Nina Flusberg
As the danger of COVID-19 keeps us at home, it is easy to feel the lack of in-person contact. Nevertheless, there are many ways to stay connected with people while social distancing. The trick is to get creative.
Take the New Brittany community in Toco Hills for example. One day back in April, junior Yered Wittenberg sat at home, bored and missing doing activities with others. After hearing enough of his complaints, his mother, Jodi, decided to organize and host a game of bingo on their street. After knocking on a bunch of doors, she gathered enough neighbors down to the bottom of the street for a game. Each family proceeded to set up a table at the foot of their driveway and set up their bingo boards. With the incentive of a prepackaged dessert as a prize, the community of New Brittany battled hard. Yered ended up winning the contest and earning the crown. The game was such a success that the families continued to play together each week for the next month.
Not only did the street of Empire Road create a weekly bingo competition, but they also began to plan movie nights. Once again organized by Jodi Wittenberg, all of the neighbors congregated with chairs and pillows at the bottom of the street to watch movies on a huge blowup screen. Scooby-Doo and Hamilton have been family favorite movies played at the Empire Outdoor Theatre. “It’s a really nice activity and a great way to bring our street together safely,” New Brittany resident Gefen Beldie expressed. While the bingo competitions have ended, movie nights have remained a New Brittney tradition during the pandemic. As Yered announced, “I feel proud to say that I live on Empire Road.”
While the New Brittany community was making new memories, other families found creative ways to keep their old traditions intact. Freshman Elisha Feit Mann and junior Micah Feit Mann’s family typically visit their relatives in New York each summer. Elisha said, “As opposed to most summers where people are at camp and work, we spent a lot of quality time together that we would not have gotten otherwise.”
Having spent memorable summers living in the same house as his cousins and grandparents each year, this summer would have marked the first time they would not visit. Not willing to accept that, the Feit Mann family decided to make the 16-hour drive to their extended family. The family was extra careful around their elderly grandparents, and they set firm social distancing regulations in place. “We rented a house for a month and spent all of our time together,” Micah explained. Elisha continued, “We had a lot of meals together at different tables outside. So we were still able to have conversations, but we weren’t sharing food next to each other.”
Both brothers expressed how hard it was to stay away from their grandparents and cousins. Elisha explained, “Everything we did had to be outside, which meant if the weather wasn’t good, our plans were canceled.” He also said, “We couldn’t use the front door which made taking things in and out of the house was very difficult.” However, while it was sometimes tough, the family was still able to make their yearly visit. “It was worth it because we really did have a great time together,” Elisha said.
The Feit Mann family continued to think up ways to maintain their regular routines. Micah reported, “Ever since my parents got married, they have always wanted to go to Italy for their anniversary. They claimed that on their 25th, they would finally go.” However, with international flights being very inaccessible and not necessarily safe, Micah’s parents were not able to live out their long-lived dream. Along with his brothers, Micah devised a plan. If his parents couldn’t go to Italy, why not bring Italy to them?
To create a theme of “A Night in Italy,” the Feit Mann brothers bought Italian-themed food, set up large canvases painted with landscapes from Italy, and they even hired someone to play the accordion — a classical Italian instrument. “They may not have been able to go to Italy for their anniversary, but they certainly got a taste of the Italian countryside,” Micah exclaimed.
Back in Atlanta, students continued to socially distance meet up with one another in creative ways. A few months back, junior Kiki Starr and her family realized that this would be their first summer at home. As Kiki was used to the constant stream of activities and games that she experienced every year at camp, she was in a panic, wondering what she would do all summer. Her mother quickly thought of a solution: a pool. It was good that she immediately raced to the store to buy an above-ground pool, as she bought the last one! The pool was initially purchased for the family to have an activity to do together during the summer, but once it was announced that the chlorine kills the virus, their pool became a social center. “Our pool can fit about 4 people while still keeping the 6 feet apart distance,” Kiki remarked. “What was meant as just a fun idea for my family, became the perfect way to spend a hot summer — with friends.”
Juniors Sivan Livnat and Daliya Wallenstein also thought up a fun activity to do together, while still practicing social distancing and following guidelines. The two drove separately and met up at Book Nook, a bookstore. “We walked around wearing masks and maintained social distancing,” Sivan said. “It wasn’t that different than it would’ve been without everything,” Daliya observed. “As long as we were wearing masks and giving each other some distance, we were able to hang out and look for books as we would have in normal circumstances.”
During this time, it is easy to focus on all of the events and activities we can’t do, and it is a lot harder to come up with a list of things we can do. But, as our High School students have shown us, there are many ways you can meet up with your friends and family. While the name may lead you to think otherwise, “social distancing” does not mean you have to cut off all social contact with others. There are still plenty of ways to spend quality time with people while staying safe.
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