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Time just rolls forward. There’s no stopping it, and when we’re frozen in time to different extents because of the pandemic, that can create some really odd sensations. There are certain times of year that are checkpoints for me and always have been: the start of spring, the first Christmas shopping stress, or the first […]

In October 2015—just as I was finally starting to feel settled into my classes at Camosun after a year of being that guy who always sat in the back, never raised his hand, and darted off campus as soon as class was done—I was working a graveyard shift at a take-out sushi place downtown. I […]

It’s freezing cold in my apartment today. Warm tea and a blanket can only do so much. I can all but see my breath, shiver, and bundle up some more, blowing warm breath into cupped hands. For almost a year, the days have been like this. Sometimes it’s freezing; in the summer months, sweat stains […]

Maybe you’re waiting for classes to be in person again, or maybe you’re waiting for the vaccine to get rolled out to enough of us for that to happen, or maybe you’re just simply waiting in line—distanced and masked—at the grocery store. Either way, it’s more of the same these days. It’s too true. And […]

We are all living a slightly different pandemic. Being a writer and a student means I’ve scarcely left my apartment for anything other than groceries or walks for almost a year. And that does funny things to me. I wake up five or six times a night, never sleeping for more than an hour or […]

All throughout 2020 there were many hurdles for students to face. One of the major hurdles our college community is dealing with is the transition from in-person classes to online classes. Although most of us have gotten used to this, this rigorous transition has its ups and downs. Let’s start with some of the ups: […]

“COVID brain” is a real thing: some people with COVID-19 report a brain fog for months after their diagnosis. So it’s not exactly correct to use that phrase to describe what I’m currently experiencing. Let’s call it “isolation fog.” In the last couple weeks in particular, I’ve noticed pants and sweaters fit a little looser; […]

The prospect of another term of isolation is… daunting, to say the least, and—to land somewhere between dramatic and realistic—downright depressing. It’s January, so it’s always dark and raining these days, so is there anything better to do than reheat the coffee, put on a warm sweater, and take a bunch of classes? Seems simple […]

“This is it. This is the year things get really great!” I can still hear my friend’s words from last year’s NYE party, as he yelled them into my ear over the pulsing trance music and the noise of the crowd. I remember agreeing, feeling deeply in my bones that something big was coming—something exciting! […]

Bad news: Our January 8, 1996 issue featured a duo of grim headlines on the front page: “Apprentice programs expect severe cut-backs” and “Federal funding restrictions cut education to the bone.” The latter featured a particularly dour photo of a student forking over money while a buzzsaw approached their arms. Ugh, and we thought 2020 […]