Gen-Z: COVID Killers or Good Samaritans? — Reflections from an Atypical Quarantine

Boredom — modern man’s worst fear. Typically it’s avoided by countless hours of swiping left and right through cookie-cutter Tinder profiles in hopes of securing a post-quarantine hookup, scrolling through meme feeds on Instagram that no longer make you laugh, browsing your favorite subReddit in hopes of finding a new post since the last time you checked (two minutes ago) and sending pictures of your blank face to other expressionless victims of the same archaic curse. How else is a Gen Z-er supposed to pass his time when forced live like a Band on the Run? Any way you look at it, quarantine presents a psychological and social quandary of the likes my generation has never had to deal with. Solitude.

Cornell Dining Quarantine Meals Report

When stuck inside with nowhere else to go, food may be the only exciting part to a student’s day. The rush of dopamine and their taste buds return to life when eating vibrant, tasty food can motivate a student to push through another day of quarantine. One opening of the lunchbox could reveal a variety of cuisines ranging from pasta to tofu scramble … at least that’s what students hoped for when picking up their Cornell Dining meals, provided three times a day by the University during students’ mandatory 14-day quarantine upon reaching campus. Instead, one word described the quarantine meals given to students: Repetitive. As students began to move in on Aug.

BARAN | Live, Laugh, Lonely

Loneliness is scary. It creeps up at night in our apartment, at lunch with our peers or on the ride back from your job at a local restaurant. We begin to feel unenthusiastic about our life and the future. The world seems a little bit bigger, a little bit darker. Your phone is right next to you but reaching out to someone seems impossible.

A Foodie’s Trip to the Doctor

What do your teeth, brain, mood and gut all have in common? Unsurprisingly, it turns out one answer is almost everything. They are, after all, interconnected and essential aspects of your body and life. The other, often overlooked answer, however, is food. The COVID pandemic put into perspective how little control we have over certain parts of our health, but quarantine was sobering, proving we don’t have to be “an inert chunk of randomly assembled molecules drifting wherever the universe blows” us.  In fact, the decisions we make about our food give us resounding leverage over our health.