LEVELS OF PROTECTION BASED ON LIFE EXPERIENCES

It took me a while to decide what to write about this week, just because there is so much happening at once and it’s impossible to sort out my thoughts on one topic when new information is coming out every minute about fifty other equally as important topics. However, one thing that has been on my mind throughout this pandemic is how different people are reacting based on their own medical histories. Some of my friends are averagely paranoid, taking the right steps to stay safe and listening to government advice as they should be. Some friends, who have seemed to escape any medical issues thus far, are more relaxed, knowing that if they get the virus it will most likely come off as a bad flu and they’ll go on their way in a few weeks. No hospital, maybe some Tylenol and home quarantine. Then there are my friends and I who are immunocompromised, the friends who know that if we contract the virus (God forbid) there will be a ventilator in our future. This article that I read for Danielle’s class last week has stuck with me in noticing who is “immunoprivileged” and who has the benefit of not worrying.  Talking to friends, it interests me to see how they go about protecting themselves or their families from the virus, and what their reactions are to each new enforced method of protection. (All of my friends are quarantining at their respective homes.) 

Even though I’ve been to the hospital and been severely sick throughout my life, I still don’t feel the need to be as extreme as my friends who are in perfect health who wash their shoes after going out or who quarantine groceries for a week before putting them in the fridge. Perhaps it’s my perspective? “Nothing can be as bad as XYZ, so it’s not worth it to be panicked over something more minor”? People who are only children or who are the oldest seem to be the most worried or have the most worried parents. Everyone’s individual experiences inform how they’re reacting to wearing or not wearing masks, how often they wash their hands or shoes or wipe down their groceries. There is a sense of judgment from each person whenever someone voices their methods of protection. Some friends may think others are being too paranoid, or too nonchalant based on their own experiences. I wonder who will be “right” when the time comes. Will the more extreme people be better off in the end and the nonchalant people will be more at risk, or vice versa? 

ZOOM MEME

I saw this meme on a facebook page for students, “Zoom Memes for Self Quaranteens” and was a little confused on how to feel about it. During this quarantine and new period of online schooling, I, like the majority of students right now, am anxious and slightly worried about how grades will look for this semester or for semesters moving forward. The concepts of pass/no pass or Universal Pass have been contentious topics for many students and it’s all my friends and I can talk about. Everyone sizes each other up on whether or not their colleges are implementing pass/no pass or Universal Pass, and I have found that there are very polarizing reactions to people who want Universal Pass AND for those who want to stay with the standard grading system. 

I cannot tell if this meme is for or against pass/no pass, and what it is attempting to criticize. In my opinion, this user does not want pass/no pass, but I guess I would have to ask them to truly know. Why I posted this particular meme is because of the surveilling aspect that comes with expressing your opinion on pass/no pass versus standard grading. When I discuss with my friends, the ones who want standard grading are the ones who are looking to medical school or graduate school, while the ones who want universal pass or pass/no pass are the ones who are having possibly financial issues at home or who have more pressing things to worry about than grades, whether that be a sick family member, passing all of their classes, or managing schoolwork with limited resources. Also, seeing which schools have implemented universal pass or pass/no pass, in my opinion, is very telling of how the administration sees their students as either data points or people. Universities have been publicly praised or condemned for either changing or maintaining their grading system, and at times I worry about how I am seen in relation to my university when people ask how we’re approaching grades moving forward. I feel as if I have to justify the administration’s choices and defend my school, or at times make it clear that I have different views from my administration, depending on who I’m talking to. 

I’ve heard people who want pass/no pass labeled as “lazy” or not caring about school, while I’ve heard people who want standard grading called “privileged” and elitist. This topic has become something that I tiptoe around with certain friends, worried about what they’ll think of me because I want pass/no pass or because they don’t. In seeing how people value or rank their education based on their life experiences has changed how I look at my own education and access to education in relation to others, but also in relation to my own life and priorities. 

CORONA TIME
I have been home for 35 days, and the only reason I know the exact number is because a countdown app on my phone has been keeping track for me. Almost every day, whether I mention it or someone in my family mentions it, someone brings up how quarantine has felt like an alternate reality, with altered time. Everything moves slower long term, like how March felt three months long, and minutes zoom by faster than usual. I call it “corona time,” my little sister calls it being “in the Q”, my mom doesn’t want to address it, but everyone feels the difference. There is no consistency in how time is measured anymore, in my opinion. Because we’re confined to one location and because I work, eat, sleep, socialize, and exist in basically the same two rooms, there’s no separation in activities. 

On campus, I had a set schedule of things to do and places to be. I knew what time it was based on what room I was in or was heading to. If I was in the basement of Wilder, it was either nearing 9:30pm or 2 in the morning. If I was in my dorm room, it was 11am, and if I was in my friend’s dorm room, it was between 4 and 11pm. At home, there is no need to be in any specific room at any specific time. My lack of movement has almost confused my mind into thinking that no time has passed. I am both infinitely impatient and calm, lazy and stressed. I have divided my personal activities into slow activities and fast activities to see if I can decipher some pattern or consistency. The slow activities are the ones with my family inside the home or when doing schoolwork. Meals, watching movies as a group, doing puzzles, sitting in class all move slowly. The fast activities are family hikes, sitting on social media, and doing schoolwork alone (mostly due to the time change.) Meals seem to drag on forever, in a good way. The other day, we were on a hike and I checked my phone for the time and we had been walking for an hour and a half although it only felt like 30 minutes. Boring classes trek on forever as they did before I left campus (I can’t tell if that’s a positive or a negative) but sometimes I’ll open an app, look at the time, and realize that it’s been two hours. Maybe I'll come up with a new time system, measuring days in Walking Dead episodes or number of belly rubs I give my dog. Either way, corona time is real thing that has made this quarantine harder to cope with and harder for me to maintain constant positivity on the daily. I wonder if the managing of time will become easier or more frustrating as the quarantine goes on, or if we will eventually fall into a new normal timing that makes more sense of the chaos. 

COVID WORKOUTS
Anti- Covid: https://www.tiktok.com/@julianmfit/video/6804524112157969670? u_code=d878h63j2mmmjc&language=en×tamp=1586216267&user_id=6734821883532968966&utm_campaign=client_share&app=musically&utm_medium=ios&user_id=6734821883532968966&tt_from=sms&utm_source=sms&source=h5_m

Snacking: https://www.tiktok.com/@taylor.morland/video/6807447288529652998?u_code=d878h63j2mmmjc&preview_pb=0&language=en&timestamp=1586215723&user_id=6734821883532968966&utm_campaign=client_share&app=musically&utm_medium=ios&user_id=6734821883532968966&tt_from=sms&utm_source=sms&source=h5_m  

I have seen quite a few of these home workout videos for people looking to be active during quarantine, mostly on the social media platform TikTok. While there is definitely nothing wrong with wanting to stay fit during isolation, I find it interesting the way that the videos are presented. In a few of the short clips like the ones linked above, are discussing how people either should be working out in order to maintain a certain body to offset food intake or how working out and staying fit will somehow protect you from contracting COVID-19, a disease that clearly does not discriminate. The videos are enforcing the idea that we must be productive during this quarantine and must have something to show after we get out.

The videos, filmed by already toned, pretty fitness gurus with six packs, are set to peppy music with pastel lettering, clouding the fatphobia that surrounds each frame. People are on one hand preaching self care and being kind to one another and ourselves during this tough time, but also shaming each other for not maximizing their time off of work or not jumping at every opportunity to self improve while we “have the time.” I personally have felt like my world has been thrown upside down, and the last thing on my mind at the moment is maintaining a toned physique for the day two months in the future when I go to the beach after the quarantine is lifted. Self care in this time takes on so many forms and varies for each person and with each situation. These videos not only perpetuate the idea that fit = healthy = invincible, but also that people must be fit in order to be productive or in order to accomplish anything. 

ADVERTISEMENTS

These advertisements (brands pictured are McDonalds, Nike, Audi, and Volkswagen) have been circulated online recently, created by big corporations to promote social distancing and to help “flatten the curve.” I am conflicted in how to feel about these ads and their sentiments because on one hand, it seems beneficial to have big names support social distancing and encourage everyone to do their part in flattening the curve. On the other hand, I can’t help but feel more disgusted and disappointed in that everything must be turned into a marketing opportunity. These specific advertisements prominently feature an altered logo practicing “Social Distancing”, almost personifying the company and portraying the corporation as normal people susceptible to COVID19, rather than huge businesses that will more likely than not still exist and continue to thrive after the world has settled. This pandemic should be the wake up call for the world to reprioritize health, safety, and communication rather than making money or maintaining brand loyalty and image. There are reports of how many companies are not giving their workers paid sick leave or only giving very limited assistance to their employees (for example, McDonalds is only giving benefits to employees of at corporate locations, and it is up to individuals franchise to decide how or if to financially support their employees.) It is laughable that the companies are trying to encourage their customers to stay in and stay safe while not protecting their own employees, actively putting them in harm’s way to continue business. Is the new logo a marketing ploy more than an act of solidarity? I can’t help but think so. This can only be a marketing strategy to boost the companies’ images as socially conscious businesses that value their customers even in times of distress.