Currently, she’s reading a book about medieval Swedish history in which the black plague is a topic of discussion. That “really puts it in perspective,” she says. She recently finished War and Peace, which she calls “an experience.” As an introvert, she likes spending time alone, but now, she says, she’s forgotten how to interact with other humans. “When they do contact me, I’m like wait how do you have a conversation again?” One of the worst aspects of the pandemic, she says, is “the way it’s revealed all the inequalities of the system. I wish there was more I could do. But at some point I have to tear myself away from upsetting media about things that are entirely beyond my control because it just makes me so upset that it’s hard to go about life and do work.” Kelis Corley of Capitol Heights, laments that her final high school semester will end without any of the celebration that usually comes with it. The 17-year-old St. John’s College High School senior plans to attend Stony Brook University in New York on a basketball scholarship in the fall. Her high school basketball season concluded before the coronavirus-related closures, but nearly everything else has changed. “We already did most of our work on an online system, but now we get so much more work,” she says. “It’s a little bit harder because you’re not having a whole lesson there.” Time management for school work has been tough—it’s hard to stay focused at home when she can turn on her television at any time. At school, there are no at-home distractions, and the teacher is always right there to lend help when it’s needed. If she needs help now, Corley says, she has to email her teacher and wait for a response. At one point, the sound wasn’t working during one of her online sessions. Her teacher was teaching, but couldn’t be heard by students. They’ve since figured out the technological woes, she says, but the handson aspects of learning are still absent. The decrease in her ability to socialize in person has been a particularly challenging adjustment. “You don’t get to see anybody,” she says. “Your senior year, you’re going to want to have fun. We can’t have prom or graduation anymore, so it’s really sad for our class. We’re missing a lot of experiences that everybody looks forward to when they’re growing up.” She and her classmates and teachers are used to seeing each other every day. She’s realized how instrumental they are in her life now that they’re physically gone from it. Her days are slow. She wakes up just before having to go to virtual class from about 9:30 a.m. until about 2:30 p.m. She also tries to get workouts in to stay fit. Her college basketball team’s summer workouts, where she’d get to know her new teammates, have been canceled. She cooks more now, too. Her mom gets the groceries. Corley has asthma, and her mother doesn’t think she should be potentially putting herself at risk by going out. With physical classes and activities canceled, her senior group is filled with anger and sadness for what feels like their lost and incomplete year. “We’ve worked our whole lives to get to this point to graduate,” she says. “Everybody’s just really mad at the world. Everybody’s posting memories of school because who would have thought that we couldn’t finish school.” But there is one thing Corley can be happy and proud about: There are only a few weeks left of high school.
Joel and Jaala Brown on Zoom “Everything else is gone, but I’m still excited that I finally finished,” she says. While older high schoolers are able to find perspective and think about the future, younger children still have plenty of schooling left and are less independent, relying more heavily on their parents. DC Public Schools special education teacher and ANC7B02 commissioner Tiffany L. Brown has had to build new routines after her family’s regular schedule was thrown off. She and her husband live with their two children, sixth grader Jaala, 11, and seventh grader Joel, 12, and their dog, a “spoiled” Shih Tzu-poodle mix, in Hillcrest. Brown says Joel and Jaala, who attend Capitol Hill Montessori, can bother each other but generally get along, and these days, when they aren’t doing school work online, they’re enjoying competing for the dog’s attention. Jaala is outgoing and an independent learner, and Joel is more reserved and needs more motivation to work, Brown says. She imagines her son sitting quietly in class if he doesn’t understand something, and waiting until class is over to ask for help individually. At home, they wake up at different times. Joel is also a big proponent of meal time. “My son’s stomach goes off at 8, 12, and 4,” she says. “‘Mom, what’s for lunch?’ and I’m like ‘You just ate breakfast an hour ago!’” For a few weeks, Brown says her children have been “over it.” But she’s trying to make sure they’re getting their work done, despite the slowed down and strained internet at home. There has to be accountability, she says. Otherwise the school year might as well end. Guiding her children academically can still be difficult. “Someone is usually presenting this information to them,” she says. “Even though I’m a teacher, I’m not a middle school teacher.” When they’re not working, Joel likes to play on his Xbox. Jaala spends her time on TikTok. “If I let her, my daughter would stay on her phone for 24 hours,” Brown says. She’s trying to figure out how
to transfer her daughter’s energy for TikTok into energy for school work. Joel can worry, and now has no interest in leaving his home, Brown says. “I watch more news than I should so that means my kids watch more news. So, when they said ‘stay in, it’s really bad,’ my son didn't even want to go outside.” He’s good talking with and texting his friends on the phone. Do they miss their school friends? “Yes,” says Jaala. “A little,” says Joel. What do they think about the pandemic? “I don’t feel comfortable with it because it’s like a virus that could come out of nowhere at any time,” Joel says. “I don’t like it,” Jaala says. “I do online school now and I don’t like it. I like interacting with my teachers at school and getting to see my friends.” Jo-Jo Valenzuela and his wife have their three boys—Lorenzo, 12, Sebastian, 6, and Dominic, 3—at home now. Understandably, their Falls Church home can get rowdy. Lorenzo is in sixth grade and Sebastian is in kindergarten, and both attend Shrevewood Elementary. They’re doing distance learning and receiving weekly school work packets. Recently, their school tried to do a virtual conference call, but there are bugs that needed to be fixed for the technology they’re using to work properly, Valenzuela says. Valenzuela is looking forward to having Dominic in preschool next year. “He’s a smart kid,” he says. “He’s been reading and writing since he was 2. He’s the genius of the family.” Valenzuela says he takes care of the children’s daily activities as his wife works from home as an accountant, and he physically goes to work a couple days a week. Valenzuela is a beverage consultant for his company Jo-Jo the Barkeep LLC, and the management partner, co-owner, and chef at The Game Sports Pub in Adams Morgan. “I’ve just got to make sure they do it,” he says.
“A 30-minute activity turns into three hours for the 6-year-old, Sebastian.” He’s tried to find activities to do with the boys, like guitar playing. “I used to be a guitar player, so I threw in some guitar lessons here and there. We were active for like three days, and that was it,” he jokes. With their daily schedule jumbled due to the lack of physical school, the three boys wake up and go to bed at different times. Lorenzo is early to fall asleep and also an early riser. “Sebastian is definitely like a noon guy,” Valenzuela says. How does Sebastian feel about what’s happening in the world and the fact that he has to stay home now? “Sad,” he says. “I want to play.” Sebastian enjoys recess at school, and misses playing on the playground. Lorenzo says he misses recess too, because it’s his last year of it before moving on to seventh grade. To pass his time, he’s “been playing video games a lot, and at night we watch movies,” he says. They often set up a time after dinner before going to bed to sit together and watch. They’ve gone through nearly the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe canon of films. Valenzuela says he worked constantly before the pandemic grabbed hold of his life. Now, he’s with his family much more. “I learned how to skateboard because my son learned how to skateboard,” Valenzuela says. They’re spending time eating together, and playing catch and board games. Valenzuela says he regularly loses board games to his sons. “They’re really good,” he says, laughing. “I’m really trying my best to win.” And sometimes, when the weather is nice and the neighborhood isn’t bustling, they go outside to play on the backyard trampoline. Ice Cream Jubilee owner Victoria Lai and her husband, literary agent Howard Yoon, are both running their businesses from home and splitting their time between conference calls and phone meetings and their children. Together, they have Zoey, who’s 3-and-a-half,
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