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Collected Item: “Cherry Blossoms without a Festival”

Give your story a title.

Cherry Blossoms without a Festival

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

A photograph that I took on my phone.

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

This is a photograph of the Washington Monument when the cherry blossom festival usually takes place. It was taken when my family and I drove out to see the cherry blossoms, but when we arrived in DC, the roads were blockaded so that no one would be gathering around the cherry blossoms in large groups. If you zoom in closely, you can see cherry blossoms in the background, and that there are no people and hardly any cars. This photo of the monument taken when the Cherry Blossom Festival was supposed to happen is a testament to one the sweeping effects of the pandemic; the shutting down of events that used to happen every single year before. The photo itself is important to me because every year I go and see the cherry blossoms with my family and walk around the tidal basin. Looking at this photo I will always remember how empty DC was and how sad the sight of the solitary Cherry Blossoms was without people walking around to celebrate their bloom.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

#Cherryblossoms, #WashingtonDC, #Empty, #Quarantine, #Dissapointment

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Anna Erskine

Give this story a date.

2020-03-24T10:48
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