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  2020-12-01

  Exercise in a Pandemic

  When COVID struck my hometown, I thought it would not affect many things. I thought we would still be able to hang out in our local park doing our normal activities, including playing basketball at the courts. Although things started to close earlier and COVID started affecting our daily lives, we were still able to play for a few weeks. It was a surprise when one day my friends were playing basketball at the park and a sheriff pulled up to the courts to tell everyone they needed to leave the courts. My friends grabbed their stuff and left. We didn’t think much about it and went back to the courts to play again, but when we got there we found that both courts had yellow tape around them and that the basketball hoops had the rims removed so nobody could use them anymore. This was a big shock to me because I never thought that would happen. Basketball is a huge part of my life and was one of the ways I could get some exercise and hang out with my friends as restrictions on gatherings grew stricter. What is even crazier is that they still have not put the rims back up on the hoops even though the restrictions in my town have become less strict. Soccer games are happening at the school. People are working out in gyms and dining inside. The backboards remain bare. The local courts are silent.
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  2020-11-30

  Home for The Holidays

  I live in Florida and my friend goes to school in Vermont, but for the holiday's she decided to come home. We knew this would be risky situation with her flying and having stops between, so I was able to get an extra rapid test for her since my family was already getting tested. We haven't seen each other since August, so we had been eager to be back at home together again, even though things are so different. Everyone has gone through a difficult time this year; one of the things I feel hit home is that my final stages of "childhood" and cherishing everything before I move was not at all what I wanted it to be. Now that my best friend and I are safely home together for winter break, I know we will both be doing our best to soak up all of our hometown before everything changes for good.