When the pandemic became more serious in America in March 2020, I had just started my first class back in college at ASU online. I received my Associates degree 16 years before, and now I wanted to improve my job opportunities by getting a Bachelor's degree. I didn’t know it was the beginning of such a life changing year for me and the world. (To read more, click on PDF)

Being a Single Parent in a Time of COVID-19 My daily family life has changed since the global rise of the coronavirus disease pandemic since parenting is coupled with more responsibilities. Being a single parent to two children has arguably increased exposure to caregiving stress, especially with two teenagers, 16 and 17 years. My younger child has dyslexia learning disorder and has an IEP since kinder garden comprehend without additional help from a special ed teacher the struggle in school became much harder. I focused more of my attention on my younger son being that he was a freshmen level while the older child is attending to his senior year of school. I have been helping them adopt and utilize online schooling programs effectively while attending to my full-time job. Markedly, finding a balance between caregiving, offering them help in school work, and attending to my career has proved challenging during this COVID-19 period. The most robust experience I have so far is to offer them guidance to enable them to comprehend the content accessed from online sources. I dedicate more time to my younger son since he has a learning disorder, limiting his ability to follow directions given on the online platforms. Besides teaching, teenagers' lives have been affected since they are in the development stage characterized by socializing, finding new friends, and distancing from parents. In the earlier stages of the spread of COVID 19, the teenagers perceived the quarantine measures by the government as weapons to suppress their freedom and had to sneak out sometimes. I have experienced a parenting burden in training them to exercise self-care during these tough times, and they still seem distressed since they can no longer meet their friends. Moreover, online learning and their daily upkeep have incurred additional expenses, which may hamper my ability to meet the schools' future mandates. Markedly, it may become difficult for me to purchase learning resources in the future since there has been a reduction in my earnings and hours.

My daughter was born in July and became ill with fluid in her lungs (not covid) during her first days. She was moved to the NICU for treatment and after my wife was discharge the "Covid Rules" went into effect. These rules only allowed for one parent to visit per day. During this time it was tough being new parents and not being able to be there with each other. As my daughter's health improved nursing became important. With the rules in effect that meant that in order to nurse daily, only my wife would be able to see our daughter. So for the final week I was not able to hold my daughter or see her, except through a webcam link that was provided to us. This was important to me because although her sickness was not Covid related, it still had a profound impact on our life. Ill never get those days back. To be clear we understand the necessity of precautions and having my daughter home now is very special to me, something I won't forget is the feeling of being worried about my daughter and stress of not being able to see her.

During this pandemic, i have dealt with many things. One being the loss of one of my best friends due to the virus. He served with me overseas and saved my life when i was shot and was bleeding out. It took everything in my heart to not fly out to his funeral. Because of the virus, i could not go and spend time with his wife and kids that i have known for years. He is the one that motivated to go back to school at ASU. RIP Ray. I created this image in his memory and combined it with ASU.

Teddy Roosevelt said, "The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future." As the pandemic and panic seemed to spread wildly across the globe, I found myself turning to my relatives for answers and advice. When specifically in their lifetime did they remember a time of uncertainty? What did they do to maintain a sense of direction, clarity to make decisions, a sense of well being and safety when each day's events are unfathomable? My mother responded with stories of her mother. My grandmother has always been the most resourceful person I know. Growing up in the Great Depression planted seeds of ingenuity and self sufficiency in her, which she continued to cultivate along with priceless experience and knowledge. She recalled people taking responsibility for their situations and security, and doing their best to make the most of what they had, which at the time wasn't much at all. I will never understand the scarcity she faced in that era, but I did experience the eerie alarm that washed over my fiancé and I entering a nearly empty produce section of our local grocery store, then another store, then another store. Almost every store in our small town of Lewes, Delaware had been almost completely panic-bought out of produce, meat, cleaning products, and hygiene products. It was at that time we decided to take a life lesson from Grandma, gain some grit, and get our hands dirty. Early June, we began a basic herb garden to get the hang of being "new parents to green babies" as we expressed it to our friends and family. We soon adopted a couple of tomato plants, bell peppers, red lunchbox sweet peppers, and as of recently, sunflowers. August brought our efforts to fruition when tiny peppers and tomatoes started to develop and today we plucked our first ready to eat hamburger tomato along with a few green bell peppers and scarlet red sweet peppers. Tending our garden has grown more than just invigorating herbs and veggies, but it has cultivated therapeutic peacefulness and tranquility while watering, cleaning, and caring for these little forms of life. We learned first hand the valuable lesson of just how giving and selfless nature is, ex. planting one seed and getting three pieces of fruit in return from that one plant, or planting one bulb which springs forth four blossoms. Giving life and helping maintain that life in something smaller than you grows a beautiful relationship between humanity and nature, a relationship which has become more and more distant. Growing a garden reconnected us to the knowledge, innovation, and self reliance, of our grandparents. It reconnected us to getting outdoors, getting our hands dirty, and getting into a flow state of mental clarity and caring for another living being apart from human kind. It reconnected us to nature, to the valuable lesson Mother Nature can teach us about selflessly giving and sharing, and a reminder of the respect she so deserves and is so lacking in the current state of the environment. I hope our story of our little backyard garden will encourage you to plant seeds of your own, to look to the priceless knowledge and experience of your relatives for advice in facing an uncertain future, and to share your lessons and stories of how COVID-19 impacted your life as well.

A couple of months leading to the COVID-19 pandemic, my wife and I were paying off all of our consumer debt and saving for a down payment on a house to purchase in late 2020. 2019 was very stressful on us, working all the time, did not take any time off, or any vacations; we did not go out like we used to; we just worked and paid off the debt. We started 2020 debt-free, and we kept on working and saving, in March 2020, I went to Turkey for a week to visit the family that I had not seen in 4 years. Two days before my return to the United States, the president decided to ban travel from all European countries due to COVID-19. I was terrified to be stuck in Turkey away from my wife and kids for months. Thankfully, Turkey was not included, I came back to the US, and life was not as healthy as it was. The following months were some of the toughest we have been through. When the Stay at Home restrictions began in our state, my wife lost her job while I stayed employed as an essential worker. My wife stayed with the kids teaching them as schools were shut down for the rest of the school year. COVID-19 impacted us not just financially, but emotionally as well. I believe we are in a better financial situation, considering what the pandemic has done to so many people worldwide. We are in an unprecedented time, and we are all in this together, and we will get through it sooner or later. I am looking forward to what the future holds for us.

This is specifically about my experience flying domestically to another state.

During Covid-19 it is very important for us to recycle the mask that we use. There has been a drastic increase of the use of mask since the pandemic, which can cause environment problems if they are not disposed correctly. Buying mask that can be washed and reused would be ideal, but if that is not possible, the least we can do is recycle. Although it may seem like a small task, we can help the world stay clean by recycling your mask after using.

I thought I would upload these photos to share how I found beauty this summer despite everything happening right now in the US. It serves as a reminder that although things are not normal and probably won't be for a long time, there is such immense beauty that exists in this world. If it weren't for COVID and losing my job I would not have experienced many of these moments that I captured in these pictures. Perhaps the silver lining of COVID is that for a lot of us, it has forced us to literally sit back and reflect and these photos illustrate the "COVID -friendly" activities I chose to do this summer with all my free time. Some of these photos are some scenic landscapes in NYC, where I live. The rest of these images are from various scenic places throughout the country, mostly in the west, where I began my roadtrip back to NYC a few weeks ago.

This summer I was lucky enough to be able to work. Not only being able to work in a pandemic but with kids nonetheless. While the start of summer camp already changed, we were not able to leave our building for outside activities, and only a certain number of kids were aloud for each grade. We soon would progress to everyone above the age of six wearing a mask. While at first the kids did not understand why now they had to were the mask, by the end of summer they were used to it. This was a huge learning experience for everyone, including parents and employees. The employees are to temp check and hand washing before clocking in and doing tons of cleaning throughout the day. As well as making sure they wash their hands as well at the children. Parents cannot come inside, the kids will get temp checked at the door before entering, as well as them washing their hands upon arrival. While working now is scary because you never know what is going to happen these days if I or a coworker is gonna contract it. Every week it's a am I healthy? Are my family and friends healthy? Is my workplace safe? To be honest, working now does feel safe and weirdly so, with the constant cleaning and mask-wearing, I feel as if we are taking all the precautions necessary. God Willing, we will be able to keep this up. It a strange time we live in at the moment and by working it helps keep my mind off the scary reality we face today.

I have been working during the COVID-19 pandemic at a beverage/fast food restaurant. When all the news about the pandemic first started coming in, a lot of my co-workers just said that it was not a big deal and that it was basically the flu. However, there were also people who felt the complete opposite. I, like most people, try to gauge how I feel about something by listening to how others feel and researching the issue. Since it felt like there was not much true information going around, I felt I had to rely on other people's opinions in the beginning. That was a rollercoaster! I feel like in the beginning, there was no inbetween! People were either incredibly opposed to the fact that this virus is actually killing people, or they were terrified by it. I did not know how to feel. Eventually, I began to realize how serious this situation was. In these past months, I have been through many different mindsets. When I really started to realize how serious this situation was, I decided I would not leave my house. And I didn't. I took a month and a half off of work and stayed inside all day fearing the outside world. Little did I know, this was when there were very few cases in my area. After that, I began working again. My next mindset was that I needed to do all I could to keep myself safe because I needed to work. I began to think, if I get it, I get it. All I can do is try my best to stay clean and safe. But that didn't stay for long because my mindset would change constantly. I am writing this for my english class and I am required to add the hashtag

Throughout the pandemic, I needed assistance. I had to rely on other people for the things that I needed. Through God's grace, savings, and unemployment assistance, I got my new car! I would've never imagines i qould get my car during a global pandemic, but i am so grateful!

In the middle of March, COVID-19 was in full uproar and actions were being taken at the state level in order to combat the crisis. On the individual level, many people around college-age were preaching on a variety of social platforms information about the pandemic and what actions should be taken. Many were preaching that staying at home was the best option, and it didn't matter if you wanted to hang out with others, we all had a job as humans to help each other out by staying home. Nearly every single individual who spoke out on the subject no longer practices what they preach. As the months passed from March, everyone soon forgot about what they said, and with case numbers remaining prevalent, many still went back to their normal way of life. July 4th was the biggest turning point for college aged kids returning back to normal, with it being an opportunity for parties and other social gatherings, soon the normal kick-backs and late-night hangout sessions returned. Since that time just over a month ago, it seems that everyone is hanging out with their friends again, with many social media posts being centered around hanging out with people after so long. The amount of cases has only risen, yet everyone returns to their normal life as if it is safer than March or April. While it may be that everyone has became desensitized to COVID-19, the threat is still out there. Normal K-12 schools have resumed online, and many are soon returning in-person, with colleges following suit at the end of August. The cases will only be increasing and almost no one who virtue-signaled to each other at the beginning of the breakout are maintaining their social-distancing or remaining safe.

If you were to take a stroll down Main St. of Huntington Beach, you might be surprised by what you see. I work in downtown Huntington Beach. Protests around these three topics has been quite regular. With a vast mixture of people wearing and not wearing facial coverings as mandated by the state. On this particular day there was a "black lives matter" protest, which was accompanied and/or countered by Christian evangelists as well as a single individual protesting for the re-opening of California businesses. In overhearing a conversation amongst the Christian group, it seems they feel that Covid-19 has been brought on as a punishment to those who have not repented for their sins. Here God is used as an authority figure to insight fear and shame to outgroup members or non-Christians. The pandemic seems to have had an impact on the effect of community in religion in that members that choose to gather in person must view the pandemic in a light that cannot effect them.

All of the small businesses in downtown Fuquay-Varina, a small town south or Raleigh, NC, painted hundreds of hearts on their windows while they were closed during COVID. It brought a sense of togetherness for the entire town while we were all isolated at home.

During this pandemic the state of Hawai'i has suffered a hit to our economy of tourism and many families and business have suffered many losses. Loss of income, jobs with benefits, housing and livelihood have taken a catastrophic drop through out the island chain. The new normal of wearing masks have not just become a requirement amongst the population but many have taken to making masks as both a way to make money and pass the time while on lock down. We have never seen our beaches not filled to capacity with people during the day time no matter what time of the year it is and for the first time we see nature both calm, serene and untouched for the first time in decades. Communities have come together to ensure the rules and policies are followed in certain areas of the islands to keep their families safe from many visiting tourists who have not quarantined during their stay here in Hawai'i. The government has issued a 14 day quarantine to any visitors from outside of the Hawaiian islands to keep the disease under control and from spreading into many of the local communities. The state of Hawai'i's numbers aren't as severe as the mainland United States but continue to grow in numbers. Numbers that continue to keep our famous beaches closed to not just the visitors but for the locals as well, the economy is at the lowest it has ever been and even worst than after 9-11. My job at Starbucks provides a great way to distract people from the chaos going on in their lives and around the world, I've learned that this one on one contact with someone may be the only contact some people ever get in their day to day lives. People look forward to any human interaction these days especially when our lives start off with work and end with home, no in-betweens. What I miss the most is hugging those around you who are closest with you, it's a social norm to hug someone here and is as formal as a handshake when you first meet them. I even find myself being unable to recognize someone with their mask on even if I have known them for years, that saying "I never forget a face" has definitely been put to the test. But what can I say? Until this pandemic is under control and we find a cure this will continue to be the new normal of today.

I found the meme relevant because from march to now, the US still is not the same. We are having to adjust to a new "normal." This initial lock down was only suppose to be for 2 weeks, but it kept getting pushed due to people not following the stay at home order. It is now August, and some individuals still refuse to wear a mask to help protect not only themselves, but others. This year is definitely a year I would not come back to if I ever had the opportunity.

This global pandemic is something that no one at my age expected. At my age, all people can think about is starting a career soon or finding that special someone soon. A pandemic as severe as this seemed impossible. At the beginning of this pandemic, my family and I were under extreme caution, never going out unless it was work related and never seeing other people. Eventually, this lifestyle became too much for my parents to handle and they started seeing friends in small groups. I would advise against this as much as possible but they would never listen or care. Eventually, they wanted to plan a trip to Mexico to visit family. Again, I advised against it but they attacked me in numbers, saying that it was family and we needed to make time to see them. After much begging, my family convinced me to go to Mexico with them. I would later find out that this was a terrible mistake. We spent a week in Mexico and then my family started to become extremely sick, all besides me. I started to believe that they were COVID-like symptoms but my family disagreed and ignored me. They started to become so sick that they decided to come back from Mexico earlier than expected and went to the doctors here. The doctor recommended a COVID-19 test and thats when we found out that our entire family tested positive for COIVD-19. The first two weeks after testing positive were extremely tough for the entire family. My older brother and parents nearly never slept, had trouble breathing, and couldn't even hold food in their stomach to eat. Luckily, I was asymptomatic throughout this entire process but taking care of my family was draining and harder than I could ever imagine. I would have to wake up in the middle of the night to help out because my parents to were too weak to get up and do anything themselves. At one point of time, my mother was so weak that I actually had the thoughts that she might not be able to pull through this and she still refused to be sent to the hospital, for reasons I couldn't even understand. It has now almost been an entire month after testing positive for the first time and all of my family has regained their health and are up and walking around the house. We have gone back to test about three times as a family and each time, it comes back positive. Although we're not able to return back to society as normal people, we are all healthy and happy again and I am just praying for the day that we test negative and can go back to our normal pandemic lives.

This photograph I took is of my three children, on the couch, with the computers they used to finish the school year during the quarantine. I am recently divorced and serve as an active duty service member, 2017 is when we started the separation process. During the process, my ex-wife and I were on good terms and on agreement on everything but one thing, custody. 2017 is also the year I came to Christ and started opening the Bible, learning by reading and listening to His word about the Gospel and what Jesus did for us. This changed my worldview and my entire outlook on life. Towards the end of the year I got orders to go to Parris Island South Carolina to be a Drill Instructor. I was excited and sad at the same time, for I knew there was no way I could continue to take care of the kids while serving this duty. But I knew I could trust God with my kids, even if they weren't in my care and that if I wanted them back that it was just a matter of time (the duty being 3 years long). Fast forward a year and having spent months in the most demanding job I have ever had, I was extremely upset for the living situation my children faced while I strove to lead and mentor future Marines. Conversing with God through prayer I told him how I felt and how I longed to have my children live with me again. Within a week or two, my ex-wife reached out to ask if the kids can fly across the country to live with me! We did the paperwork, and I have had custody since January 2019. During the quarantine, I constantly pondered what the situation would be like for the kids and me if things had not changed for us in 2019. 2019 was the most rewarding and satisfying year thus far for me as a parent. Not only would I not have had that, 2020 probably would have been unbearable for me without the kids. I’d still be a Drill Instructor and my children would be struggling in their studies. Homeschooling the kids opened my eyes to just how much one-on-one time they needed in certain areas. One-on-one time they should have been getting from me as their dad. This quarantine gave me the time I needed to focus even more on the kids and I loved every minute of it, spending literally 24 hours, 7 days a week with them. We struggled at first, this was not the kind of homeschooling I would have preferred to do, but we made it work. I can’t help but feel so blessed and thank God for it. At the same time, my heart goes out to all the families who weren’t/aren’t as lucky. I just happened to be at a point in my life and career, where I could stay home with the kids and not worry about money or losing my job. Our bonds were strengthened and we grew so much closer together, I wish it could continue this way but I look forward to the kids going back to school. I believe that they are ready, if everyone is smart about it then we can make face-to-face classroom instruction a reality. Most schools are not at this point yet and I’m still unsure if it’s going to happen or not as we are weeks away from the first day of school. Whatever the case, I just wanted to tell a bit about my quarantine experience and how my family got to where it was during it.

Over this pandemic, as a Business Law student, I completely submerged myself in the "politcal" news of the nation. This not only drained me but proves as a point of countless arguments in a sea of confusion. I felt hopeless and the leaders of the nation proved of no condolence and empathy to the needs of the public. In this time, I was able to completely transition all my schooling and work endeavors online. Being secluded allowed. me to look around me and see the people getting affected by the circumstances that have been built up. Seeing my local community members separated from their families, having close relatives affected by the virus, being in constant fear of whether or not an encounter could possibly have affected my well, has been constant worries and fears of us all. Despite being able to look at the blessings currently in our realm, it is hard not to focus on the lives that have been cost and the well-being that is bring compromised due to the lack of efficient safety precautions being made by government officials in regards to schooling and education. Being able to come back to my family to isolate was a privilege a lot of people didn't have the ability to receive. Moving back from my apartment gave me a feeling of being back in high school but my mindset was still on growth. Making the most of my time was the only viable option I could take without allowing the worries of the nation sink onto my shoulders. After tallying the 6th month of being in lockdown, I only can empathize with those who have children and at risk family members who need to find solutions for schooling and healthcare needs. As a Business Law student, I can only educate myself and those around me, with what is going on around in our political climate, as to comprehend what action must be taken in order to provide significant change. If I could think of what will happen in the next say 4 months, I would not have an answer for you. Taking every day as it comes is the main piece of advice I can leave with. If you approach a problem with confidence in your own ability, all you need is a clear mind and the right tools to tactically approach a means for solution.

This pandemic has opened the eyes of millions of Americans, including mine, when it came to questioning the necessity of a traditional schooling system. The bridge between political parties reflects various differing opinions on what parents feel the best way to re-enroll back their kids into school. The article I found interested me as it mentioned that families are looking into the idea of creating small groups with local children called “pods” which would help [pay for private tutors or teachers. However this method may require paying thousands of dollars in order to fund tutors to teach these localized groups of students. It is still unsafe in many institutions which thousands of children pass by one another on a daily basis which could lead to mass spread of the virus if even a couple of students have contracted the virus. This article reflects the outcome of an already declining school system affected with a worldwide pandemic. This article gives us a way of looking at how people are affected by and making alternatives to a failing and problematic system of education due to current health safety requirements. This post makes me question whether to innovate or destroy the system? Everything seems to be fluid and unpredictable due to the varying status of the nation day to day. Makes me question, who is responsible for the safety of students and children to be upheld? How does one monitor the level of safety and how will well being be ensured?

When this virus started, I did not think much about it. I was naive and was one of those people that believed that it would not affect me. Boy, did I receive a wake-up call and fast. I live with both my parents, my older sister and her two boys. My youngest sister also lives with us when she is not at college. It started with my oldest sister having to work at home and not going back to work. Then, I got the notice that I my hours at work would be getting cut and I would have to file for unemployment. The same happened to my mom. If that was not enough, graduation got “canceled” and I was not able to walk. Something, that meant the world to me. Overtime, I began to get used to new reality we all were living in. Well, I thought so, until we were hit with the most gut-wrenching news. My tio (uncle) Raymond, was getting rushed to the hospital, he had stopped breathing. A week earlier, him and my tia were diagnosed with COVID-19. Later, we found out that my tio had a heartache in the ambulance and three more while at the hospital. He was not responsive, and they had to put in a comma. My family and I leaned on our faith more than ever during this time. In the end, my tio was still not responsive. My cousin – his daughter – was the only one allowed in the hospital. His entire family had to say goodbye to him over a facetime call... Majority of my family lives in Arizona, my family and I are the only ones that live in Colorado. We have not been back to Arizona for a couple years now. I have not seen my tio in a couple of years and we did not even get to say anything to him. My tia and cousins, were then left with the financial responsibilities of his funeral, the hospital bills, rent, the essential bills, food, etc. The only issue was, there was no money. My tia has been fighting for my tio’s retirement, his life insurance and pension. We have been trying to raise money for them for all the essential needs, but mostly his funeral. One month to the day, we get even more heart-breaking news. My tia’s father, had just passed away from COVID-19. This is the same family that had just lost their husband and father, now lost their father and grandfather. I lost my grandfather way before I was born, so my tio Boa always acted as my grandfather. My family could not get a break, every time we thought we could breathe, we would just get the breath knocked out of us. Two more tio’s passed away after that, this time on my mom’s side of the family. More and more of my family in Arizona are getting COVID-19, and we fear if they will be strong enough to make it through. My nana (grandmother), then recently just ended up in the hospital. This pandemic has dropped my family to their knees plenty of times. Though we are terrified for the uncertainty, we clench to our faith to get us through it.

struggling with alcoholism I found a outlet in cooking, this post shares some of the things that I have made over the last few mouths. I wanted to showcase some positive notes of this pandemic and how it has brought mental wellness to the forefront.

It shows the impact of this virus on my family's lives as well as my own. I feel my experience is one story to the many that can provide context on the interesting times we live in.

This photo is literally a sign of the times. A graphic like this makes me feel more secure knowing that masks can help prevent spreading the virus. I think it is a perfect reflection of what everyday life is like and will serve as a relic for future generations looking at the archive.

Dear son, I am so sorry you are having to live through these crazy times. You are only three and don't understand why we can't go see your grandparents and your friends. I know that it sucks that we can't play outside and living in an apartment makes it even worse. It will be over some day soon. I am so proud of you wearing your mask anytime we have to go somewhere. I am so glad you're in such good spirts at all times. When all of this is all over we will go and visit family and friends. We might have lost a year but my love we will go on vacation and see our family and friends. Just a little longer and we won't have to wear our masks. Until then my son keep strong and we will get through this.

After months of isolation and spending time away from direct contact with large groups, I could not help but feel a sense of anxiety and fear of the repercussions that others and I myself may have to deal with by taking part in this march. There is no escaping the news of this pandemic. News stations, social media, coworkers, friends, and family have provided me with daily reminders about the severity of COVID-19. So why am I, along with thousands of other residents of San Diego, leaving the safety of our homes and breaking the rules of our lockdowns to combat this deadly virus? Unfortunately, we could not unsee what the police had done to George Floyd. There was no erasing those eight minutes and forty-six seconds from our memory. Witnessing this reminded us of Breonna Taylor and the lives of other Black Americans who have lost their lives from mistakes made by the police. Although we were in harm’s way, we felt like this is where we needed to be. We needed to show the world that enough was enough and taking this risk was worth sending a message. With every step, I felt my sense of fear about the COVID-19 began to subside. In its place, a sense of purpose began to take over. After nine miles of marching, I did not feel like an individual dangerously swimming through countless transmissions of the virus. I felt one with the people.

As the Covid-19 pandemic began to spread in Boston, museum interpreters at the Paul Revere house looked to the archives to learn more about how Boston has responded to wide-spread illness in the past. This blog post from The Revere Express blog explains how the smallpox epidemic effected the Revere Family and ways that 18th century medicine responded to the illness.

A blog post from the Massachusetts Historical Society blog The Beehive, this post studies how Abigail Adams responded to the 1776 smallpox epidemic. Looking through primary sources in Adams' own words, the author studies how Abigail Adams responded to an epidemic in her own time period.

This webpage invites audiences to include their perspectives of the Covid-19 pandemic. Individuals can write a few sentences about their experiences and help build a database of responses. Functioning as a digital journal, the Massachusetts Historical Society collects how Boston residents respond to certain prompts pertaining to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This memo was released in the beginning of the stay at home orders in Massachusetts (April 2020). As a response to the state-wide quarantine, MASSCreative released this statement explaining ways they will continue to support the cultural communities. This message is important as it is from the start of the Covid-19 responses in the state.

With Corona, parents have to cope with working from home, providing full time child care, homeschooling, planning, shopping for and preparing all the meals, and all of the household chores. This playset for kids shows how they can act like their parents in these days of quarantine. Children always like imitating their parents. Now they can do that during this "new normal."

Melting Through Time is a drawing by my 13 year old daughter who felt that this depicted how she feels being in lockdown stage 4. I feel that it is an accurate representation of how many people are feeling irrespective of age: trapped, powerless, confused and wondering how to find purpose and maintain their identity.

Hi. Before I share my story I am going to share some other things about me. I play sports, will be graduating in the class of 2021 (-_-) and I study sometimes. Maybe more than sometimes but you get the idea. Well here I am having a normal quarantine life- waking up, eating, sitting down, eating, studying, eating- yeah you know the usual. I do hear stuff about the outside world every once in a while, but not too worried about it despite- the numerous amount of casualties from RONA, hospitals being flooded, countries being ... you get it, the usual- but I WAS calm. Like how could I of all people get corona when I haven't been past my garage in the past few months. Just before this gets going I want everyone to know that I DO wear a mask everywhere. My FAM doesn't mess around. Well fast-forward to the 1 day I interact with civilization outside mi casa on August 6th. This 1 special occasion, the one *** time I stepped foot outside my realm WITHOUT a mask was to get groceries from my grandma who at the moment had a mask on. These groceries were from.......... COSTCO. This is that 1 day I realized on AUGUST 8, I knew that I ****** up. Yes. You're probably thinking something near the realm of me being... well just plain stupid, but it gets even better. Today (August 8) I am starting to realize that I have touched every god dang snack in the cabinet. I may have given my WHOLE family corona-virus. My symptoms seem to be mild but who knows they may get worse as the disease progresses. More importantly I am praying that none of my family members nor anyone exposed to me has been given corona-virus. I'm sorry to everyone going through anything right now. Stay healthy and Stay Safe. No matter what wear a mask, speaking from experience- the consequences can be life threatening- A.O

My girlfriend and I took a trip to Sedona, Arizona, during ASU's spring break this past year. There was a good amount of news regarding the rising pandemic, but it didn't seem to scare us too much at this point. ASU sent out an email stating that classes were under the question of returning after spring break, but we didn't take it all too seriously, thinking this whole thing would blow over as Ebola did. We had an amazing time and enjoyed dining and shopping at all of the fine shops and restaurants in Sedona. We didn't have a care in the world. We just enjoyed each other's company and enjoyed the many sights of Sedona. As we were packing up to return home, my girlfriend's parents called us in a panic that all of the grocery stores surrounding their home were empty or close to empty. There were no paper products, and the food isles were nearly cleaned out. We had not prepared for this at all. We just didn't think that we needed to prepare for Covid-19. On the way home, we stopped at every single grocery store, Walmart, convenience store, and target to find much of the same thing... people by the hundreds stocking up on everything in the grocery store. We got as much as we could and rushed home to consolidate our goods with her parents to find that we needed to make another trip tonight. We barely had anything to prepare for the virus, and that led to a stressful few nights of stocking up as much on as we could find. This marked the start of the panic, but we didn't even know for sure that we should be panicking about the virus. A few days later, the announcement came that school would be going online for the next few weeks. A week after the announcement from ASU, the president shut down the country. This was the start of the quarantine, and it still feels like we are quarantining to this day.

We are living through a historical period with COVID-19, there is no doubt about that. This meme is about a dad who was probably a teenager during quarantine helping his child with homework in the year 2040. He discovers a meme he posted in 2020 has made its way into the history book!

This one will appeal to all historians. It is written like an opening paragraph in a serious literary work which makes it funnier. The joke is about all the hoarding of the toilet paper that went on when Coronavirus first hit. Finally, 33 years later, the last of the toilet paper stash is about to be used up.

The photos show the antinomy of what the media said people should do (not go out, quarantine) vs what people actually did (go out, pictures were taken at a bar). It highlights the irresponsibility but also the humor found in the middle of uncertainty. This was taken in a bar that had a very special, special- Buy a Corona, get a free toilet paper roll. At this time toilet paper was hard to find in stores, and in this point in time, I needed it. People also were not buying Corona beer because they believed it was related to the COVID pandemic. Please note that after this night, I did quarantine and realized how serious the situation was. I do not reccomed going out during a pandemic.

I have uploaded a written story about how my university adapted to the Covid Pandemic. I wanted to tell the impact it had on my academic career, my personal life, and how my professors adapted to the change.

I found this picture showed how one aspect of our life has adapted to this crisis. What is more interesting is what this picture may say for our future. My daughter's daycare requires all children 2 years of age or older to wear masks. They understand not all children will wear the mask at all times or possibly at all. The daycare's hope is to introduce the children to masks in a fun way to ease the transition of wearing a mask. It is this change in mind set of our children I find most interesting. It is this unknowable, not knowing how long our life may be impacted that has made us do this change. This adaptability we display I find most hopeful to these unknown times.

I experienced the deaths of two loved ones, between April and May 2020, as a result of Covid-19. They died in the hospitals and no loved ones were present to care for them as they passed. It has been a painful experience for my family and me. We could not honor them after they passed in the ways we are accustomed to. I created this image with their smiling faces; the way I remember them in life. Vibrant and loving beings who are now Angels watching over us all.

As California releases more and more incarcerated people to slow the spread of Covid-19 in the prison population many victims advocates are worried and hurt. This news story covers one woman's reaction to the early release of the woman that murdered her brother when he was 23 years old.

Human Challenge vaccine trials

This Tweet and series of replies shows people talking about there not being electricity in at least parts of San Quentin Prison in California.

In this video Phil Melendez discussed the impact of Covid-19 on incarcerated persons and his belief that violent offenders should also be considered for early release to slow the spread of Covid and protect the inmate from receiving a defacto death sentence.

This Tweet from a restorative justice advocate indicates incarcerated persons may be planning a hunger strike, or protest of some type on August 14, 2020.

It may seem strange to reference a study about obesity and H1N1 but if you are a member of the fat community it makes complete sense to reference medical mistreatment to understand what is happening to fat bodies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Obesity is said to be one of the risk factors with the highest death rate for COVID-19. As a fat asthmatic, I find it hard to believe that my body fat will be the death of me faster than my inflammation prone lungs. What I and others living in large bodies know is that medical professionals carry a traumatic and often dangerous bias against us. We swap war stories in the comment section of social media posts about the multiple times doctors have mistreated, ignored, or nearly killed us due to their often blatant ignorance. This study shows just how that bias has resulted in the death of patients before and how that bias may be the reason more obese patients die from COVID-19 then thinner patients.

While everyone has had to adjust. As a parent of a Senior in high school I felt a sense of loss for my youngest son who had to make a series of adjustments. 2020 did not start off on a great note for him. He was supposed to leave for college in January but that ended up getting pushed to Fall of 2020. He quickly adapted and took some college courses at the local college and decided that playing club soccer one last season with the boys he has been with for ten years wasn’t that bad. He had decided that heck why not try to win Nationals this year. They did once before, and the team looked pretty good. He would be leaving for college to start practicing for his college men’s team in July anyway. Then March came. Our school district shut down for what was to be two weeks. I was out of a job temporarily or so I thought. His college classes went online. Soccer practice was put on hold until they could figure everything out. I guess it was good that he did not make it to college in January since he would have been coming home in six weeks had he gone. The two weeks soon became 2 ½ months. Club soccer tried to start getting some practices in and there at one time was talk that we would be playing some games this summer. Our travel schedule spans several states in the Midwest. Covid-19 hotspots started popping up everywhere we were supposed to travel. Soccer fields were closed and locked. That did not deter they boys just jumped fences and hit the fields. Erich had me jump the high school fence so I could take video of him practicing for his college coach. I must admit – it was fun. College soccer was put on pause. The Division 1 athletics is still trying to figure out what they are going to do about the fall. Meanwhile, the boys are moving in August 12th. They will be tested twice when they arrive and once a week for who knows how long. Just recently one D1 school suspended three players and dismissed 3 other players from their soccer team for having an off-campus party where 29 students (most athletes) tested positive with no symptoms. While this may seem harsh student-athletes are given many opportunities that other students do not have; however, they also have a responsibility to behave in manners that other students are not held up to either. I feel the disappointment of my son in not being on the field, trying to practice and maintain his skills. I never played a sport, but I have been there since he started – in the past 15 years this is the longest he has been without playing. He broke his leg and he was only out 4 months before he was back. For me, the toughest part has been seeing the things that he missed that his brother and sister were able to do – prom, senior ditch day, a graduation with the family, his final soccer season, college orientation, getting to go down to school early, and celebrate his birthday with family and friends. As many people say this group of kids started their childhood with 9/11 and ended their childhood with a pandemic. I pray that this does not turn them into weary adults but adults with resilience. Being awakened to the fact that disappointments happen, and adjustments need to be made may just make this group one that will make changes and not be passive about their futures. In the meantime, I still do not know what is happening with my job with the school district. Hopefully, I will know by mid-August if the students are going back in-person or virtual.

This Tweet explains that inmates who save gloves, given to them by the prison, have received disciplinary action for having the gloves.

One inmate at San Quentin Prison in California has been keeping his press contacts apprised of the situation during the pandemic via letters, many written on a typewriter. Kevin Sawyer, serving a sentence of 48 years to life is also the prisons newspaper editor, though operations stopped in March when prisons in the state went on lockdown in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. He wrote 8,000 words during just the first seven weeks of the pandemic. His goal is to document what is happening inside the prison during the pandemic.