Ty Holtzman
Social distancing and the COVID-19 pandemic have produced, along with a heightened appreciation of social relationships before isolation, a significant amount of social tension. This tension reveals itself in a multitude of ways: hate crimes and speech against Asians and Asian Americans have resurged recently, and an 86 year old woman was killed in a New York City hospital for accidentally breaching social distancing guidelines. These are examples of some of the most prominent and disturbing ways in which these tensions have risen, but they appear on a smaller scale as well. In Tivoli, New York, a small village on the Hudson River of about 1,000, tensions appear as well. One hears of these tensions directly, from friends, housemates, and emails from the mayor, but also through the internet. Among younger people, off-campus Bard students in particular, these feelings tend to be expressed through Instagram stories. Among the older crowd, a town Facebook group is the site of discussion.
On April 10th, 2020 Tivoli Mayor Joel Griffith sent out an email to all those on the town’s email list titles “Social Distancing/Memorial Park.” In this email, written largely as a reminder to keep up social distancing, particularly in Memorial Park where people have still been seen gathering, was the following passage:
I write to stress again to all members of our community that EVERYONE must practice proper social distancing. There are still a small but significant number of folks who aren’t getting it. This is true particularly in the area of Memorial Park.
As I wrote Last week while the park’s open spaces remain accessible, ALL FACILITIES ARE CLOSED. That includes all playground equipment, the basketball court, the swings, and the skate ramp. If this continues to be a problem we will have to close the entire park.
While the link to the entire email on the towns website was posted in the town Facebook group, this passage was the part of the email I saw most frequently on Instagram. A friend of mine had posted this passage, underlining the words “skate ramp,” and several other people I follow had screenshotted and reposted it on their own stories. This underlining of “skate ramp” was likely aimed at a particular group of people, who had been posting images of themselves together at the skate ramp earlier that week.
This style of communication reflects the preexisting dynamics between off-campus Bard students in Tivoli and long term residents. After seeing these posts, I wondered how many of my fellow Bard students in Tivoli would ever have read this email (or any part of it) were it not for a select few sharing it over instagram. While more students have joined the town facebook group over the last year, the vast majority are not members, and few students I have mentioned it to, are on the town’s email list. In late March, I overheard a conversation on the street in which a few students mentioned to a few others that the town was closing the basketball court and removing the hoops. The students who did not yet know walked to the park to see it for themselves.
This type of trickle down communication was present before the pandemic, but local news has increased in importance since then, and lines of communication of the town stand in starker contrast than ever. As the mayor has repeatedly made it clear that the student population is, in his opinion, of little importance to the town, it is easy to guess what steps will be taken next. In the past, the town has increased police presence to change the behavior of students. Having mentioned it in his email, it is likely that this will be, and perhaps already is, the case. Recently, on a walk by the water, I saw a county police officer parked by the tracks, likely looking out for any gatherings. It’s no mystery where the patrols will be next.