I was actually unaware that Time had written an article about Penn State’s return to campus in the Fall of 2020. It felt incredibly nostalgic, as I forgotten how tense things were at the beginning. I had forgotten how frustrating the lack of adherence to guidelines was, and how there were a couple weeks where I thought we would surely get sent home. I heard so much frustration from upperclassmen who were angry at freshmen, even petitioning to send the class of 2024 home. The only word I can really use to describe it all was “tense,” it felt like everything was continuing to get out of balance. Even though I was beyond grateful to be on campus, the circumstances brought on by COVID made it much more difficult. As the semester went on, things mellowed out and the difficulties of the transition dissipated. I thought that the article did a very good job of getting representative viewpoints that captured the overall mood of the campus. There was a great deal of frustration from all parties involved that the article did a great job of encapsulating. I remember being frustrated at the people downtown who weren’t following mask mandates, either because they were too drunk or didn’t care. The hopes of the students interviewed that things would “go back to normal” still ring true now, although things are looking much better than they did in September. The pictures were particularly moving. The picture of the sign in front of one of the churches that read “online,” with no service times or encouraging messages that typically inhabit church signs. The photo of the guy playing flip cup was also very telling, since his gaiter (not even a proper mask) was not on his face as he was playing. That photo was followed by another photo of a man holding a red solo cup. One thing that I noticed was that both guys in the photos didn’t mention their dismay at the poor behavior of others, rather, they were more annoyed at how things were different than they were before. The photos felt eerily apocalyptic, the lighting and expressions are the kind of things that look like they will end up in history books. They reminded me a lot of the photos that are often seen in reference to the Spanish Flu or even the photos of people wearing gas masks in World War I. The author did a very good job of illustrating the way in which the pandemic had interrupted our daily lives, with the off-putting lighting, solemn expressions and interruption caused by masks. It’s interesting for me because I have become used to the limits placed on my life because of COVID, but I can imagine how impactful this article would be for someone in the future who is much further removed from the situation. The image of the mannequin was particularly interesting, since it feels so odd to have a mask on a mannequin, an object that is usually used to display normal clothing, although masks are the type of things that we don’t wish were as normal as they are.