4/2/2020 Kevin Chen Period 7

4/2/2020

Kevin Chen 

Period 7

What is it like working from home?

Working from home is both stressful and calming at both points. Since I have all day

to myself, I still strive through the struggles to overcome the pandemic which is in our

hands. Even though we have freedom, we still have to continue our daily lives which

includes doing our schoolwork. We get a ton of work from our teachers which balances

out the stress and relaxation period. I’m not too fond of working at home because it is

difficult to always be working with technology. It is getting difficult for the teacher to teach

and the students to listen. I’ve stayed at home for more than two weeks and I’ve felt like I

lost track of time. Is it Monday or is it Tuesday? Either way I went crazy and one whole

week feels like just a day.

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

I just feel mildly depressed because I can't socialize with other people. I’m stuck with the

same old people for years so it's boring for me. My parents are so paranoid because

“OMG if you step outside the house, you will catch the disease.” I just don't like people that

are paranoid as long as we don’t go into a crowded area. Everyday I hear ambulances

outside from my window and I start to worry more and more. “When will this situation

come to an end?” I wondered. But i don't really care because all i do is sit in my bedroom

just lazily binging and playing games. I’m fine but i just wish this would go by faster and

sooner. I just feel bad because I never got to talk to my friends and I wonder what life will

be like after this crisis. 

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

This pandemic has brought the world down to its knees and harshly affected our

economic growth. In just two weeks, 10 million jobs have vanished. Since everyone is

staying home, not many people are working. Otherwise, they will be working at home.

Many jobs were gone but some still exist, maybe such as supermarkets or pharmacies.

And as the numbers of the infected are increasing, leaders around the world are restricting

traveling and movements. So far there are 981,428 cases of the Coronavirus and only

50,255 deaths. 206,272 cases have recovered. It is sad to see such an exponential

growth in the numbers of infected. It’s just sad because some people still want to go out

and mingle. And some are taking advantage of people staying in their houses such as

con-people who go door to door robbing people. The US is currently number one with a

total case of 227,061 cases.

4/2/20 Huda Jafri PD 5

4/2/2020

Huda Jafri 

Period 5

Blogger #12

■ What is it like working from home?

Remote learning has been fairly enjoyable so far, as I can complete my work at my own pace without feeling rushed. I’ve always been good at handling stress regarding homework and tests, however, it’s a different case at school. In math and science, I tend to take a bit more time than my peers when solving questions, which can be frustrating, but online school has helped minimize that issue as I am able to focus more on myself rather than those around me. In addition, although I do get easily distracted during zoom calls, I've noticed that I've been much more efficient. I’ve been doing my work as soon as I get it, as I’m now able to time out my day myself. 

Despite all these perks, there are still drawbacks. For instance, due to the three-day cycles, I don’t start class until 11:00 except for B days, when I have class at 9:00. During regular school, I always woke up on time, but having it online has decreased the sense of urgency I felt about school. This has led to me sleeping through my 9:00 class twice already. Regardless, I would say the benefits definitely outweigh the costs. 

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

Globally, there are currently 962,882 confirmed corona virus cases, with 49,191 deaths and 203,274 recoveries. The United States has the most cases, 216,265, with Italy coming in at second with 110,574. In the United States, New York has the highest number of cases with 83,901 confirmed. New Jersey has the second most with 22,255, followed by California at 9,937. 

Yesterday, April 1. Florida’s governor announced a state-wide stay at home order, meaning people are required to stay at home unless absolutely necessary. Cases in Italy are currently peaking according to The Financial Times, which means the worst for them may be over. In addition, according to The Washington Post, the infection curve is said to be flattening in San Francisco and Washington state, proving that social distancing is working. 

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

The biggest lesson I learned through all this was that people don’t pay attention until it’s too late. The reaction I was most shocked by was my own. During regents week break in January, I remember having plans to go to the city with my friends, but someone canceled due to their mom being “paranoid about a virus”. My friends and I dubbed this as exaggerating and went anyway. That same friend said her mom made her start wearing masks on public transportation on her way to school, and then stopped her from going out with her friends in areas besides Staten Island. This was all while the virus was still said to be in China. At the time, my friend thought her mom was being unreasonably anxious, and we were both assured that there was nothing to worry about. Knowing what we know now, we may have taken her warnings a bit more seriously and been a bit more careful about going out. 

As for other people, the media has made it easy to see the bad parts of our society. Every day there’s a new story about people being assaulted for wearing masks or videos of people licking subway poles. Racist and xenophobic attacks have increased drastically against Asians. The truth is, this isn’t because of the virus. Ignorant people will look for reasons to be ignorant. This virus is just a scapegoat for them. Racism isn’t reprehensible. 

In spite of all this, it’s important not to lose sight of the good in the world. For every story about people fighting over the last pasta box, there’s another about someone helping the elderly do their grocery shopping. The main thing I learned about my community through all of this is that good people are everywhere. Although the negatives are often pushed into our face, we need to have faith that there are still positives, even if they’re harder to see. 

3/31/20 Henry Chen Pd 2

Henry Chen, Blogger #7 3/31/20 Gods, Monsters, and the Apocalypse (Period 2) - What is it like working from home? As it stands now, online learning is working wonders for me. Since the school day has been cut short, and I don't need to spend time commuting to school, I have much more free time. Furthermore, the structure of most online lessons fits my style of learning and allows me to work at my own pace. In general, the school day has become much more relaxing for me. In many cases, I can interact with classmates and teachers during classes, so my state of "quarantine" has not significantly deterred input from other sources of thought.  Initially, I had a slight fear of having to transition to online courses, predicting that I would never make it on time to classes and that my work ethic would suffer. Neither has become a serious issue now. Since physical movement to/between classrooms has become irrelevant, making it to class on time is quite trivial. And because teachers allot generous amounts of time to students for assignments, much of my work ends up complete one way or another.  Although I must say, my home is not the ideal environment for physical exercises.  - Your own personal feelings and thoughts about what is happening right now.  I don't completely understand the prevailing obsession with hoarding toilet paper. I use toilet paper, napkins, and the like at alarming rates, but I mostly attribute that to germaphobia and OCD, and the rates haven't changed as a result of  the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus. I imagined that other people wouldn't care as much about toilet paper supplies as I did, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  Logically, a hoarder should seek out goods that will eventually become unavailable to them. As such, the stockpiling of toilet paper might seem reasonable at first glance, since people will eventually be unwilling to leave the house (and expose themselves to the virus) just to buy toilet paper. However, not going out essentially bars you from buying anything, so hoarders' focus on toilet paper doesn't make much sense. A person might also accumulate items that would help them combat a threat in the future. In this situation, such items would offer defense against or relief from the coronavirus, like surgical masks and hand sanitizer do. No type of toilet paper out there does either. I'm sure of it. The only other reasons (that I can think of off the top of my head) for a person to hoard would be to ensure survival or the preservation of lifestyle. The former can be ruled out. You can't eat toilet paper. The latter might make sense, but it would imply that people really do use toilet paper so quickly that they have no choice but to stockpile.  But, as many have already said, people don't actually need all those rolls--or at least those who hoard. Seems people want to act, in any way possible, to fight the pandemic, and obtaining toilet paper is the most popular option. After all, buying a roll of toilet paper is easy enough, right? I do miss the good old days, when people didn't enter mortal combat or commit armed theft over paper.  Toilet paper is the future. Throw away your dollar bills and coins and digital money. It's a smart idea to stay ahead.  - Write about your thoughts regarding the reading. It took me a bit, but I noticed that Claudia never goes through any sort of ritual to complete her transformation into a vampire. She simply draws blood from Lestat and becomes undead. That bothers me, since I always thought the murder involved in Louis's ritual was invariably necessary for one to transform themselves. To me, it is his rejection of humanity (through killing) that actually turns Louis from a mortal into an unholy creature. Claudia does no such thing, and though that results in some interesting character growth (as Lestat forces her into a life she doesn't accept), it makes Louis's whole ordeal seem a bit unnecessary.  So why does Louis despise his existence more than Claudia and Lestat do theirs? One could argue that he regrets having taken all the lives he did, but that regret, to me, is largely absent in his own description of his thought processes  in Part I. If anything, Claudia and Lestat should be the self-loathing ones, since they didn't even make the choice to become vampires and are still subject to the dark implications of their undead state. I suppose the reason they aren't is  because one was a child, likely with little moral education, before transforming and the other feels little for those he kills. My theory: Louis is simply in self-denial, as Lestat suggests. He doesn't understand that, deep down, he's fine with taking lives to satiate his thirst. After all, he lost his morality when he was still a human and participated in the murder of the overseer. All those thoughts he has about his nature and sins are empty. All that drivel about suffering to live must be, since we know he fears death. Deep down, he's just as evil as Lestat, and he should either accept it or die. What will he do? Become like Dio? Pull a Straizo? Or perhaps continue to sulk like Edward? I'll have to wait and see.

4/1/20 Helen Huang Period 8

Modern Mythology 2020

Helen Huang PD8 (Blogger #8)

4/1/20

What is it like working from home?

Working from home has lowered the stress level for many of my peers and I since we have more choice in how to spend our free time. This is mainly due to the fact that our school days are split up into 3-day cycles where each day only consists of three 75-minute blocks. This new schedule has benefitted me by allowing me to sleep for a total of 14-15 hours a day instead of being limited to 7-8 hours. More sleep benefits us students by making us better rested so that when we try our best to focus, we are more productive. However, it is also up to me to plan out my work effectively so that I’m not procrastinating too much. There is no requirement to get a little bit of homework for each subject done each day so if you don’t manage your time, you’ll be rushing to finish assignments right before they’re due. In this manner, I find that the remote learning experience is helping me better understand/ get used to how classes in college will be like. During this quarantine, my living area has become significantly noisier than usual so something new is that I have learned to cherish the alone/quiet time that I can get.

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

There have been at least 83,712 confirmed cases of the coronavirus discovered in the state, including more than 47,439 in New York City. At least 1,941 people with COVID-19 have died in the state, which has the largest number (around 40 percent) of confirmed cases in the U.S. Nationwide, more than 190,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed across the country. At least 4,310 people have died from the virus in the country, where 25 states have confirmed more than 1,000 cases. COVID-19 has killed more than 44,200 worldwide. Governor Cuomo said that 12,226 people are hospitalized and 3,022 are in the ICU. He also said that of the people put on ventilators, they appear to have a 20% survival rate. However, the good news is that so far, 6,142 people have been released from the hospital. Cuomo said the projection model he's following shows the apex in the end of April. Of the possible 100,000 national deaths projected, Cuomo says 16,000 of those deaths could be in New York. The governor claimed that this model says it could go on through July. New York is currently the hotspot for the coronavirus and predicted future centers for the virus are Detroit, New Orleans, and Dallas. This will likely keep schools and many businesses closed down.

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

Ever since early February my parents have been advising/warning me to not go to any crowded places such as the mall or restaurants. The only exception was school because they view that as very important. My parents were so worried about the chance of me catching it on the crowded buses that my dad started waking up early just to drive me to school. I made the mistake of going to the city over Midwinter Recess which resulted in me catching the flu, one that kept me out of school for 11 days. When social distancing/ quarantining yourself was recommended in the middle of March, many people didn’t take it seriously because they didn’t truly understand the risk of them hanging out. They probably thought that nothing would happen if they were in small groups of four, like my mindset in February. It took until positive cases of COVID-19 started to pop up in NYC schools that I believed in staying inside. Unfortunately, it took many deaths for the majority of people to act responsibly. Whoever is still going outside for non-essential reasons is selfish for increasing the risk of spread to those around them. One academic concern I do have is if I will pass my AP exams due to the new format.

4/1/20 Ryan Chee PD 7

Ryan Chee Modern Mythology 2020

Period 7         Blogger #:5

4/1/20

What is it like working from home?

Remote learning is definitely a new experience for me. With the classes being split

between three days, there is sufficient time to do all of my work. The classes also start

later so I have more time to sleep and have enough time to eat breakfast which i don’t

usually eat. If I wake up really late, I can easily make up the work since I’m given all of the

resources I need. Each period is now 75 minutes, a sufficient amount of time to learn what

I have to in order to complete the assignment. The 45 minute break that we have in

between each period is also something that I appreciate very much. The break allows me

some time to rest or get up to move around. This makes it so that i’m not completely worn

out from sitting in a chair through consecutive classes. The workload is also pretty fair

since we are given three days to complete the assignments for each day. As someone

who likes to take my time doing work, not having to hand in my assignments immediately

is a blessing. SInce I am in a different setting, I find myself more relaxed and have more

freedom. When I’m in my room, I can play music while working which helps me concentrate.

Transitioning to remote learning was actually pretty easy. The work wasn’t any different

from what I would normally do at school. That might be because I’m already used to doing

all my work on my phone and computer. All in all, I have found this quite enjoyable, even

with everything that’s going on around the world.

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

As of April 1st, there are currently over 900,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and

over 47,000 deaths worldwide. Out of all the countries, the U.S. has the most

confirmed cases at 215,000 cases and over 5,000 deaths. New York has the

most cases in the U.S. at almost 84,000 with New Jersey coming in second at around

22,000. This amount is only going to continue increasing as more people start

developing symptoms and go in for tests. Hospitals are having difficulty trying to test

everyone since the U.S. does not currently have enough testing kits. President Trump

has claimed that this problem has been resolved but many still argue that resources are

scarce. In New York, schools are expected to be closed until 4/20/2020. There is no

current notice of an extension to this period of self isolation. In my opinion, I believe

that there will be an extension as the number of cases continue to rise. As of now,

many people are facing financial difficulties due to the imposed isolation and the

futures of numerous small businesses and even a few big ones are looking bleak.

Personal feelings and thoughts

When word of the disease first came about, many people didn’t take it too seriously.

In fact, I must admit that i didn't take it very seriously at the beginning as well.

Then, we had our first case in the U.S. All of a sudden, things became so much more real.

In a little less than two weeks, there was a huge jump in the number of cases,

forcing schools to close down and people to self isolate. It came as a huge surprise and I

couldn't actually believe it. I don’t think anyone of us thought that it would actually spread

this far. As a senior, I couldn’t help but think that my year was basically ruined. It has

become a meme that the class of 2020 would be graduating through a video call. In the

following week, I saw news of many people freaking out and stocking up on massive

amounts of toilet paper. I thought that these people were overreacting. There is no need to

buy ten packs of toilet paper. People rushed to stores, and started buying everything in

bulk. By the end of the week, the aisles of all the big stores were cleared out, completely

empty. On the other hand, I also saw the ignorance of many people. There were people

that were still willing to go out, not caring about how they could be affecting other people,

whether they had the virus or not. These people were either completely clueless about

what was going on or they just were stupid enough to not care. I can remember on the

day where all unnecessary businesses were to be closed down, my sister had received a

phone call from a customer looking to make an appointment at the nail salon. I was

astonished at what the woman was saying. It was well known that people should be

staying in yet here was someone willing to go out just to get their nails done. In the

end, I feel that people should be taking this epidemic seriously but also shouldn’t be

going overboard.

4/1/20 Nouraldeen Ibrahim PD 5

Nouraldeen Ibrahim
4/1/20
Period 5
Blogger #11


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

1984 sheds lights on many invaluable things in current day society and in the past. First of all, it connects to what we were learning in our AP world class about the U.S.S.R. 1984 displays a dystopian society that is allegorical to Soviet Russia. Big Brother holds a very similar role as Joseph Stalin who both used propaganda to inflate their status and ideas. The thought police is very similar to the great purges that happened under Stalin. Any person who defied communism or Stalin's political power was killed or arrested. Similarly, in 1984 the thought police watched over everyone on surveillance cameras and made sure no one composed anti-Party thoughts. This also relates to the world around me, but to a lesser extent. Media and News hold very significant power in pulling people to believe certain things and hold opinions. Many citizens rely on news sources for all their information, and do not question what they hear as long as it is from a political figure they admire. This holds true in 1984 since people blindly follow the Party and support Big Brother. Once they believe "2+2=4", much of the truth will begin to uncover. 


What is it like working from home? 

I feel like working from home is proving to be a change that might last even after this pandemic. Once teachers start getting used to technology, or are forced to, working from home will be much more efficient than working in school. Although you lack crucial things such as face to face interactions, Zoom calls almost perform the same thing. However, things such as hands on learning will be hard to replicate at home. Still, working from home has many advantages that might influence its future. For example, the worry of commuting is no longer a problem. Not only is it easier for people to get to class on time and have a great sleep schedule, reduced cars in the environment will be fantastic. Specifically, I find the schools R.E.M.O.T.E learning plan great and effective. Having 3 classes a day helps the students focus their attention on specific subjects rather than splitting their attention across classes during a normal school day. Also, students are most likely less stressed since they don't have to go to 9 classes straight with four minute intermissions. With this schedule, we have 45 minute breaks between classes and we still end earlier than a normal school day. Working from home also creates time to spend with family that is usually hindered during school days. Making time for exercise is also very easy after the remote learning change. I do feel that if remote learning was to be permanent, there would be more than 3 classes per day. Just as david said in his blog, the three day wait between classes opens up a possibility for students to forget. This means that there should be more classes per day so you have classes more often and not forget. Still, I do believe that teachers are doing a great job creating enrichment activities to combat this issue and to keep students engaged. For example, Mrs.Fusaro's Weekly Thread creates engagement between students and prompts critical thinking. You are able to answer the questions on the lessons deeply which is usually more rushed during class. We are also able to reply to students comments in this thread which is helpful to understand other opinions. Overall, I feel like remote learning still has progress to make, but is outstanding under the minuscule preparation time.

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

I feel amazed and surprised about what is happening right now. I would have never guessed the Friday before school closed that I wouldn't return until at least mid April. I thought the situation would become milder and milder. I was looking forward to continuing things such as my SERP project in school but I was surprised to see the announcement for schools to be closed. When looking back, I am grateful for this decision as I see the current state of coronavirus. Hospitals are overflowed and supplies are running low. This shows that social distancing and canceling of mass gatherings is more important than ever. As a student who is interested in health care, I am truly thankful for all the health workers who sacrifice their own health for the well being of others. If schools had not closed, this situation would have rose to a whole different level, considering its already major effect in New York. I wonder how the world will change after this pandemic and how organizations will respond to the current situation. For example, The College Board made a very swift decision to create at home AP exams <https://pages.collegeboard.org/collegeboard-covid-19-updates>. I personally feel like the current situation is something out of a movie (by the way check out the movie contagion, you won't regret it). As I saw all the events I planned to go to being canceled I realized the scale of this occurrence. Many of my plans for future have been swayed to a different direction and I am exploring ways to combat this. Overall, this pandemic is something we were not prepared for as a society. Thus, I hope people could learn from this experience to invest more in Medical research and hospitals.

3/31/20 Brendan Gallo Period 8

3/31/20

Brendan Gallo, Modern Mythology Period 8

What is it like working from home?

Remote learning is very different from normal lessons, and the adjustment period has been strange. It's only been a week since we started remote learning, and because of that some of my teachers are still figuring out the most effective way to teach. Despite this, I've actually really enjoyed it so far. I don't have to commute to school, so I can sleep longer, and the way classes are scheduled allows me to work more at my own pace. If I am confused about a topic, I can more freely search or ask a friend for help, two things I can't always do in some classes. One downside to remote learning is that I'm getting distracted easier and more often. Since there's no longer a risk of getting caught doing something unrelated, I sometimes drift away from the work and do something else. This is something I'm working on fixing. Overall, the remote learning experience has been calmer and more stress-free for me and while I hope we can go back to school in the near future, it's something I wouldn't mind continuing.

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

The US now has more coronavirus cases than any other country in the world with over 184,000 cases, over 75,000 of which are in New York. The Trump Administration has predicted that anywhere between 100,000 and 240,000 people in the country could die from the virus. As Trump puts it, “This is going to be the roughest three weeks we’ve ever had in this country”. For something more local, It's been announced that remote learning will be continuing in New York through spring break, effectively "cancelling" the vacation. To be honest, I was expecting something like this to happen as there was an unplanned week off before the remote learning started. While it was initially upsetting to hear, I completely understand that we've already lost a lot of school time and we can't afford to lose much more. 

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

I've been reflecting on when I first learned about the coronavirus. I don't believe it had left China at that point, and I was thinking that it was some minor virus they would have under control in a month. It seems I couldn't have been more wrong. It's become a global pandemic that's likely going to take the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions. I've been noticing how different people and stores have completely different responses to the virus, even if it doesn't make sense. As an example, my mom and I went to a Walmart and Sam's Club as we were running low on food. Despite being owned by the same company, the stores had very different responses - Sam's Club had a line outside to make sure the store wasn't getting too crowded and had workers making sure people were at least six feet apart. In the store, employees were handing out sanitizing wipes and cleaning the shopping carts. Walmart, on the other hand, did absolutely nothing differently - anyone was allowed to walk in and nobody seemed to be concerned with the cleanliness of the store. It just upsets me that we're in the epicenter of the pandemic and stores like Walmart still don't care about people's health. They're spreading the virus even further  and something needs to be done about it.