It ’ s interesting . I was there in person for a few months and then the pandemic hit . It ’ s a nice community . They do have some issues , but that comes with , like , everything . Before the pandemic , we were reading The Hate U Give and some boys in my class were like , “ If it ’ s a book about Asian people , the pages should be yellow .” And one of my first friends at school , she ’ s half-Japanese , and she just came up to me crying and I was like , “ What ’ s wrong ?” And , you know , we were doing other stations on topics in the book , like Emmett Till and the Black Panthers . And they were just constantly making jokes . I heard some of it , but I was used to it . I didn ’ t really pay attention to it . But when I saw her crying and she stormed off , I told the teacher . It hurt me to see her hurt .
So I texted my mom that she might have to come pick me up because I stayed a little late with my friend . We went to the vice principal , and he took care of it . I actually start crying in his office and he started tearing up , which made me cry even more . But it made me feel like I was important for the first time in school . I ’ ve never really felt like anyone cared besides my parents .
So school went okay , but after my birthday in March , it was like , all right : Online school for everyone , COVID is here . I honestly felt better about it . I never really did well with the social side of
ELIJAH AND FELICITY school . I felt like social and school should be separated . I just work better when there aren ’ t so many distractions . But down the line , I started getting depressed and sad because I didn ’ t have that interaction . I couldn ’ t see people , even though I didn ’ t really know half of them . It was weird .
We were on Zoom the whole time , but it was throughout the whole hour . And I swear it was more work than last year because I feel like they crammed everything in — not at the beginning of it because the work was a little easier ; they weren ’ t too sure how it was going to go — but it was a ton of work .
I do feel like I learned more and was able to retain more because , again , I didn ’ t have the distraction of other students . And it kind of allowed me to be independent in a sense , because when the other kids did go back into the classroom and they started acting up , the teacher would just move them out of the Zoom frame .
Being with my family throughout the pandemic helped with my anxiety and not getting as depressed as I was in the beginning , because I was scared to step foot out of the house . Being with them is comforting for me .
And now we ’ re together so much , I ’ m constantly learning and taking in and giving . I ’ ve learned a lot , just about life in general .
I always say , no matter who you are , what you do , I ’ m going to respect you and your opinions . If someone straight-up comes to me and says , “ I ’ m a white nationalist ,” and can sit down and have a decent conversation with me and not get mad at my opinions , I respect them . Yeah , I can ’ t change what you do or what you believe in . But that doesn ’ t mean I have to hate you because , you know , we ’ re all humans . I feel like we ’ ve lost touch with humanity , in a sense . And we ’ ve gotten so used to online and just speaking our opinion and thinking there ’ s no repercussions because of it .
Mom telling me her experiences has helped me figure out where I need to go and my dad , he finished college , so it ’ s firing me up . It ’ s like I need to push myself and I need to get going because I can ’ t just sit here and try to stay a child as long as I can . I ’ ve already been looking into colleges that have programs in art therapy . I have a list of twenty colleges that I have to narrow down . But in Rhode Island , you can go to school for two years free . So I want to look into what colleges will accept those credits so I can get my general classes done for free .
With Elijah , too , it ’ s helped me to be around him because , you know , I have trouble making friends . Seeing Elijah grow up , even though I make fun of him all the time , I care for him and seeing him doing good for himself — it ’ s good for me . Yeah , I ’ m trying not to cry .
Elijah ,
12 , sixth grade at Thompson Middle School ( virtual only ), Newport
I PLAY BASEBALL FOR THOMPSON Middle School ; it ’ s kind of my passion . I played first base mostly , but I can play catcher , right field and sometimes pitching . I had to miss a whole year of baseball . I just had school , and then I ’ d probably sit down and watch TV , go outside — but it ’ s mostly sitting and watching TV .
I have a batting cage and I usually throw the ball with my dad , so I did get to practice . When he comes home , we sometimes like to throw and run . We were very together as a family . We didn ’ t really have cookouts , as we would usually do . Me and my sister [ Felicity ], we couldn ’ t really go to sleepovers as much .
My family has a genetic condition , so I was virtual . I got As and Bs and a C . I learned some things , but a lot of it was just what I ’ ve learned already from last year , like when I was in fifth grade . But I learned a lot because of my sister .
And it was a little depressing . I didn ’ t get to see a lot of people . I went to school only for testing [ the Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System ]. I was really concerned . I don ’ t want to give it to my family . I was really cautious . When we went into the classroom , I went all the way to the back . It was nervewracking , but I think I did okay .
This year , we had a baseball season , but I didn ’ t get to play with them because I ’ m younger and it was my first year playing for them . And they said they ’ ll probably have me playing next year because I ’ ve been on the team already . I went up to bat twice , but I got hit by the ball . The coaches were like , “ Hey , you did your mission . You got on base .” >>
RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l SEPTEMBER 2021 45