J.M., a teen in Murrieta, CA

This post is in collaboration with covid9teen

Murrieta, CA:

My name is Jocelyn and my experience is definitely one to remember. Before Covid-19, I had a pretty normal life. I would get up in the morning, attend school, go home and do homework, get ready for work, go to work for several hours, go home and complete homework, go to bed, and repeat the same day over and over again. I live in Southern California, needless to say, Coronavirus has played a huge role throughout 2020 in my life. When Covid first began, everyone seemed somewhat excited. We were happy that we were going to have a 3-week long spring break rather than 1, and the possibility of never going back to school seemed absolutely thrilling. It’s been almost 365 days since everything took a turn for the worse, and most of us are still in shock. I could have it a lot worse but it is still pretty hard. I was getting less hours at work so it became difficult for my mom and I to pay our bills and expenses, grocery stores were almost completely empty, and I still haven’t seen most of my family members for almost a year. If I went over every detail and hardship I have experienced over the past 365 days, this entry would probably be 10,000 words long. I am remaining optimistic about my situation and I hope things go back to normal soon. I am a senior in high school so it would mean the world to me to be able to go to prom and participate in some senior activities before I graduate.

[submitted on 2/17/2021]

Learn more about the LiQ and the covid9teen collaboration here

Life in Quarantine: Witnessing Global Pandemic is an initiative sponsored by the Poetic Media Lab and the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis at Stanford University.

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