Nora Fried

Hello! I am a junior Geography and Geology student from Montclair, New Jersey. I love spending time outdoors, hiking, running, rock climbing, and canoeing!

November 9, 2020

"We all know it’s happening and yet it feels like nothing has changed? Where are we now? The second wave? Maybe the third - honestly I’ve lost track. Covid cases are on the rise all over the country but the Midwest has lit up Red, infection rates reaching new heights every day this past week. The NYTimes reports “stattered records” and full hospital beds. And yet life goes on. Without stay at home orders from the governor, events are still taking place, people still eating at restaurants and drinking at bars (before 10pm of course), attending weddings and shopping for winter clothing, the staff at home depot still parade around with mask in hand or worse, sitting comfortably just below their nose. After all this time you would think rising rates of infection would encourage people to stay at home and yet, I worry that without mandated restriction all the lives saved in months of quarantine will be lost in the bat of an eye.

We have become less afraid of the virus as the months in isolation have gone on, it seems that we are entering one of the worst moments and yet, because the fear has fled, the significance of the increasing infection rate is diminished."

November 26, 2020 - A Thanksgiving far away from home

"In my family, Thanksgiving is the only holiday that everyone enjoys. Don’t get me wrong, the harvest celebration brings its fair share of disgruntled relatives and sibling fights, but it is also the only holiday that my whole family, of which some identify as Jewish and some do not, enjoy together each year. And let me tell you, it’s a festive celebration, we truly pull out all the stops. As for food, we’ve got your usual Thanksgiving fair, turkey and stuffing, as well as some family specialties, Nanny’s apricot sour cream jello mold (a flash back to the 60s) and Mrs. Adler’s famous apple cake. Traditionally, at least for my whole life, we have gathered in Philadelphia at my Aunt Harin’s house for this family feast. In addition to the family dinner, “turkey” day comes with its own slew of family traditions; a morning “turkey trot” five mile run, an afternoon frisbee or soccer game at the local elementary school, a ritualistic fight about which napkins to set at the table and who to seat next to whom. As much as I complain that the food is excessive, as much as I honestly hate the Thanksgiving rigamarole, there too is something beautiful about the way it brings the whole family together.

This is not the first year I have physically missed a family Thanksgiving, but it is the first year that I have really missed being at the family Thanksgiving. This year felt different, feeling isolated in quarantine with my roommates, I really missed the family Thanksgiving celebrations. I know that I am not alone, separated families defined this year’s adjusted festivities but it didn’t make it easier to be far away from my family. "

Image Credits

Old Main, Macalester College, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Main-Macalester.jpg