If you’re reading this, take five deep breaths.
Wasn’t that nice?
“Just breathe” became a mantra I told myself to get through the simple things. Taking the time to reflect, I realized why the Saran Wrap was suffocating me — I was the one who pulled it tight. Yes, it was placed there by my responsibilities and the uncertainty of our world, but I had the ability to let go. I let go of everything that wasn’t serving me, and took a deep breath.
Chicago
Stevia Ndoe, 18
Ever since I was a child, I looked forward to my 18th birthday. I thought I would suddenly gain years of knowledge and have the power to change the world. Little did I know how difficult the year of my retirement from childhood would be.
When murmurs of quarantining were becoming a reality, my family and I were stuck. My mom, an essential worker and single parent, worked all day while my younger siblings and I attended school. On top of trying to graduate from high school, I had to be a mother for a preschooler and a grade-schooler. My 18th birthday came and went, and I was still the same Stevia.
I look at the last few months and realize this is what growing up in a global crisis looks like for low-income families. Being in quarantine made me realize how much I have been robbed of my childhood and that I’ve been an “adult” for the majority of my life. My photo represents waking up daily with the stress of not knowing what life is going to throw at you, but going through the motions anyway. I took this photo one morning as my siblings were still sleeping four feet away from me. The light was coming through the window so beautifully, and it was one of the few moments of silence I had experienced since March.
Baltimore
Parrish André, 18
I drew this series in mid-April while sitting silently on many Zoom calls. In quarantine, my interactions with other people were all fit neatly into little rectangles on my screen.
Being young is about stretching and growing. We pull away from our parents, our homes, our schools, but as Covid-19 struck our communities we were reined in to all the situations that youth is about diverging from. For some, it was a time of reflection. For many, it was a dark period of isolation. For a generation, it was a defining collective experience.
Frisco, TexAS
Camila Salinas, 16
I wake up, go to school and sit at my desk. I do some work, the bell rings, I go to the next class. I do some work, the bell rings, I go to the next class. I get home, sit down, do my homework and catch up on a show. I go to sleep and I repeat.
Although my algebra class can range from having five to 30 students in a class, it feels as though there is only you. And for students learning from home, the situation is worse. They are literally by themselves.
San Diego
Paloma Ezzet, 16
Common high school things, such as spending time with your friends and going to football games and dances, are near impossible to do this year. Being in high school in 2020 is an experience like no other. It is gloomy, lonely and frustrating.
Dallas
Ryan Daniel, 18
This piece, a picture I sketched of my little sister inside a box I created, depicts the entrapment and isolation felt by so many people during quarantine. This is the new normal for my generation. But we have grown together and are now capable of deeply connecting through shared experience.
Memphis
Jayda Murray, 17
From a young age, I looked at the world from the lens of a dreamer. Flame-colored sunlight would dance through windows, and water would trickle below trees. I created scenes in my head until I found that a pen and paintbrush could do the same. I wanted to have those pictures and worlds to have substance in reality. That same inspiration drives my creative process as a teenager.
Before Covid-19 hit our American shores, I felt an increasing sense of dread. Two weeks later, my county issued a lockdown, and all my friends either found themselves at home or were recklessly disobeying the order. I had so many feelings. Fear, anxiety, sadness, loneliness. It was like they just took turns and looped from one to the next.
Elizabeth, N.J.
Aishah Musa, 16
These are messages of a conversation I had with my sister on March 24, 2020. It was the first time I went with my parents to our grocery store, and I forgot to wear the mask before wearing the hijab, so I texted my sister to ask her how and she explained it. Remembering to wear the mask first is something that I still struggle with to this day.
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Suhaylah Sirajul-Islam, 15
Note: This is an excerpt from a longer poem. Read the full one here.
2. A Summer of Awakening
“The Black Lives Matter movement has encouraged me and an entire generation of young people to speak up.” — Christian Lee, 17
Chula Vista, Calif.
Edelina Bagaporo, 17
This photo encompasses my own identity as an L.G.B.T.Q.+ Filipina-American woman. It highlights my role as an ally to the movements of social justice. No longer do I talk about boys or paint my nails, but start to recognize the part I can play in fighting for justice and how to tackle my implicit biases.
Latest Updates
Although this was not the summer I was expecting, it truly has brought on tremendous personal growth, which I would not trade for anything.
La Habra, Calif.
Christian Lee, 17
The Black Lives Matter movement has encouraged me and an entire generation of young people to speak up.
I photographed one of my best friends wearing the American flag because I thought it would be a simple but profound act of protest against racially motivated violence.
Carlsbad, Calif.
Madeline Mack, 16
Source: Read Full Article