Personal Narratives

Why is Everything so Complicated?

By: Nora Malone

While this pandemic has made dramatic changes to American society it has affected more things than the average citizen can see. Everything is so much more complicated. By limiting travel and meetings of over ten people, the World Health Organization has made it nearly impossible to physically move. My family and I were supposed to move from Cambridge Massachusetts to Washington, D.C. over the summer, something that is complicated enough without a worldwide pandemic. We haven’t even put our house on the market yet and we are already facing significant roadblocks. We were going to have the inside of our house repainted and our carpets replaced to give our house a little spruce-up before we tried to sell it. Seems simple, right? Wrong. The carpet guys bailed, and didn’t tell us. Meanwhile, the painters had to rearrange how and when they could do it because many of their workers couldn’t work due to the pandemic.

When the painters did eventually arrive my entire family had to rearrange themselves. They were painting almost every room in the house except my room. So my dad had to work in my room and my mother and I had to drive around in the car all day. We went down to Fresh Pond, did some shopping and ended up spending most of the day in an empty mall parking lot. We left the house at 8:30 and weren’t back until almost 5:00. Then, on the next day of painting, they finished in my parents’ room so my parents worked in there and I worked in my room, which was all well and good. Except I wasn’t able to leave my room and my dad had my desk. He needed it because he didn’t have a desk in his room and his was too heavy to bring downstairs. He still has it now. Therefore, I have had to do my homework on the floor for the past week.

All of this is just the beginning. Before we sell our house, we have to stage it. That means we have to take a lot of our stuff out, pack it up, and put it in a storage container, which will be brought to a warehouse somewhere until we move. To have this storage container available to us to fill, we have to have it in the street outside our house, and for that we need a permit. We thought we had one and they were supposed to set it up yesterday. They did not, and we were unable to get in contact with the city because everyone is working remotely. If we can’t get this storage unit, we’ll have to keep all of these boxes in our house. Even if we get this storage unit, we have to fill it by April 3rd and have the warehouse company take it away. The pressure is on!

Moving into a new school is hard, but it's even harder when the school is shut down because of Coronavirus. Virginia Public Schools have shut down for the rest of the school year, which means it will be extremely hard to get into contact with the school to transfer my records. To top it all off, CRLS is closed for now so my grades will be even weirder and harder to explain. The worst part is I won’t be able to spend my last few months here with my friends. I have to spend it quarantined in my house rarely going outside. This whole pandemic has certainly changed many things about everyday life, but it has impacted the things we do not do every day even more. This pandemic has put a pause on the world. This pause will, if it lasts any longer, greatly change the future of the world.

The Ways Covid-19 has Affected our Daily Lives

By: Stella Blank

Covid-19 has affected our day to day lives in many ways. There are some things that we expected to change, such as the grocery stores being low on supplies that everyone uses, and everywhere you go there being a lot less people than there usually are. These are things that we could foreshadow happening and could prepare for. However, things such as adapting to online school/work and trying to create a routine for yourself so that your everyday life still has some kind of structure, are examples of things that we couldn’t prepare for. Times like these aren't easy for anyone and we’re all trying to figure out what works for us to get through this. Something that has been unexpected for some people is being with their families all day long and their parents being home all the time. Most parents work a lot and most kids do after school activities that go until late in the afternoon, which means that they don't spend much time with their family. It's all about adapting to this weird new lifestyle that we are going to have to have for a while.

COVID-19's Impact

By: Aasiyah Kamthewala

If someone was going to ask most people what the highlight of 2020 was, most likely everyone would say the Coronavirus. The Coronavirus is a virus that originated in Wuhan, China. In early/mid February this virus spread to countries such as Italy, America, and many more. Worldwide, by the end of March, there are more than 845,000 cases of the Coronavirus affecting people from all ages. This will have a massive effect on medical staff throughout the world because there are many more patients than doctors. This means some people aren’t going to get the proper care that others receive. This virus has not only affected immuno-compromised people. It has affected everyone worldwide, including those people who lack essential things such as water and food. Many of these people are also greatly affected by the loss of jobs and the closure of schools. Every single person is struggling during this time, but the only thing we can do to decrease the number of cases is by social distancing. Social distancing is very important even if it doesn’t seem like it! If you hang out with someone that has the Coronavirus, it is likely that you would get it, too. Then, if you go and hang out with a different group of people without social distancing, you spread the virus. This just causes a circle because if these people get it and hang out with someone else they could get it too, it’s like a butterfly's life cycle, but worse. Just remember, if you want this to end as soon as possible consider staying home and doing something you enjoy.

The Life of a Cop During the COVID-19 Pandemic

By: Sayde Daniliuk

Since everything has gotten shut down, only a few people and jobs have to keep working to help people. COVID-19 has affected everyone, but some of the people who have been affected the most are first responders. I would just assume that first responders would have the same shifts and be doing the same thing, but a lot has changed for them, too.

My dad has been a Cambridge police officer for 23 years. He works in the family social justice section of the department. More specifically, he is a Youth Resource Officer (YRO). This means that he works with youth and their families that live in the city. His regular work hours are a revolving shift of Monday through Friday. He has day shifts that are 8am-4pm, or night shifts that are 4pm-12am. Since everything has changed, he now is working 12 hour shifts, 7am-7pm with a four day on two day off schedule.

During his normal shifts he is a School Resource Officer (SRO) for the Vassal Lane Upper School and Tobin Elementary, and he esometimes covers at the high school to support students. Something he also does during his regular shifts are home visits, and works at the youth centers. Now, during the pandemic, he is assisting with the food distribution sites at the schools, and monitoring the homeless shelters in the city. Also, for part of his shift, he has to be visible and available in the squares and parks for people who need assistance. He is also still taking calls that handle domestic disturbances and issues related to juveniles, and he helps with the elderly meal programs. His unit will soon be conducting the safety and security from outside of the War Memorial when it transitions into a shelter for the people who are facing homelessness and who are showing signs of Coronavirus.

Quarantine Fashion

By: Chloe Duggan

During quarantine nobody is getting dressed because we can’t go outside. You may ask, so what’s the point then? Why would someone put on an outfit to stay inside all day? Because of this, the most common quarantine looks are, hoodies, sweatpants, shorts, and basically anything you can sleep in. According to my aunt living in Italy, people who work, and have to go to online meetings will look presentable from the waist up, and be wearing their pajamas from the waist down. What a look! But having to go outside, like to the store, is a whole different story. That could be your moment to dress up!

Right now, the new trend is wearing a mask outside, people are so fashionable. What I like to do in quarantine is plan outfits for when this is all over. You can even use this time to buy clothes online, and maybe support businesses that are closed. Urban Outfitters is having sales every day online which is pretty fun and a great way to score overpriced clothes for cheap! Although the tracking for the clothes I ordered says there “may be delays due to Covid-19,” so I guess buying clothes really discounted will have some negative aspects to it.

There’s something else going on that may not seem like fashion but it still has to do with peoples’ appearance, and that’s hair. Lots of people are changing up their hair either because they have nothing else to do, or if they mess it up no one will see it. Actually, maybe the most obvious reason, is because hair salons are closed. There’s videos of people shaving their heads, cutting their bangs, and giving themselves mullets. Who knows when people will go outside again, so if you’re interested in doing something risky nobody will see (other than the people you live with), change your hair, and see what suits you.

What Does 2020 Do?

By: Luc Marinovich

This is the time of a pandemic and everything is feeling a bit weird, and I’m here to give you the lowdown of what it’s like for me to be alive at this time in history. First, my WiFi is usually actually pretty good--sometimes it even reaches download speeds of over 250 megabytes/second(mb/s)! That’s really good, however, it sometimes also dips and crashes-going down to 10 mb/s for a few seconds then coming back up to around ~140 mb/s which is what it can usually consistently keep up. However, the worst part about this is that it seems to be just numbers sometimes because when I’m playing online (with an ethernet cable) I am always lagging really bad, and that’s not an exaggeration. You can ask anyone I play with, what isn’t so bad is that I have been moving my schedule so that I play online later towards 7 or 8 o’clock and onwards. By doing this I experience less lag and a better environment for whatever lighting I would like.

Secondly, I cut my hair! All of it! Gone! Why? Because I got bored, then realized that we have an entire month off school and even if it doesn’t all grow back in time then I wear a hat (I do that anyways). At first I wanted to create the Avatar Air Bender look because it’s the best kids show of all time and for my 15th birthday I got the entire series on disc. I found out, however, that I don’t like the feeling of having a strip of hair going down the back of my head, so I ended up shaving my hair completely.