VOICES
Stopping the Spread Making the case that college students do actually care about COVID-19 BY HANNAH SHERIDAN College students, in a sense, already live in an isolated state. We are physically clustered around our campuses and are socially our own category; we are often seen as a specific and irreverent breed of human. In the wake of COVID-19, the implications of this characterization are exacerbated by the fact we are “young people,” many of whom would be relatively safe if infected. College students have been broadly criticized as being selfish and apathetic to the threats of COVID-19, but arguably, this is because we are easy to monitor. Our mass online presence allows everyone to see who went on spring break despite warnings not to, and who is making beer-themed jokes about coronavirus. Because many of us are reasonably safe, the ignorant comments we post are insensitive and selfish. But, there’s a lot of good being spread as well. “Social distancing” might be the biggest buzzword of 2020; in becoming Twitter fodder for jokes, it has been normalized on a mass scale. Social distancing is now our expectation of one another, and we are publically holding one another accountable. Many of my friends who have no reason to believe they’ve caught COVID-19 are self-quarantining in their apartments or, if they are able, their parents’ homes, because it is the socially responsible thing to do. They are more concerned with spreading the virus than contracting it. They fear infecting a vulnerable individual or contributing to the social overload and economic stall. My roommate even quit her job because she was uncomfortable with their lack of precaution. Whether or not we are fortunate enough to take these measures, college students are demonstrating genuine concern over public health. Despite the common narrative that college students don’t care about COVID-19, there is evidence we do care. We might even be vocalizing it more in our social distancing over social media.
THE WAKE
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Security or Passion
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How the pandemic is making creatives doubt their ambitions BY KYLIE HEIDER Like everyone else, the COVID-19 pandemic came and sent a shockwave of uncertainty to my life. As the economy slowed to a halt, I began to worry. My parents sole income is a small business; we can’t afford to close up shop for months at a time. My spiral of worry escalated as I recognized that it is very likely we will enter a recession—would I be graduating college into a virtually non-existent job market? Growing up, when I considered future careers, I only really considered my own desires, privileged enough not to worry about my family. With the goal of being a working artist, I’m used to the invalidation that many creatives face regarding their careers. But, until now, I’d never really taken it to heart. For many of my friends pursuing BFAs, the doubt that comes with studying such “impractical” careers, such as acting or directing theatre, is something that they are not unfamiliar with. When I asked one of my friends who’s in a similar position as an actress getting her BFA, she replied in earnest: “Because I am not actively studying acting and because of financial problems, I actually feel more insecure about being an acting major… I’m trying to feel hopeful that acting matters right now, but I can’t help but feel like I should be doing more.” Asking another friend of mine, she said that she didn’t feel as though her attitude toward pursuing her artistry had changed: “It was already difficult. What’s gonna worsen it?” To those of us who are pursuing something that may not seem pragmatic, the security of another vocation comes at the cost of realizing our lifelong ambitions and passions. When neither one is more important than the other, it’s a matter of deciding what we are willing to sacrifice, or if we even have to sacrifice anything at all, for ourselves and those we love.
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