Category: Life in the Time of the Coronavirus Contest

Selfish Americans in Coronavirus Times

Los Angeles Press Club

By Kishan Rogers, 9 years old, 3rd grade at Monroe Elementary School, Monrovia, CA The Coronavirus is killing people. We should take this seriously and follow the Governor’s rules so we don’t get Coronavirus. But some people have not been doing that, and that makes me feel upset. They are being selfish. My neighbors were having friends over for a sleepover at their house. I thought they were breaking the Stay-At-Home orders, so I told my mom to call the police. First of all the government of California said that…

See More
Los Angeles Press Club

By Stephanie Lai An alarm went off in my dorm, I was jolted awake. Hundreds of notifications flooded my phone. I had two days to leave campus and return home across the country, while reporting and editing stories for my school paper. My parents, who recently returned home from China and had not yet finished their 14 day self quarantine, were terrified. New York City was the epicenter of coronavirus cases in the U.S., and my school already had a confirmed case and one student death. I tried not to…

See More
Los Angeles Press Club

By Lyric Niv If I’m being perfectly honest, I’ve been waiting for an excuse to stay inside all day for weeks on end since I was a kid, doing nothing save watching documentaries about big cat traffickers and blindly shoving popcorn kernels into my mouth as I lay on my bed wearing the same clothing for the past three days. I didn’t think it a sign of introversion, though, so much as it was a profound longing to escape the rigmarole of monotonous high school classes, in which my teachers…

See More

Dance in Isolation

Los Angeles Press Club

By Steven Vargas Judge’s Comments: There was so much effort put into this piece from content, writing, editing and shooting and music. The laser focus of one student who chronicles not only how isolation has changed the dedication to his craft, but how it has changed around the world through his interview with another dancer — the take away that for 45 minutes you are able to leave the chaos of COVID behind is powerful. The self-portraits of a dancer and video of him dancing alone only make this video…

See More

Roses or Thorns?

Los Angeles Press Club

Photography by Morgan Lieberman Click to enlarge! Like everyone else, when the statewide lockdown began, I had no idea how I would react and respond to the upcoming weeks in isolation. As a current freelancer, there is already a certain level of social and physical hibernation that exists when I am in between assignments for several days or focused on business housekeeping that requires me to hunker down on my computer. Where we choose freelancing for the flexibility in our schedule and being able to be our own boss, often…

See More