The Knightly News

With all the time we’re spending in our homes now during quarantine, we thought it fitting to share different aspects of our lives during this period in an effort to stay connected and share experiences. Each week, we will share new artifacts:

One aspect of this pandemic situation for me would be the life at home that I now have. It feels like summer but I am locked in my house, avoiding people instead of meeting them. But I took this picture because my dog is very different from my family right now; he is the happiest he has been. We walk him more now than ever, he gets more play time, and none of us ever leave. Plus on his birthday (this picture) we celebrated it still and made him a dog “cake” and he loved it. – Advait Nair

My artifact is my polaroid box. Social distancing has me missing my friends—a lot. When  I  look at our old memories we talk about our favorite summer nights and the way the moon would cast on the pool while we night swam. It’s truly crazy how much we take time for granted. We always say oh I‘ll do that tomorrow, or I‘ll go visit next week, or oh maybe I‘ll see that concert next time. But life too often is a series of unfinished thoughts and promises. The week school shut down was the week I  was supposed to get my permit; I put it off because I simply forgot to call the instructor. And now, I probably won’t get my license “on time.” If anything has taught me to seize the day, it will definitely be the time that I was sentenced to my house missing out on sweet sixteens, driving, internships, sports. A part of my formative years simply just… disappeared. Yet, while I miss the outside world, I also learn more memories about my entire family, not just my own. I learned that my mom used to go to night classes at community college while my sister was in preschool, and I learned that I used to be able to write in another language and we even dug up old pictures to prove it. There was something about physically holding the pictures that made each moment and story so much more meaningful. That’s why I  chose my Polaroid box, because while I look to the future, I also remember how much love and opportunity that I am surrounded by. – Ananya Dodapati

Due to the unexpected hit of COVID-19, my family’s daily routine has drastically changed. No more fun movie nights, going out for dinner, ice cream, or any kind of entertainment whatsoever. But, that doesn’t mean that we don’t go outside and spend quality time with one another. Every day my family makes it a habit to go outside to the park across from our neighborhood and walk, run, or bike. However, we must do this while wearing masks because of the possibility of the coronavirus being air-born and spreading from person to person. It’s uncomfortable to be panting heavily while running but even more uncomfortable to have a person walk next to you without your mask on. After these refreshing walks, we go for a drive and leave our windows open and when there’s slow traffic we make sure to wear masks where there could be people. My family finds it astonishing how quickly we integrated masks in our “outside gear”. Just like how we wear a puffer coat when it’s snowing or a hat when it’s sunny, we wear a mask when there’s a pandemic. – Anusha Bapat

I often think about when this pandemic will be over or what I would be doing if we were in school, and none of this would happen. I think about all the things my friends and I would talk about, and all the conversations that I would have with my teachers. As a way to let these thoughts out, I have been journaling more. Putting pencil to paper and letting all my ideas and my feelings out makes me feel like I have someone listening to my thoughts, even if it’s just future me reading back on what’s happening right now. Aside from journaling being a nice way to let my feelings out and feel heard, it is also a little bit of a time capsule. When I’m feeling particularly sad, I go back and read about the things I’ve already done and the goals that I set for myself. Journaling has given me a little bit of peace during an uncertain time. – Camila Angola

This is my artifact photo! During quarantine I’ve had the ability to play with makeup a lot. My friend group decided to have makeup weeks where we do our interpretations on certain themes. For instance, the top two are my interpretations on the goddesses Iris (the goddess of rainbows) and Aphrodite (the goddess of love). The bottom two are my interpretations on two out of the seven deadly sins. My sins were gluttony and wrath. I’ve had a deep love and interest for makeup since I was younger and with all of this free time my creativity has gone through the roof! – Cassidy Zhuang