Items

• 2021-08-20

  A High School Class "Lost in Space"

  Lining the walls of my school’s athletic center are 113 shields containing the names of the members of the corresponding graduating class. Over this past summer (2021), the alumni association at my high school posted a photo from the Class of 2021 graduation presenting their shield with the caption included in this post. Out of 114 graduating classes, only one is missing from the wall, and that is my grade, the class of 2020. Like the “generation lost in space” referenced in Don McLean’s American Pie, the class of 2020 was the grade lost in space. I do not resent my school for the lack of an effort to ensure our class was included amongst the others. Yet as the wounds created by the pandemic were closing following a year in college, I returned home to find a deafening gap between the shields of 2019 and 2021 on the walls of my home of 13 years. For months, I felt the need to have in my back pocket a thesis to convince others that I had a right to feel disproportionately cheated by the pandemic. To my brother upset about his second year of college, to high school juniors, and to anyone else who dared to undermine my pain. “There are people dying, and you are complaining about your high school graduation?” Walking this hallway suggests that without a graduation ceremony, a high school class will not be documented in what is more or less an archive of the school. Ironically, it seems that perhaps this graduation was more important than anyone acknowledged.
• 
  2020-11-01

  Cancelled due to Covid: the project mapping the abandoned arts events of 2020

  COVID-19 has caused many performing art shows to be closed around the world. Artist Anna Tregloan made a branch of her already established Impossible Project to track what shows by Australian artists that have been cancelled or postponed.
• 2020-03-14

  A life of unpredictable moments.

  During the time of our spring break in 2020 we were headed to Florida with a bunch of friends and my brother who was in high school but got switched to online 2 days before. During that time the pandemic really took off. While we were there everything got shut down in Florida and in Ohio, nervous about if we were still going to be able to make it back to Ohio. In case of a travel band. We were confused and was kinda upsetting while we did have a pool in our back yard everything was getting shut down, the beaches, parks restaurants and basically the whole state of Ohio back home. The thing that was good to come out of this was my younger brother then a senior in high school was able to last minute come with us because his school went remotely. While we spent that whole weekend in the pool and ate the only restaurant that seemed to be running while everything was closing down.
• 
  2020-04-22

  Before Coronavirus, Theatre Was My Salvation. Where Do I Turn Now?

  1. Due to COVID-19 fears, theaters on Broadway and across the country have shut down. Legendary actor and director, Joel Grey reveals the mental health strain this loss has caused for himself and so many in his position, including the loss of work and the community he relied on for support and companionship. Joel Grey writes "Because of the coronavirus, we’re facing a future that sure feels more tenuous and fragile than ever. Projects have been canceled, milestones have already been missed, and all the shows have gone dark. These are hard times, for sure, and in hard times I, like so many others, have always turned to the theater for comfort. Where do we turn now? This tragedy has been made that much more devastating by having to face the nightmare without the laughter, tears and sense of community that a night in the theater delivers."
• 
  2020-05-12

  COVID-19: Creating an Alternative Commencement!

  In communities across the world, children dream of their high school graduation and walking across a stage to receive a diploma. The graduating class of 2020, unfortunately will not share this moment with many classes before them as graduations and all public gatherings have been cancelled during this spring and early summer. This disruption and breach from tradition reveals how we have taken the ritual of graduation for granted as well as many other ceremonies. Society loves ceremony, and while the act of a young adult being handed a piece of paper is not the pinnacle of their accomplishment, the ceremony signifies a rite of passage. Parents and/or caretakers watch the person they have raised receive a credential. Walking across the stage is a momentous point, and for many marks the end of the gestation period. In addition, it recognizes the students’ work and potential, launching them forward into the world. Without this ceremony, students lack the moment that defines a separation of the previous chapter from the next one. Teachers and administrators at some high schools have made “commencement signs” to supplement graduation, and by planting the signs in seniors’ lawns, schools have created an alternate ceremony to officialize the role exit of students. Because our culture loves ceremonies dearly, we feel compassion for high school seniors who are being compromised by the virus and deprived of celebration. The commencement signs in graduates' front yards display students who have the achieved status of completing their formal education, and it reminds us, in a time of introspective isolation, to not lose pride for others or forget our youth. Graduates are like warriors with their positive spirits and persistence through this difficult and adverse time and are being appreciated in a novel way. The signs show us that while many things in our world are currently paused, these students are not, which I feel is a beacon of hope for the future.
• 
  2020-04-25

  New Ritual

  I used to hate baths. The tub too shallow, the water lukewarm. But my husband fixed the hot water heater so I could immerse my body into steaming water, sweat out the impurities of fear and indecision, lethargy and tears for what has been lost. It's a new Ritual. Day 30 of coronavirus lockdown in Aurora, Colorado
• 
  2020-03-08

  Does This Hazmat Suit Come In Teal?

  Prom for many High Schools were cancelled due to the threat of so many children gathering in one place and quickly spreading the virus.
• 
  2020-03-14

  Twitter During COVID-19

  Twitter in a nutshell during the Corona Virus spread