{"id":6394,"date":"2022-08-17T16:56:19","date_gmt":"2022-08-17T20:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6394"},"modified":"2022-08-17T16:56:20","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T20:56:20","slug":"quarantine-log-may-24-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6394","title":{"rendered":"Quarantine Log – May 24, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1st Place, Personal Narrative<\/strong>
2021-22, Division MS, News Writing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Abby Houghton<\/strong>
The Link
Traverse City East MS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, what did you learn in school today?\u201d Grandpa asked, taking his eyes off the road for a second to glance over at the passenger seat and flash me a smile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUmm..\u201d I racked my brain, trying to remember what I had done in class, \u201cin science, we-\u201d I started, getting cut off by the sound of Grandpa\u2019s phone ringing. My eyes flickered to the dashboard where Grandpa was touching the pick-up button. Mom? Why was Mom calling? <\/em>I wondered, heart dropping; were Lucy and Dad okay? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere are you guys? Did you get to swim yet?\u201d Mom asked in a tone that made my heart drop to the lowest pits of my stomach. My heart started racing, contemplating all of the terrible things that could have happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo-\u201d Grandpa started, as I cut him off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs everything okay?\u201d Butterflies erupted in my stomach, gnawing away at my sides, just as worry was gnawing at me for every millisecond mom took to respond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDid you pass my office yet?\u201d she asked with no regard for my question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo.\u201d Grandpa repeated in a voice that told me he was worried too- strengthening my already strong and present worry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMOM, what happened!?\u201d I said, desperately trying to keep my breathing steady. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With words saturated in pity, Mom sighed and told me, \u201choney\u2026 you\u2019ve been quarantined.\u201d Involuntarily, I let go of a breath I didn\u2019t realize I had been holding; my family was okay. \u201cThat means you can\u2019t go to swim practice today, can you come to my office insead?\u201d Grandpa responded to Mom, letting her know that we were changing route immediately, but I heard none of what he said. My brain was registering what had just happened. I was quarantined. QUARANTINED. Instantly, my logic oriented brain began to make lists: the pros of being quarnited, the cons, and what I was glad I got done before I was quarantined. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, okay, okay. At least you turned in your history project and finished the French test out.<\/em> I thought, trying to stop my heart from pounding and trying to make sure I was taking in air. My chest hammered, sending sharp pains through my body. I felt as if I was in outer space and my oxygen had just been cut off. And in a way, I was. For the next two weeks, the only people I could see would be my mom, dad, and little sister. No friends, no human connection, no school. NO, no, no, this can\u2019t be happening!! <\/em>I screamed in my head, as the thought of total isolation encompassed me. Alone, alone, alone, alone! <\/em>The words echoed in my head, forcing me to tears. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, on the plus side\u2026\u201d Grandpa said, trying to start up a conversation to stop tears from rolling down my face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As much as the total isolation scared me, the thought that I may have COVID-19 and if I did, there was a chance I had given it to my grandparents. Despite the fact that they both were fully vaccinated, I couldn\u2019t stand the thought that I could have done anything to harm them in any way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Focus Abby, focus! <\/em>I slid my phone out of my bag, noticing that Mom had tried to call me right before she called Grandpa, and opened my messanges. Texting \u201cjust got quarantined\u201d to the largest group chat, I copied and pasted the message to friends that weren\u2019t on the chat. Text like, \u201comg, so sorry\u201d \u201cthat sucks\u201d \u201cwhen can you come back?\u201d and \u201canother round ugh!\u201d flooded my phone; texts that I had sent when other friends had gotten quarantined now seemed meaningless and not extreme enough. \u201cYou must be so sad!\u201d one of my closest friends texted. \u201cSo sad\u201d?? More like so crushed or absolutely devastated! <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We pulled up to my mom\u2019s office and after a quick goodbye to Grandpa, I hopped in my mom\u2019s car, where I was informed that I would be able to come back on June 4th. Glancing at my phone, I saw another friend had been quarantined and in that moment I selfishly was thankful that I wouldn\u2019t be alone- that I wasn\u2019t the only person who\u2019s world was totally changing.  No! Don\u2019t think that! <\/em>I reminded myself, shaking off such a selfish thought. The car ride home was silent as I wallowed in sorrow and Mom attempted to think of something to make me feel better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m ashamed to admit that upon getting home, I bolted up to my room, and began punching pillows as the events that I would miss echoed around in my head. At the sound of my phone ringing, I snapped out of it, and pulled myself together enough to FaceTime my friend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the rest of the night, I was in my own world- which would be great practice for the next two weeks. As I drifted off to sleep that night, I tried to relax, there was nothing I could do at that point in time besides hope for a false positive. Although it was even hard to do that \u2013 my hope for a good week was gone and it wasn\u2019t coming back for a while. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

View original material<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NW-14. Personal Narrative<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is not an opinion piece. It is a first-person account of an event or series of events that constitute a single, profound experience. The focus of the piece is on narrative \u2014 telling the story of the experience. It can be written in present or past tense. The author should take extra efforts to describe the journey and explain its importance. Dialogue and internal dialogue are essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judging Criteria<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
  • A first-person account depicting a personal experience<\/li>
  • Lead captures attention, arouses curiosity<\/li>
  • Topic relevant to interests and\/or welfare of school or students<\/li>
  • Effectively combines basics of good news and feature writing<\/li>
  • Effectively organized with smooth transitions; carefully outlined<\/li>
  • Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely and vividly<\/li>
  • Proper diction\/grammar<\/li>
  • Should have byline, which could include mug shot of writer<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    1st Place, Personal Narrative2021-22, Division MS, News Writing By Abby HoughtonThe LinkTraverse City East MS \u201cSo, what did you learn in school today?\u201d Grandpa asked, taking his eyes off the road for a second to glance over at the passenger seat and flash me a smile.  \u201cUmm..\u201d I racked my brain, trying to remember what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,62],"tags":[182,24],"class_list":["post-6394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-nw","category-personalnarrative","tag-2021-22","tag-divisionms","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Morgan Womack","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=12"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-1F8","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}