driving hours when I'm not doing school or when my mom is not at work.
The only people that I have really talked to through this whole thing are my family and my grandparents and my neighbors.
Alex Emery
In the COVID pandemic, there is mass worry everywhere, and to be honest, it’s kind of obnoxious for it to happen at this time, in the spring and summer. When I sneeze because of my allergies, heads turn and I feel guilty, even though I can’t control it.
Also, I hear a lot that people are super-bored and that they have nothing to do. I can’t really relate to that too much because, in all honesty, Hulu has a whole bunch of shows that I can watch, like South Park and Ramy. Work is also going pretty nicely. For the past month I’ve been booked full-time so that I could make a lot of money, although recently we got a new recruit. Because of that, we’re splitting our time, so my income has been affected. On the other hand, I can finally take a mental break, so … thanks, new worker!
Just to close up, this pandemic really sucks, but a lot of good has come out of it, and in order to grow as a person I need to be able to see the obscure good in the blatant bad, and I feel that as a society, we all could work on this.
Kiara Lovejoy
My life has changed a bit since school was canceled for the year. I went from going to school every day, getting my work done, to being lazy and slacking. I’ve noticed my actions and I’ve been trying to fix them. It’s definitely a confusing time with not being able to go out and do things, and being out of school for so long. I think my relationships with people from school have drifted away, which kinda sucks. Again, I’ve been struggling with getting my work done, and although I’ve been trying to fix that, I have also struggled with losing my cat. He hasn’t been home in more than a week, which has been hard on me.
Something I have gained from this experience is getting closer to my mom and spending more time with her. Some observations I’ve made globally is that people are starting not to care about social distancing. I think that is very selfish.
Summer Grant
(Inspired by Walt Whitman’s poem “I Hear America Singing”)
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of doctors singing as they sew their patients back to life,
The lawyer singing as she closes a successful case,
The fireman singing as he puts out the fire,
The policemen singing as they round up a gang of crooks,
The military personnel sing as they fight for their country,
The teachers singing as they teach their students to become great people,
The therapist sing as they help us heal ourselves and pain,
The counselors singing as they help us ready ourselves for the future,
The singing of the medical scientists as they find a cure for COVID-19,
All their harmonious voices singing their own song of what belongs to them,
and to no one else but them,
singing all day long with their beautiful harmonious voices.
