Summer Camp Issue: Waiting
It feels wrong — discordant — that the issue of the Swarthmorean published during the first full week of our COVID-19 anxiety is the summer camp issue. Of course, special issues are planned a long time in advance.
Still, maybe it’s not so bad. Right now — with everything changing by the hour, with so many of us filled with a sense of impending doom — it’s kind of nice to think ahead to what we hope might be an ordinary summer. Swimming, hiking, archery, crafts. Marshmallows roasting on sticks over campfires. Human proximity in tents and on basketball courts, shoulder to shoulder around picnic tables, sharing paper cups of water ice.
It’s been a strange, hard week. The kids are out of school, the stores are closing, news reports are grim. We’re worrying about our health and the health of our loved ones, about our livelihoods and our educations. Yet here in our corner of Delaware County, not much has happened yet. The daffodils and the cherry trees are blooming. It’s hard to believe that this world, just coming back to life, holds what it holds.
We’re waiting.
Here at the Swarthmorean, we are doing our best to figure out what role we can play to keep you informed about the epidemic and to be part of what continues to hold the community together. We have gathered a list of resources on our website for more information about COVID-19. We are posting updates from local municipalities, the county, and other sources on our Facebook page. We are talking to doctors and parents and social service providers to offer information and perspective.
We hope you’ll communicate with us too. If you have ideas to share — suggestions for how to keep kids productively occupied, or stories of how you are coping (or not coping), or photos of you or your family adapting — please send them to us at editor@swarthmorean.com.
Finally, I want to share part of a post from a writer friend, Martha Cooley, who is living in Italy for the year. In the post, she talks about the need for solidarity, mostly in terms of practicing social distancing in order to flatten the curve of infection rate and avoid overwhelming hospitals and medical workers. But she also writes:
“Solidarity means not overburdening food stores and pharmacies with frequent runs on supplies. ... It means planning, so as not to waste time — there are others standing on line, too, many others, waiting patiently to enter the stores. Solidarity means staying in touch with your families, friends, and colleagues, offering and receiving comfort. And staying aware of and open-hearted toward those you don’t know, too. Italy’s flash-mob singing events—everyone opening their windows and singing together — have been remarkably moving.”
I wonder what the Swarthmore version of flash-mob singing might be.
I’ll wait to find out.
Rachel Pastan
Editor
