A skilled cinematographer makes use of color grading, in which hues are edited in post-production, to impart an emotional response through visual means. The best example of effective color grading is in Cinematographer Lawrence Sher’s use of this technique in the 2019 film, Joker. Sher uses red for passion, yellow for empowerment and resistance, and most notably, the first act is made to be suffocatingly blue to convey coldness and isolation. Blue for coldness and isolation. 

As everyone’s screen time increased – because connecting with your loved ones and everything else could mostly be done through a screen – I believe that we began to experience color grading in our own lives. Digital screens and electronic devices emit artificial blue light. Prolonged exposure to blue light can have acute effects physically, such as eye strain, disrupted sleep schedule, and headaches … symptoms I’m sure we’ve all experienced within the past year. Emotionally, however, I believe that blue light has had even more detrimental effects. 

As our lives were saturated with a blue hue, we couldn’t help but feel its overwhelming symptoms of coldness and isolation. 

Everyone makes out Senior year to be the time of our lives where we get to celebrate after years of hard work. The Class of ‘21 was excited for Senior Internships, Camp Bernie, Senior Night, and their last March Madness – the moments that make up the hallmark DMAE senior experience, and then finally being back in school. My classmates and I expected to enter Senior Year with the warm embrace of community after months of quarantine, but instead we were left in the gray. The blue! Reopening was supposed to happen in September, then it was pushed back to second marking period, then to spring, then we got the notice that the whole year would be virtual, and by the time DMAE finally did opened up, we had been left in the coldness for so long that we felt defeated, and its effects felt irreversible.

Logging onto teams every morning became increasingly difficult over time. School used to be a place where I learned, collaborated, got inspired, and socialized, but over the year of virtual school, School became assignments, due dates, exams, and … work. Home used to be a place of leisure and warmth, but over the year of virtual school, Home became a place of stress, academic struggle, and loneliness. Oh and did I mention that the outside world was no escape? With Covid cases reaching a record high in January, the insanity of the 2020 election, and the coup at the Capital, there was a divide like no other – in a time where we needed to be united. Even the divisiveness of politics left us all isolated. On top of everything else, we all had to embark on the college process completely alone – imagine having to face the impending pressures of what you want to do with your life alone during (what we thought was) the apocalypse. “Senior year is the best year of high school!” yeah, right.

Then came May 1st when the Class of ‘21 felt a collective weight being lifted off their shoulders. The unspoken fear of having all our efforts amount to nothing dissolved as we all #committed. For the first time after what felt like forever, blue was no longer the predominant color in our lives. Scrolling through Instagram, I saw red for Northeastern, Cornell, and Rutgers; orange for Princeton and Virginia Tech; gold for USC, green for WashU, and purple for NYU. There was also blue for Spelman College and TCNJ, scarlet for Rutgers and indigo and orange for BCC. Supportive remarks flooded comment sections and stories, and Seniors finally received the warming embrace of community they so deserved after months of dealing with the coldness of virtual learning.

On June 15, Ms. Aronson outdid herself with the most memorable (and much needed) Diversity Day and Englewood Idol. The monotony and isolation of virtual learning made the whole world seem blue, but while I sat on a picnic blanket in front of the stage, a breeze flowing through my hair, and music booming in my ear, I looked out at the crowd and saw a rainbow of colors – proud Jamaicans, Colombians, and Filipinos, all proudly showcasing the colors of their countries – then at the performers, singing and dancing their hearts out, putting life into lyrics and I was reminded of just how much color DMAE has put into my life.