ANASTASIA CARDONA

11TH GRADE

The Unforeseen Mess

The room is illuminated with the light from my laptop. All you hear is the sound of my fingers pressing the computer keys at five in the morning. My mom and little brother are sound asleep. The room goes from dark to light; the sun is used to seeing my mess of snacks and my eyes that look like they haven’t blinked in years. These days the birds seem to be singing along to the sound of my keyboard. 

It has been 97 days since March 13, 2020. That day was at the height of the outbreak of COVID-19 in New York City. My family and I, along with everyone else living in the United States have been under quarantine. Schools have switched to online teaching and many people are working from home except for essential workers. I have been photographing my life at home with my family in isolation.

 My brothers haven’t gone outside since the outbreak. I went outside once throughout this whole quarantine because my parents didn’t know how to cure a dizziness I had for more than a week. The dizziness was probably due to looking at screens too much. Being on a laptop for more than 12 hours a day, trying to complete homework assignments on time is stressful. My youngest brother, Jordan, struggles the most with his work. Since he is 9 years old he has a hard time dividing home, a place of fun and family, from school, a place to learn and focus. He gets distracted easily and lacks motivation to do his schoolwork. If it weren’t for my mother keeping my brother on track and helping him finish his work, he would be failing his classes.

I never thought the sound of an ice cream truck would make me angry. It’s June and a lot more people have been going outside and walking around in big groups. It frustrates me to see people barbeque outside and not wearing masks. Parents have their children running around without masks as well. Even though we are in a pandemic where quarantine is something we all should be doing, everyone is a mess that likes to contribute to even bigger messes.