By Tilda Sutter
March 2020 remains a very harrowing memory for many students of LREI and surely the world in general. It’s rare for a population to know so indisputably that they are living through a major historical event and even rarer for communities to be prohibited from experiencing the upheaval together. Evidently, March was a time of fear and isolation. New Yorkers bore the brunt of the turmoil early on, as their city was left abandoned and in mourning.
When reflecting on the beginnings of the pandemic, it’s easy to joke about all the knowledge we did not have; whether that be the timeline we expected, the guidelines we followed now proven ineffective, or our first class over Zoom. In retrospect, we were naive to the catastrophe approaching. However, our confusion and uncertainty were well justified, as the times ahead would share no resemblance to anything we, or our community, had ever experienced.
For LREI students, it seems the first sign of what was to come was in their own neighborhoods. Margaret MacGillivray, a junior and resident of Battery Park City, remarked on the condition of her surroundings; “It was really sad and empty. There were obviously people outside, but I feel like there was just a certain mood about everyone. No one seemed really happy, everyone seemed kind of sad.”
Neighborhoods quickly emptied, along with many that had homes outside the city. MacGillivray, when asked where her friends were during these times, quickly responded, “all in the Hamptons.” Elijah Meltzer, a junior that lives in the East Village, remarked, “every single one was upstate.” Many students of LREI were left in this predicament with many of their friends gone, ensuring their first reunion post-quarantine would be one to remember.
Once the new reality settled, students faced yet another challenge: managing their new abundance of time. During the initial and most strict weeks of the shelter-in-place order, many students experimented with art and new hobbies. Sophie Bremer, resident of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, listed all of the diversions she tried, some more successful than others: “I wrote two songs after I had not touched music for a long time, that was nice, I tried workouts, going on runs, drawing but gave up in a week, I baked and cooked with my family, I played Just Dance.” Meltzer, when asked the same question, responded plainly: “I played a lot of piano.”
March was unquestionably bleak and cold. The weather in New York remained unendurable and the winter air lingered into May. Fortunately, the summer came with new freedoms. MacGillvray recounted her experiences after the strictest quarantines were lifted: “I forgot how to speak, I forgot how to move and also how to carry myself in the world. It was great.”