Competition and Efficiency in America The American economy is built on competition. Everything from business to education has an aspect of competition embedded in it. This goes hand in hand with efficiency because competition is the reason that America is so efficient. Americans have a way of working towards their goals, and a mindset of making themselves better off for the future, instead of right now. For instance, historically the arts have been valued above other subjects such as law and medicine. However in aAmerica law and medicine is studied for more than the arts because that is where the money is. In an American's eyes, more money is a better future for your family yourself. America is currently and always has lived up to the core values of competition and efficiency because of the way that the American people work to achieve their goals to succeed in this country. There are many ways that competition and efficiency are built into the United States education system. It plays a role in the American classroom from grade school to college. One of the most significant changes that the American people have made to education is the way that they value the arts. As in they don’t. The arts used to be praised in Europe, and artists were looked at like royalty. They were paid large sums of money to paint everything from portraits to creating sculptures. However ever since colonizing the United States, art has been on a decline. According to The National Center for Education Statistics, in the last 15 years the amount of people who study art related topics in college has gone down from about 15% to about 5%. The primary focus of study is health professions. The amount of students who study health professions has gone up 175% in the last 15 years. That is because a career path as a doctor will pay a lot more, and will lead to a better future than a career as an artist. The competitive drive of Americans is what makes them want this better future. They want to outperform their peers and better themselves, and this makes America more efficient. Americans have found a way to work competition into every aspect of their lives. Everything from education to business has been improved by them in order to better themselves. That drive to be the best is what makes Americans so successful. That drive to be the best can be seen by looking at unemployment rates of the last 10 years. Unemployment rates range everywhere from about 28% to about 0.1%. In 2009 America had an unemployment rate of 9.1%. All it took was 10 years for Americans to turn 9.1% into 4.2% (Knoema Corporation). As of 2019 America had cut their unemployment rate in half. What this means is that in 10 years 4.9% of the population was no longer unemployed. This is 4.9% of Americans who are competitively driven to improve their future, improve their education, and make sure that their families and themselves are better off. The more that Americans improve themselves, the more efficient the country will be. The core American values of competition and efficiency can be seen in the way that Americans want to improve in order to be better off in the future. The more that Americans use this competitive drive to succeed, the more efficient the country will be. So far America has not shown any signs of letting go of this competitive mindset, therefore it has lived up to these values and will continue to do so. The mindset of Americans is like the mindset of no other country. It is a mindset that is not afraid to let go of the way things are usually done in order to create new and better ways to do them. This mindset results in competitiveness within ourselves and between our peers. This competition results in a more efficient way of life.

My husband, son and I moved (back) to Durango, Colorado from Monument at the end of February. We closed on our house, started back at school and reconnected with the friends we missed while we were away. Then the news stories started popping up here and there about a new and unidentified virus that is showing up in cities. "Good thing we live here!" I thought to myself. We live in the mountains, in a scattered neighborhood outside a small town in a sparsely-populated area of the country. We'll be fine. My husband's job went to 100% telework. Since he works for the Federal Government, I figured it was just very precautionary and we settled into the convenience of having him home! My son's school went on spring break, more time for playing and friends! I saw on the news that all the schools in Wisconsin (my home state) closed for the rest of the year! Holy cow! I still figured we would not see anything real from this now-named Coronavirus. Then my son's school closed for the year. Suddenly, the entire nation, even our little rural hamlet, came to a shuddering halt. By now, it is into March, nearly April. Tourists still show up to get their last ski runs in, and first hikes and rafting trips of the year in. I suppose that is good. Our entire area relies on tourism so if we can keep things moving, that is a positive, right? Well it turns out there is a pretty huge downside of living in a remote area during a pandemic. Yes, we do not come into contact with many people, we don't have a freeway anywhere nearby, and we do not have a large airport. However, we also lack the resources to have a mass of patients at our hospital. There is one main medical facility that serves a very large area. If this virus shows up here, we could be doomed. With my husband and son home, we hunkered in to see what was going to happen. Fast forward to October, and we have had a handful of cases in our county and neighboring ones, despite the rush of Texas and California tourists this summer. We lost a couple cherished restaurants and establishments, and were not immune to this pandemic. But taking an assessment at the moment, I'm pretty proud of our area. There were arguments on masks, social distancing, sports, and restaurants, that shadowed the nation as a whole, but I saw communities band together like never before. Out of this crisis, there blossomed a new understanding and grace lent to our neighbors that we maybe did not express before. New programs popped up to help those who were struggling, because in reality, we were ALL struggling. This area historically struggles with suicide, and there has been an enormous push to reach out to everyone possible and offer all kinds of hands, or ears as the case may be. All in all, I am proud of my community and I am proud of how we are weathering this storm, among so much other commotion battling for our focus.

In the middle of March in 2020, flight prices dropped dramatically. I took advantage out of this circumstance by purchasing a $75 non-stop round trip ticket on United from Phoenix to Chicago. My flight to Chicago on Monday, March 16 was somewhat full, and O'Hare Airport in Chicago was less crowded than usual. However, the Coronavirus situation quickly worsened each day. I returned to the airport on Thursday, March 19 for a 10:00 AM flight to go back to Phoenix. O'hare, normally packed with people during this aviation morning rush hour, was almost like a ghost town. It had only taken a couple of days to make the big drop in passanger traffic. It was earily quiet. The colorful walkway to the satellite concourse in Terminal 1 had just a few people, making it quite easy to hear Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." When I got to the satellite concourse, it felt like a library. You could walk on the concourse with barely anyone around surrounded by little to no noise. It was if you owned the place. I went to Starbucks, a favorite among travelers in the morning, where there was no line. The workers enjoyed conversating among themselves. Walking past each of the gates, I could hear near silence as most were empty or near empty, with very few gate agents working in the terminal. As someone who had taken flights out of this airport since I was little, this felt very bizzare. I knew this was historic and I took a couple of photographs along the way. One of the things I've realized about the history of the pandemic, and major historical events in general, is that it isn't necessarily about what's added, but what is removed. The sensory details do not necessarily involve jolts to your senses, but perhaps the opposite. Like Lower Manhatten after the collapse of the World Trade Center, sometimes what you may sense during major historical events is near silence. No one on my flight that day needed to point out the sheer gravity of the situation; the silence spoke a thousand words.

This email was one of the first ones I received from the university when I first began graduate school. It was sent by the university's President, Tom Mengler. It details the lengths the university is going to in order to protect their students, faculty and other workers. For the first few weeks of the semester there were no reported cases of COVID-19 amongst people at the school. Compared to how other universities are handling the pandemic this shows that St. Mary’s actually cares about it’s students. It made me feel a little safer knowing that the university administration is taking steps to ensure that it’s people are protected.

As a first generation college student I had no idea what to expect when it came to grad school. My parents had never done anything close to it and could offer me no advice, I was essentially flying blind when it came to applying and finally attending grad school. My program did it’s best to make me feel at home but I was still nervous, what if I didn’t belong here? What if my imposter syndrome was right? These anxieties bothered me for the month leading up to school starting in the fall of 2020. However, the university I am attending, St. Mary’s, provided us with these high quality masks in order to protect us and others during the pandemic. It made me feel more welcome, like I belonged. This is the best mask I have and the only one that I use regularly. It’s emblazoned with the name of the school and is a beautiful blue color. Despite all my fear and anxiety it’s nice to know that the school cares enough to give us these masks. Whenever I go out I wear this mask and advertise for my university, the place that allows me to study the things I love with people who love them too.

An interview given with Shivaun by her wife, Camden regarding COVID-19.

We had just moved from Fort Bragg (Fayetteville), North Carolina, to Eglin Air Force Base (Destin), Florida, when my husband learned he was deploying to Afghanistan this past January. Usually, when my husband deploys, I have work to occupy my time, but I did not find a teaching job when we moved. I decided to return to my hometown of Kane, Pennsylvania during my husband’s deployment. When the pandemic started, I decided to fix up a one-hundred-year-old table left in my sister’s house by the previous owner. I made my sister keep this table in her basement for ten years, with the promise that one day I would take it with me. It only took a deployment and a pandemic to get me started on this project. I figured working on the table would be an excellent way to pass the time since I could no longer visit old friends due to the pandemic. I started working on the table in my sister’s basement armed with paint scrapers, wire brushes, CitriStrip, Mineral Spirits, and an acrid-smelling varnish remover. CitriStrip smells like oranges, and that is not a bad smell to have to permeate your sister’s house for days; however, the other varnish remover was not as nose-friendly. It smelt so bad that one could say that I was using biological terrorism on my family. Imagine ten thousand girls removing their nail polish at the same time with acetone, and you have some idea of the smell. It did not take long for my sister to kick me out of my (almost warm) basement work area, and I began to work on the table in the frigid temperatures of my parent’s garage where the smell of chemicals would not reach inside. Pennsylvania is not very warm in March, and I could never get warm, especially when I was using acetone. Acetone evaporates quickly, and as a result, it kept my hands cold. Also, I found that the acetone melted my latex gloves, and that made matters worse. My hands were always dry. Removing the old varnish was laborious, and I am still not sure if it was varnish that coated the table. Research led me to believe that it might be shellac or a type of wax, and when I scraped the layers off, everything turned into a goopy mess. As I scraped each layer of the varnish off the table, I could begin to see more of the table’s features. I began to see the scorch marks from the saw, a mark where the previous owner left a paint can, and I could see the beautiful wood hiding underneath. Finally, it was time to sand. When you are sanding wood, you start with large grain sandpaper, and you work your way to finer sandpaper. I used both an electric sander and a hand sander. The electric sander made my hands numb, but the hand sander was time-consuming. As I wiped the sawdust away from the table, I felt accomplished. Now the table is a treasured part of our new home in Monterey CA; in fact, I am writing this paper on it right now. *This is the story of someone finally getting around to refurbishing an old table.

Both my mother and my brother suffer from asthma. Before mask-wearing became mandatory by law, they attempted to use a card they had found on the Internet. The card looked legitimate, but we've since found out it may have been fake. Both of them printed it out and had it laminated so they could keep it in their wallets and bags. It stated they did not have to wear a mask due to health issues. Over time, my mother kept having experiences where people in public places such as grocery stores would get upset with her and “call her out” for not wearing a mask. She still stayed six feet away from people, but this was apparently not enough to reassure some. They would become angry and verbally abusive even after she showed them the card and explained that she had asthma. Because of these incidents, she looked for alternatives to masks, including a clear plastic screen which she tied around her forehead and it covered her entire face. But this was very inconvenient and difficult to wear. At the height of the quarantine, stores would not accept the card (as I mentioned earlier, it may have even been fake). As the quarantine began winding down (right around the time restaurants started opening), she was able to wear masks for short periods of time, as long as she could take it off soon after. *My parents got it through a third party, hence why I think it may have been fake.

Found this tweet about living in times of Covid zoom teaching and I found it amusing, yet also a bit as the author put it 'dystopian'.

Throughout the pandemic, we have learned that some humans refuse to take precautionary measures to help stop the spread of COVID-19. The government refused acknowledge the problem we had until it was too late. Even when quarantine went into effect, people didn't wear masks or stop gathering in groups.  As a whole, humans did a terrible job at avoiding COVID and that is why this tweet is so important.

Financially, we took a hit, so that put more added stress on me. Having my kids home, juggling meals, class work, homework, along with toddlers, a full time job & part time job has put me at my wits end. Not getting daily needed exercise or sun light... 4 months into the shut down, we tested positive for covid. I was the only one with symptoms & they were bad. I was in bed for over a week & with symptoms for 3 weeks & still had to juggle my daily life. I felt like i was falling into a slight depression. It’s been a struggle beyond belief. It’s very overwhelming & there are days that I just want to run. I don’t feel we have caught a break in any way.

When this whole pandemic started I was startled. I had to start living my life in paranoia. Everything I did had to be careful, safe, and with caution. Covid 19 has become one of the United states biggest worries. How do you know if your friend is sick?; but she is known to have severe allergies. How do you know if your father has covid?; but, he gets really bad back pains on a regular basis. All the common symptoms of covid are also regular issues in someone's daily life. Not knowing who's sick, who isn't, who carries it, who's immune to it, is very scary. Having to be quarantined for months just made me feel like I was being held captive. Not by choice but by demand. The fear of being sick and not knowing. Knowing that this deadly virus could have infected your neighbor who sleeps on the bed on the other side of your wall. This pandemic has brought me nothing but fear. Fear of dying, fear of being infected, fear of losing a loved one in the process. It all just comes down to faith. During this pandemic that's what I tried to have most of. Following precautions to avoid it, staying distant from my family, not going to the fun places i enjoy.School will never be the same. Having to do online learning is difficult. The focus is harder and understanding what's going on in class is frustrating. Not only that but civilians had to learn how to adapt to the new life. A mask became a part of everyone's daily necessities. Walking into stores without a mask is prohibited and even walking your dog now has an extra twist to it. Having to walk 6 feet away from each other has become a primary concern. While I was sacrificing my boredom other people were sacrificing their lives. Doctors, nurses, cops are all the important people who make sure our lives are safe. They put their lives in danger to protect our own by choice. While people complain about not having fun, workers are fighting for their lives everyday, and they may not even know it. They are at risk every step they take, out of their home, or office, or facility, wherever they are based. They are taking a risk to save civilians who can barely listen to protocols that are given. While people are complaining about not being able to go outside,they aren't wearing their mask. How do you expect for things to change if no one can make it better on their own? That right there, is a question you should be asking yourself.

COVID-19 re-created a living paradigm I had experienced living in Japan for many years of wearing a mask in public, usually on public transportation or during flu season. Although I did not wear it all the time, when I did wear it my sense of smell would of course be muted, or I would smell my own breath. It would also bring to my attention what I perceived others would smell when I spoke with them making me more self-conscience of my breath (and increasing gum and mint purchases). Although I found it uncomfortable, I would deal with it for the short periods of time it was necessary. When the COVID-19 government responses in the US required the use of a mask in public, I found myself back in unpleasantly familiar sensation of having to wear a mask, but now one made of cloth, since disposable paper ones were hard to acquire or reserved for health care workers. Of course, said mask has been washed and dried with perfumed detergents further muting the sense of smell. What also made it worse was the fuzzy lint strings that existed on the inside of any mask (cloth or paper) that would tickle the nose and inducing a sneeze, unleashing a round of stares from strangers nearby. Overall, I have grown used to it, but the behavioral shift in wearing, washing, gathering, and staging of a mask that has become a norm, and so has the muted sense of smell. Sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse.

This news is about the stop of clinical trials of the vaccine for COVID-19 virus. I personally was really suspicious about these vaccine because the process is moving too fast and usually vaccine development can take years to be used to the public. アメリカの製薬大手ジョンソン・エンド・ジョンソンは12日、新型コロナウイルスワクチンの全ての治験を一時停止したと発表しました。 治験の参加者１人が原因不明の病気になったのが理由としていますが、症状など具体的な情報は明らかにしていません。 新型コロナワクチンをめぐっては、日本も供給を受けることで合意をしているイギリスのアストラゼネカが９月、副作用の疑いがあるとして、世界的な治験中断に一時追い込まれました。 American pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson announced on the 12th that it has suspended all clinical trials of the new coronavirus vaccine. The reason is that one of the participants in the clinical trial became ill with an unknown cause, but specific information such as the symptoms has not been disclosed. In September, AstraZeneca of the United Kingdom, which has agreed to supply Japan with the new corona vaccine, was temporarily suspended from clinical trials worldwide because of suspected side effects.

This is a news talking how lip balms could be effective in the prevention of the spread of COVID-19 virus. 新型コロナウイルスの感染経路の一つであるつばの飛散防止について、リップクリームが効果的だとフランスの研究者らが発表しました。 　研究はフランス・モンペリエ大学のアブカリアン教授らが行いました。会話中では特にPやBの発音の際、唇の間に唾液の糸ができ、それがつばとなって空気中に放出されます。しかし、リップクリームを塗ったところ唾液の糸はできにくくなり、人によっては飛散するつばの量が4分の1になったということです。 　アブカリアン教授：「もし唇の表面の質を変えたらどうなるんだろうと思いました。研究では、保湿などに使うクリームを塗ると飛沫（ひまつ）の量が減ったんです」 　音によって効果が異なるほか、効果自体も1分ほどしか持たないことから、リップクリームはマスクの代わりにはなりませんが、研究を続けていくとしています。 French researchers have announced that lip balm is effective in preventing the spread of the spit, which is one of the infection routes of the new coronavirus. The research was conducted by Professor Abcarian of the University of Montpellier, France. During conversations, especially when pronouncing P or B, a thread of saliva is formed between the lips, which becomes a spit and is released into the air. However, when lip balm was applied, it became difficult for the saliva threads to form, and for some people, the amount of scattered spit was reduced to one-fourth. Professor Abcarian: "I wondered what would happen if I changed the quality of the surface of my lips. In my research, applying a cream used for moisturizing reduced the amount of droplets (himatsu)." The effect differs depending on the sound, and the effect itself lasts only about 1 minute, so lip balm is not a substitute for a mask, but they will continue their research.

This is the news explaining how droplets travel and the risk of exposure. スーパーコンピューター「富岳」を使った新型コロナ感染リスクの検証で、飲食店で隣同士に座って会話した場合は正面で会話するよりも5倍の飛沫（ひまつ）を浴びることが分かりました。 　富岳が4人が飲食店で1分程度話をした場合を計算した飛沫の広がり方です。理化学研究所のチームリーダーを務める神戸大学の坪倉誠教授によりますと、感染者が横に座っていて話をした場合は、正面に座った場合の5倍の飛沫を受けることが分かりました。さらに、飛沫そのものも湿度が低ければ低いほど、下に落ちずに空中に漂う量が急激に増えることが分かりました。湿度30％の場合は、60％の場合の2倍以上の飛沫が1.8メートル先まで到達したということです。また、コンサートホールなどで、合唱をする場合は飛沫は直進するため前方の人ほどリスクが高まるほか、合唱で生まれた気流によって飛沫がより遠くまで届くということです。 In the verification of the risk of new corona infection using the supercomputer "Tomitake", it was found that when sitting next to each other at a restaurant and talking, they are exposed to five times as many droplets (himatsu) compared to when sitting and talking in front of each other. “Tomitake” calculated how the droplets spread when four people talked at a restaurant for about one minute. According to Professor Makoto Tsubokura of Kobe University, who is the team leader of RIKEN, it was found that when an infected person sits next to an individual and talks, he/she is exposed to five times as many droplets as when he/she sits in front of him/her. Furthermore, it was found that the lower the humidity of the droplets themselves, the more the droplets will be floating in the air without falling down. At a humidity of 30%, more than twice as many droplets, compared to the humidity at 60%, reached 1.8 meters away. Also, when a choir is singing in a concert hall, the droplets go straight forwards and thus the risk increases for the person in front, and the airflow created by the chorus causes the droplets to reach farther.

I am very lucky. I have a job that allows me to work 12-hour shifts, which means I have three or four days off a week. I used to have the time while my daughter was at school and my wife (a teacher) was at work to relax or work on my master's classes. These classes take concentration and time to read and write, and noise is very distracting to me. I should also mention that we purposely bought a small house, less than 1300 sq. feet. Suddenly in March, 2020, my world (at the risk of sounding selfish) was changed. My wife was teaching from home, juggling rooms back and forth with me for computer usage etc., while my daughter was asking for help with school. The voice mail attached is a memory I have of my comfortable little environment changing. This particular voicemail surely caused stress and anxiety to the parents of 16,000 students in one district. Even today listening to it feels ominous. Ironically, today I dropped my daughter off for the first time at in-person school, and I was sad to see her go. *Voicemail sound file from my child's school district announcing school closures.

The course was on knowing about the virus, how it is transmitted, who is at risk, as well as precautions and social distancing. It also covered how to deal with Covid reporting and is a preparation for someone interested in working for public health in Covid reporting and contacting those who may have been exposed. Again this is important to me because it's about the exposure of persons to the virus and myself, my spouse and friends are members of at least one high risk group.

CNN reports that Johnson and Johnson put their vaccine trials on pause after one of their volunteers is experiencing an unexplained illness. As if many people weren’t already sketched out about this vaccine race this is yet another reason why many are saying they’ll wait a while to get vaccinated. I for one, will wait until it’s ok’d by the CDC and the first wave of people vaccinated don’t have adverse reactions.

CNN reports the story of Brianna Hill who went into labor in the middle of her bar exam, which had to be delayed because of the pandemic. Her water broke and she labored while still taking the exam. After having her baby boy, she continued on with her exam. This story not only highlights the wide effects of the pandemic but also shines a bright light on the resilience of motherhood and the power of determination.

During the pandemic, specifically between March and June, there wasn't much for me to do with work. I would help my Dad with his now unfamiliar school work. I did play games and watched the entirety of Parks and Recreation, but couldn't stave off the boredom. I needed to do something. So, I would go on walks. Sometimes I would go by myself and sometimes I would take my dog Carolina. She loves taking walks and it was something new for her with every walk. I lived in a rural part of town and the air was fresh. The smell of flowers drifting in the air, while also smelling cow manure as well. All I could hear was the sound of the birds, neighbor dogs and the farm animals. Carolina would stare at those dogs or animals, but never approach them. It was wonderful to breathe in the warm air. Cars were a rare sight and sound when I would walk along the asphalt with no issues. It was so quiet. It was nice to have the road to ourselves. Prior to COVID, people would be driving along our road frequently and we could hear them even from the end of our driveway. There seemed to be less garbage in the ditches too. Sometimes, I would see whole families walking along the road, probably wanting to inhale that fresh air that I was enjoying. Mid to late summer though, the air became thick with smoke. The fires around Washington, especially from nearby Selah, were suffocating and my walks stopped. There was even a fire on the ridge behind our house and I was worried that we would have to evacuate. The sky was muggy and the area was too warm, thankfully, since we all started wearing masks, we could cope with the fires. Mostly, I was disappointed that the fresh air I breathed towards the beginning of summer was gone. The picture I chose to share was a picture I took of the fire that started on the ridge behind our house. It's not the best quality, but that smoke was what closed out the summer. There was a lot to deal with this summer; COVID and fires mostly, but somehow, we made it. *Photograph, this is something that I took myself.

The object is a post from St.Mary's University Linkedin account. The account posted pictures of seniors picking up their diplomas from campus. Amidst the first few months of COVID-19, many changes occurred, especially in academia's traditional spaces. A huge tradition and milestone for students was the spring 2020 graduation. Many Universities, including St.Mary's, held virtual commencement ceremonies that included words from faculty and a program that listed every graduate's name with their major and any awards or affiliations. To provide students their physical degrees, many schools mailed degrees to students, but St.Mary held an event where students and their families could come to campus and pick up their diploma. Hosting an event like this for students and their families was significant because not having a traditional graduation ceremony was a significant loss for those working towards walking the stage. St. Mary's University has a diverse student body of international and first-generation students. All students dream of walking on the stage to get the rewards of their hard work in college. This was not just a loss for students but also family members looking forward to a significant moment. To give students and their families the rewarding celebrity moment, St.Mary's staff and faculty hosted a diploma pickup with safety precautions.

This pandemic has impacted my life in many different ways for example nowadays walking into a public place you are stared at for not wearing a mask. this is important to me because this pandemic has really changed everybody’s point of you of things.

In early April of this year, I had driven to the oceanfront for a few hours of morning surfing. The weather the previous day created ideal swells. Growing up in and around the ocean, surfing has always been a way of life for me. After several sets and a few hours, I proceeded in to the beach and stepped on an embedded oyster shell. At first, it felt like a bad bruise, but it was a horrible gash on the bottom of my right foot. I knew after looking that I needed stitches. I wrapped my foot in a towel, limped off with my board, secured things as best I could, and drove myself to the nearest ER. I was checked in, placed in a room, etc. Since the wound was not bleeding profusely, my foot was placed in a basin of antibacterial solution. After the preliminaries of great care, I waited for the doctor. The door to my room was slightly cracked open, at least enough to hear much activity in the main ER area. And I waited. Over the next several hours, the ER became a flurry of chaos. But it was not what what I could see, but could hear with the door nearly closed. Multiple patients were brought in by ambulances with breathing difficulty. The rooms filled up and some stretchers started lining the halls. A nurse poked her masked face in every so often to ask how I was doing. As i waited, i learned that I was a low priority, and rightfully so. I was not dying, nor gasping for breath. I kept hearing "God! I can't breathe!" These were the sounds of the early pandemic in April. Male and female voices, struggling through broken sentences, vitally needing air under the acute distress of COVID infection. With nothing to read, and no phone (my beach excursions do not entail smartphones because of sand), I became increasingly aware of audible sensations and the suffering of others trying to breathe. Over the next few hours, I was overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude; not because of my injury, but because I could breathe. I knew my foot would be fine with some stitches and maybe a tetanus shot, and I was, wth some crutches later upon discharge. Yes, incomplete sentences imply breathing problems, but gasping and cursing, just the struggle to live for oxygen, is what the early pandemic taught me in the ER—to be grateful for just a foot injury and excellent medical care. I was not dying, but other patients were fighting acute lung infections. The news, especially during the early pandemic, gave us video of hospitals overwhelmed with critical patients and ventilators. But for me, it was the audible sensations from the door slightly open that conveyed a profound sense of the quiet insidiousness of COVID. Some infections only bring a fever. Some folks are infected and never know it due to lack of symptoms. Yet, it is the critical ones, those that cannot breathe, that can impart a perspective of gratitude to someone like me with a routine foot laceration. Retrospectively, I look back on this experience, my ER day, and recall those voices. I never saw those people struggling, but I did not have to see them to come away with gratitude for a simple surfing accident. Some of those patients were undoubtedly placed on a ventilator in the ICU, and perhaps their outcome was even worse. I ended up discharged to home.

There are two things that have marked this pandemic for me: sound and smell. He sounds of slammed doors from a very bored, angry, unsure ten-year-old boy and the smell of my late-night cooking. As a 10-year-old, he felt set adrift, when schools closed, and he couldn’t go play with his friends and they couldn’t come here. How do you explain the concept of pandemic to a kid without scaring the crap out of them? Because he was slamming the door to his room almost anytime he was spoken to, the dogs, of course, had something to say about it, because, well, they’re dogs. So, most of the day, there was slamming doors, constant barking, yelling (him), more yelling (me), crying (mostly me) and just really wanting some peace. So, I began to cook. Stock, one of the first things I learned in culinary school. Tomato sauce. Pasta. Cookies. Bread, and no, I didn’t get on the sour dough band wagon. And I would do this late at night. When it was quite and cool. Filling the house with the rich smells of food. Meals that have been frozen, stock that has been frozen or canned, cookie dough stashed away to make cookies later. I could think while I cooked. It was and is, my de-stressor. The picture is of one of my creations – “Ravioli Lasagna” – basically, using fresh ravioli (this is ricotta and spinach) as your lasagna “noodle”, layered with marinara, mozzarella and sweet Italian sausage.

The magnitude of COVID-19 has certainly changed all of our lives forever, and I can absolutely discuss the greater magnitude of the issue. However, in this archive, I will submit a more specific story of how my wife, children and I have been affected and are still affected today. Living in Arizona, there is one thing every Arizonian knows, the summers are hot! After living in Arizona for almost a decade now, my wife and I have grown to appreciate Fall, Winter and Spring because the weather is spectacular, and we enjoy being able to take a walk. In Summer we quickly learned we could enjoy our walks by window shopping in any store or mall as the air conditioning was second to none. This all came to a screeching halt in March 2020 with the declaration of the COVID-19 Pandemic. We heeded all the orders, bypassing our Spring walks to stay indoors for our safety. My wife and children would stay in while I would make very sparse food runs to restock following every precautionary instruction given. I quickly realized what was said to be not important at first, later to be told it was necessary for basic safety measures, I would learn the “Mask” would be my greatest foe. Why? Because it makes it very difficult to breathe. As stores begun to open in early Summer, it was too hot to be outside as temperatures were topping 100 degrees in the valley of the sun. We would at least be able to enjoy our walks in stores after the stay at home orders were lifted. However, at this point mask orders were put into place making it mandatory indoors. Now faced with the choice of it being too hot outside or walking indoors with a mask where breathing is labored, gaining headaches and now lightheadedness while struggling for air. As the mask orders continue and seeing masks of every type, people wearing them incorrectly, people touching them, raising them and removing them. The more and more people I see out and about and no significant rise in deaths or hospitalizations, I wonder what the reason for these masks can be? Right now, the only thing I am waiting for is my next breath of fresh air.

During Lockdown in the search for routine and some sort of normality, usually my weekdays finish with ABC News at 7pm followed by 8 out of 10 Cats does Countdown at 7:30. Being a news snob I have always watched ABC, but recently 8 out of 10 Cats has become a new daily routine that provides regular humour relief from a bleak day inside. Hosted by Jimmy Carr and filled with stupidity as well as 'play-at-home' Countdown gameshow rounds, I have really fallen in love with it. The show is reliable, positive and immature, three things that are hard to come by at the moment. Further to that a pipe dream of mine is to one day live in the UK, and with borders closing until the end of 2021 that feels like a very long pipe, but getting to watch it even now makes me feel like maybe I'll watch it with a cup of tea in London somewhere. This particular clip was one of the funnier things I've ever seen on TV, let alone on this show, and made a mediocre night watching TV a conversational piece about a carrot in a box.

A librarian at Duke University made a video outlining the steps for library takeout and it's amazing.

My mother in law came to Arizona from Arequipa, Peru in Febuary. She arrived a few days before the news of Coronavirus seemed to be spreading in the United States. She has been an absolutely lifesaver. Without her, I don't think I could have managed, especially once school was effectively cancelled for my kindergartener in March. Having my mother in law around is like having another mother, another set of hands to help. She is pretty active and mobile, so she doesn't mind keeping up with the 2yo and she helps me take care of all those details around the house that I never have time for like cleaning, washing dishes, letting the dog out, letting the dog in, breaking up the fight between siblings, cooking, all of it. Now we split most of those chores, since my husband works outside the house. I couldn't do it without her, and I should say that we don't take it for granted. We pay her what we would have paid the daycare for the 2yo, which is actually a decent weekly income when translated back to Peruvian soles. This image shows that there are limited flights back to Peru and that Peru is still in a waves of curfew and lockdowns. We've applied for an extended visa, and I'm hoping she can stay through December. I know she misses home, but she's also glad to be useful and to be living somewhere that isn't enforcing curfews and periodic lockdowns.

Un dibujo de Andrés Edery mostrando la cara de Trump, y un Coronavirus intentando escaparse. El Coronavirus parece que quiere salirse, lo entiendo con un sentido de humor, como ni siquiera un virus horrible quiere permanecer en su cuerpo.

More political cartoons in the familiar series, "Diary of a pandemic," by artist Andrés Edery. These are some of the most recent images drawn and added. I think my favorite is the image of the father trying to recreate the feeling of going to a stadium to watch a soccer match, there's definitely a theme of parenthood in several of the cartoons that are endearing and relatable.

I found this CNN article really interesting. The best part was the comment section. It’s mixed feelings with some saying these people are essentially taking one for the team while others are saying these people are an extreme version of anti-maskers.

This is a photo of a public service announcement as well as sale to the public of the tee-shirt pictured. It was sent out by email to fans of the Chicago Cubs. The man holding it in the photo is a member of the team. It’s important because it publicizes the need to keep your hands clean as to not spread germs. Notice the team mascot/trademark is wearing a mask. A reminder to wear a mask and not spread the virus. It's important to me because I'm personally affected on two levels by persons not practicing proper precautions. One , I'm a member of one of the high risk groups …and two my wife is a member of two high risk groups,. So I'm very interested in protecting myself , my wife and others.

This experience of the Covid-19 pandemic is probably very different than most people. My picture submitted of myself shows a selfie that I took while in the hospital dealing with a non-Covid-19 hospitalization. As you will see through reading this I was on sensory overload. My experience with taste when it comes to my hospitalization was not one of joy, but one of provisional change due to introduction of various new medical regiments which made things tasting like metal along with various other side effects. The over powering aroma of alcohol wipes and various chemicals burned my nostrils causing my eyes to water with irritation and redness. Desiring the touch of a loved ones other then the nurses pin pricks and the doctors jabs however, due to Covid restrictions my only comfort was my husband. With the on going treatments of chemotherapy I had caused numbness in my toes and fingers which felt like knives. I am a 35 year old man who is diagnosed with stage Three-B Testicular Cancer who was healthy one minute and who's world was turned upside down the next moment. So, my Covid-19 experience has been that of Chemotherapy, isolationism, crying, hospital smells, changing of all of my sensory parts of my body, and more. This is important to me because it has changed my life, Covid-19 experience, work-life, and many other areas.

It seems these days it’s become impossible for people to gather for whatever reason without vandalism and looting following suit. It’s sad to see stories like this because last nights win by the Lakers was such a positive event for the city and now it’s been overshadowed by stories like this. Looting and vandalism aside I wonder how many COVID cases this gathering will cause. It’s hard not to wonder what Kobe would have to say about this.

The Los Angeles Lakers had not been to a final in ten years. Our city was full of hope and excitement when this years team was assembled (along with a new head coach). Then 2020 started and our world seemed to fall apart. For the team and our city specifically the loss of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gigi and all those on that plane, that foggy morning in February was almost too much to bare. The truth is that this year has seen the loss of so many positive people in our society, that partnered with the global pandemic and the terrible leadership in the White House has dubbed this year the unofficial official worse year ever. Of course I think the title is a bit dramatic and things can always be worse but I think we can all agree that this year has been pretty terrible, politically, socially, economically and morally. The lakers won last night, I was watching with my city and for the first time in a long time felt the need to celebrate. It’s the end of the year, and I can’t help but hope that this cause for celebration will be a turning point.

World's a stage

Mask importance

I resisted joining Tik Tok, and working on the archive I saw that some of the submissions were from this application, but I wasn't interested in learning a new platform. Then, when NPR started reporting that President Donald J Trump was going to ban downloading the app, I decided to download it and see what it was like. It's a funny amalgamation of short videos, sometimes music, that ranges from bizarre to hilarious. I keep seeing videos from the member TreyTV who does hilarious impressions of DJT, this one is a spin off the Idaho man who make a Tik Tok to a Fleetwood Mac song while drinking Ocean Spray. I have to say, as bleak as thing are right now, it feels so great to laugh.

This image was taken during The Rattler's first press weekend. Due to COVID-19 restrictions there is a no eating in the newsroom policy, and so staff now must eat outside in the hallway and maintain social distancing. This scene is typical of a late Saturday night (closer to midnight) as the staff is working to finish the upcoming paper, although now this gathering must take place in the hallway. The staff stays 6 feet apart to eat and due to only a set number of people being allowed in the newsroom at any given time some have taken camp out in the hallway to work "remotely" but still able to communicate quickly with the rest of the staff.

- In times of covid I am not as social in person but have switched my social online with friends playing games and D&D through, discord, zoom and text. -Before covid I had a schedule of when I went to classes, co-ops and saw my friends. Social is now more erratic because everyone is home and schedules are so varied. This makes it hard to talk to friends. So now I have to adapt more to others schedules in order to spend time online with friends. -Because of the way we socialize I spend more time than normal online. -My homeschool life however has not changed that much, probably do more academics than before. I have been taking multiple online class over the years so when covid happened things didn’t change that much for me academically. -Another positive is that my personal library has expanded because getting to the library and picking out books is limited since they aren’t open and only allow curbside pick up. -Got more chickens, since we are home all the time. -Since I don’t leave the house very often, I have been able to get more schoolwork done. -Since I am home more, I have more time for hobbies and have taken up learning blacksmithing.

One of my favorite holiday rituals is to go to a park, lay a blanket down, enjoy a picnic with my circle of family and friends along with the many other groups who are also awaiting the start of the fireworks show. The aromas of barbecued items such as hot dogs, hamburgers, and corn wafting in the air mixing with other ethnic delights are reminders of the diversity of this country. I open the doors of my Jeep, connect my iPhone and select my July 4th playlist to share with the people around me. In the distance I hear other groups talking and commenting on the music; it's nice to have background music as the show begins. "What's a July 4th show without the good 'ole '1812 Overture'?" is a common remark. The attraction of the fireworks, at least to me, is being there to hear the reverberation and smell the sulphur as they explode in the air besides the visual display. Timing the music to the show, especially the finale, is my annual challenge; one that I've been somewhat successful several years in a row. This year's holiday was spent indoors, by myself. I just didn't have the energy or interest to go to the bother of barbecuing for just me. My friends and family were all hunkered down at their respective homes. To observe July 4th via TV was just not same. For me, there would be no physical sensation of the sounds or of the smells that are so closely associated with the holiday. So, I passed on recognizing July 4th as a holiday...it was just another Covid-19 day in the year 2020.

My story discusses how throughout Covid , I found a way to make it positive. A global pandemic turned millions of lives upside down. But, I won't allow this disease to kill off my dreams with tennis.

April 10, 2020 started as another routine day, but by 7:30pm, my life would be irrevocably changed. My husband of 25 years, Larry, had been diagnosed with advanced stage laryngeal cancer on March 25th requiring surgery; needless to say, we were both quite concerned, scared and anxious. The procedure involved removal of all lymph nodes in his neck as well as his voice box - open airway surgery. We were told by the team at Mayo that once the surgery was completed, it would be a complete recovery...he'd be fine; great news! We hugged each other, and assured ourselves that he will get through this. We hoped that the hospital would be able to move quickly to get it scheduled. Our hopes were fulfilled; surgery was scheduled for April 1st. As we were proceeding with pre-surgery registration, the conversation was interrupted; we were then told that due to Covid-19, all open airway surgical procedures were cancelled. Our elation that Mayo had expedited his surgery was annihilated. A Zoom consultation with his Oncologist on April 3rd let us know that the team was discussing the best course of action; he would follow up shortly with the decision. On April 7th, another Zoom consultation occurred in which his Oncologist described an aggressive treatment plan starting with chemotherapy starting April 16th with radiation treatment to commence once the 3 courses of chemo was completed. He reassured us that as soon as the Covid-19 restrictions were lifted, the surgical procedure would proceed. Larry felt positive about the treatment plan; he had been at my side throughout my successful cancer treatment six years previously. The news was jarring, but we both felt confident. As I opened, Friday April 10th started as a routine day. Larry spending the day in his office at an accounting practice that he had nurtured and grown for 20 years. I dedicated Friday's to standard household chores: laundry, grocery shopping, etc. The evening was quiet, dinner was finished and I was watching the evening news program. Larry walked by me to go outside, sit, smoke and think through an issue he mentioned with a client. Several minutes later, he opened the door and his shirt was covered in blood. He looked dazed, walked to the sofa and sat down. Panicking, I called 9-1-1 then sat next to him to help; he leaned against me. Medics arrived at the house in three minutes, performed CPR five times...he had passed within the minutes between when I called and they arrived. News coverage of Covid-19 deaths focus on those unfortunate who die due to this virus; what the news does not record, nor will it be part of the statistics of this pandemic, are those deaths such as Larry's which could have been prevented. The life we had shared for 25 years and were planning going forward no longer exists. I have wonderful memories of a wonderful man, my best friend; what I don't have is that physical person.

As a librarian who works alot with maps, I am very impressed with this site: Justice for George Floyd. This is a way for anyone who wants to protest in the greater NYC area to keep track of upcoming and past events. You can also sign up and add your own events, which will then appear with a description link and an appropriate protesting icon on the map.

These are the instuctions posted in Canvas for HST 643. Students enrolled in Global History Fall B at Arizona State University will all submit a story related to the pandemic and senory history

My wife and I were both home from our jobs by mid-March because the COVID-19 pandemic had, for all effective purposes, practically shut down our home state of Alabama. During our long sequestration from the world, we often baked together to pass the time. Tamsie has a sourdough bread starter that was handed down from her grandmother, so to keep the starter “alive”, she has to bake bread every month or so, which of course requires yeast. I believe that millions of Americans were at home baking during that time because we were out of dry yeast for her bread and, though we searched every grocery within a 20-mile radius of our home, we looked to no avail; additionally, yeast was back-ordered on Amazon, Walmart online, and every other online store. We were beyond desperate for that yeast, and the starter had to be near death when, at long last, I discovered an in-stock yeast on Amazon and ordered six pounds of it. Needless to say, I ordered entirely too much and thus unintentionally became that obligatory hoarder with which we’ve all had to deal during the last seven months. Thus, we had to bake dozens of loaves of sourdough bread to use that yeast! My wife is a dentist, so we baked bread for all her employees and left it on both their front porches and garages. We also baked for our neighbors and our families. The sweet smells of sourdough bread and sticky buns filled our home for nearly six weeks, as baking became an inane, daily ritual in the Rogers household! Today, whenever I smell fresh bread or cinnamon rolls, I think of our time spent together with our puppies in the kitchen, laboriously prepping, waiting for the yeast to rise, baking, and cleaning on a daily basis. I am thankful for this time, and though we now laugh about and much fun is had at my expense over my overzealous yeast spending-spree, whenever I smell fresh bread, I will forever be transported to our happy kitchen along with its aromatic sights and smells during the early weeks of the pandemic. It is truly amazing to ponder what we take for granted in our daily walks, and though I am obviously glad we are standing on firmer ground than in spring in relation to COVID-19, I miss our time together in the kitchen, which seems lonely and destitute without the sweet aroma of fresh sourdough bread. My association with this simple, yet happy memory during the pandemic is reflective of the joys we should be seeking in small things. Our daily lives are measured by our relationships, our serenity and contentment, and the joy we both provide and glean from others. The extended time at home with Tamsie allowed us a “factory reset” of sorts in our lives, one that brought our already-happy marriage much closer together; consequently, we no longer take life’s simple, quiet moments for granted. In some ways, the lasting human effects of the pandemic on relationships have been positive, in that each of us has had ample time to again focus on those whom we love.

My experience during quarantine was not that bad because during the summer I was still able to play baseball and go on vacation. But something that was bad is my basketball playoffs were cancelled mid way through so we weren’t able to finish them. For my mom quarantine was a little bit stressful because she is a teacher and she had to do something new she never knew, and now she has a totally new group of kids.

The pandemic caught me unprepared in many ways. I did not expect to run out of flour or yeast. I regularly bake rolls, muffins, cookies, and other treats several times a week. Just a day before New York shut down, I was at my local wholesale club stocking up on freezer items and canned goods, but could not find yeast or flour. The flour and yeast shortage was real and lasted for months in New York. Sourdough bread recipes started to circulate and I realized it was time to break out our food storage. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have approximately a year's worth of dry canned whole wheat in my basement. My husband started the sourdough starter. As a the scientist in our family, I figured he would be up to the challenge of experimenting with a starter. After two weeks of tending his starter, he pulled out the wheat grinder. The grinder loudly screamed through the house as a fine flour sifted through the blades. A warm, homey smell settled in the kitchen. Then, he set about making the bread--a twenty-four hour affair. The tang of the starter smelled promising. The last hour of baking we smelled the rich smell of the bread baking in the hot oven. When he pulled it out, we could hardly wait to taste it. The jagged dark crust had the hallmarks of an artisanal loaf of bread. It smelled so good, earthy and hearty. After it cooled, he sliced the bread, cracking through the rough crust into the perfectly textured inside. The flavor was perfectly tangy, with a gorgeous whole wheat texture. Before the pandemic, my husband worked long hours at his lab and would never have had the time to make a loaf of bread that required so many steps and 24 hours. And before, we never had the need to make a starter or to use our food storage wheat.

This document addresses the Board of Collier County's decision to require masks in public buildings. It's important as it shows how different local governments have handled the crisis. In this case, the Collier County mask mandate did not go into affect until July 21, 2020 and was set to expire on September 3, 2020.