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  • The Atlantic

    If You and Your Friends Are Bored, PowerPoint Parties May Be the Answer

    “It’s a distraction from all that’s going on … This is a way to come together, in a different way—teaching instead of just talking.”
    by Julie Beck Mar 27, 2020 6 minutes
    Source: Wenjia Tang

    Each installment of The Friendship Files features a conversation between The Atlantic’s Julie Beck and two or more friends, exploring the history and significance of their relationship.

    This week she talks with a group of eighth graders at Seabrook Intermediate School in Seabrook, Texas, who are stuck at home because of the coronavirus pandemic. To entertain themselves, they hosted a PowerPoint party on Saturday. Each of them prepared a slide presentation on a topic of their choice (ranging from astronomy to unsolved murders to Disney princesses) and shared it with the others over the videochat software Zoom. They discuss their initial reactions to their school closing, explain the appeal of a PowerPoint party over other kinds of virtual hangouts, and share what isolation has taught them about friendship.

    The Friends:

    Carly Bohlmann, 14
    Reagan Ford, 14
    Lane Harper, 14
    Audrey Lapuyade, 13
    Walter Long, 14
    Andrew Newmyer, 14
    Georgia Perello, 13
    Amelia Weiss, 14

    This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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