#life2020

[timdahill]

4/18

Expect the best, prepare for the worst. Expect the best, prepare for the worst. Maybe if I say it enough times what I expected will start to come into view…

JB Pritzker announced that all schools will be closed for the remainder of the year. Who would’ve thought our last times walking through Marist High School would be in March. The ironic thing is I made jokes with all of my friends on our last day in the building, saying, “Happy last day! It’s been real knowin’ ya!” What I would do to be able to actually savor that moment. To appreciate everyone around me and reflect on my high school journey. Poof. Gone. Our four years of hard work seemingly just stripped away. After expecting the best, reality decided to sucker punch me flat on my face.

“Imagine, for a moment, that you are in a hot classroom. First day. High school. You are sitting at a table. You are trying to learn Spanish and the teacher is a man calling himself Stephen (pronounced Steven). There are three other people sitting at the table with you and one of them is a really skinny kid que se llama Pete. You might be getting some flashbacks of fear now. If so, that is okay. Now, stop imagining.” This was an excerpt of the Kairos letter my friend Pete wrote to me. He was the first kid I met at Marist. One of the most stand up guys you’ll ever meet. I’m honored to call him a friend.

There are so many people, so many memories, so many experiences I wish I could share in the confines of 400 words. Dances, football games, late night drives, beach trips, bonfires, fireworks, parties… it goes on. This last month has felt like another four years all over again, except without my favorite people.

It’s the little things I’ll miss, too. I miss having nothing to do after school and saying hi to Mrs. Cozzie doing JUG. In the three years I’ve known her she’s never given me a JUG for my stubble. But I promise you she’s grilled me for it plenty of times. If she could see my beard now she’d probably smack me with a newspaper. I miss chatting with Mr. Harper about current events, talking to Deacs during lunch, listening to new tunes with Mr. Butler. The school itself may just be a building, but something special happens in the halls of Redhawk High.

#life2020 #brothersandsistersforlife #missingyou

[fitzgerald-maddie]

Stress

During this time, stress comes. Worry comes. More people are getting sick and hearing more things like schools and areas closing just makes more worry set in.

Even though I sit in my room all day or go outside for a little, meaning I don’t have to get up for actual school, this brings stress. Sometimes lately I have been getting stressed easily by all my school work and assignments I have to get done.

I’m also getting stress because I’m sitting here every day wondering if we will go back to school and if I will be able to see some of my friends again before I move fully

I hear different things every day, too. One day I see something about not leaving quarantine until 2022, and I’m sitting here like “what?” because how will it last this long.

I can’t decide what’s completely best for us anymore, because a lot of people are losing their jobs from this stay home order, but we also need to consider each other’s safety. I really just need this to end already.

Just remember to keep thinking positively and take care of yourself because that’s what matters during this time! Have hope :)

[bridgetkennedy33]

Week 3 Blog 2: April 15, 2020

Be Strong and Stay Positive Throughout Life

Throughout my seventeen years of living I have gone through many ups and downs. These ups and downs have only made me stronger though; they have made me into the person I am today. It all started in grammar school, fifth grade to be exact. During that time I started going through puberty and started gaining weight faster than I ever had before. I never thought of my weight in a bad or negative way but I really started paying attention to it when my friend's mom said something about it. It was the summer going into sixth grade, we were all swimming at my friend’s house. Since lunch was going to be ready soon we were all drying off. When lunch was eventually we hung out wet towels on the railing and all when inside in our bikinis. All of my friends were twigs at the time so it was obvious I was heavier than them. My friend’s mom said, “Hey Bridget, go put your shirt over your suit… I don’t want you to get embarrassed because you know,” as she made a motion patting her stomach. My eyes filled with tears I wouldn’t let come out as I ran upstairs, changed, and decided to walk home. I called my mom on my walk home and told her what happened, she was furious. My head filled with so many negative things telling myself that “I’m too fat” “I’m ugly” and that “I’m not pretty.” After replaying the whole situation in my head over and over again I decided that this will not define who I am. I kept receiving similar comments from my so called friends and kids at school. Finally a year later I decided to make a change to better myself so I started running. Soon enough that became my daily thing to run three miles a day. It was my therapy. It cleared my head for twenty five minutes everyday. The weight began to slide off which showed my new matured figure. Now I am fully matured and feel not only beautiful but confident. Without my confidence I wouldn’t be myself, I wouldn’t be Bridget. I know I am strong mentally and physically, no one can tell me different. With all these comments came a strong mentality which has helped me throughout my life. The only opinion that matters to me is mine and mine only! So just stay strong, positive, and true to yourself - with this - you can get through anything that comes your way in life. Be you!

[kelliap]

[scottkrafft-2020]

4/23/20 - It Still Isn’t Over Yet?

Just as it seemed like there was a glimmer of light for the world, a small plastic star of hope atop toothpicks taped together, held up for the world to see, it all came crashing down. JB just rolled a bowling ball across the floor and smashed those toothpicks into smithereens. Figurative talk aside, today he announced a lengthy new order. First and foremost, the quarantine will not end on April 30th, but rather on May 30th. Second, they’re now REQUIRING that everyone wears a mask in public, under threat of arrest. Now, I’m not sure under which law exactly what they’ll be arresting people for, but I assume the governor has the power to just conjure up laws in times like these. It’s probably to prevent the gridlock of the Illinois House and Senate. The peak date has also been pushed back, from April 20th to sometime mid-May. What this means essentially is that all the hope we spent in quarantine over the last month was pretty much all for nothing, since we have to do it again for yet another full month. 

Not only that, the numbers of total Coronavirus cases as well as condition of the United States as a whole is getting much worse, considering they’re essentially forcing people to wear masks. They’re also banning protests in many locations in California, and it makes me wonder when that rule will be expanded to cover here as well. It also makes me wonder how many civil liberties we’ll have to give up before this crisis abates. This is nothing new - many rights were temporarily taken away during the Civil War and the two World Wars. We has assumed that things like these were just parts of the past - strange laws enacted by strange men that could barely even be imagined, apart from reading about them in History class. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case - it’s happening again. It’s important to put faith in our leaders that they will do the right thing. If they don’t, God forbid, then it’s time to put faith in God - He will make sure the right things come to pass. 

The prospect of an in-person graduation becomes more and more distant by the day as this virus continues to linger on. By now I’ve heard countless plans and rumors - a Zoom graduation, a week of senior activities sometime in the summer, a fall gradution (not sure how that will work, since most people are leaving the state for college), a joint Class of 2020/2021 graduation, and more. Whatever eventually happens, I’ll know for sure that it’s going to be one like no other - for better or for worse. 

[paddyo2001]

Blog #12

The End of A Journey

At the beginning of this whole process, I never liked the idea of blogging about my life in quarantine. Many times when I’d try and sit down and write, my mind would travel elsewhere because I’d have nothing to talk about. Everything would just repeat and repeat like clockwork. Day after day, night after night. Nothing would change. Wake up, barely eat all day, school, Xbox, movies, still don’t eat, work out, shower, hop on discord and then fall asleep at 6AM, after listening to hours of music to dull the pain.

It wasn’t until blog numbers 4-6 that my opinion really changed. I started reading more of my buddies blogs to see what they’ve been up to. Turns out it was basically the same as me. I started to realize that I’m not the only one suffering through this pandemic. This made me start reflecting on my day to day activities through a more narrow viewpoint. I started picking out the finer details. This allowed me to start writing more compelling and intriguing blogs. When I wrote about The Joker, the entire time, I was relating it all back to myself. This gave my post more of a deeper meaning which allowed the reader to connect more personal. I feel like during this quarantine, I’ve unlocked many writing abilities which I never knew I had. Writing about my own personal struggles allow others to realize that they aren’t alone in this world. Others are in pain too.

In the legendary words, “All good things must come to an end,” this is might be my end. At this very moment I’m contemplating the decisions I have in front of myself. Keep going or give up. This is blog number 12, all we need is 12. The number 12 has been circulating through my head for some time now. Now that 12 has came into the foreground, will I keep making my story known or will I end at 12. That is the decision I have for myself at this moment. I don’t care for the extra credit if I do continue. These blogs to me are more of a passion now rather than a requirement. If I do continue I know that I’ll be making an impact on anyone who reads these posts. I know it’s not a bunch of people, but those people mean the world to me. I wouldn’t be who I am today if it wasn’t for them they’ve helped me out through my darkest hours so to me this is me paying back the help they gave me.

Although my future seems daunting, terrifying, unknown and empty. I’ll always remember the ones who I was proud to call my brothers. If you are going through the same fears, just know that if you are reading this you’ll forever have me as one of your brothers.

We all are splitting on our own paths next year, just remember this. We maybe gone but we’ll never be forgot. Our struggles have brought us closer together. I never thought Marist could be right when they said “Students for four years. Brothers and Sisters for life.” Never forget that. We are all in this until the very end.

PaddyO signing off. Love you all for everything you’ve done for me.

*Brian is not in the Photo (Still a Brother to me Kovaka)*

[grant-gallardo-blog]

take a break

Created on Easter Sunday

Today was a very interesting day, and in a dark time like this is though I thought that this was one of the best Easter’s ever. Me and my family had went up to my lake house mainly because We needed a break from the outside world, so that’s one of the most isolated spots for us.  While some may think that’s not the effect escape, I felt so alive.

I was able to do some must needed fishing and was able to catch some nice fish.

Me and my brother really enjoyed it the most I believed because we were able to explore so much and enjoy the weather.  

Coming back home soon is kinda of dreadful but it has to happen.  While the extended break was good, most of the time I just felt like I had nothing to do.  But never the less it was better than school at the moment, and I am not looking forward to that.  All in all in a time of darkness, me and my family were able to find the light in the lord and celebrate what I thought was a successful Easter, and overall a good break as well.

[msteinke35]

Emotions

It’s been over a month now. Easter break is coming to its end. It’s probably a good thing for my sake since I've been sleeping till noon since break started. As I write this, our student council members are posting pictures of seniors and their commitments for next year on instagram. It’s a bittersweet feeling. All of the comments on these posts are happy, and encouraging. After all, we all know how tough high school can be, so we are proud of one another’s accomplishments. But the posts, comments, and all the virtual interactions seem to ignore the obvious. We aren't in school. We aren't seeing each other in class, in the halls, on the fields like we were used to the last three years. I've always been told that you shouldn’t take anything for granite. Those are words of advice that I live by. But now after being away from Marist for some time now, I realize that the only way to realize how precious something is, it must be taken from you.

I had no direction in mind when I decided to write this blog. I had been silent since the beginning of Easter break about a week ago. Some things haven't changed since then. The uncertainty, boredom, self reflection, doubt, sorrow, worrying, gratefulness, all remain. Everyday I struggle a little bit more. My senior season of baseball, a game I’ve played since I was four years old, has been stripped from me. Many of my teammates have chosen to go on and play collegiately. For them, I am very proud of their hard work to accomplish that great achievement. For me, I made a choice to walk away from the game so I could attend a university for my academics. However, when I made that decision I didn't know that my senior season would be postponed, and likely canceled. I had worked very hard during my three years in the Marist baseball program, and this year was my opportunity to perform on varsity at the highest level. Since I have no intentions of playing in college, this was going to be it. I was going to give it all I had for my final year.

There is a baseball saying that many baseball players hear from time to time. You might hear it from your little league coach, or you may recall it being referenced by some greats like Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez. “Play every game like it's your last”. It’s an easy line to remember, but difficult at times when you’re playing your third game of the day in the middle of July on an unfinished infield. The truth is, I’d do anything to play a game on an unfinished infiel in the dead heat of July right now.

I had no intention of writing about my sorrows of baseball. I just let my writing take me where my emotions let it. Apparently this is something I’m struggling with. I know we are all struggling with something ourselves. I’m not the only one. I feel that being honest with yourself is a way of seeing Improvement. One way of doing this is by writing. I encourage my classmates to write their struggles in their blogs as a way of being honest with themselves.

[samgiglio]

My Second Home🏕

One thing that I look forward to every summer is summer camp. Since it is in Wisconsin and they haven’t been super struct with their social distance rules, we are still waiting for a final say, but I know I’m not going.

There’s absolutely no way that I could go. My dad is a police officer, what if he brought it home to me? What if I got but was asymptomatic? The I’d be bringing it to camp and give it to all the little kids I’d be taking care of. Or, what if someone at camp gave it to me? The n when I come home I give it to my grandma who lives with us? There’s way too much to risk.

I am so sad beyond words that I can’t go to my favorite place ever this year. I feel like I have nothing to look forward to now. I have been wanting to be a counselor since December of last year, and applied almost seven months ago in November. I’ve been waiting so long to do the thing I love, and now I can’t do it anymore. I know it’s for the best, though, and I will just have to look forward to the time when I finally do get to go back to camp. I can’t even imagine how happy we all would be.

[jonmalfas-blog]

[timdahill]

4/4

Hey blog. My shorts are finally starting to fit in with the weather! Yesterday was absolutely beautiful. Everybody and their mother found their way outside yesterday. Just goes to show how many people care about this quarantine thing. It’s BOGUS. I mean, I understand be safe and blah blah blah.... But come on, no one really cares. People still go out and try and enjoy their life, despite what we are constantly being told by the media. Don’t let the man keep you down!

If you didn’t go outside yesterday on the first 70 degree day of the year, I honestly feel sorry for you. I’ve been enjoying myself so much the last 48 hours or so, but I have an unholy amount of homework for this weekend. Seniors should seriously get a pass. There’s no point to this garbage anymore. If I keep getting this amount of work, I’m straight up not going to do it. We get more than we would in school. It's ridiculous. Seniors, who’s with me on this?

Pushing my stupid busy work aside yesterday, I went out with my friends Pat Flynn and Mike Egan. We biked around and found our way to our friend Brian Kovaka’s house. He has an adorable little bulldog. We invited him out to get some fresh air, but he wanted to play it safe because his diabetes causes him to be “immuno-comprimised.” We then went to 7-11 for slurpees. Thankfully it was open. If I agree with the government on anything, it’s that slurpees are essential. But much to our dismay, the damn machine was out of like every flavor. Man, I was so angry. Flynn reconciled this with getting a pizza so, silver linings I guess.

I made cheeseburgers for dinner for my family, and after played a little Minecraft before laying down for a quick nap. Flynn got our next D&D campaign story ready for us so we all hopped on at 9. I’m really getting the hang of it and it’s been really fun! My class utilizes stealth so my team prioritized that to initiate attack. Everyone else then comes in with magic and badassery. Then our friend Nik comes in and grapples the remaining enemies and uses them as slaves (to put it bluntly). I forgot to mention that on the bike ride Flynn was hyping up this campaign so much and expected us to die, but we cut through it like a hot knife to butter. He was pretty mad, and is now taking the next week to come up with something much more challenging. We all worked together as a team, and had fun doing it. We’re catching on, and I expect we will keep getting better the more we play.

#life2020

[fitzgerald-maddie]

Getting used to everything

Hi everyone! For today’s blog, I’m just talking about getting used to everything happening now. It was super weird at first, but now I am actually starting to get used to all this e-learning stuff and having to stay home.

I really hope we can go out a little more for when I move to Indiana though. For some reason I am still super tired when having to wake up for school every day and I am staying up later and later because I am so used to being home all day.

So, for some aspects I am getting used to things but other things are still hard to get used to. I am sad that we aren’t going back for the rest of the year, but I hope my true friends will actually keep in contact with me after I move.

I am also getting used to my aunt's house already, and it’s only me and my dog with my cousins. I used to live here before, so I’m not uncomfortable or anything.

I hope you all are hanging in there and getting used to this because it is definitely super stressful and scary. But, stay positive! Bye!

[egmurph25]

Freshman Year

Now that it is the last week of my freshman year, I want to write about some of the things I have learned from my experiences throughout the year. Thinking back, it has been such an amazing year and I really have learned so much.

One of the most valuable things I learned from freshman year is your real friends can make any situation better. Knowing there are people who will always be there for you and who you can trust is a priceless feeling, one that doesn’t come every day. So when you do find those people who will ice skate across a frozen sidewalk, play hide and seek around school, and encourage you to try new things, hold on to those friendships because those are the ones that you will remember for years to come.

Another lesson I got a chance to learn is that not all friendships are meant to be forever. Sometimes a friendship can become toxic and you need to see when this is happening and sometimes you might need to end the friendship. I learned this in middle school, but I got to relearn it this year.

These are just two of the many lessons I have learned in my freshman year, and I can’t wait to learn even more as the next years of high school unfold.

[matthewxsuarez-blog]

Day something of Quarantine

Today went by well, not much happened besides sleeping and homework. However, I’m considering getting a better sleep schedule due to the timeframe that is now “normal” to me. Also still no news on the situation with my aunt except she’s doing better now. Not to mention, instead of being so attached to electronic devices, I’m trying to still find a new skill. I'm considering either to learn new tricks on my longboard or to learn how to play the guitar. Who knows, we'll see!

But I’m also excited that we have no school until next Thursday. This allows other fellow students and I, not to mention teachers, to get an actual break. Considering the “spring” break we had, it wasn’t a break since we were all worrying and blowing this over our heads as if it was nothing. Hopefully, though, the teachers decide to go easy on us and not assign millions of assignments to do.

On that note, there’s not much else to say besides that everything is calm right now. However I do think this will last until May, but at least we will not have to do finals anymore. Anyways that’s all I have for this week, still praying for everyone's safety and well being!

[scottkrafft-2020]

5/12/20 - The Last Extra Credit Blog

It’s kind of crazy, but it’s already May 12th. This is truly the end of The Chaotic Coronavirus Craziness of 2020. It really feels like yesterday that I started this blog assignment. I knew I was going to like it, since I really enjoyed the other Tumblr blog that I did in sophomore year. “Stories of Marist” I believe it was called? Something like that. 

But anyways, since it’s my last official blog for English, I though I’d do a “Where are they now?”-type review of everything I’ve talked about.

To start it off, we just finished our 30-pack of toliet paper today. Yeah, this stuff that I wrote about all those weeks ago... on March 29th!  It turns out it didn’t actually last us through the entire Coronavirus quarantine. Though I must admit it lasted quite a while. 

The LTD is still running fine, now that it has had its brake line repair. Lights still lighting, brakes still stopping, Flex Tape still holding - everything is still going strong. I don’t get to go anywhere really anymore because of the increased lockdown (namely, the mask requirements). Even more places are closed than before. Speaking of closed places...

I believe Lake Katherine is closed due to the Coronavirus. I’m not 100% certain, but last time I checked on Google and it said “Temporarily Closed” underneath it, just like it does for all the other places closed from the virus. I’m glad I got to go there twice at least. If it wasn’t for Bailey and this blog assignment I would never have even remembered this place!

My grandma still comes over for her weekly visits, and we still play games like Scrabble, Uno, Pass the Pigs, and Five Thousand. In fact, she’s coming over again tomorrow. I think it’s OK now since the strict stay-at-home rule is lifted. Either way, my mother works hard every day to go the extra mile in terms of keeping our house clean - wiping down doorknobs everyday, etc. so I think my grandma will be fine. Some of my other family members are starting to have my grandma visit them too, so I think the slow slog to normalcy is starting to begin in some parts of life.

But when it comes to restaurants, it’s still as bad as it was on the day before St. Patrick’s Day, when it all started going downhill. I still remember that Friday before Spring Break - I couldn’t tell you how many teachers said that we would be right back in school after the break. I still hope we have a mock-last day during the summer, as frivolous as it may seem to some. I’d like to walk the halls of Marist one last time before we all head off to college.

And now, here I am. I’ve reviewed and looked over all my old blogs: I’m not sure there’s much else to do at this point. While everybody else has pretty much dropped off in terms of their blogs, I’m still here. I might continue blogging even after today - even though it will be completely pointless in terms of grades, it isn’t completely pointless to me. I still like writing these - reminiscing about the “early” weeks of the Coronavirus outbreak, when we were still hopeful. 

However, I still have faith that we will get through this soon. I know I’ve been saying that for like a month and a half, but I do truly believe it. Once the masks start coming off, once I start seeing peoples’ faces again, once the restaurants reopen, then it’ll feel just like those first few weeks again. You know it’s bad (or maybe I’m just going crazy) when I’m reminiscing about the first few weeks of a pandemic, but at least back then the memory of the pre-Coronavirus... a normal... lifestyle was still a recent memory. Now it’s much more distant. I feel like I haven’t been in Marist in years. Well, after all, the name of this assignment was “Hard Times and Hope” and these are still tough times and I still have hope - I guess it was a good name after all. 

Now I gotta think of a final sentence. A final send-off for this entire assignment. It has to be impactful, and summarize everything I’ve learned so far. Hmm, I can’t think of anything much. I guess all that really matters is one word:

Hope. 

[brendansise-blog]

A Quick Reminder

I started my day today with some good news that we will not have finals and that Easter break had been extended. I also received the most enjoyment today outside as I have in a while. My friends and I went on a long bike ride on Arrowhead Trail throughout Palos, Tinley, and Oak Forrest. We were practicing social distancing and maintaining our 6 ft, but it was really nice to see some of my friends- Dom, Fish, and Matt in person again. We began our ride by picking up Dominic at his house while he was fixing his beat-up car. Next, we picked up Matt who was excited as well. I was under the impression that we were going for just a light bike ride, but I did not realize how much work I was going to have to put in for the next 9 miles in order to keep up (I have a mountain bike which is a lot heavier). Along the trail, we biked quickly trying to beat out the threat of rain in the forecast, which never really amounted to anything. I mentioned earlier how I have never seen so many people on a trail at once, and today was no different. The people we came across kept their distance, but some were a little rude in their comments as we passed by. Who can really blame them though? I think everyone is a little short tempered after being cooped up inside for weeks at a time. It was really nice to experience other towns and areas for the first time in a while. I realize that I put people at risk by just being outside my own home, but keeping your distance while outside does an effective job as well, and it is recommended to go outside every once in a while. It was also a lot of fun to relive going everywhere we could on our bikes with my friends, just like we did when we were younger. Today reminded me that there is a lot to look forward to once things go back to normal, and I can’t wait to hang out with my friends for the first time and not have to constantly worry about being 6 ft from each other or anyone else for that matter. I think this pandemic could be the turning point in our society, and maybe things will never go back to the normal that we once knew, but that’s okay if it’s for the right purposes.