The View From Here

The View From Here

STRESSFUL DISTANCING

What are the side effects of social distancing?

Photograph taken by Audrey Parrish

Meet the Staff

Rosemary Timmer-Hacket ‘23 Designer and Writer

Sila Duran ‘23 Designer, Artist, and Editor in cheif

The pets of the Pandemic Secure?

4-5 .

6-7 .

Spring Photos Cover

8 9 - 13 14 - 15 16 17

Quarantine Collection Why the book is Better Should Summer be Cancelled?

. . . . .

Audrey Parrish ‘23 Designer and Writer

Sachiko Goto ‘23 Designer and Writer

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MAY 26, 2020

3

The Pets of the Pandemic

BY AUDREY PARRISH

PHOTOS BY WEITZ FAMILY

Pet adoption has skyrocketed since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Quarantine just got a lot cuter!

Christy Weitz with Scout.

PHOTO BY CHARITY NEBBE

PHOTO BY KIRSTEN WILLIAMSON

The Weitz’s new puppy, Scout.

Another pandemic puppy, Martin, with his new family member Kenley.

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NEWS

May 18, 2020

My very own pandemic puppy, Cheddar.

when the pandemic started, we really started to notice how much we missed having Heidi around.” So, the Weitzs went to the animal rescue where they had adopted Heidi in their search for a dog. “When we started thinking about [getting a puppy] I called the same lady who helped us find Heidi, and they had tons and tons of applications.” Weitz said.

“We normally get 20-30 calls a day. We are now getting that many every hour.” Hoover said.

“More than 1000 people have

“When we first started staying home all the time, (...) we really started to notice how much we missed having Heidi around.”

- Christy Weitz

expressed interest in adopting in the last two months.” The Weitzs got lucky and were put at the top of the adoption list because they had adopted from the animal rescue before. That meant that the animal rescue already knew that they could take good care of a dog and they wouldn’t have to do a background check. “They said that they had 50 applications for each puppy,” said Mick Weitz. Due to adoption rates rising, veterinary clinics are getting more appointments scheduled every day. But, because of the

pandemic, vets have had to change the way appointments operate.

Instead of shutting down because of the pandemic, the Animal Kingdom Veterinary Hospital has come up with a new way to treat patients while also following the new social distancing guidelines. “We aren’t seeing clients directly. [We are doing] the curbside kind of care.” said Doctor Susan Oliver, veterinarian at the hospital.

They call it “the curbside kind of care” because they have adapted to the new guidelines by picking up pets at their owners' cars which are parked in numbered parking spots in the parking lot. To sign in to your appointment, you simply call their number and tell them which spot you are parked in. Then they come out and pick up the pets for their appointments. After the appointment, the pets are delivered back to their cars.

During the appointment, owners are asked to stay in the parking lots so that they can receive a call from inside the building. These calls are just basic information about what is going on in the appointments.

The only reasons vets allow customers inside are for euthanasia and at-home medical instruction. “Like, ‘okay, your dog is diabetic’, we’re not just going to tell [them] over the phone how to give an injection of insulin.” Dr. Oliver explained. Only essential procedures are exceptions to the guidelines.

People all over Iowa are adapting their lives to fit the pandemic, whether it be adopting a new pet or changing the way their businesses run. There have been sacrifices made from all sides. Many families have been struggling with this new way of life, but have found a sense of purpose with new pets. They are a great way to stay happy, healthy, and connected to the world in these challenging times.

NEWS

May 18, 2020

DESIGN BY AUDREY PARRISH

D

ue to the pandemic, people all over the world are stuck at home with maybe their families to interact with.

Those fortunate to be with their families have realised it can be hard to all get along with their stress levels running high. This is why many families are looking for a mediator, something to get them outside, decrease stress levels, and boost their moods. The first thing families went to for that mediator is pets. “We normally adopt around 300 dogs a year. In the last two months 80 dogs have been adopted.” Said Roxanne Hoover, the director of Fur Fun Animal Rescue.

Many families in the Iowa City and Coralville area have been adopting pets since this pandemic started. Although well meaning, the boost of adoptions in this pandemic have made lots of complications for veterinary clinics. The new social distancing guidelines have changed the way appointments work so that human interaction is limited.

It has been hard for many families to stay happy and occupied while being stuck at home. For one family, the Weitzs, being stuck at home made them realize how much they missed having a dog. “We had another dog: Heidi. She passed away about a year ago and ever since she died we had kind of thought about getting another dog eventually, but we weren’t quite ready,” said Christy Weitz, an ELL teacher at West. “When we first started staying home all the time,

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Secure?

By Sachiko Goto

As the COVID-19 pandemic forces many Americans to stay home, Zoom has emerged as the new superstar app that lets us stay connected remotely. But the new superstar is far from perfect.

I

magine you are attending a class on Zoom. You stare at the screen in front of you, thinking that you are watching a normal class, when all of a sudden your screen shows you graphic images and slurs.

Nobody in your class knows what is happening, and everyone starts to panic. Your class has just been “Zoombombed.”

This scenario is all too frequent now.

Over the past month or so, there have been multiple reports of Zoom being hijacked by hackers, including high schools, colleges, alcoholics anonymous meetings, city meetings, and more. As Zoom became the preferred platform for many Americans working and learning from home, what started out as a relatively unknown telecommunications company has quickly become a major part of American’s life. That sudden superstar status also brought to light both new and old revelations about flaws in Zoom’s security that could put millions of users at risk.

As the amount of people utilising Zoom increased, reports of these “Zoombombing” incidents started to surface. “Zoombombing” is when hackers hijack meetings and shout, type, or show racist slurs, threatening messages, hate speech, pornography and more.

These attacks have become such a problem that many places around the country, such as New York City’s Department of Education, have banned the use of Zoom in schools.

Even the FBI has issued a public warning about “Zoombombing” incidents, after receiving multiple complaints.

It was also reported that Zoom was sending user data to Facebook without letting users know. This included data for both Facebook users and people without a Facebook account. The Zoom app notifies Facebook about information such as when users open the app, what time zone users are in, and what type of device the user is opening Zoom on. This data is then used by companies to target users with advertisements.

Because of this, Zoom is now facing a class action lawsuit.

But “Zoombombing” and Facebook are only the surface. One of the more major flaws involve the ability for hackers to silently listen in on calls, and even completely take over users’ computers. In early 2019, the company Dropbox, an early business partner of Zoom, sponsored a hacking competi-

tion to find security flaws in Zoom. The hope was that Dropbox, which made a $5 million investment into Zoom, could find flaws in Zoom’s system and get Zoom to fix them before major problems occured. What the hackers found was that security flaws in Zoom could allow attackers to secretly observe user’s video calls, take complete control of certain user’s computers, and allow malicious websites to enable user’s webcams.

Dropbox reported this to Zoom, but Zoom only fixed these problems three months later after another smaller report emerged about the flaws.

But that is not where it ends. Last month, reporters from Vice’s Motherboard found that hackers are selling what are called zero-days, or 0days, for Zoom starting at $500,000. Zero-days refer to both zero-day vulnerabilities, which are software holes that the software vendor does not yet know about, and zero-day exploits, which are codes that hackers use to take advantage of zero-day vulnerabilities and hack into softwares. Both are extremely valuable, and are sold on black underground markets. Demand for two Zoom zero-days are soaring as many people, including companies and even governments, have started working remotely using Zoom.

These zero-day vulnerabilities and exploits can be used to steal Windows passwords, and to take over a user’s Mac, according to an ex-NSA hacker.

Zoom has not been quick to respond to these issues. While many of these security flaws have been known for months, they have only started to respond to them within the last few months. They have also previously claimed, falsely, that the app has end-to-end encryption, leading to vast criticism from users and security experts.

But that doesn’t mean they have done nothing. The company has frozen development on new features in order to focus on fixing the security issues that have come up, and have said they will clarify their encryption practices. They have also removed the section in their software that sends user data to Facebook, after receiving backlash from privacy activists.

Just because there are major security problems that might affect you, that doesn’t mean that you should stop using Zoom altogether. There are things that you could do

“J UST BECAUSE THER E A R E M AJOR SECU R IT Y PROBLEMS TH AT MIGHT A FFECT YOU, TH AT DOESN’ T M EA N TH AT YOU SHOU LD STOP USI NG ZOOM A LTOGETHER .”

-SACHIKO GOTO ‘23 on Zoom to protect yourself from hackers.

First, set a password for your meeting. If you set a password, that will make it harder for hackers to get into your meeting. Second, only share the link to your meeting with the attendees. Do not post these links on social media where they are visible to anybody.

Third, utilize the waiting room feature. If the waiting room is turned on, you will be able to see who is trying to join your meeting, and you will be able to control who comes in and who doesn’t. Taking these few simple steps can decrease your chances of getting hacked during a meeting. As Zoom becomes a mustuse for more Americans, we must remember to be careful, and take the right steps to protect ourselves on Zoom while protecting ourselves from COVID-19.

Design and photography by Sachiko Goto NEWS

MAY 26, 2020

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Spring Photos

Photograph taken by Rosemary Timmer-Hackert

Photograph taken by Sila Duran

Photograph taken by Rosemary Timmer-Hackert

Photograph taken by Sachiko Goto

Photograph taken by Audrey Parrish Photograph taken by Sila Duran

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ENTERTAINMENT MAY 26, 2020

STRESSFUL An exploration of the effect social distancing has on people’s mental health

DISTANCING

By Sachiko Goto, Audrey Parrish, Rosemary Timmer-Hackert

A

s COVID-19 spreads around the world, more and more people are being encouraged to do their part by staying home and practicing social distancing.

The goal of social distancing is to limit face to face interaction between people to slow down the spread of the virus. This is achieved by people limiting how often they go outside, staying six feet apart from others, and holding work, school, and any other gatherings online.

Social distancing is a key part of flattening the curve, slowing down the spread of the virus and saving countless lives. But just like any other treatment, social distancing has its side effects. The stress of the pandemic combined with the abrupt change in our daily lives, not to mention our isolation, can have a negative effect on our mental health.

A poll of 72 West High students showed that 41.7% of students thought the state of their mental health now is worse than before the pandemic (34.7% thought it was about the same and 23.6% thought it was better).

Students aren’t alone in feeling this way, and this time can be very stressful for parents too as they have to adapt to having their children at home full time. Long term this stress increases the risk of depression. That leaves us with two questions: what is causing our stress and how should we deal with it?

GENERAL STRESS

There are multiple factors that cause stress and anxiety during social distancing. One major factor is we are constantly worried about ourselves and others close to us contracting COVID. This thought has been echoed by some West students. “I’m worried because even if I’m not going to die, I don’t want my family members to die. I don’t want to be the one responsible for bringing it in and having it kill people,” said Jennifer Alden ’23.

Another factor is the news cycle constantly giving out new information, whether they are true, partly true, or completely false. Not knowing whether a piece of information is true or not can cause us even more stress.

Listening to the news, as well as listening to rumours and conspiracy theories during this time can lead to a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety, as you are unsure of what to believe and what not to believe. Though it is tempting to constantly look out for news about COVID-19, most experts suggest that you do not do this, and instead get your news periodically from reliable sources such as the CDC. Stigmatization stemming from COVID-19 can also be a cause of stress and anxiety. Stigmatization happens when people associate COVID-19 with a certain group of people, even if not everybody in that group is infected or at risk of spreading the disease. Groups

that are at risk of stigmatization include Asian-Americans, people who have travelled outside of the United States, healthcare workers, and even people who are showing symptoms for any type of disease. Stigmatization often leads to social avoidance, rejection, verbal or physical attacks, and more. Any of these can lead to increased stress among affected groups.

TEEN STRESS

When talking about how social distancing affects the mental health of teenagers, one factor stands out: school. Both the 42% of students that said their mental health was worse now and the 24% who said it was better cited school as the biggest factor in regards to their mental health, but for very different reasons.

In the case of those who said their mental health is better now, online school is viewed as an improvement on regular school. First off, it allows them to get more sleep. School work can be done whenever which allows students to sleep in for however long they want. Another way that online school is less stressful than regular school is that there are no tests. Most of the assignments we get are relatively simple, which reduces the stress that school normally brings with its large tests and projects. Despite these benefits not everyone is adapting to online school as easily.

One thing that is a struggle for many students is procrastination. Most of us already struggled with procrastinating our school work while we were in school, and now that we’re at home surrounded by distractions it’s only gotten worse. “Sometimes it’s hard to focus because I have a lot of stuff in my room to distract me. At school, my brain automatically goes, oh I’m supposed to focus here. (...)

[Here] it’s harder to focus, it’s harder to get motivation,” Alden said.

Regular school requires that some work be done during class time, but now students have full control over their schedules. This allows them to procrastinate as much as they want, which is not good for their mental health.

Procrastination can cause a variety of negative emotions like stress, anxiety, and guilt.

Social distancing has made it so students can’t see their friends in person, but most students can still talk to their friends online.

For some students, though, school is one of the only ways they have to communicate with their friends, and this lack of communication can negatively affect their mental health. “I love all my friends, and it’s hard not to see or talk to them. It is hard to communicate virtually because I don’t have a solidified device for myself, like a phone or personal computer. (...) I’ve been less comedic because my friends are not around making it difficult to stay in good spirits,” said Joseph Alarape ’23.

PARENT STRESS

Now that schools are closed, parents find themselves taking on new responsibilities.

Many parents are called on to work from home, take care of their children, and take over the roles of teachers. These extra responsibilities are a big source of stress for the parents who feel that they need to schedule their kids’ days like they were scheduled at school.

“I think [parents] are so used to having their kids programmed every second of every day, they don’t know how to have loose time.” says Linda Nebbe, a therapist in Cedar Falls. This mentality that kids must have a schedule of activities all day long is adding extra stress to lives that are already full of it.

Taking care of kids is a lot of work, especially if they need constant attention. Many of today’s children aren’t used to entertaining themselves, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of playing on their own. Children naturally have active imaginations and the fact that they go to school hasn’t changed that.

Though their days have been previously filled with school and other activities the free time children are experiencing now doesn’t have to be a bad thing. According to Nebbe this can be an opportunity to release the restrictions placed on children and let them be children.

“I THI N K [PA R EN TS] A R E SO USED TO H AV I NG THEIR K IDS PROGR A M M ED EV ERY SECOND OF EV ERY DAY, THEY DON’ T K NOW HOW TO H AV E LOOSE TIM E .”

-LINDA NEBBE , THER A PIST

“When [my children] were growing up, we were home with our kids alone a lot without screens, without any help, without places to send them.”

Nebbe believes that even though we are all going through a stressful time, this might be an opportunity for families to get back to basics and allow children to be children.

LONG-TERM/SEVERE STRESS

All of these factors can suddenly add unwanted stress and anxiety to our lives. But what can all of this stress lead to?

Assuming that we have to continue social distancing for some more time, we can take educated guesses on what long-term effects social distancing has on our mental health. It is known that long-term stress is associated with an increased risk of depression. Risk of developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) also increases if you have chronic stress or anxiety. Other effects include headaches, sleep problems, and even heart disease.

Though there has not been much research done on this topic, the handful of experts who have done research estimate that if we do not take care of our mental health during social distancing, these symptoms of chronic stress will start to show up.

Another long-term effect of social distanc-

ing that has been reported is an increase in domestic abuse. A report from Australian police showed that while crime rates dropped by 40% after social distancing orders were put in place, reports of domestic abuse rose by 5%. At the same time, Google reported a 75% increase in searches relating to domestic abuse support in Australia. This happens because COVID-19 forces victims to be within close proximity to their abusers. Victims can be thrown out of their homes for showing minor signs of illness, or be trapped in their homes with their abusers with nowhere to hide. With everything from schools to crisis centers closed, the only way to get help for many victims is to pick up the phone and call, which may not be possible with their abusers close to them.

But there is hope. Groups that offer help for domestic abuse have set up online help centers where people can visit. Some shelters are also open, where people can stay while maintaining a six-feet distance between each other, though they are screening for symptoms.

COPING

Social distancing can be stressful for everyone; students are worried about online school, parents are worried about their children, and everyone is constantly surrounded by bad news as soon as they step foot online. All this stress can have bad consequences such as increasing the risk of depression and PTSD. Some students, though, have found ways to cope with the stress.

“I destress by making foods, deserts specifically, because they aren’t the hardest or easiest,” said Alden.

Some students have found new ways to connect with their friends that don’t risk spreading the virus. By playing video games together online or going hiking outside.

We all have to remember that even when it feels like we are alone, we’re all in this together. Together we will conquer COVID-19 by social distancing, and learn to deal with our stress.

In order to cope, work your mind at relaxing, letting go, seeing the good side of things,” said Nebbe, “When you get uptight, (...) first relax or take a deep breath or sit down and breathe deeply and then think of something that brings relaxation to your mind.”

Photos by Sila Duran, Sachiko Goto, Audrey Parrish Art by Sila Duran Design by Sachiko Goto

TITLE A Guide to Surviving Your Family During Quarantine

Step 1: Make sure you have a functioning lock on your door. And no, not your front door; your room’s door. This lock, when used correctly, stops unreasonable searches, seizures, intrusions, and conversations by parents, siblings, or anybody else, and therefore protects your constitutional rights given to you by the Fourth Amendment.

Step 2: Have a friend (phone) with you. Make sure that you are kind to your

friend; serve them some snacks (a charger). If you want, bring a second

friend (earbuds) with you too. Your time spent with your friends is

guaranteed to be fun (unproductive), and it will help you become more

social (lazy). Your friends will also help you get your mind off of things that

cause you stress (because you won’t be able to hear anything with earbuds on).

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Step 3: Be creative. Find as many different ways as you can to avoid human contact. It can be anything. Write a grand novel about how you “have” to study. Sing a song about how you “want” to be with your family but you have so many Zoom meetings. Take all the time you need to get your creative gears going, and soon enough you will have thought of enough ways to avoid humans that you will never have to see a human again.

SATIRE

MAY 26, 2020

My morning has shifted to become midafternoon, I fear soon I will be waking up with the moon.

My trip to the bathroom is shorter than usual, who cares if I stink when everything is virtual.

Once I am dressed I have to get ready for a Zoom, I prepare for the awkward silence in the breakout room.

My parents gave up cooking on day number three, looks like another lunch of mac and cheese for me.

I go for a walk, mask on my face and shoes on my feet, when strangers see me coming they are quick to cross the street.

The rest of the day is spent sitting on the couch with my phone, Somehow I ended up watching some guy play the trombone.

My siblings argue throughout dinner, annoying everyone, afterwards we partake in F.F.F.- forced family fun.

School work is left until the night before it’s due, although, to be fair, that is really nothing new.

It’s three am now and my consciousness is dwindling, this is my daily life during social distancing.

Dear Reader, My quarantine glow-up has be en going really well. I wake up really early and eat a healthy breakfast co nsisting of avocado toast and herbal tea every morning. Then I get a workou t in by either going for a jog or doing one of my pre-planned workouts that the app I downloaded makes for me. After my workout, I like to stay hydrate d by drinking a hand-squeezed , health-promoting vegetable jui ce that I make from scratch. Aft er I drink a cup, it’s on to my homework.

I have a very precise schedule that allows me to finish all my work on time.

I also attend all my Zoom me etings. Oh, did I mention that I also shower ev ery day? I didn’t? Oh, that’s be cause IT’S NOT TRUE. I wake up at noon every day and have brownies for br eakfast. Even though I plan to work out, I NE VER do. I never make it to all of my Zooms and I don’t do my homework and I haven’t showered in a we ek and I ALMOST CUT BANGS YEST ERDAY. I’m going insane, SE ND HELP.

Yours from quarantine,

(the unhealthy lump that has replaced me) Your friend

SATIRE

MAY 26, 2020

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Why the Book is Better

BY ROSEMARY TIMMER-HACKERT Rosemary Timmer-Hackert ’23 reveals why the book is always better than the movie, and what Hollywood can do to improve film adaptations of famous books.

It is common knowledge that the book is always better than the movie, but there is a big difference between good film adaptations and bad ones. Some adaptations such as “The Fault in Our Stars”, “Lord of The Rings”, and “Casino Royale” are universally loved by fans of those books, but o.ther adaptations such as the “Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief ” and “The Hobbit'' have practically been disowned by those who read the original works. So what makes a good movie adaption of a book?

The first thing that comes to mind for most people is how faithful an adaptation is to its book. This is definitely important, just take “Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief ” as an example. The only similarities between the movie and the book are the inciting incident, the name of the protagonists, and the fact that they have mythological antagonists (it’s worth noting that the book and the movie can’t even agree on who the antagonists should be). This caused so much outrage among the fans that the movies never even got past book two. While it’s possible for a movie to change up the plot and be better for it, like in the case of “Ready Player One”, the chances are that any fan who liked the original book will still be upset by the changes.

A very similar no-no when making an adaptation is to change the characters of the book.

Many franchises have gotten in trouble with their fans for changing the characterization of certain characters, a good example of this would be the Harry Potter franchise. In the Harry Potter films, the problematic character is none other than Albus Dumbledore. While he was always portrayed as calm and collected in the books, the Dumbledore of the movie feels much more brash. Perhaps no moment shows this better

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OPINION MAY 26, 2020

than when Dumbledore asks Harry if he put his name in the Goblet of Fire. In the book he asks his question calmy, while in the movie he storms down from the podium and yells his question to Harry’s face. Needless to say, book fans were not pleased. If a movie wants to appeal to book fans, butchering their favorite characters is certainly not the way to go about it.

A faithful adaptation doesn’t always guarantee success. Another important factor is the number of films you turn the book into. This is where “The Hobbit” fell short (or well longit fell about one or two movies too long). “The Hobbit”, a children’s fairy tale that is 310 pages in length, was given the same epic fantasy tril-

“CLE ARLY AUTHORS HAVE WHAT IT TAK ES TO PL AY A L ARGER ROLE IN ADAP TING THEIR BOOK S TO MOVIES” -ROSEMARY TIMMERHACKERT ‘23

ogy treatment as the LotR trilogy which spans 1,178 pages, but it isn’t the only movie to do this.

Ever since the last Harry Potter movie came out in two parts, many more movies derived from books in the YA genre have followed suit such as “Mocking Jay”, “Breaking Dawn”, and “Divergent: Allegiant”. While I agree that the seventh Harry Potter book was too dense to not be split into two books, most of these other books have no such excuse and this is reflected in their ratings. “Mocking Jay Part 1” and “Mocking Jay Part 2” are the lowest rated films in The Hunger Games franchise, and “Divergent: Allegiant” never even got finished. In general you can’t go wrong if you stick to a strict one book equals one movie policy.

Fans aren’t the only ones bad movies disappoint, it can be very upsetting to the book's author as well. Most authors have very little if any control over how their book gets adapted to the screen, but why is this? Afterall, who is better suited to make sure that their characters and plot are left intact than the author themself? Many of our best movies have been written or co-written by the authors of the books they were based on, big names like “The Godfather'' and “The Princess Bride”. Clearly authors have what it takes to play a larger role in adapting their books into movies. If we want to see change in the movie industry, us book fans are going to have to hit them where it hurts: the money. Next time a movie adaptation of a book you love comes out, try checking the reviews before heading down to the movie theater. If it doesn’t look good, but you still want to see it, wait a few months for it to come out on streaming services. Unless they got the plot totally wrong, you won't even have to worry about dodging spoilers.

Should Summer be Canceled?

of this pandemic and haven’t opened up again. While a shortage of money is an understandable reason for remaining open, it doesn't justify putting countless families at risk of infection.

Covid-19 spreads by respiratory droplets passing between people-when they cough or sneeze-in prolonged close contact. At camps like Wapsie, kids from all over the state are staying in close contact with each other for an entire week.

The parent letter also states that “Wapsie is planning enhanced cleaning

and sanitization practices; additional options like hand washing/sanitization stations, adjusting activities with enhanced social distancing and minimizing physical contact between individuals.” Unless the camp makes it mandatory to wear a face mask all day, the sanitization measures being taken right now simply won’t be enough to stop the spread. Enhanced social distancing will be really hard to maintain with a large group of children.

Some might argue that children are more tolerant of the disease than

adults, and that is true. The elderly population in the US has the highest percentage of deaths than any other age group. However, after their week at camp, the children will go home to their families, putting even more vulnerable people in danger of infection.

Increased sanitization and social distancing at Camp Wapsie will not be enough to prevent the spread of Covid-19. People from all over the state will be in close contact with each other for a week, not knowing if they had come in contact with the virus before going to camp. Even though children are less susceptible to serious symptoms of the disease, once they return home they put their families in danger.

In my experience at Wapsie, everyone is together all the time.

Kids stay in cabins with each other, they do activities together, and they eat together in the dining hall. Kids from different places mixing constantly all day.

This style of camp just wouldn’t work now. Kids wouldn’t be able to swim together, eat together, play together. Not doing these activities would make camp more safe, but also a lot less fun. Remember fun camp experiences from past years and look forward to more in the future, but don’t go this year.

The risk of infection is simply not worth it.

DESIGN BY AUDREY PARRISH

Since the first breakout of Covid-19 here in Iowa, there have been many changes to everyday life. Schools shut down, families are being quarantined, and only essential workers are going to work. Another change that many people are experiencing is the closure of summer camps. Many prominent camps such as Hawkeye sports camps have cancelled all programs and the Dorian Music Camp at Luther College has been cancelled as well.

One camp that hasn’t closed their doors yet is Camp Wapsie. A letter sent out to parents in late April states “Wapsie is still planning to run summer camp for the summer of 2020.

While things are still evolving we do not feel a decision to cancel or delay the start of summer camp is prudent at this time.”

They say that they are waiting for more guidelines to come out before they make a concrete decision.

The reason they state for remaining open is the financial strain the YMCA is experiencing because of closures. “Nearly two months of program closure and new practices to help address COVID-19 have had a significant financial impact on camp and the Cedar Rapids YMCA.” However, this doesn’t really justify the decision. Many restaurants and other businesses have had to close down because

Opinion

May 20, 2020

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PHOTO BY CHARITY NEBBE

Many summer plans have been canceled because of the pandemic, but some camps have chosen to remain open. Was that the right choice? BY AUDREY PARRISH

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Answers

N I B M E D I O V E R M A R C H

T E E R D E E E D G O N O N D

3. White wood of minecraft 4.A hoarse critic?

5. Representation of ones self-esteem 6. Hadean, archean, proterzoic, ect.

7. Famous RPG 8. Pop’s partner 9. Latin phrase for as needed 10. Incan farming technique 12. Fish eating raptor 13. Wager 15. Modern phrase for old communication 16. ___ Tok 19. ___ Talk 20. Before to the bard 22. Santa’s help 26. Hawaii’s largest volcano 27. _______ of nothing 28. Grain for a horse 29. Squirm 30. Cash dispenser 31. Common Korean name 34. Used by 50-across 35. Bright colors 37. ___ Lanka 39. Conscious 42. Produce 43. What unites clarinets and saxaphones 44. Camera type abbr.

45. Literary perspective abbr.

46. Smelter’s raw material 47. One of which a stoll has three

A D H O C

1. St. Petersburg river 2. One checking licenses?

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N A Y S A Y E R

Across

1.The point of a pen 4. Require 8. Word after social or mixed 10. Add to the end 11. Expend excess energy 13. To infinity and ______ 14. 2019 role of Watson, Pugh, Ronan, and Scanlen 17. Action of rabbits, kangaroos, and frogs 18. NO3 21. Onomatopoeia of doors and stairs 23. Yesterday Sp. 24. Cotton gin inventor 25. Surrender, as in power 26. Famous transport of 1620 30. “Now!” 32. Disfigure 33. ____ de France 34. Smooth, glossy fabric 36. A single, wide 34-down 38. Word after green, black, or herbal 40. What brings 26-across in verse 45. Hoi ______ 48. Covering for crowns 49. Milk’s favorite cookies 50. One going downhill fast?

51. Lyra’s brightest star 52. Approximate hour of exit abbr.

48

T B E T E R I T R K A C O W E A R T I T S H E

51

44

O S I S P N R E A E L I Y F L M S A S K I R I L I

49

41

R S E L E R D

47

39

E M I T

40

38

A W A K E

36

35

N E O N S

31

33

Down

42

23

24

46

20

Crossword By Rosemary Timmer-Hackert

16

18 21

45

19

7

13

14

30

6

10 12

26

5

A P R O P O S

2

M A S A T O U MO N A P O L L O R E O V E G A

1