by The Cowl Editor on September 17, 2020
Features
by Lil Wit ’21
The only thing worse than getting picked last for the kickball team in your middle school gym class is being picked to be a blocked-off seat in classrooms during the pandemic. Accommodations for physical distancing have left many seats empty and purposely blocked off or removed. These chairs have only one job: to support the students and provide functionality as they pursue their academic endeavors. But since the virus has led to fewer seats in a room, many desks and chairs find themselves without purpose, abandoned, singled out, and forgotten. The left-handed desks are taking things especially hard because they usually feel left out, underappreciated, and like they only get picked by mistake or because someone walked in two minutes too late. One desk that formerly sat in Feinstein 116 but is now buried in the back corner of a storage closet requested that we publish this statement so its voice can be heard: “Being a left-handed desk is already enough of a struggle. Very few people can actually use me, and now the pandemic has made me feel even more useless. The only thing that kept me going was knowing that I could make some left-handed student happy by giving them a place to rest their arm while they write and make them feel special about their left-handedness. I like to think that I make a difference on this campus, but apparently it’s not noticeable enough to get me out of this black hole of forgotten chairs and broken dreams. One day, I hope to see the outside world again.” The College has done the best it can to accommodate everyone while going above and beyond with safety regulations, but unfortunately the administration cannot please everyone. PC chairs and desks are tough, though, and they will not give up hope that someday they will be able to repopulate classrooms to their full capacity.