“Coronavirus’ impact on the US and the world has been a constant reminder of my privilege, as I’m lucky enough to have been insulated from some of the worst effects that COVID-19 has had on others. I’m a only a third-year in college, and I know that I’ll have a chance to see my friends before we graduate and go our separate ways. Our school is on the quarter system, so I also didn’t have to deal with an abrupt shift in my academic schedule / grading scheme and location midway through my classes. 

More importantly: my family and friends are healthy. I’m financially dependent on my parents, who have maintained employment and are working as much as ever. In theory, I’d be studying abroad in Athens this quarter, but the loss of that opportunity is nothing compared to what I’ve gained in being able to feel safe at home given the whole situation. Even when my original internship was cancelled for the summer, I was lucky enough to find another (remote) position only a few weeks thereafter. On paper, this is about as good as it gets.

The hard part has been maintaining my mental health, which I’ve only been able to do through projecting all of my anxiety onto distant things. I pushed myself to take 5 classes this quarter—with that, exercising, keeping student clubs running, and playing around with my old bass guitar every once in a while, I’ve confiscated a lot of the downtime that would usually allow everything to get to my head. I’ve been very escapist in coming home and ignoring any of my imminent responsibilities regarding next year’s housing situation, and have neglected a lot of my distant friendships in the process. I don’t know when I’ll be able to / push myself to see my fourth-year roommates and friends again, but the idea of being suffocated in my Hyde Park apartment and being constantly battered by the residual negative energy from the usual hustle/bustle of the school year would truly be too much for me to handle right now. Maybe this is a very specific case of Stockholm Syndrome, but I wouldn’t call living it up at the University of Chicago the opposite of that, either.

And yes, Chili’s and a few other fine establishments are now reopened in Gainesville, FL. I don’t know if there’s a good way to express something along the lines of ‘I hope the south gets what they have coming’ But yeah, some variant of that.”