“The Freshman 15” refers to the number of pounds traditionally gained in one’s first year of college. “The Covid 19,” inevitably, is a cute designation for weight put on during the pandemic. This week’s Unscientific Survey examined how the past year has affected your waistline.
Unscientific Survey: Mental Health
Our latest Unscientific Survey asked you to report on your mental health over the last year and a quarter, and we appreciate those who responded. A slim majority reported they felt about the same, while more than a quarter said things were “somewhat worse.”
Unscientific Survey: House Hopping
In the April 9 issue, Unscientific Survey asked readers to tell us how many Swarthmore homes they had lived in. Here are the results, including many reader comments.
Unscientific Survey: The Phillies and the Wisdom of Crowds
Our last survey attempted to apply the concept of the “wisdom of the crowd” to the upcoming baseball season. We asked you to guess how many games the Phillies will win and how far they’ll get in the postseason.
Unscientific Survey: The Walking Habit
Our latest Unscientific Survey jibes with what our eyes have seen: Over the past year, Swarthmoreans have taken to the streets. About 81% of readers reported walking more since the pandemic began.
Unscientific Survey: How Do You Like to Watch?
In our latest Unscientific Survey, 36% of respondents self-identified as cord-cutters (or “cord nevers”) who watch either by streaming services or old-school antennas.
Unscientific Survey: Presidential Priorities
We asked you which of the many pressing matters facing President Joe Biden is most important. Here’s what you said.
Unscientific Survey: After the Vaccine
We asked whether you would get a COVID-19 vaccination when available. Hearteningly, 92% of respondents followed the science and responded that they would; an additional 3% said they weren’t sure, in some cases because they needed more information regarding their specific medical condition.
Unscientific Survey: Sleep
Anecdotal evidence abounds that COVID-19 has negatively affected people’s sleep, and scientific data is starting to come in. The New York Times recently reported on a study in which 44% of people said their sleep had worsened during the pandemic, compared to 10% who said their sleep had improved. By that standard, Swarthmorean readers are doing pretty well.
Unscientific Survey: Where Do You Get Your Bottles?
As previously noted, the local wine-buying options have significantly opened up recently, hence our Unscientific Survey asking where you procure your vino.
Unscientific Survey: Initials
The signs at the borough limits say “Tree City, USA,” but there should really be something there about education as well. Not only are we home to Swarthmore College, but our residents have schooling on their minds. That’s the clear finding of our latest Unscientific Survey, which asked if readers knew what a group of commonly used local initials stood for. The top five most recognizable were all schools or educational bodies.
Unscientific Survey: Thanksgiving Plans
Stop the presses! People are dialing back their Thanksgiving plans this year! I know, that’s pretty obvious, but we thought it would be interesting to get a more precise sense of what Swarthmoreans are doing, hence our latest Unscientific Survey.
Unscientific Survey: Discomfort Levels
Our most recent Unscientific Survey, on readers’ comfort levels with various activities, had a robust response and a clear message: given the state of the coronavirus, you’re generally not very comfortable at all.
Forest Primeval, Landscape Suburban: Springfield Trail Hidden in Plain Sight
One morning not long ago, I parked my car less than half a mile from Swarthmore town limits and embarked on a wooded loop hike of about five and a half miles. I crossed countless brooks and encountered four humans and 16 bird species. The route was the Springfield Trail, a rare mix of the forest primeval and the landscape suburban.
Unscientific Survey: Philly Sports Championship?
The Phillies ended their season losing eight of the final nine games and couldn’t even make an expanded version of the playoffs. The Eagles salvaged a tie against the lowly Bengals to start the season 0-2-1. Only the soccer-playing Union, with a strong start to their campaign, have provided hope to the local fans. And that success is reflected in the results of our survey.
Unscientific Survey: Ghosts
Sparked by Jon Cohen’s article about the spirits in his house, and in anticipation of the upcoming Halloween season, the Swarthmorean’s latest Unscientific Survey probed your beliefs about ghosts. The results show that, on this topic at least, Swarthmoreans are completely aligned with their fellow Americans.
Unscientific Survey: Pandemic Follow Up
Big-time pollsters repeat the same question from survey to survey in order to see how opinions change over time. So with this Unscientific Survey we decided to do the same. Back in April, we asked readers, first, how long they predicted it would be till the pandemic-influenced changes receded and things returned to a state of relative normalcy, and, second, once that did happen, how life would be compared to before the virus hit.
Unscientific Survey: Travel Plans
Disruptions to vacation travel certainly aren’t the most momentous or profound changes wrought by the pandemic, but they’re one of the more insidious ways our sense of normalcy has been chipped away at. We are lucky enough to live in a town (a phrase that I seem to be uttering more and more) where, at least according to our latest survey, 100% of the people usually go away on vacation in the summer. This year, that’s down to 64% (with 8% still not sure).
Unscientific Survey: Swarthmore’s Favorite Tree
It probably shouldn’t be surprising that in Swarthmore, tradition is a trump card. In voting for Swarthmore’s favorite tree, readers went with history, giving a plurality (28%) to the venerable white oak tree on the property of Drew and Nancy Forbes at 504 Walnut Lane. If you still haven’t seen it, the best view is from Hillborn Avenue.
Unscientific Survey: How Long
I took special note of two (anonymous) comments to our latest survey, “How Long Do You Have to Have Lived in Swarthmore to Be Considered a Real Swarthmorean?” One person said, “I believe you are welcomed as a Swarthmorean as soon as you live here. However, there is a second milestone when neighbors start referring to your house with your last name not the previous owner’s. This can sometimes take 10 years!”