Love, Actualities

Music:  “Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone, It’s not warm when she’s away…” 

 [Ain’t No Sunshine by Bill Withers continues in the background]

 Voice 1:  I really miss just being able to see people. So I think yeah, I’m just looking forward to the freedom [laughs] to live. I think everybody is. But I think for me, it’s mostly characterized by being able to be with people that I love more so than doing things.

 Music: “Wonder if she’s gonna stay”

 [Ain’t No Sunshine  by Bill Withers continues in the background]

 Narrator: That was a fellow college student. Because of COVID-19 we aren’t able to be around all of the people we love, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t love in the world right now. Our team noticed it in interviews and video calls with our peers…Here’s what we found.

 [Guitar instrumental, Wasteland, Baby! By Hozier]

 Narrator: Even when we had to leave our loved ones, we held on tight to each other through our last moments together.

Voice 2: One specific thing I really remember was watching the Theory of Everything and eating ice cream with a bunch of friends. And then at the end of the movie we all cried and then hugged in the dark. That was a lot.

Narrator: Even though we are strangers, we support and comfort each other.

Voice 3: On Saturday morning, I was finishing up packing, and I was planning to leave for the airport pretty early, and that didn't happen, so I was super, super stressed, but then when I got in my Uber to go to the airport the Uber driver was very, very nice and calmed me down, and that was, it was a really, really good experience that I had out of this whole thing, so I, I feel like there's been a lot of people providing solidarity and then the communities that don't necessarily exist normally coming together.

Music: “I’m in love, I’m in love with you”

Narrator: Even when dire circumstances require sacrifice, we learn from each other’s loving examples.

Voice 4: You could go into the medical profession for money, for social standing, for your ego. But at the end of the day are you going to be willing to put your family in danger, yourself in danger for the wellbeing of others. Which I don’t think they teach you that in medical school, and I don’t know if it was necessarily a prerequisite to being a medical professional, but right now, that’s what we’re seeing, that’s what it’s ending up being, and that’s what I’m seeing from so many medical professionals.

[Soft instrumental]

Narrator: And even when we struggle with the daily challenges of life, we turn inward and remember to love ourselves.

Voice 5: So this morning, I was doing a homework assignment, but then I stumbled upon this video, a TED talk by a writer named Tracy McMillan, so the official title of the thing which is “A Person You Should Really Marry” and when she said yourself, I was like “bro, what. I’m mind blown.” One quote that truly stuck to me was “You asked for patience, but what you get is a line at the bank.” Which means life does not give you what you ask for, it gives you people, places and situations that allow you to develop what you asked for. It just taught me a lot about how in this time of quarantine I should start focusing on myself, so it really opened a new door to me to start learning how to seriously be a hundred percent committed to myself.

Music: “Blessed be the mystery of love”

[Mystery Of Love by Sufjan Stevens]

Narrator: The coronavirus has caused so much suffering, and keeps us apart. But we’ve found that even amidst the terror and sadness of this pandemic, people are doing the best they can to act out of love in a dark world.

Music: “Cause you're making my heart sing. I am going nowhere. Cause your love is all I need”

[Your Love Is All I Need by Vista Kicks]

Narrator: Love is what makes quarantine hard, but it also makes it bearable.

Music: “…your love is all I need”

Music: ”Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone, and this house just ain’t no home anytime she goes away. And I know I know I know I know”

Narrator: Today, you heard the voices of Kyle Dominguez, Felix Li, Melissa White, Birukti Tsige, Makesha Mercedat, and me, Trinity Stallins.

[Ain’t No Sunshine by Bill Withers begins to play again]

Music: “I know I know and hey, I ought to leave the young thing alone. But ain't no sunshine when she's gone”

Terrascope Student: This story was produced by Terrascope Radio, a class developed by the MIT Terrascope Program in collaboration with the MIT program in Comparative Media Studies.

[enthusiastically] We are Melissa White, Ilaisaane Summers, Trinity Stallins, Karissa Sanchez, Nghiem Pham, Catherine Lu, Darren Lim, Felix Li, Claire Kim, Amena Khatun, Carolina Gutierrez, and Jade Chongsathapornpong. Thank you to Terrascope Director David McGee, Community Coordinator Elise Chambers, Undergraduate Teaching Fellows Jorge Nin and Meriah Gannon, and finally, our lecturer Ari Epstein. Thank you to all the people who shared their experiences with us.

Music: “…anytime, she goes away”