The audio editor of The Daily Northwestern introduces the new podcast Digital Diaries, a podcast capturing the thoughts and feelings within the walls of quarantine. The first episode will premiere next week.

MAX LUBBERS: Hi, I’m Max Lubbers, the audio editor of The Daily Northwestern. When the effects of COVID-19 were really starting to hit the Northwestern community, we at The Daily wanted to capture people’s lives in their own words. So, we started something new. We asked people to record themselves and their daily lives — what they were thinking, feeling, and doing — during those first few weeks when everything seemed to change.

Here’s just some of what we heard:

JOSHUA SALAZAR: I was in a, I was in a little bit of a hole before this whole thing started, so now it’s only getting worse. Christ. Christ. (Sighs) It’s not good, not good.

ISABEL AZPIROZ: It almost feels like we are already quarantined because we spend most of our days alone in our rooms if our roommate is not there anymore, doing nothing because there’s nothing to do and anywhere to go to. There’s also a really weird vibe on campus.

MARC DENEVE: I’m right in the middle of, of packing my whole room up. There’s a few boxes lying around. It’s looking quite hectic. I guess it’s representing a sort of state of mind right now. A messy room for a messy, for a messy mind, if that makes any sense. I’ve, I’ve gotten some clarity on what my plans are, which helps. I’m going back home, which is Paris, which was decided yesterday night.

ARIONNE NETTLES: Some days you might be more melancholy. Some days you might be angry, some days, you know, disappointed, so I think we’re all kind of in those some kind of rollercoasters.

KENDRA GUJRAL: I still don’t feel like I did enough. And that may be the depression talking, that may be the anxiety talking. That may be the truth talking. I’m not sure. But I just feel — not that I wasted the day but that I let the day down. I’m not quite sure how to come to terms with that or deal with that feeling just yet. Luckily, I have therapy tomorrow. It’s through Zoom (laughs) which okay, yeah, it makes sense, but I’m just, I’m trying to deal with the fact that everything is remote, now?

MAX LUBBERS: Just the person, their phone, and their thoughts. This is Digital Diaries, a new podcast capturing people’s feelings within the walls of quarantine. Unfiltered, raw and human.

MAX LUBBERS: Each week, we will introduce you to new people and new experiences. But life goes on after people stop recording, and the world looks different every single day. We hope to give you peeks into what life was like at the start versus now. Our first episode premieres next week. Tune in then, and for all the episodes we have coming your way. Thanks for listening.

MAX LUBBERS: This episode was reported and produced by me, Max Lubbers. The audio editor of The Daily Northwestern is me, and the digital managing editors are Kalen Luciano and Heena Srivastava. The editor in chief of The Daily Northwestern is Marissa Martinez.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @maxlubbers

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