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America is Crumbling

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The past week, peaceful protests have turned into hatful riots. Sadly, another African American man was killed at the hands of white police officers, this time in Minneapolis. George Floyd was unarmed and pinned to the ground by officers for several minutes while he pleaded for his life shouting, “I can’t breath.” The officers would not let go until his was dead. Marchers and protestors have stood outside for hours on end, in cities all around the United States. It is devastating to see people peacefully standing with signs and demanding social change and equality amongst all races, whereas others are taking this opportunity to cause a commotion.  When the starts to fade away, rioters and looters lash out. Thousands of small and large businesses have been shattered and broken into. Glass is shining on the sidewalks of major cities like New York, Las Angelos, Chicago, Washington, Las Vegas, Atlanta and countless others. It has been just over a week since Floyd died, and a painful week f
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The Last Dance

America is a land that highly values religion. Even though church and state are separate, religion still plays a large role in many Americans' lives. The power of religion and faith was clear in the readings from this past quarter. In some excerpts that we viewed this term, characters found guidance and comfort by being connected to a religious community and being close to a higher power. In other readings, characters were singled out for their faith instead of embraced. Religion should not be an aspect in American society that divides people, but rather it should unite people from different backgrounds. Religion has and remains present in American literature and life today. For example, schools and companies have days off for religious holidays, even though not everyone celebrates the same ones. Another daily activity that exemplifies this aspect in our country is the reciting of The Pledge of Allegiance every morning in school. Saying the pledge is not mandatory, but it is impor
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Distinguishing Week From Weekend

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Monday 4/20/19: I have always been aware of the inequalities in the world amongst races and wealth, however the pandemic has really made me think about how lucky I am. Saturday night there was a program called One World Together at Home on the television where famous actors and musicians collaborated together to bring awareness and joy to homes of millions. During the program they talked about how the majority of CoronaVirus cases are amongst African American communities. Many African Americans can’t afford health care and many times have previous health conditions that were not taken care of. Additionally, many African American families live multigeneracional and also hold most blue collar jobs. As a result of both of these statements, many of them are out working and bring the virus home to their older relatives and then five or six people end up sick all at once. Furthermore, the program showed many scenes where communities are gathering packages of food to hand out. I forget how l
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New Normal

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Monday 4/13/20: Everyday feels more and more normal. The news is always the same, streets always bare and daily assignments due by sunset. The weather is crazy! One day it’s 60 degrees and sunny and the next it’s 40 degrees and pouring. I try my best to get outside everyday and go for a walk, but sometimes the day flies by. It is even crazier that it is already the beginning of the fifth week of quarantine. When this whole fiasco began, everyone thought that it was just going to be a few days or at most a couple of weeks. Now, nearly half of the states have canceled school for the rest of the year. Summer trips are getting canceled left and right and even fall concerts are getting postponed or scrapped. Summer schools are even moving to remote learning already. Governments are looking to weaken the shutdown and even abandon it totally, which is insane because everyday there are still hundreds if not thousands of new cases and the death rate just increases. It is hard to think that we
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Celebrating Differently

Monday 4/6/20: Everyday feels the same. Nothing distinguishes weekday from weekend anymore. Yesterday my family took a short road trip to Milwaukee to deliver Passover groceries to our relatives there. The roads were nearly completely empty. It typically takes an hour and a half to get to Milwaukee and yesterday it only took an hour!  Yesterday was also my parents’ anniversary. Typically, my parents would go out to dinner together to celebrate, but this year because of the circumstances, we did something different. Instead, my two older siblings and I made dinner for them. This past week, I have been having a hard time falling asleep, and I think it is because of the new lifestyle at home. A typical day of school is very tiring between running from class to class and after school activities. My guess is that my body is not as tired when I go to bed because I have not used nearly as much energy that I need to recharge.  I have been chatting with a bunch of friends to keep my rela
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All Too Surreal

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Monday 3/30/20: I went on a walk around 7 at night with my sister. The sunset was beautiful, but the silence was deafening. I urged my sister to take a picture of me in the middle of the road so we could remember this moment for years to come. Streets all around that were once filled with cars left and right, are now bare. There were not even cars parked on the street, as no visitors are welcome in people’s houses anymore. We only passed by a few other people throughout our walk, and as we see them strolling towards us off in the distance, it is up to eye communication to decide who will move to the street, as to maintain the six foot distance protocol. As we walked around the neighborhood and into the small village center, nearly all stores and restaurants  were desolate. Only a few restaurants were even open, but held signs saying “curbside pickup only.” It is a surreal feeling to know that the once lively and communal small town, is now bare of everything in the passing of just
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Deserted Island

Journal Entry 1 3/20/20: It is a ghost town outside. I view through my window out to willow road where thousands of cars once drove by, several every second. Now I can count to ten, or even twenty before the next car zooms by. Last week my family went on a couple of walks to get some fresh air and out of the house. It was as if we had the plague. Everytime we walked near someone, they would cross the street so as to not come within feet of us. Today, my sister told me that 13,000 Americans officially have CoronaVirus. This number is huge to begin with, but that only includes the ones who have been tested and shown symptoms. It has reached every state and the number is nearly doubling each day. Hospitals are worried that they’re going to reach carrying capacity and not be able to save everyone. In Italy, they had to start picking who they were going to save. If it was between the 75 year old with an immune system deficiency or a 30 year old healthy mother of two. I can’t even imagi
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