3/25 Gautaman Asirwatham Period 2 - LATE

What is it like working from home?

Working from home gives me the freedom to do whatever I want. This comes with challenges and advantages. I have pursued interests of mine that I had put off for a long time and have had a lot of time to relax and enjoy myself. I have also lacked motivation to participate in school and finish my studies. I never thought senioritis could be so bad. Weighing the pros and cons I would say that quarantine and isolation has been fruitful in many ways. My conception of school and society has changed a lot. I realize that school isn’t what makes you learn but rather the effort it demands of you. I have also learned that I should spend more time doing what I enjoy rather than what is asked of me. I learned that I genuinely liked going to school and that what I hated all along was homework. These realizations will inevitably change the decisions I make in college. I only hope that I do not squander the talents I am gifted with by choosing to enjoy my life more actively.

What are you learning about your world/community based on the reactions?

On an individual level, I am learning how social people are meant to be. With everyone isolating everyone is going a bit crazy. I also am learning how important a routine is as I see my friends slowly fall into degeneracy. I learned that getting sunlight and air is necessary to avoid depression for many people.

On a societal level, I am learning that large scale problems require a severe and visceral impetus to cause change. The US specifically perpetuates many obvious problems simply out of negligence and fear. The list is too long with racial injustice, unsustainable industries, lack of universal healthcare, and many others. The youth are very progressive judging from their public reactions but older people are generally more fearful of change. 

Your own personal feelings and thoughts about what is happening right now.

I feel that isolation creates a unique environment for self growth and understanding and as such people should take advantage of the current global circumstances. I am doing my best to stay positive and productive day by day.

I am sad about the damages caused and lives ruined by the various problems in 2020. I am also sad that many people are not treating each other humanely or listening to each other. I think that when such tragedies are happening we should all try to support each other and solve the problem together. Instead, people are dividing further and not being kind to one another. Of course, this is easier said than done but I believe it is a simple sentiment that goes a long way to make the world better.

Finally, I feel hopeful about the future as many of the world’s problems are being exposed for what they are. In the short term many will suffer but in the future people will be better off for our struggles. If there is another outbreak or social problem people will be faster to solve it and more understanding of each other.

Jacob Fox, Period 1, 5/1/2020 (LATE)

What are the updates around the world/community regarding the virus?

Within a short period of time last week, the subject of media attention has rapidly shifted from updates about Covid-19 to the ongoing protests and demonstrations across the country. Cases in the United States are still increasing at a considerable rate, and this has been exacerbated by the recent reopening of many states. With almost two million cases, over twenty thousand new cases daily and over a hundred thousand deaths, it’s clear that there is still a serious threat. In New York, under the direction of Governor Cuomo, stay at home orders and other restrictions on gatherings and business have been extended until June 27. It’s evident from looking at the numbers that these measures are effective. Comparing the graphs of daily new cases in New in New York versus the entire U.S. shows a clear difference. The highest number of daily cases in new york was 11,571 on April 14. There were 941 new cases on May 31. Comparing that to the entire United States, in which there was a peak of 36137 cases on april 24, but there was still 21703 on May 31. New York has experienced a decline by more than a factor of 12 since the peak, while daily cases in the United States as a whole have declined by less than a factor of 2.


What are you learning about your world/community based on the reactions?

As always, it’s difficult to get people to cooperate when you want to place temporary restrictions on their freedoms. A lot of people make it out like it’s either an all or nothing situation. Either we’re all locked inside our homes by an oppressive government, or we’re free and we can go wherever we want, do whatever we want, and not have to wear masks. Some of the stricter measures to reduce the spread of the virus wouldn’t be necessary if everyone observed some reasonable precautions such as minimizing time spent outside, especially around other people, standing at least six feet apart, and wearing a mask. I’m learning that a lot of people don’t take things seriously until it affects them personally.


Your own personal feelings and thoughts about what is happening right now.

It’s strange to me how quickly everyone has moved on from talking about the virus to talking about the protests. Coronavirus is still a threat, and is affecting the lives of thousands of people across the country. I think that it is entirely possible to stage a peaceful protest while observing the precautions necessary to minimize the spread of Covid-19, and there have been many examples of exactly that occurring across the country. In an ideal world, these types of protests would be the only ones occurring. Police officers would be able to stand by peacefully, only being there to protect the right of the nonviolent protesters to assemble or to intervene if any situation becomes violent. However, some people have been taking advantage of the distractions caused by the protests to vandalize and loot businesses. This has caused issues for law enforcement, and has caused a lot of unnecessary and unwarranted force to be used on demonstrators operating entirely within their first amendment rights. It doesn’t help that the message from the White House has been to condone violent acts against citizens and seemingly seek only to escalate the conflict. I’ve never seen a situation this bad in America in my lifetime.

Jacob Fox, Period 1, 3/11/2020 (LATE)

Write about what you learned in your online English lessons.

Over the past month, we’ve been reading World War Z by Max Brooks. It’s about a zombie apocalypse, but it’s not told from a narrow point of view like most dramatic zombie stories. It’s written in the style of an informational report, documenting the history of the worldwide zombie war. However, the story is not just about the zombies themselves. It’s about the worldwide effect of fear, panic, and ignorance, which causes more destruction than the zombies themselves. It is rich with real life lessons about our nature as humans. We’ve also been working on our final project, which is to create our own monster. Our monster has to be a metaphor of something that happens in real life. This ties in well to the themes of World War Z, and the curriculum as a whole, which reinforces the idea of monsters being a reflection of humanity. Monsters have to be relatable on some level in order to make an interesting and compelling story. Even mindless monsters like zombies, that seem completely disjointed from humanity, Humans fear death and decay, and we fear not being remembered. That fear is personified in the form of a mindless walking corpse that has lost all sense of what it used to be. Still roaming the world as only a shadow of its former self.


How is what you’re learning applied to any other classes/the world around you?

For our final project in macroeconomics, we are playing the stock market game again. We get five thousand dollars which we can invest however we want to try to make as much money as possible over the course of a few weeks. It’s becoming increasing apparent to me that stock prices, especially those of the big name companies are mostly influenced by human psychology and bandwagon mentality. News media headlines play a much bigger role than actual data. This is especially apparent during the volatile situation we currently find ourselves in. With new stories breaking every day, it’s hard to guess what will happen to stocks. Mrs. Fink says it’s all about who gets the information first, because the people who spend the time (or have inside connections) to get information before everyone else can act before the market reacts and make a profit. As we’ve learned from reading World War Z, fear is a powerful motivator, and there are always people waiting to take advantage of it. I’d encourage everyone reading this to look up publicly available statistics about U.S senators selling stocks back in February.


What is it like working from home?

Working from home has been difficult. It’s hard to stay focused with all the distractions. Being able to come to school put me in a certain mindset, and I took for granted the fact that I could talk to any of my teachers in person basically any time I wanted. At first it seemed that completing my last semester of high school from home would be much easier than going to school. Purely in terms of workload, it’s definitely been less. However, actually showing up to a school building makes it much easier to coast by, because you’re always reminded of the work that needs to be done. At home, it’s hard to keep up, with senioritis being in full kick. I can close my computer whenever I want, I can’t just walk out of the school building or skip classes. I’ve had to work very hard recently to get things back on track, and it’s been much more difficult than usual to communicate with my teachers. Still, I’m hopeful that I can close out the year well, and be prepared for college next year.