Keith Schlegel Questionnaire
Title
Keith Schlegel Questionnaire
Subject
Social & Physical Distancing
Description
How has COVID-19 changed your daily life?
The quarantine puts me living alone, unable to travel to friends and family. Daily life has been reduced to reading, a little writing, walking daily, and too much watching. In my long periods without television, I have developed an absolute loathing of tv comercials , so I still mostly watch worthy films and television series.
How is your neighborhood and/or social circle responding to the crisis?
Generally, neighbors retain civility while maintaining a proper distance. In ordinary life relations with friends and neighbors are mutually caring and attentive; the health demands, however, require distancing that in usual times might be interpreted as unfriendly. Relationships are fraught with ironies like that.
How has covid impacted your perspective of St. Augustine?
In some ways life in St.A. during quarantine is less aggravating--fewer people, less traffic, more quiet. I live on an intersection of A1A, however, which means I am still subject to the incredibly rude, loud, and dangerous Florida drivers.
How has COVID 19 impacted your use of social media?
I am customarily distrustful of social media as a source for anything reliably accurate in terms of news and history. In times when the dangers of egregious misprepresntations are heightened, I am more distrustful. I use FaceBook to play Words with Friends, and that's about the limit.
What practices have you implemented to mitigate the impact of social distancing on your mental health?
I walk on the beach most morning beginning at 6 and lasting for an hour or more, 3-4 miles. I have resurrected old friendships that had fallen into silence and have re-established some valuable relationships. The most troubling consequence for me in social distancing/ self-quarantine has been the unflattering truth that I can only be useful to others by being useless. My value has been reduced to getting out of the way of those who have purpose under these conditions. That's hard for a teacher to accept, but it is nonetheless true. My social value is constrained to simply not being a burden.
The quarantine puts me living alone, unable to travel to friends and family. Daily life has been reduced to reading, a little writing, walking daily, and too much watching. In my long periods without television, I have developed an absolute loathing of tv comercials , so I still mostly watch worthy films and television series.
How is your neighborhood and/or social circle responding to the crisis?
Generally, neighbors retain civility while maintaining a proper distance. In ordinary life relations with friends and neighbors are mutually caring and attentive; the health demands, however, require distancing that in usual times might be interpreted as unfriendly. Relationships are fraught with ironies like that.
How has covid impacted your perspective of St. Augustine?
In some ways life in St.A. during quarantine is less aggravating--fewer people, less traffic, more quiet. I live on an intersection of A1A, however, which means I am still subject to the incredibly rude, loud, and dangerous Florida drivers.
How has COVID 19 impacted your use of social media?
I am customarily distrustful of social media as a source for anything reliably accurate in terms of news and history. In times when the dangers of egregious misprepresntations are heightened, I am more distrustful. I use FaceBook to play Words with Friends, and that's about the limit.
What practices have you implemented to mitigate the impact of social distancing on your mental health?
I walk on the beach most morning beginning at 6 and lasting for an hour or more, 3-4 miles. I have resurrected old friendships that had fallen into silence and have re-established some valuable relationships. The most troubling consequence for me in social distancing/ self-quarantine has been the unflattering truth that I can only be useful to others by being useless. My value has been reduced to getting out of the way of those who have purpose under these conditions. That's hard for a teacher to accept, but it is nonetheless true. My social value is constrained to simply not being a burden.
Creator
Keith Schlegel, responses to St. Augustine Historical Society Online Questionnaire
Date
May 2020
Contributor
Kelly Enright
Type
questionnaire
Collection
Citation
Keith Schlegel, responses to St. Augustine Historical Society Online Questionnaire, “Keith Schlegel Questionnaire,” accessed May 1, 2024, https://publichumanities.omeka.net/items/show/13.