How the Pandemic Has Created a New Normal at Home for New Americans

While we cannot talk about the last year and a half without recognizing that it’s been a time of tremendous loss and trauma—collective and, in many cases, individual—there are also the small but powerful ways that a year of lockdown has affected a new normal in our lives.

We asked New Americans to share the ways that they’ve normalized the new at home during more than a year of lockdown.

“We have become a lot closer with the few families who were in our bubble, which has been an unexpected bonus. The whole family feels so much more connected to the neighborhood and the friends we went through the pandemic with. Also thanks to my persistent presence in the house, I finally successfully grew herbs, flowers, and veggies on our deck, which previously was just a hot open space with a couch. Now we sit outside together all the time, sometimes with our pandemic bubble friends. We’ve not only rethought how we use our home, but also how we define ‘family’ and how the two interrelate.”
—Hana Schank, Director of Strategy, Public Interest Technology

“I used to not spend as much time in the house. We were always on the go, so I never made our living space pretty, cozy, or even remotely interesting. Now that we've spent so much time here, I recognize the importance of investing in a living space that makes my family feel happy and calm. I’ve since taken time to buy all the pillows and all the plants, and it’s paying off in a mental health boost.”
—Raven DeRamus-Byers, Program Associate, Education Policy

“Home remains the same domicile, yet it has quickly felt like a shrunken space. Similar to Alice in Wonderland, its inhabitants — all five of us — seem suddenly enlarged. It's like we each now take up more space. As such, I now use outdoor space that I didn't use as much. Sitting in less-used shared spaces and outside have become a new part of *home*. Home is also where we find a certain level of comfort and escape. Sometimes just centering yourself can bring a feeling of home to a time and space in which it didn't previously exist…and I'm here for it.”
—Autumn McDonald, Senior Fellow and Head of New America CA

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