Community Within Covid19

Description: Ricky is a 10-year-old boy from St. Louis, Missouri. He lives with his mother in a single-parent household. They are Congolese American and his mother says they identify as lower-middle-class. Ricky has a bright smile and one visible dimple. He offered to run inside and get me a drink three times during our outside and social distanced interview. The bolded text is my dialogue and everything else is the interviewee's. What does community mean to you?  “What- like groups of people and stuff?” [Yeah! Also, like time with friends and family. What’s important about that in your opinion? Sorry for the tough question right of the bat.] “Hmmm. It’s not that hard! I think it’s important because you get lonely without it. Like how people are sad when they have no friends or family to play with.” Where did you find community during quarantine?/Did you find it at all? “Well, my mom and my teachers said that me and my friends couldn’t hang out anymore last year. And that really ma...

Throughout this whole semester, what has drawn me most is people. Humans are social creatures, and Covid19 has gotten in the way of that in an unprecedented way. Plague times are lonely times. But we have something now that our ancestors did not, the ability to connect virtually. What has connection looked like for people during this time? I want to conduct several interviews with people from a variety of demographics including age, race, social class, etc. I want to discuss community, and what that has looked like for them in this current situation. There will be some set questions I plan to ask but I am also open to wherever the speaker may wish to lead.  My set questions will be as follows: What does community mean to you? Where did you find community during quarantine?/Did you find it at all? What did these moments look like? Did you have different expectations on those moments than you would have pre-pandemic? Will community look different for you after the pandemic is over?

  Hello, my name is Gabriella Mense. I am currently a senior at Truman State University at Kirksville, MO. I grew up in St. Louis and so have gotten to experience a small-town environment for the first time in my life! I am creating this blog for a semester-long project for my English class, that is meant to analyze Covid19 from a community-focused standpoint.  I think this pandemic will change us all in a myriad of ways most especially in how we connect to those around us. Thank you for reading and I hope you subscribe to go on this journey along with me!