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Socializing with Distance at Bard College


3/14/2020- Goodbye Good Friend

Health professionals recommend individuals to maintain at least 6 feet between one another if possible. For a dear moment with a close friend, a personal conversation could look like the photo to the right. The seated male is actually engaging with the photographer. He's sitting 6 feet away and the two of them aren't facing each other. It looks like the photographer and the interlocutor happen to be in the same room and are not associated with each other, but they very much are. He offered his chips, but there's no way to share them in accordance with the best health practices. He cut up a pineapple and put slices on a paper towel for the photographer. She stepped out of the room while he put this fruity paper towel on the wooden table closer to the photographer as seen in the photo. Then she ate the pineapple and he sat down in his original position. He's graduating so she might never see him again when he hops into that car heading towards New Jersey the next morning. To say goodbye they stand and bow with their palms touching, pulled towards the heart. Namaste.

3/17/2020- Program in International Education and Exchange Students in a single file


In the month of January, 28 students hailing from Russia, Egypt, Ecuador, Palestine, Kyrgystan, Japan and North Korea arrived at Bard College to join students for the Spring Semester. Several have taken off towards their homeland since the release of students by the school on March 13, 2019. A handful have decided to stay, and they are supporting each other through these trying times by eating together, walking through the forests, watching movies and making jokes. For a moment they walked in a single file towards their dormitory from the dining hall. One student commented that they must practice social distance (even while they were hanging out), and then they naturally fell behind one another.


My best friend at Bard is leaving forever two days after I took this photo. We're walking towards Health Services together so she could pick up a mask and gloves to serve as disease protection on her long travel towards Paris. These were our last moments together. I was wearing a mask because I had a light cough in the morning. Though I walked "with" her, I walked behind her and to the right of her. We maintained our conversation and feeling of being together with this mandated distance between us.

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