Life for the people of Northern Essex Community College and life for all college students has taken a sudden left turn in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With all US schools continuing the spring semester online this has affected students in a staggering amount of ways. Creativity is something that has been altered during this pandemic in many interesting ways.
Some people do better with more time to be creative while others lose the motivation to pursue their creative endeavors. The Observer reached out to multiple NECC students to hear how they are personally dealing with this obstacle.
Matthew Scharn is a music major at Northern Essex and is having trouble keeping up with his singing.
“The virus has definitely made being creative a lot more difficult since you can’t really go out and find inspiration everywhere, just the basic things you have lying around the house” he says.
There have been numerous orders from state governments for everyone to stay home unless you have a doctor’s appointment or need groceries. As Matthew says, this has the unintended result of artist’s losing out on the things that once inspired them.
Matt stated that he was enjoying nature more even while missing out on human contact, “I do find myself walking outside more often now and it’s very peaceful to say the least.” He says.
He finishes by talking about his desire to spread positivity, “I do find myself wanting to do some positive things such as starting a YouTube channel within the next couple weeks… I feel the need to finally put my singing out there on YouTube for others to hear at this troubling time”
Kaily Burke also spoke to the Observer about her creative output. She is a liberal arts major studying math at NECC.“At school, you don’t have Netflix and video games or the kind of media people consume while they put off creating. You have to be motivated to stop gawking at your screen and create something of your own in your free time.” she says.
Burke says she has an easier time being productive creatively at school for the reasons stated above. Although, Burke told The Observer that she has seen little difference in her creative output in quarantine so far.
Hopefully other people with a creative streak can say the same and have been able to motivat ethemselves to stay creative during this whole thing.
