Olivia Whitford
16, Seattle, USA
"People don’t make eye contact or say hello in passing anymore. There is a sense of tension."
"People don’t make eye contact or say hello in passing anymore. There is a sense of tension."
About me
What level of lockdown or quarantine are you in?
Indoor dining is open to quarter capacity, groups of five or less wearing masks can gather outside.
What has changed since coronavirus started?
A lot. School, dance, sports, the libraries, how often I see my family and friends, how clean my desk is, how much time I spend on screens, the global economy, the death rate, the popularity of cruises, mask sales, my cats sleep schedule, my sleep schedule, how often I read the news, zoom stocks, gamestop stocks, me, my age, my skill at various card games, my fitness, the president of the USA, the vice president of the USA, my grades, and how much time I spend lying on the floor reading comics and manga.
Are you able to go to school/work?
I attend virtual school six hours a day.
Where do you spend most of your time now?
In my room, at my desk or lying on the floor, or in the dining room doing zoom dance classes.
How do you communicate with your friends?
Over a messaging app called discord, and texting, with occasional zoom calls.
Do you see your family more or less now?
I see my immediate family considerably more, but I haven’t seen many of my cousins and other extended family, who I used to see regularly, in almost a year.
What do you see when you leave your house?
Bold of you to assume I leave my house. On the infrequent occasions I look out a window, I see people in masks, people in masks walking dogs, cars with masks on the dashboard, leaves and dead grass, grey clouds.
How do other people look when you go out?
People look tired. Perhaps because many of them decided to take up jogging, and they are sorely regretting it. Perhaps because it is winter here, and without the sun each day drains a little more of your lifeforce. Perhaps because all the screen time is messing with everyone’s sleep schedule.
How do others act when outside their house?
There is more distance between everyone, physically of course, but people don’t make eye contact or say hello in passing anymore. There is a sense of tension.
Has anything changed for the good in your life since coronavirus started?
I’ve learned a lot about managing my time and how to motivate myself to get things done, and I’ve grown closer to my brother and parents. I’ve also learned how to make myself laugh even on bad days, perhaps the best thing to come out of all this.
What is the worst part of social distancing for you?
I really miss seeing my extended family, dancing with other people, and all the little human interactions that used to happen at school or on the bus.
If all restrictions have been lifted in your area, is everything back to normal, or are there still changes that you can see?
Coronavirus hit us spontaneously and I can’t say that everything will ever be back to normal, even when most of the restrictions had been lifted, people find it hard to go back to what they were either it’s business or studying.
The Quaranteen Project
My Gallery
THe developing project
The Developing Story was created to give a voice to those seeking to be heard, while encouraging and empowering all communities to speak their truth through the medium of photography. Through our capsule storytelling projects, we amplify ordinary voices, offer the wider world a new perspective on current affairs, and encourage visual arts in every community around the world.