TCNJ

11 FALL 2020 I held so much anger because my freshman year had been taken away from me due to the forced early move-out and shift to online classes. Looking back now though, if my biggest hardship is not fully experiencing a spring semester of college, I can consider myself extremely lucky. — Lauren Dilloian '23 One day I was allowed out of the house and the next day, I wasn't. — Madison Donohue '23 The most concerning thing is that there is no timeline for when this will be over. When it is declared over, I will still be fearful of meetings and social gatherings. — Talia Allen '23 PROFESSOR JANET MAZUR spotted something salient about her students while forced to teach from home last semester: they barely looked awake as they lounged on unmade beds, but they showed up — with almost 100% attendance on Zoom each class. Sensing they needed a way to process and express the surreal situation that their quarantine posed, Mazur shook up her plans and assigned them a letter, addressed to a future generation, to describe their experiences in that moment. "I wanted them to capture quirky details that history books may leave out," says Mazur, who teaches Writing 102, a course on academic argumentation. Mazur was struck by their thoughtful, moving, and sometimes angry responses. "The work I did last semester was the most important in my 15 years at TCNJ," she says. Here's a snapshot of lockdown, in her students' words. — Kara Pothier Dear future generations … Stuck in quarantine, students write their own history. I am currently living in a world of mayhem, stress, and fear. Everything once thought to be normal, is not anymore. — Kristina Ng '23 Meat, chicken, milk, and eggs were nowhere to be found. The only thing that we found on our grocery list was yogurt. There were two tubs left and my sweet mother only placed one in the cart. "Someone else will need it. I don't want them to come and find that there is none left." — Elizabeth Baltzis '23 Home is supposed to be my parents' place to relax and now it's been overtaken with work. Who knows when it's going to return to being its peaceful sanctuary again? — TJ Pisciottano '23 My town has become nothing short of a ghost town. Everything is closed, from malls to gyms to movie theatres. Life outside of the house ceases to exist. — Anvi Sonarikar '23 The days of the week didn't seem to exist and there was nothing to look forward to. Instead, it was a repeated pattern of a new three-day cycle: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. — Emma Burch '23 Something that really angers me is people ignoring how serious this virus is. I've seen many people going out and hanging with their friends, going to parties, and ignoring all official advice and rules. — Katie Devito '23

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