Rhubarb 2020

ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b

This Summer Term the OSE team challenged the pupils at Teddies to enter a creative writing competition, exploring their perspective on how the world has changed during lockdown. LIFE DURING LOCKDOWN A Pupil’s Perspective

S C H O O L N E W S

Winning entry

Changing Shades BY OLIVER BILGUTAY (Segar’s, Fifth Form)

Just as bright ostentatious colours darken into a dreary dull black; just as calm seas become violent and ferocious with the slightest winds; just as blue skies can easily be engulfed by a shroud of white. As it has progressed, the colour of this year’s path has shifted to darker tones. The constant shifts resemble the skin of an octopus flickering through all the shades in its arsenal of colours. The changing world has changed for everyone. Fundamental human interactions such as ones with friends, family, loved ones and strangers have been constricted and contorted into existing only on a scale of ones and zeros. With voices only being heard through phone speakers and faces only being seen through screens, the robotic distance between us has severed connection between the physical and mental, between the somatic and the emotional. The now alien concepts of touch and affection were once building blocks of human interaction. As our wishful minds wander through the desolate streets, normal life feels like a distant reality. As our imaginary feet walk down cobbled roads and winding alleys, or swim through vast oceans, normality and familiarity feel increasingly abnormal and unfamiliar. However, the dreary black will brighten; the violent tempest will subside; the clouds will part and reveal the endless blue. The streets will fill and life will revert from ones and zeros to hugs and kisses.

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