The following is a selection of submissions to the LREI Quarantine Time Capsule. Click on any image to enter slideshow mode. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom to access video and audio submissions, as well as instructions on how and what to submit.

 

During the beginning of the pandemic Daria Fowler (’23) fostered guinea pigs named Frederick and Meatloaf. Here she is with here stepfather, Andrew Rosen, Frederick and Meatloaf.

Observation drawing of a family member during the covid-19 pandemic. Fourth grader, Alex Doctoroff, drew his sister, Chloe, having one of her many zoom meetings with her teachers for online school/ remote learning. Alex Doctoroff, Fourth Grade

My friend and I have started to write letters to each other. It’s very fun, and we get to decorate the envelopes. I think it’s very useful to write because, these days we are always on our computers and phones. 4/27/20 Claire Fleming 7th grade

Alex Doctoroff, Fourth Grade, Letter to a healthcare worker during the covid-19 pandemic, May 2020

Like many families, we were forced by the pandemic to spend Mothers’ Day apart, observing social distancing, which is really physical distancing. So we resorted to the internet for some socializing — what a gift the “reality” of cyberspace has been to the human race during this time — allowing some visual and audial contact when actual physical contact is too dangerous. And, the infrastructure has held up extraordinarily well up to this point. (Jim Wiggins, LREI Trustee, 1998-2010)

There is a lot of racism associated with covid19. In many cases, Asian people are being blamed and treated as if they are the virus. I will miss seventh grade at LREI so much. I am so grateful that I got the chance to be taught by so many amazing teachers and befriend so many wonderful people. Being a student at LREI will still be a part of me next year, even if I’m not physically there. I can’t wait to come back for ninth grade and see all of my inspiring teachers and peers. (Raine Robertson LREI ’26 5/28/20)

Every night after dinner, our family plays a couple of hands of Shanghai Rummy, a ten-hand card game. We have almost not missed a single night! Berthelsen-Karps, May 2020

 

Documents

*Young, Jade Interview with Chef Esther Choi

*Shearer, Ian ’25 Photo from P-Town

*Reif, Robin Dancing With My Daughter in the Middle of West 70th (essay), May 2020

*6ARM Poems and compositions

Videos

Imogen Notaro LREI ’25 makes pizza in quarantine with her family, May 10, 2020

Puppet show Me vs. Covid 19, assignment for Ann’s art class, Alex Doctoroff, Fourth Grade, May 2020

Although we had to isolate and social distance, community was all around. Hanging out on the stoop once again became popular in Brooklyn. Denis Zaraya, parent of Joe LREI ’26, May 2020

Audio

Songs by Wyeth Zeff ’25, May 2020

“Their Best,” a song I wrote during this time that are centered around what’s going on in our world right now.

Say Their Names, Yukie Ohta, parent of Hanako ’26, May 2020

In late May, 2020, civil unrest and protests began as part of international responses to the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man who was killed by a police officer during an arrest in Minneapolis. I was unable to join these protests, so I recorded myself saying the names of some of the many victims of police brutality as my personal protest and gesture of solidarity with the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets around the world.

LREI Quarantine Time Capsule Submissions

We are living through a historic moment. People will be studying and learning about this moment in time for years to come. You have the power to shape history by contributing to the LREI Quarantine Time Capsule, a digital record of how we, as a community and as individuals, lived through the coronavirus pandemic.

The contents of this time capsule will answer these questions:

• How can we help the students of the future get as close as possible to the experiences we are having now?
• What is your everyday life like under quarantine?
• What extraordinary things happened to you or to others around you that would not have during ordinary times?

We are asking for submissions from all members of our community – students, faculty, parents, alumni, and friends.

You may, but are not required to, create something new for this time capsule. You can simply take a photo of what is on your desk or what you see outside your window, copy a recent poem you wrote, or share your go-to dinner recipe as your submission. Or you can make something that reflects your current experience in any way.

Your submissions can be, but are not limited to:

• Photographs
• Video
• Artwork (drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, etc.)
• Writing (journal, poem, story, etc.)
• Letter to your future self or to future LREI students
• Audio (song, Moth-type stories, etc.)
• Oral history interview (on your phone or via StoryCorps connect)
• Map (of your house, of your new, smaller world)
• Recipe (what is your quarantine comfort food?)

Important: Please make sure to include your name, the date, your grade or relationship to LREI, and a caption that explains your submission in as much detail as possible.

Your submissions will be kept in the LREI archives so that future students and other historians can learn about what happened during LREI@home.

If your submission will be an interview, you might want to consider using StoryCorps Connect, a remote recording App through which you can include your interview in the StoryCorps archive.

We also see this as an opportunity to connect as a community in the current moment. If you are comfortable with your submission(s) being shared in an online gallery visible to the LREI community, please indicate so when submitting.

Email submissions and questions to: timecapsule@lrei.org