My phone buzzed. “This email is regarding the Allen House New York Trip. Your current status is: Waitlisted.” My shoulders slumped. The house committee was organising a weekend trip to New York for forty students — a trip everyone wanted in on — and I’d been wishing so hard I might bend luck in my favour.

The other day I was on a zoom call for a history class when I heard an explosion. I looked to my right to see a meter of red-orange...