Grateful for Quarantine

Maddie Tobbe poses for her mother. Photo taken before Tobbe started her journey. Photo: Christy Tobbe.

“I decided that I am ready for a change and needed to stop feeling sorry for myself. I realized that if you wanna see a change, it’s up to you,” said Tobbe.

“Everyone is beautiful and everyone has different taste. You can’t make everyone like you so everything you do to change, do it for yourself. We all have to learn to love ourselves. I was beautiful I lost weight and after,” said Tobbe.

Tobbe poses in the mirror with Sydney Hughes whom she had worked out with on many occasions. Photo: Maddie Tobbe

Grateful for Quarantine

by karley dugas

In 2020, COVID-19 was a huge part of our lives. It has affected America more than we could have imagined. My only question for you would be, was quarantine really all that bad? For some, quarantine made them realize the things that they took for granted, like how they get to see their friends, eat out, go on vacation, or even being able to go to work and school. It made people see the good things in life and showed them what they should be grateful for.

“We got to have time for ourselves and we also got to put ourselves first and not be so busy all the time,” freshman Abbie Mann said. Mann feels that quarantine made her realize how grateful she is for her friends and how she took them for granted.

“It made me realize that I took restaurants and stores and places to go for granted and lastly it made me realize that I took cheer for granted,” Mann said.

Mann has been cheering for most of her life, making her busy a lot, and quarantine made her realize just how important cheer really is to her. It made her love cheer even more than she already did and it helped her grow her passion for it.

Quarantine also had a big effect on people that don’t have as many things filling their schedule.

“Quarantine made me realize that my friends and family are what keeps me sane through some difficult times, especially when you can’t be with them,” sophomore Chloe Reidinger said. Reidinger was thankful for the time that she got to spend with her family and friends. But, there were still some things she missed.

“I’ve mostly missed being able to experience life as a teenager in high school. Staying home can get repetitive and boring, so I’ve missed being able to go out places to spend time with my loved ones,” Reidinger said.

Many people express that they took their friends, family, and even school for granted and didn’t realize how much love they had for these things. There were multiple positives and negatives for people living in quarantine, but which is more important? Quarantines made people realize that they need to be grateful for what they have because you don’t know the importance of something until it’s gone. Life is better than it seems, you just have to look in the right places.

Playing her next move, Emma Martin tries to beat her sister in Scrabble. While locked up in their home, they were trying to find something fun to do to pass the time. “This really helped us get closer and have some fun while we can’t go out anywhere,” said Martin. Photo: Karley Dugas

2020: A Time To Evaluate

Staff Editorial

Coming into each new year we always say we will change our diets, workout schedules, and more of what we should be doing on a daily basis. But 2021, is going to be different. This magazine was a bit of an ode to 2020. Each of us have definitely been through it in different ways this past year. 2020 was a huge roller coaster for the whole world. Each and every child has had to grow up quite a bit to take on school and understand the weight of the global pandemic. Many teenagers sacrificed spending time with their friends, and battled their mental health while learning to teach themselves at home. Adults have suffered losses of jobs and stress while trying to navigate this new virtual world.

2021 is new. During 2020 we have broken a lot of old traditions, and we have changed most of the ways that we do things. We have reinvented what connecting with people means, and made the best out of hard situations. 2021 is a fresh start. Hopefully we will soon be emerging from this awful disease. And once that happens, we will have the chance to change our lives and each other. We will be able to pick through our old traditions, and start new ones. We will change the way we look at the world and appreciate the time we have with our loved ones. We have the chance to completely reinvent ourselves and change our old ways. This is a new chance for all of us to come out of our year long hibernation and stress, and be renewed.

So let’s take this time to sit back and evaluate the choices we have made and the way we choose to spend our lives. It’s time to ask what we want to make priority in our lives? And what do we want to change? There has never been a more perfect time in history to start over and reevaluate. Let's go back to the drawing board this new year, and let's make some change.

Adviser Editor-in-Chief Magazine Editor Website Editor Design Editor Sports Editor Photography Editor Business Editor Social Media Editor Calendar Coordinator Content Editor Larry Steinmetz Mia Maguire Sophia Blanton Keelin Davis Katey Goins Brodie Curtsinger Karley Dugas Tawney Noyes Rebecca Watts Brooklyn Sauer Macie Brown

Staff Writers Emily Richardson Raegan Jackson

Jenna Tipton Kyleigh Reeves

Alex Elhilow Sierra Karner

Colton Harbolt Demani Butler Natalie McGarry Ella Olds

Livewire is a 32 page newsmagazine and accompanying website that is updated daily. All content is generated by student journalists at Bullitt East High School in Mount Washington, Kentucky.

The Livewire operates as an open forum following the guidelines laid out by the Student Press Law Center which our staff presented to the Bullitt County Board of Education.

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