Life has changed significantly due to the pandemic of COVID-19. As decreed during spring semester 2020 classes went fully online and the dorms were emptied. This alone is a sharp contrast to life shown in 2008 with students bustling throughout campus and life continuing as normal. I contrast these two photos with the darkness and the light representing the sudden appearance of the pandemic. This symbolic change represents the quick transition from life as normal to a full quarantine shutdown and the fear associated with contracting COVID-19. The lack of students behind me and the groups of students in 2008 is contrasted due to the fact that large groups of students are not allowed to gather on campus.

I am wearing a mask because it was ordered by the university president and the governor that students must wear masks at all times on campus, as supposed to 2008 where masks were not needed due to the lack of a pandemic. I am also laying in a social distancing circle in which I am six feet away from other students to disable the possible transmission of COVID-19. All of these characteristics are a sharp contrast to the life of students in 2008 who didn’t need to worry about contracting COVID-19 on top of the stresses provided by classes and life itself. Now all the amenities and essentially the fun of college have been shut down in order to promote safety involving the pandemic.

Life was normal in 2008 and allowed students to go out at night and congregate in large groups to study, these vastly different scenes provide a sobering reminder that the Universdity of Nevada, Reno and the nation have halted to a crawl in order to attain safety. These measures will not be lifted until students and others in society manage to take it seriously. The present follows the past and we as a university are going to be unable to push past COVID-19 until we as a society forget that campus used to be like this and be able to accept and work towards a new, COVID-free reality.