Non-Textual

This semester, as we have had to leave Davidson and adjust to social distancing back home, Humesters have had to rely on virtual togetherness to preserve our community and social support system. We have been calling each other on Zoom, FaceTime, or Houseparty; playing online games; watching Netflix together; and texting each other constantly. The genuine efforts by my classmates to preserve regular communication as a sense of normalcy has inspired me and kept me motivated during the worst period of my life.

As a non-textual project to reflect on my time during the course, I felt that the truest representation of the Humanities community would be a collection of the memories we have made together, both before and during the pandemic, in the form of TikToks, collages, and videos. I have also included some poorly photoshopped pictures of what my fellow Humesters and I would be up to if we were still on campus as a bit of comic relief.

First, a chronological TikTok journey through my year in the program:

On April 3, MaryBeth Monaco-Vavrik’s beloved beta fish, Ke$ha, died of natural causes. Professor Denham and his wife had taken care of Ke$ha over winter break, so he graciously attended the Zoom funeral we held. I made a collage to reflect on Ke$ha’s life, the events that led up to him finding a home over winter break, and the way our community came together to celebrate him at his funeral.

April 19 was the one-year anniversary of my life-changing decision to go to Davidson, so I photoshopped myself onto campus to celebrate:

On April 24, my friends and I made a TikTok of ourselves getting ready for our eating house formals that were supposed to be that weekend:

On April 25, some other Humesters and I celebrated our Warner Hall eating house formal on Zoom:

My birthday was on April 28, so I made another edit of me and my friends, both from Davidson and from Texas, at my imaginary birthday party:

I have the same birthday as my friend and fellow Humester Preston Ito, so we organized a joint birthday party over Zoom, which was going smoothly until our friends tried to sing for us…

Finally, on May 4, as I was reflecting on the year and our final Humes lecture, I decided to make some more edits of me and some of my fellow Humesters in Hance Auditorium during a lecture, in the Alvarez Student Union during an AT session, and on Chambers lawn during section to make it feel like we were together again for the last few days of the semester: