Sil diary entry by Adrianna Michell, Features Reporter

I have a lot of free time and I love to be snoopy. I’m a fourth year student and suddenly my undergraduate years are over. I need a little comfort right now. I need a little bit of normalcy. 

After reading Jenna Wortham’s Vanity Fair “corona diary” I wanted to do my own. Although I am neither an NYC based writer nor a wellness witch, I am a panicked student trying to make sense of the world. I hope that reading what other students are doing to cope is helpful. We have all undergone rapid revisions to our university lives and now are dealing with the loneliness of working from home. Even at a distance, these diaries should remind us that we are navigating these changes together. 

I’ve challenged other Sil staff members to write their own diary. I hope this will give some (imperfect) ideas about how to care for self and others. 

 

This is me (pre-coronavirus)! 

 

9:00 a.m. 

I wish I could start this day’s breakdown by saying I woke up gracefully and fully rested. Instead, I woke up to the sound of my landlord chainsawing down a tree in the backyard (which continued for two more hours). I guess quarantine really is the time to get all those put-off tasks done. 

10:00 a.m.

I make oats and coffee for breakfast. I’ve put my go to recipe for a hearty, easy dish below. I like listening to podcasts while doing other tasks like cooking and cleaning. Lately I’ve been listening to the Still Processing from the New York Times with Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham and Call Your Girlfriend with Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman (especially their booklist episodes). 

Vegan Blueberry Protein Oats

½ cup rolled oats

¼ cup soy or oat milk

½ to 1 cup water

Drizzle of honey

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 scoop of protein powder (vanilla)

½ cup frozen blueberries

1 tbsp peanut butter

 

Instructions: cook everything together until thick in a pot on low-medium heat while consistently mixing. After taking the pot off the heat, add the protein powder and then mix. Add globs of peanut butter on top to finish. 

10:30 a.m.

Try to do school work. Accept that interruptions are inevitable. It’s hard to focus under stress so give yourself the space to be unproductive. I find listening to classical music makes me feel calm. Here is my classical study mood playlist for your ears. 

1:00 p.m.

We have a Sil staff meeting via Zoom. I almost forgot to change out of frumpy pjs into cleanish leggings and a sweater. 

1:30 p.m. 

Microwaved soup and a cliff bar for lunch. A bit of afternoon reading. I just finished Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo yesterday. Today I am on to Not That Bad edited by Roxanne Gay (TW: sexual violence). 

 

2:00 p.m.

I’ve started a 30 day yoga challenge with my long time favourite Yoga with Adriene. It’s a great way to stretch and find some calm when I’m feeling stressed. 

3:30 p.m. 

While doing some light work I like to put on a video to keep me company. I love Bon Appetite and it’s nice to see familiar faces during turbulent times. I especially love working beside my open window — even if it’s cold it is so nice to feel fresh air. 

4:15 p.m.

FaceTime with my friend Juliana. Keeping in touch with friends has been hard but it’s important to feel connected. We chatted about our new obsession with TikTok and our messed up sleep cycles. 

4:45 p.m.

Since both of my parents work at jobs that are deemed essential, I’ve been living at my student house. I self-isolated for a week but I’ve found it super difficult to be without them. We worked out a compromise where I’ve been going over to their house in the evenings (also in Hamilton) while being sure to keep the lysol wipes flowing. I’ve been pretending that it’s my after school programming, which makes it fun!

5:00 p.m. 

Writing and work while eating snacks from my parents’ Costco stash. 

6:30 p.m.

I made vegan banana bread! Here is the super simple recipe I used. 

9:30 p.m.

I got the baking bug again. I made some granola that can hopefully add some variety to my mornings in solitude. 

Probably 11ish

I fall asleep watching Tiger King on Netflix. My dreams are haunted by Joe Exotic’s country tunes. 

 

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Photo C/O MD Duran

On March 24, McMaster announced that this year’s spring convocation ceremonies, previously scheduled from May 19 to June 12, will be postponed. Instead, virtual celebrations will be planned to comply with the need for physical distancing amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The press release assured students that an in-person ceremony will be held at a later date, but did not specify what this ceremony would entail.

This is one of many measures being put in place to limit the spread of COVID-19. On March 17, the provincial government declared a state of emergency in Ontario, and banned all gatherings of more than 50 people. Stronger action has been taken since then, with the Ontario government prohibiting gatherings of more than five people as of March 28. 

Online convocation celebrations are currently being planned, but it is not yet clear how these will proceed. It has also not been confirmed how students will receive their parchment degrees.

“We recognize that Convocation is an important and special event for graduands, our award recipients and their families, and we are actively developing plans for both the online and in-person celebrations,” stated the release on Mac DailyNews.

It was also confirmed that the timing of graduation and degree conferral will not be changed, and that those eligible to graduate will do so on time.

Adrianna Michell, who was slated to be the Valedictorian for the Humanities class of 2020 and is also the Features reporter at the Silhouette, believes that the university made the right call by cancelling the in-person ceremony. However, she still found the news disappointing.

“There’s a global pandemic and objectively convocation doesn’t matter at an equal proportion, but it’s still something that I cared about and other students cared about, especially first generation students and their families, and marginalized students and their families. It is an important thing when you’ve faced systemic barriers preventing you from university or that make it harder to complete a university degree,” she said.

Aleigha Kampman, who will be graduating this year with a combined honours in political science and health studies, was looking forward to convocation as a form of closure.

“Convocation for me was the chance to say goodbye to friends that I didn’t realize I would be seeing for the last time, and professors I never got to thank or who I had become close to over my four years,” she said.

According to both Kampman and Michell, the only communication that graduands have received from the university are the posts on Mac DailyNews.

McMaster is not the only university to cancel or delay convocation due to COVID-19. On March 25, the university of Toronto announced via a series of tweets that convocation ceremonies would be cancelled outright, without being postponed to a later date. Furthermore, York University, the University of Regina and McGill University are some of the other universities to announce plans to postpone or cancel spring convocation ceremonies.

“I think we have to make hard decisions, and one is that we have to miss out on things that we were looking forward to. Life can’t continue business as usual, it’s still okay to feel upset about it or feel like you’re missing out on an important part of your university experience, but it is the right decision,” said Michell.

 

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