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Collected Item: “A Virtual Funeral is Now Normal”

Give your story a title.

A Virtual Funeral is Now Normal

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

text story

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.

On January 7, 2021 I attended a virtual funeral service for a friend's husband. This was the first time to every see an online service. It was streamed on Youtube while the closest family and friends attended in person. I watched the service from my phone alone at work. It felt surreal. I saw friends' faces on the tiny screen, their voices were familiar and yet felt far away. Since then I have spoken to a few people and mentioned how I felt disconnected to be on the other side of the screen. Many others had similar stories. It was now normal to experience such things, but I can't shake the feeling that this bothered me more than it should have. I hope there comes a day when such things are considered distant memories of this pandemic.

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?

#deathways #RuralVoices #ASU #HSE

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

Clinton P. Roberts

Give this story a date.

2021-01-07
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