One of my favorite things that has kept my sane during the pandemic is my roller skates. They are hot pink with light up wheels and the best investment I have made in quite some time. For awhile I would go on long walks with my dog, but after so many days of trying to find new places to walk I was tired of that being my only activity outside the house. After I got my roller skates everything changed. I fell a lot learning how to ride them, but after some time and practice I got the hang of it. I would go to different parks, try different paths and see different views. Plus it was good exercise too.

These are 5 of my favorite things to do and use during this pandemic to facilitate some self-care and stimulate my brain while being stuck at home.

Christmas was different for me this year. I grew up with a big catholic family so we have many traditions around the holidays. Christmas eve we all dress up, have a nice dinner, and go to mass. Then on christmas day we dress more casual, open gifts, and have a buffet style dinner. With COVID being a factor, I didn't get to see much of my family for the holidays. I spent the actual day with just my siblings and dad. Christmas Eve I didn’t get to see anyone or do anything, I just stayed home and took pictures with my dog in our matching Christmas pajamas (target has everything). I had to trade gifts with all my cousins and other relatives individually in an outdoor setting. Some of the gifts I dropped off and rang the doorbell. Other family members I would meet with in their front yard from a distance. This year was a bit lonely and we all agreed that when COVID is over (hopefully by next year) we will have a huge celebration.

While being in the pandemic I've had to rely on a few activities to keep myself centered as I've been surviving through COVID. The first thing that's been a lifesaver for me is video games. I've always enjoyed playing video games but during COVID old games that I've played in the past became familiar comforts during this crisis. Plus I was able to use online servers to play video games with friends. The second thing that's been my favorite thing throughout the pandemic is actually Zoom. While I initially hated the program it's been a godsend for me to be able to spend time with friends and safely connect with people. The third thing I've used has been painting. I've found that an artistic activity has been helpful for me to be able to express myself and be creative while staying safe. The fourth thing for me has been my car. Whenever I need a chance to clear my head I always go on a drive and my car has begun to feel like a safe place and sometimes I'll just sit in my car when things become too overwhelming.

Starting off this year I was dogsitting for a friend. 2020 was hard on me as it was for everyone else in the world but there was something peaceful about ending a year with comforting a bed hog of a dog that was scared of fireworks. Waking up the next day to feed her and go about my first day of 2021 I felt at peace, almost like perhaps this year would be drastically different for me. I'm about to graduate college, we have a new governmental administration that I hope will be more favorable to me, and COVID vaccines are on their way. Then we had an insurrection and I refused to open canvas for the first week of school because every time I tried I was gripped with terror at the thought that this would be my last semester in college meaning that I had to be a real adult soon. There is no functional difference that the exchange from 2020 to 2021 brought to my physical or emotional state. Like everyone else, I'm excited for COVID to be over but I know that the changes I need have to come from myself and won't be ushered in by a new year new me mentality. Throughout 2020 I spent time trying to reach out for help with my mental health and other things I had been struggling with. I think the thing I'm most excited about in 2021 is continuing the work I've started in a world that isn't so hard to be in. I want 2021 to be a year that I am able to spend working on myself and building into a fully functioning member of society.

2020 was rough. I don’t want 2021 to be a repeat. This is my hope for 2021. This is what I hope to accomplish this year to keep myself motivated.

I found this self-help video from one of my favorite historians, GCP Grey, and I found it particularly helpful...and true...and helpful when he was right about the core of Spaceship Me failing from time-to-time. Just as Grey describes in the video, keeping the four prescribed areas of my life in order has been a perpetual and impossible challenge, with a major part of that being because most of my personal focus since March 2020 has been my academic life and success. In that time, I've taken 40 credit hours (6 in my graduate program) in 14 months with a 4.2 GPA. That much success certainly demands the other areas of my life have suffered. To that end, It's time to stop typing and go be a husband, son, and brother for a few hours. Maybe even get a workout in before resuming this academic affair with my digital mistress. Oh, the delays, ciao for now.

This is a brief entry describing some of my favorite personal things to come about from the pandemic. There were many difficulties faced, but still, experiences to enjoy and appreciate.

The coronavirus pandemic has (hopefully) briefly changed normalcy for everyone. Admittedly, I have never really been one to go to the gym and life weights. However, I do enjoy going to the gym and running on a treadmill and playing pick-up basketball. At the start of the pandemic especially, doing either of these things became impossible as gyms closed. At the time, I lived in an apartment and had no room (or money for that matter) for a treadmill. Fortunately, I was able to find an app on my phone that helped me stay in shape. This is very easy to do as you do not need weights or machines to stay in shape. The Johnson and Johnson seven minute workout app was great for what I needed to do: help me stay in shape without the luxury of weights or a gym.

The holiday season during the Covid-19 pandemic brought many changes to the family routine. In total, my wife and I usually have four different houses to go to because we have both have divorced parents. This does, of course, make the season incredibly hectic. This year, however, every house seemed much more amenable to change. About half of our typical gatherings were cancelled to protect the elderly in the family, as well as those with pre-existing conditions. Of the family events that did occur, we had only ten people or less at each event (in a typical year, each house usually brings at least twenty guests and some bring several more). Even at the gatherings that did occur, things were still atypical, with most wearing masks and everyone following social distancing. In addition, many in my family have had COVID and were quarantined during the holidays. Nonetheless, we spent a lot of time on the phone and wishing each other a Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas. Another thing I enjoy doing with my wife each year is attending a Nine Lessons and Carols service at various churches in the area. Because of the pandemic, however, we chose to forgo this Christmas tradition and watch a service online. While the pandemic has brought many changes and challenges to our lives, we are fortunate to be able to connect with our family from a distance. Technology has certainly mitigated many issues that the pandemic has brought, and without that, social distancing and cancelling holiday plans would have been much more difficult for people to concede doing. However, hopefully, the cancelled family plans this year will provide us with the opportunity to celebrate with our families next year. The pandemic has hopefully reminded everyone that while the holiday season can be stressful (like visiting four different houses on one day), it truly is a wonderful time of year.

The SARS-Cov-2 pandemic has brought hard and difficult times for everyone. As an employee at a local bank, I was deemed as an essential worker. As a result, for the vast majority of the pandemic, I was working, helping people however I was able. While being deemed an essential worker, our bank rotated staff, and as a result, I spent about two weeks at home. During my time working and my time at home, I got into two things: movies and the stock market. 1. Movies Before the pandemic, I had never been a major fan of movies and films. However, with my time quarantined at home, I took advantage of this time by watching classic, critically acclaimed moves. Some of the favorites that I watched during this time were old Martin Scorsese films like Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull. I also watched the original Scarface movie (1932), the Godfather series, as well as Braveheart. Watching these classic movies introduced me to a whole new world. 2. The Stock Market Working at a bank, we were hearing quite a bit about interest rates, mortgage rates, and, of course, the stock market. One of my coworkers introduced me to the market, showing me how to buy and sell stock. After piquing my interest, I began doing my research, learning the difference between terms like “value stock,” “dividend stock,” “blue-chip stock,” “exchange-traded funds,” etc. Outside of two new things I began to enjoy and spend time doing, the other three things that have helped me get through the pandemic are things that I have always enjoyed, but things I have come to appreciate even more: sports, classic literature, and technology. 3. Sports When the pandemic first began in early to mid-March, I remember looking forward to the beginning of the SEC basketball tournament and watching the Tennessee Volunteers basketball team play the Alabama Crimson Tide (since I am from Knoxville, I love the Vols). The game was set to start at noon; however, earlier that morning, I saw on Twitter that the SEC tournament had been canceled. Slowly, all sports began following. As an Arsenal F.C. fan in the English Premier League, I was also disheartened to hear that the Premier League would be postponing their season. However, with a lot of hard work and coordination, sports slowly began coming back. In mid-June, the Premier League resumed its season and in September began a new season. Likewise, the NFL season was able to go on, as was the college football season. While sports are, in the grand scheme of life, fairly insignificant, they provide people with a sense of community and a distraction from depressing life events. I will certainly not take sports for granted after the Covid-19 pandemic. 4. Classic Literature Since the senior year of my undergraduate degree, I have slowly grown to love classic literature. Making time to read books simply for fun can be hard to do in the daily hustle and bustle of life. However, Covid-19 slowed down the world for me. During my spare time, I read from plenty of authors, namely, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Albert Camus, Leo Tolstoy, John Steinbeck, Alexandre Dumas, and others. Many of these authors discuss philosophical questions of life and existence. The first book I read at the start of the pandemic was The Plague by Camus. For the time, it was more than fitting, helping me to mull over the Covid-19 pandemic. These authors have provided a brief escape while also providing various questions and answers about how to confront life, even in a pandemic. 5. Technology Before the pandemic, I never realized how much technology can help us during times of quarantine. I have never really been tech-savvy and thus I never stopped to think about how important technology is, especially during a pandemic. While there are obvious drawbacks to technology in society, being able to facetime with my family and communicate with loved ones who had contracted the virus was very special. Again, while technology has many problematic elements, connecting loved ones during the pandemic has certainly been special.

Throughout the pandemic, I have committed myself to read something every day, for a minimum of 30 minutes. Whether I am reading opt eds from the Jacobin (my favorite news source), researching academic and scholarly articles, or just immersing myself in a really great work of fiction, I have enjoyed the challenge immensely! I am also here to make the case that reading can be done virtually anywhere. Now, take a moment to consider how you can take full advantage of your busy life to get some reading done. A fifteen-minute break at work, an audiobook during rush hour, perhaps some light reading before bed? Active and mindful reading has not only improved my reading comprehension, but on a more simplistic level; it is a great conversation starter for people who love reading. Finding connection through literature during these trying times has been such a saving grace for me, and I am confident it can do the same for you. -Solidarity

Excerpt from article: WASHINGTON -- Objections to Pennsylvania's electoral votes failed in Congress on Thursday as tempers flared during an early morning debate. Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri objected to the counting of Pennsylvania's electoral votes, triggering up to two hours of debate in the House and Senate.

From post: The House and Senate recessed from their session to count state-certified Electoral College votes as pro-Trump protesters breached the Capitol and the building locked down. ⁠ ⁠ A notice from Capitol Police sent to all Capitol staff warned them of an "internal security threat" and told them to shelter in their offices and stay away from windows.⁠ ⁠ Lawmakers posted messages urging protesters to be peaceful, and reporters inside the Capitol shared videos of protesters wandering the halls of the Capitol looking for lawmakers to confront about the electoral votes. Photo shows mayhem in the Capitol. Some masked. Was this a super spreader event?

Excerpt from article: Minneapolis, MN - On January 3, over 1200 people marched in South Minneapolis to demand justice for Dolal Idd, who was killed by the Minneapolis police department on December 30.

Extracted from article: Los Angeles hospitals have been scrambling to care for the rising number of coronavirus patients for weeks now, turning chapels and gift shops into space to care for those who are sick.

Excerpt from article: A Black man who was detained by police in Virginia Beach, Virginia after being suspected for a crime he did not commit, has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to his fiancée, Shantel Covil.

From Article: A woman has finally brought her child home after giving birth while fighting COVID-19. On Sept. 23, Monique Jones of Ferguson, Missouri, welcomed Zamyrah Prewitt who arrived at 29 weeks gestation weighing 2 pounds, 5 ounces.

From article: As theGrio reported, the 14-year-old son of Grammy-winning trumpet player Keyon Harrold was apparently accosted by a white woman who claimed he had stolen her iPhone at the Arlo SoHo Hotel in New York over the weekend. At one point, it appears she even lunged at Keyon Harrold Jr. and left him with scratches. The acclaimed musician posted the encounter to his Instagram and it went viral. Video shows masked woman accosting a man in public.

It is hard to imagine that just a couple of months before this photo was taken, several life-altering events occurred in my life, and indeed, in the lives of millions worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as early as December 2019, initial reports circulated about a "mysterious Coronavirus-related Pneumonia" apparently originating from the province in Wuhan, China. By January 31, 2020, the WHO issued a global health emergency urging the international community to take all necessary precautions to slow the virus's spread and minimize human-to-human contact. Mandatory mask-wearing, obsessive handwashing, and social distancing became customary parts of daily life for virtually everyone. Yet, despite strict health guidelines from the Center for Disease and Control (CDC) intended to keep communities safe, I argue that social distancing has also exacerbated instances of loneliness and depression. Families who count on holiday visits from extended family now contemplate rescheduling, modifying, or altogether canceling holiday gatherings. I personally experienced some setbacks and hardships throughout the year, so the idea of not seeing my family did not sit well with me. Fortunately, my better judgment prevailed, and I abided by CDC travel recommendations. During the 2020 holiday season, I found my outlet and my connection to the land. Yes, technically, traveling is somewhat tricky at the moment. However, home mandates -in my opinion- should not discourage you from sitting outside, breathing good air, and feeling the warmth of the sun. For me, social isolation became about packing a day bag and trekking into the woods-completely alone. And so, I decided to explore Camp Verde on Thanksgiving. This is what I learned: It shouldn't take a holiday as the reason for you to call your loved ones more often or appreciate the people you interact with daily. Humans are social creatures. We thrive on human interaction. So when we are deprived, I firmly believe we should seek nature as our companion. Please do yourself a favor and take advantage of this time to spend more time outside. Explore your surroundings and have a great time throughout the process. -Solidarity

My daughter and son-in-law had a Covid wedding. Only days after the Solano County shelter in place was reinstated. They have waited so long to be married. Waiting for Covid to be over just seemed endless. The wedding was held at the grooms parents house and only a few very close family attended. Everyone else was sent invitations to attend via zoom. The photograph shows my daughters and her new husband thanking guests online. In all honesty it was a perfect day! This was shared with permission from the Bride and Groom. Covid Wedding!

As the title suggests, this is a description of my favorite things that helped me through the pandemic. I think it's important to capture the pleasures we've fallen back on despite all the negatives.

Last Saturday night, my folks came to visit, bringing beef stew and, yet another birthday gift for our now 3 year daughter Lennon (her birthday was a week before and they’d already showered her with gifts at that time). Of course, we’ve kept a very close circle since March last year, and that has become increasingly more important since, now my wife is 8 months pregnant, son on the way. Our reality being quite different from the norm this past year is of course, not unique to us, but had Covid not been a thing, last Saturday night, it can be counted on, that we would have been at a boisterous gathering, hosted by family members of one side or the other. My wife’s family and my own; they’re strong in numbers and lack modesty, but not volume. We miss that, but the small, quieter gatherings that the necessity of the moment has brought moments that might have been missed. That’s too much of a lead in, so I’ll make the point more brief, When my parents came, the oven cleaner was burning off. My wife and mother brought attention to it. But the smell brought me back to my childhood. That’s exactly what I said, and I looked at my dad, because I knew that he’d be the one that knew what I was talking about, though I wasn’t necessarily sure what I was talking about. This briefly interrupted our trying to construct a Troll castle (with way too many tiny parts!) or something, that my parents had just gotten for their granddaughter. But then, dad said, “Lionel Trains” That was it! The toy trains on the track that my father, brother and I used to do when we were kids. It brought us back, that was the smell. It’s probably not healthy, but it was a really nice moment. Ok, that made me think of a time that my brother recognized a smell from childhood. I was like 12, my brother 14, I think it was my first concert. My father had taken us to see Billy Joel at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, we had fun. After the show, walking through the parking lot to the car, my brother said, “What’s that smell? I remember it from when we were little.” My dad said, “That’s pot.”

The sensory experience that overwhelmed me the most as the United States, and the world, came to an abrupt halt when it was realized that we were in a pandemic virus outbreak was an aural experience—it was the overwhelming silence that came with the world stopping. I live in a heavy industrial town on the Pacific coast Of Washington. While I live about fifty miles from the cities and one hundred miles from Seattle the economy of this area is based around heavy industry and there is constant noise that comes with this. There is a port a mile from my house that is said to be the busiest deep-water port on the northwest coast. At this port soybeans, wheat, oil and lumber are shipped out and German cars built in Mexico are brought in, among other commodities. In my neighborhood there are four train tracks. The closest one is about five hundred feet from my house, the next three are another three hundred feet further. Those train tracks bring goods into the port like soybeans and wheat from the farm fields west of the Cascade mountains and fuel and oil for the ships and for the operations at the port. The train tracks also ship out the cars that come in from Mexico to car dealerships throughout the Northwest. Across from the four train tracks there are lumber mills. The lumber mills load up chip trucks (trucks that carry sawdust from the sawmills to paper mills) and the chip trucks roll in and out of town on a constant basis. The log trucks also roll through town on a constant basis and the log truck drivers as well as chip truck drivers live in the area and park their trucks at their houses. All of this leads to a very noisy area for such a small population. This has never bothered me as the only thing that I really miss about living in cities is the noise. This is the reason why the first thing I noticed as the Covid-19 shut down occurred was how much silence there was. No longer were there log trucks and chip trucks rolling through town. No longer was the rumbling and squelch of the train heard in the early morning and the late afternoon throughout the town. No longer were the airhorns and warning sirens heard from the port. It was just pure silence.

The story I uploaded is about people crossing the United States Calexico CA port of entry before and after the pandemic.

My name is Morgan Keena, I live in Nampa, Idaho, I am a 7th-grade social studies teacher, and I got my first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine today! Teachers weren't scheduled to start receiving the vaccine in Idaho until late February or early March. However, on January 11, 2021, our state superintendent of education delivered a speech to the Idaho legislature urging them to pass a law that would require all school districts to stay open unless mandated by the governor. Additionally, she urged that all students return to in-person learning full time as quickly as possible. On Tuesday, January 12, 2021, the governor of Idaho, Brad Little, announced via a press conference that K-12 teachers and staff were moved to the top tier and could start receiving the vaccine on January 13, 2021. This came as a huge shock to educators everywhere, but we know it is tied to the demand to have schools 100% in person. My school district, Nampa School District, then took on the momentous task of figuring out how to obtain vaccines for their nearly 1,000 staff members. Less than 36 hours later, they had secured vaccines for us at three major health systems and two smaller urgent care locations. The district also had one health system offering the vaccine on Saturdays and Sundays to better work with the teacher schedules. We managed to crash the portals of two health systems by overwhelming them with many vaccine sign-ups. I (by a miracle) was able to secure an appointment for January 15, 2021. Let me tell you; I have never been so excited to get a shot in my life. I received my vaccine from St. Luke's Health System in Nampa, Idaho. The check-in process was a breeze and done entirely on my own. I was very relaxed while waiting for my appointment but also exceptionally eager to get back to my room and get this first dose done. Once my name was called, I met with the pharmacist who would be administering my vaccine. She was a lovely woman, and I consider myself fortunate to have met her. She was such a calming presence as she explained the emergency use authorization for the vaccine, potential side effects, and what I could expect in the days after receiving this dose. She continued to use the line, "when I got my first dose...." which made me feel at ease. We talked about my job, her children, and how this school year has been wild. Suddenly, it was over! I had my vaccine and was ready to take on the world! Almost. After a couple of cases of allergic reactions to the vaccine around the country, they now require you to wait in the waiting room for 15 minutes after receiving each dose. I received the Pfizer vaccine and have scheduled my second dose for three weeks from today. As I was doing my time in the waiting room after my injection, I signed up for a program called V-Safe. V-Safe is run by the CDC and is used to track vaccines' side effects. Since this vaccine has emergency authorization, they are still collecting side effect data. since I signed up, they will message me once a day for the next week to do a quick wellness check. After the initial week, they will message me once per week to continue keeping up with any side effects I may encounter. I figure it's the least I can do to help science. I am super excited about receiving the first dose of this vaccine. My husband also received it today, and we are overjoyed by that. He is a third-year medical student rotating through various hospitals, so getting him a vaccine was a priority of ours, but it proved to be more difficult to obtain than we had thought. He received the Moderna vaccine, so we get to see how both vaccines work. I received the vaccine because I expect our school board to bring back middle school students 100% in-person and full time soon. Social distancing will not exist in the classroom, and I will be exposed to 150 students in my classroom and the other 150 students in my wing of the school. This is a good day for science. I feel excited and hopeful. I feel like I have hit the 'covid wall' lately, and I am just ready to be done with this.

December was the most stressful month of the year. My entire family got Covid-19 right before Christmas and I was struggling with anxiety for most of the month, which has been compounded by the pandemic. One of the ways I've sought to alleviate stress when going to bed at night is by putting peppermint essential oil in an oil diffuser as I fall asleep. Peppermint smells and feels naturally calming to me. The strong and comforting scent has at times made me feel that I can breathe better and easier. A small and perhaps cliché remedy has at times made a world of difference.

Once the pandemic was in full swing, food became rather scarce out in the county where I live. Frozen meals? Gone. Frozen vegetables? Gone. Meat? Gone. Dairy products? Sparse. What I could find in abundance were fresh fruit and vegetables. Largely because these do not store long term and people were stocking up on everything that they could hoard for the long haul. Could I really sustain my meat-loving family of 4 on fresh fruits and vegetables to help stretch our very thin stock of meats and dairy products? I have included some basic recipes that I used to help get through the pandemic. This massive change in diet left a lasting impact on my experience of the pandemic through my sense of smell, taste, and hearing. Meals no longer smelled like warm cooked meat with roasting potatoes. Meals became light and fresh. My house began smelling more like a garden every time I prepared a meal. I also no longer smelled the warmth of the stove or the smell of a pan heating up, since we chose to eat a lot of the plants and fruits in a more raw style to get the maximum nutritional value. The taste of meals and snacks changed from processed foods to natural snacks like nuts, dates, and dried fruit. I could taste the change from the pandemic. Everyday noises that would occur in my pre-pandemic household were no longer present in my pandemic household. No longer was there the sound of the oven turning on, the microwave running, or oil popping in the pan on the stove top. Instead, the new normal sounds were that of the food processor to make hummus, the sound of the blender making smoothies, and the sharp tap of the knife colliding with the cutting board. The recipes I chose to include are ones that we started with that have changed the way we eat. These were the easiest to sustain with readily available produce in my rural area.

If you have ever been in a middle school classroom, feeling cold is probably not the first thing that you think of. One might think of rowdy kids, perhaps non-inviting smells, stuffy air, but not necessarily the feeling of cold. After going home on March 13, 2020, I was forced to work remotely for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is still crazy to think how quickly everything changed from normal life to the furthest thing from it—just two days before the end of in-person schooling, I was still planning on going on the eighth grade Washington, DC trip! Anyway, going into the 2020-21 school year, because teachers were allowed to return to their classrooms (even though school would remain in distance for the foreseeable future), I decided that I would go into my classroom and work from there. I figured that it would help create a sense of normalcy in my own life while offering a familiar background to my students. After a few days of working from school without any students, I noticed how cold it was in my classroom. On a normal school day, I would turn on the air conditioning fairly early in the morning, being that the room would become warm and stuffy shortly after the students arrived. Even with it warm outside, I was noticing myself running the heater well into the afternoon. Without the heater, my classroom would quickly become unbearably cold! With brick walls and only a thin layer of carpet over a concrete floor, it is clear why it was so cold. I was just one person in a room that would normally have around 30—my body heat alone wasn't going to heat up the room! It is amazing to think that a silly little thing like the temperature of my classroom kind of got me down. No matter what I did to try and simulate normal life, it was just impossible for life to be normal, and that nagging cold was there to remind me of that fact. Just writing this down, I can feel the cold on my arms and legs, and I have an urge to go and get a blanket, put on a sweatshirt, or turn on the heater. Come to think about it, I can also feel the pain in my lower back from sitting in front of a computer all day! In addition to the sense of touch/feeling being noticeably different, I have to say, the absence of, shall we say, interesting smells has also been out of the ordinary for my middle school classroom. I really cannot complain all too much when it comes to my experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic; I am lucky enough to still be employed, I can work at home if I wanted to, and no one all too close to me has had the disease. A great many people around the globe have had their lives shattered in the past year, so I really should be counting my blessings. With that said, I feel as if the coldness of my classroom somewhat symbolizes the isolation that I (and many others) are feeling during this trying time. The simple fact that there are not 30+ individuals in the room is causing the cold and, again, it is a nagging reminder that the world is simply not the same as it was a year ago, no matter how much we wish it were.

In late March, families in Portland, OR were told to prepare themselves for children to finish their school year from home. While my husband and I don’t have kids, we live across the street from an elementary school and enjoy hearing the children play as we go about our life at home. I loved hearing their laughter and giggles as they lined up outside of their classroom doors or the screeches that filled the air as they tore out of the doors for some much needed recess time on the playground. Then, on April 13, 2020, the laughter, the hollering, the clangs of playground equipment stopped. Up until that point, I could set my personal schedule by the sounds of that playground and now those sounds were gone. The quietness that remained behind was made even more eerie by the daily bells that rang from the school’s outdoor intercom system to signify the start of the day, end of recess, etc.. The tones that were barely audible on a normal day due to all of the commotion on the playground were suddenly a very loud, and real reminder that the world was different. It took the school nearly two months to turn off those alarms and every single day for those two months, at 8:25, 11:45, 12:15, and 2:25, those bells echoed throughout the neighborhood reminding everyone how much our world had truly changed. The alarm bells are now off and have been for nearly 6 months. It’s very quiet at the school. While we’ve all gotten used to the silence, every so often a family will head to the playground and, for a minute as the sounds of a child’s laughter drifts through the windows of my house, I remember what it was like before COVID and am suddenly slammed back into the reality of what our day to day lives have become. I can’t wait to hear those happy voices again - it will mean our lives are back to whatever new normal is on the other side of this pandemic.

I would like to submit my gray, cotton face mask to the COVID-19 Archive. It is perhaps not as the most important item, but certainly it is the most present item for me throughout this pandemic. At almost a full year into this adventure, everyone has a keen familiarity with and opinion of face masks. I got this one as a gift. It feels about the same as getting socks on Christmas, except more useful. I have used this thing every single day unless I forget it—which sends me into a chaotic panic. I am a teacher in a suburb of Nashville, TN. Our school district insists on teaching in person, despite having alarmingly high infection rates in our community. This mask is now part of my daily uniform, a non-negotiable. It serves as a role model for students. A sign that their health is of paramount concern to us. It is part of everything I do. I have dozens of paper replacements in my desk. Those aren’t as good. They straps hurt your ears. The cloth ones are better, more comfortable. I thought about getting one with my favorite band’s logo, but I am going to stick with this old reliable gray, cotton mask. The smell of this mask will haunt me the rest of my life. I wash it multiple times per week. It often smells like laundry detergent. That is a good thing. However, by the end of the day it often smells like whatever I had for lunch. The masks gets hot. It is blasted with my carbon dioxide for eight hours straight. It gets really bad when I have to lecture during the day. When you inhale sharply to talk, it sucks in the material. I’ve learned how to breathe differently when I have the mask on. Sometimes I just pinch the end and hold it with my fingers while I talk. I can rarely take it off. I panic if I forget to put it on when I leave my classroom to go anywhere. Who would have ever thought this little cloth mask would be so important? I often doubt that it is effective at preventing the spread or contraction of infection. I am certainly NOT an anti-masker. But it’s a piece of cloth. I guess that it’s better than nothing. This gray cotton face mask, sometimes imbued with the glorious smell of fresh linen in the breeze or Last night’s roast and mashed potatoes has become a source of loathing and resentment, but simultaneously an anti-viral security blanket (if only in my imagination). Yet, I can’t wait to get rid of this vile thing.

The experience I am sharing focuses on my sense of hearing. Work has shifted away from office buildings and into our homes and, as a result, downtown urban areas emptied. This was especially true in mid-May of 2020. The one time I was in my city's downtown, it was uncomfortably quiet, and the negative reaction I had in the moment caught me off guard. Covid19 put me in a constant state of anxiety, and this is one more example of how seemingly small differences in a familiar environment can turn us upside down.

A self-account of the exploding market of hand sanitizer and the smell thereof

At the beginning of the pandemic, it seemed for a bit of time that the infrastructure of the world was on shakey ground. Thankfully, our food supplies and economy did not collapse. However, the experience and extra-time during the pandemic led to me trying to become more self-sufficient in my livelihood. I have had a vegetable garden for years, but I started to grow different things this year than before. The picture above was my sweet potato harvest experiment, which I was pleased with and had a good amount of nutritious sweet potatoes. I had similar results with things like beans and regular potatoes (very nutritious and filling). On top of these things, I also tried to learn how to make products that I used regularly (even if these were more luxury items than necessities). Growing various herbs and spices, I began to make my own salad dressings, marinades, sauces, and pestos. Additionally, as a fan of craft beer, I enjoy drinking new and exciting beers but do not enjoy paying premium prices. During the lock down, I learned how to brew my own delicious beer for less than half of the cost from the store. All of these projects were fun to do, diminished boredom, and are skills which I can use to enrich my life moving forward.

When the pandemic began, the company I work for sent us all to work from home. While I did some baking and cooking before, I took it upon myself to grow and learn more. Plus, in the office we usually had some sort of food available, and now I had to provide that for myself. I began looking up recipes to make at home that were fast and easy, yet really good. I stumbled on this recipe and now it is my go to recipe. The smell from them baking and after they come out of the oven is great, and they don't take too much time. The smell lingers in the house the rest of the day as well, and the I love the flavor of these muffins.

As so many people's lives have become overturned by Covid, and people had more time on their hands than ever before to become engrossed in a hobby or activity, I feel that it is both a blessing and a curse being in a Masters degree program. Obtaining an advanced degree certainly seems to be a wise use of my pandemic time, but I cannot help but feel slight jealousy sometimes when I have to work on assignments instead of some of the interesting things that people have been doing this past year. However, I do enjoy gardening, fishing, kayaking, playing with my dog, and cooking. All of these are the things that have kept me sane and happy during the pandemic. Especially during the spring and summer, I ensured to take time away from school and work for a bit everyday to do some of those things. I am very fortunate that I live on a river/lake, so I could work in my garden, then launch my kayak with my dog in the passenger seat, and go fish until it was time to cook dinner whenever I wanted. It was a total blessing for me during Covid, for as isolating as it was at times, I was very lucky to have space and the ability to do my favorite things on a daily basis.

My family normally meets at my parent's house for Christmas every year with my Dad's infamous filet minion dinner. However, I have not been there in-person for the past decade or so because I always work on Christmas. Unfortunately (or I suppose fortunately), paramedics are needed to staff ambulances on holidays. Though I did not work on Christmas this year, I was still unable to go to the family party due to Covid. The biggest difference this year for me was that for the first time, I was not the only family member who participated in the holiday party remotely. This is not to say that I was happy that my family could not get together like normal, but there was something oddly comforting to not being the only person on zoom/whats app/etc. during the holidays. Everyone prepared their own dinners at home, we jumped on zoom and did a family toast and showed each other our respective meals. We all logged off to eat and then jumped back on to continue to celebrate the holiday and do the annual secret Santa exchange. Overall, it was a more normal holiday for me than for the rest of my family, but it was overall a great Christmas.

My annual holidays consist of Eid al-Fitr, Christmas, and New Years. This is what happened in 2020. I think it's important to be able to document experiences from different walks of life. I don't know how many people would celebrate the first two in the same family, but they've been a big part of my life since I was born.

I want to a Dallas Cowboys in October at AT&T Stadium were they were allowing in-person audiences with “limited capacity” and with masks. When I want to the stadium that has a capacity of over hundred thousand only twenty percent was allowed. As I sat in the stadium to watch the game, a roaring crowd took on a different meaning to audible sensory experiences. That is to say, because of the lack of fans crowd noises were piped in to emulate a hundred thousand people cheering. This was done to give fans a game feeling although we knew this noise was manufactured. Although this noise was piped in, yet it never felt like a real game. The COVID-19 pandemic and my trip to the Dallas game had many effects on my senses as it relates to “limited capacity.” One, it caused my audible senses to now have to distinguish real from manufactured. Second, it made me further appreciate sounds of cheering and the silence of disappointment. Lastly, it made me realize that although visual sensory and memory plays a major part in our life experiences, audible sensory is just as important to us especially because the pandemic circumstance causes disruption in our lives.

In almost every aspect of life, COVID-19 has put the world on mute. From canceled weddings and downsized gatherings to remote workspaces and quiet homes left behind by those we have lost, the overwhelming soundtrack of the pandemic is silence. When K-12 students in the United States transitioned to distance learning nearly 10 months ago, elementary, middle, and high school campuses were abandoned, leaving bells silenced and hallways quiet. From March to November, this silence came to define my work at Princeton Joint Unified School District in the rural town of Princeton, California. No longer did bells ring to mark the end of one period and the beginning of another, lockers no longer slammed shut as students rushed to gather their belongings, and students could no longer be heard gossiping, laughing, and playing during morning break. While this silence initially felt like summer vacation had merely arrived a few months early, the lack of auditory stimulation began to diminish morale and decrease productivity as work felt further removed from the students themselves, transforming human beings into pieces of data and names on a paper. I could often go an entire eight-hour shift without speaking to another person, frequently finding my voice raspy when I would pick up the phone for the first time in hours. Even among coworkers, passing conversations vanished and became simple one-line emails dealing only with the business at hand. As Zoom calls replaced in-person staff meetings and participants remained on mute, the noisy world in which I once worked fell even further away. When in-person learning became optional in November, the sound slowly began to return, but it had changed from what it once was. Growing accustomed to the silence over the long summer, I often found myself jolted in surprise at each unexpected bell or sound of students on the playground. The number of students has drastically lowered since we first closed in March, as many opt to remain home to avoid possible exposure, while lunchtimes are now staggered, and breaks are shortened to prevent spread, creating ominously quiet and often uncomfortable atmospheres. The unease and discomfort heard in students' softened voices displays that widespread uncertainty that has permeated every corner of society. It is my greatest hope that schools will return to "normal" for the 2021-2022 school year and that the sounds of carefree students once more fill the hallways and classrooms of Princeton Joint Unified School District. Silence has become an all-too-painful reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I look forward to the day that bells ring on their regular schedule, coworkers are free to converse with one another, and every student returns to campus. In images and articles documenting the pandemic, the overwhelming auditory silence that many of us are experiencing is often lost and forgotten.

During the quarantine, my wife and I were having a hard time trying to adjust to our jobs being remote. We were not used to staring at computer screens for 8+ hours. The feeling of stress was overwhelming. I’m sure everyone in the world can relate to this experience. We really needed something to raise our spirits after time passed by and the world was still shut down. When my wife and I first got married in 2019, we had a problem of spending money on board games of all kinds. We ended up with a collection of 47 board games by the time COVID started (we began our marriage with about 12 board games). The thing is, with our jobs (my wife being a Public Library Administrator and I being a teacher and coach), we hardly had time to play some except a few. Who would have thought that we were unknowingly preparing for a quarantine. Our collection helped us escape reality for a bit each time we played. Game nights became a regular occurrence and we still hold them to this day. We were able to connect more as a couple and strengthen our relationship. The sounds of dice being rolled, cards being shuffled, and game pieces being moved remind me how board games helped us cope with the unexpected changes in our lives and recharge our batteries to keep going forward.

I've written a small little recounting of how me and my extended family celebrated Christmas over the app 'house party' on our phones - in comparison with our previous Christmas celebrations it was incredibly small, short lived and felt hollow. In a sense, this feeling was reflected throughout my own household during the whole Christmas break.

My family Thanksgiving's have featured a wide variety of fare throughout the years. The one constant, the one dish that has always made an appearance is dressing. The recipe is a family one that originated with my great-grandmother, a wonderful woman who lived to the ripe old age of 102. Known across the extended family as the Queen of the Kitchen, her legacy lives on through the recipes she left behind. This Thanksgiving was more difficult than any I can remember. Out of the twenty-four Thanksgiving's I have been alive to see, I have never spent one without my sister. Now, she lives a state away and health concerns surrounding my 93-year old grandmother kept my sister away. COVID-19 drastically changed the mood of the holiday, but one dish still had to be cooked. You guessed it, dressing. Ingredients: 10 baked biscuits 2-3 cups of baked yellow cornbread 1 loaf of toasted bread 1 1/2 cup chopped onion 2 cup chopped celery 1 cup celery tops 1 tablespoon sage 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning 2 cups water 1 cup chicken boullion 2 eggs Salt and pepper to taste Original Directions: Break bread into small pieces. Set aside. Put all remaining ingredients except eggs in a saucepan. Boil till celery and onions are tender. Pour over bread mixture and toss. (Add more liquid if it needs to have more water. Cool. Add eggs. Mix lightly. Put in greased pan - Bake 300 degrees for 30 minutes.

I worked at a daycare in Hoover, Alabama for 5 years that provided care to over 200 children. When the state went on lockdown, our numbers dwindled down to 60 as we were only allowing children of first responders to stay. All other children were either left to their parents, babysitters, family, friends, etc. I was a lead infant teacher for babies 6-12 months. I normally have about 10 but on my first day of work after lockdown was initiated, I only had 2 and that instantly meant less noise. I have a schedule I keep but each activity lasted half the time it normally does. It gave the babies more time to play and explore but for me, I had to begin the process of deep cleaning. We were issued new cleaning products and if there was a time when you weren't busy with children, you had to clean. We kept our masks on all day for the children's sake but it limited my breathing since I wasn't used to wearing one. Add that to new, stronger cleaning products and it makes for a difficult day. I experienced the normal smells of infant care that I have for the last 5 years but the new, stronger cleaning smells altered my olfactory system. I was worried how the babies and I would react to it after we've been exposed to the chemicals for a long period of time. We weren't allowed to open our doors or windows so the smell stayed with us all day. It gave me headaches and made my babies cranky. It was a learning process with the new sanitizing methods and we all finally got a rhythm down and requested that we be allowed to open our windows and doors while cleaning. It helped us keep our kids and ourselves healthier and more conscientious about our cleaning habits. With less children around, we were able to clean thoroughly and get everything in order but it felt less like a daycare without all the noise. We worked diligently so that when lockdown was over, we could welcome back our loud and crazy kids to a new, sanitized environment.

While I am not currently working from home, I am studying from home and staying home as much as I possibly can, which can feel extremely stifling. I would sit at my small desk in my bedroom for hours at a time, longing for the setting of a library or cafe to do my work in, and would soon grow bored and unfocused, failing at being productive. After a week or two of some distracted study sessions in which it felt like I got nothing done, I was fed up and frustrated, so I decided to try out a few changes to refresh my study space. Here are my hacks to creating a comfortable study-from-home (or work-from-home!) space without investing in new furniture or risking exposure to Covid-19. 1) Move your desk. My previous desk location blocked my window, leading my little office area to feel dark and closed off. By moving my desk, I now sit adjacent to the window. This allows more natural light to shine, raising my mood, and it allows me to people watch when I need a break from staring at my screen all day. 2) Clean your workspace. I am definitely guilty of having a cluttered, messy workspace, with papers all over my desk and books all over the floor. I recently reorganized so only the absolute essentials were in my workspace, and it feels so streamlined. It really is true that a cluttered space leads to a cluttered mind, and clearing it out has given me more mental clarity when working. 3) Go outside! I don't have a huge backyard, but I have enough space for a small patio table and chair that has provided a great change of scenery when I'm feeling cooped up. Now, I do work on a desktop computer, so I can't do all of my work outside, but I try to go out there as often as possible when I'm working on readings or using my tablet for school instead of my computer. The fresh air is so necessary, and the sunlight gives me some vitamin D while also raising my spirits. 4) Drink tea. While this isn't really a pandemic-specific hack, I found that a cup of tea serves as a great timer for working on schoolwork. I make a fresh cup of tea right before I start working, sip it throughout my study session, and take a break when I finish the cup. A cup will usually last me 30 minutes to an hour, and I typically take a few minutes to stretch and walk around before making another cup and starting the process over again. It is both relaxing and hydrating, and serves as my own little form of the pomodoro technique. So, there ya go. My little tips and "hacks" to make at-home studying or working just a little more bearable. While I definitely look forward to the day that I can study in public again, I have gotten more comfortable with my home set-up, and will continue with this routine while staying at home is the safest option.

This story is about how I "hacked" a pandemic experience: wearing a mask as a young child. I was having trouble finding a mask that my youngest child felt comfortable wearing, so I made one from a pajama shirt she had outgrown! It fit comfortably and brought new life to an old piece of clothing that carries special memories from years past.

At the start of the pandemic, I was in an anxiety spiral. I was worried about everything from the health of family and friends to the possibility of nuclear warfare, and it resulted in some fairly agoraphobic, unhealthy coping mechanisms. I had recently moved to a new state, so I didn't even know the way around my neighborhood. I would stay in my room for days at a time, only socializing with the villagers on my Animal Crossing island. I was afraid to leave my house, afraid to grocery shop, afraid to pass someone too closely on the sidewalk. After several months of this behavior, and countless episodes of reality television, I recognized that I needed help. I began the process with a simple google search. "Online therapy options." After some trial and error, I found a therapist that helped me break out of my depressive, anxious cycle, in a way that was both gradual and socially distant. Through my work with her and some self-reflection, I found several things that help me cope with the current reality, allowing me to enjoy small joys throughout the day, and here they are: 1) Trails! I was a hiker in college, but fell out of the habit after graduating due to moving around a bit. Since I had moved during the winter, I hadn't had a chance to explore any trails near my new home. With some recommendations from both my therapist and the internet, I slowly began to venture into the outdoors. I started with a trail that was a 10-minute walk from my house, and eventually worked my way up to a state park about an hour away. It allowed me to feel comfortable leaving the house again in a way that was still Covid-friendly, and I gained a better awareness and appreciation of my surroundings. As an added bonus, I was able to experience Ohio autumn in all it's red-yellow-orange beauty. After a hot, humid, sad summer, some beautiful fall colors along some incredible trails were a perfect way to reset. 2) Books. I read more during the first few months of the pandemic than I had in the past several years combined. I was able to tackle books that had seemed too long and daunting in the past, as there was little to keep me from them, and it provided a sense of much-needed escapism. I rekindled my love of reading, worked through some of my "to-be-read" list, and incorporated reading into my daily routine, giving me something to look forward to and work towards during a time that felt stagnant. 3) Podcasts. I've been a regular listener of podcasts for years. I have the weekly release schedule of my favorite podcasts memorized, and at this point I turn to those for car rides before music. But, similar to books, I had put off some of the podcasts that require more attentive, prolonged listening; these were often podcasts that told a story over many episodes, both fictional and non-fictional. With stay-at-home orders in place, it seemed that all I had was time, and one can only spend so much time listening to the news, so I turned to podcasts. I listened to them when cleaning, when walking on the trails, when cooking, and even when I was just laying around. According to my Spotify Wrapped from 2020, I spent much more time listening to podcasts than music, and I enjoyed every minute of it. 4) Succulents. I have my mom to thank for this one! I had collected a large variety of succulents over the past few years, but had to leave them behind with my sister when moving at the beginning of 2020. With plant-shopping being extremely non-essential, I hadn't had the chance to start a new collection prior to isolation, and I had just accepted that I was no longer the plant-parent I once was. My mother, being the incredible woman that she is, decided that was unacceptable, and signed me up for a monthly succulent subscription for my birthday, in which I receive two baby succulents a month. So far I have eight little succulents, and they are thriving! 5) Cold brew. As an extreme coffee lover and addict, and as a barista, I couldn't make a list of my favorite things without including some form of caffeine. My favorite place in the world is a comfy coffee shop, but that obviously is not the safest setting to relax at the moment. I used this time at home to perfect my cold brew recipe, as well as play with all the different ways to enjoy coffee at home. While I still miss the atmosphere of a cafe, and will be back as soon as it's safe and smart to do so, I have had fun crafting new drinks at home. While I have had a variety of small enjoyments here and there throughout the last nine or ten months, these are truly the things bringing me joy and peace in this lonely, frightening time. Even when this pandemic is officially over, I plan to continue these practices, as they have become essential to my daily routines.

Holidays were really hard for a lot of people. While I don't feel like mine were effected too much, I think my story is still worth sharing!

It is important to understand how our society has dealt with this pandemic, and my entry covers what I enjoyed during the pandemic. Things that got me through and kept me sane!

My family had been fortunate to avoid COVID 19 for ten months. However, in December 2020, that changed. My symptoms began with a minor headache which, on day two, morphed into a minor cough. I was fortunate to never be hospitalized, but on day three, my experience underwent a strange and unexpected change. I began to smell the strong smell, of what could only be described as ammonia. I was once a cat person, and remember the smell of cat urine on a carpet or furniture if left untreated. This smelled exactly like that. My first reaction was to inquire of my family, and no one could smell it but I, which only served to make the experience all the more strange. When everyone can smell the same smell, it’s one thing but when only you can smell it you begin to questions your sanity. The smell of ammonia was strongest outside and somewhat subdued when indoors. It lasted for one day and was gone the next but it was strong to the point of discomfort.