Lindsay- Journal 5

The Coronavirus is definitely a crazy thing in life that I adjust to in new ways everyday. My biggest challenge with this pandemic is trying to find a schedule and focus on school amidst all of the chaos and stress around me. I am still having to remind myself that life is still going on and that school still needs to be a priority for myself. My workplace had to close down due to it not being an essential in everyday life, as I work at a thrift store in my hometown. This has also contributed to me not being able to feel a sense of normalcy and focusing in my life with school being transferred to all online. Coronavirus has also reached my county and that makes things feel more real and scary so I have not been leaving my house too much if at all. My sister had a baby at the beginning of March, three weeks early as he was due March 29th. I'm so thankful she could have my nephew before things got really crazy with the virus so that my family could be with her and my brother in law in the hospital. Rules are changing everyday with the hospital facilities and who is allowed to accompany the mother giving birth so I am very glad that my family did not have that as a worry at this time.

A specific quotation from the book that grabbed my attention was, "...essayists always insert themselves in some fashion in their own essays" (182), in relation to how writing creative nonfiction requires a personal presence. I chose this quotation because I do think that no matter what form of writing we write, you can always get a sense of yourself and whoever the author is. This is something special about writing and reading that I love, because it gives the opportunity to say what we need to and want to without having to actually speak. Sometimes speaking behind writing makes thoughts flow and come out with more ease. Writing and reading are such great ways to understand humanity and what other people experience, like with the prompt in this journal about our individual experiences with the coronavirus pandemic.

A question that I have regarding the reading is, why did the authors use the comparison between traditional essays and creative nonfiction so frequently in this section? It has sort of made it difficult for me to truly discern what creative nonfiction should be away from an essay.

This is how I'm feeling amidst all of the coronavirus chaos. By the way, highly recommend Frozen 2 on Disney Plus!