Secret For The Mad (by Dodie Clark) ~Ashlyn Scism

 It seems glaringly obvious that we are expected to connect this book to our own experiences with our current pandemic. This being said, I am happy to oblige— although “happy” might be the wrong word, all things considered. 

Much like the rest of the students in the US, my education went online at the start of the pandemic. I understand this was not a positive thing for a lot of students and to a degree I would agree. Personally, I did not enjoy the schoolwork side of being transferred online however I will admit that I did benefit from it. 

Similar to the character Cottard, I experienced a certain relief when the pandemic hit. I had been struggling with my mental health before the pandemic. At the start of 2020, I was suffering from massive burnout and the start of depression. My classes were torture to get through and I was barely able to get any homework done. There was a male teacher who made me (along with all of the other female students) feel very uncomfortable in every class we had with him. It was the beginning of the second semester when his class upgraded from being mildly uncomfortable to unbearably disconcerting. I was about to gather up some other students to go to the principal to address the issue, but the very next week we were all quarantined. It turned out going online was a bit of a blessing. It was an escape from his class and a sort of rest from the expectations to be “okay”. Although I still struggled with being quarantined, I was and am grateful because it was what I needed during that time.

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