Items

• 2021-04-14

  I Thought It Was Safe

  It's been over a year since my daughter has gone to a birthday party. She got invited to one at an indoor kid's place and I had plans on taking her. She's gone to school online and only had playdates with one child ever since the pandemic began. She is not more likely to catch the virus than any other child, but, if she were to contract it, her symptoms would likely be severe and it would be very difficult for her to recover from it. My family has been very worried and take tons of precautions to protect her. We got an invitation to a private 2 hour party at an indoor amusement facility for kids. I got a text two hours before the party was set to begin saying that the party was cancelled because the family had just been notified by the school that there was an exposure to COVID-19 in the birthday boy's classroom. I am so glad the family was notified before the start of the party, but it just really hit me how dangerous it is to go to a simple kid birthday party. I immediately began to beat myself up... I had a thousand "what-ifs" go through my mind. I don't know when we will be able to go to indoor play facilities and I don't know when we will get to go to another birthday party. It's still just too scary and risky.
• 2021-04-09

  Small Sense of Normalcy

  My daughter often has medical procedures and my husband and I have a system of working together to care for her during hospital stays and surgeries. Since the pandemic, there have been tons of restrictions and we are not able to physically support each other. Only one parent can go inside for appointments and procedures. Only one parent can stay in an inpatient room at a time. We had the appointment scheduled for over a month, but did not get the news that some restrictions had been lifted until the day before the procedure. My schedule is more flexible than my husband's so the original plan was for me to take our daughter and FaceTime him for the doctor consult. Luckily, my husband was able to get off work on short notice and we both were able to be there at the hospital! The only restriction was that only one parent could go back into recovery room and parents could not switch out. We did not receive good news, so it was good my husband and I were able to be together.
• 
  2021-04-08

  Covid19 and the Occult

  The occult experience of Covid19, from my perspective as an adept occultist.
• 2021-04-07

  Vaccine Passports

  I just wanted to make a brief comment on the new controversy over “vaccine passports.” This phrase refers broadly to the idea of a sort of digital certificate to verify that a person has received one of the COVID-19 vaccines. The idea is that certain businesses, schools, etc., could use this digital certificate to instantly verify who has and has not received the vaccine. I think this is a fantastic idea and I wholeheartedly support it. As for those claiming that this is the latest sign of big government tyranny, a recent editorial about this issue in the Washington Post articulated a fantastic response: “Vaccination is voluntary, and the principle of voluntariness goes both ways. The government is not going to make anyone get a vaccine; every civilian has a right to abstain. By the same token, every restaurant should have the right to know whether a customer is immune before opening its doors: no shot, no shoes, no service.” Exactly -- voluntariness does indeed go both ways. If you make the decision not to get vaccinated, you should be willing to deal with the consequences of that decision, which may include contracting COVID-19 and/or being excluded from certain public places like restaurants, sporting events, or even schools or universities. If a person understands and accepts the risks and limitations they are putting on themselves and still insists on abstaining from the vaccine, I respect that. However, people insisting that they have the right to abstain from the vaccine while opposing the rights of businesses and other institutions to create a safer and more comfortable environment for their customers strikes me as a classic example of having your cake and eating too.
• 
  2021-04-07

  Little Gifts

  My dad is a paramedic currently working three jobs within the EMS field. He's basically only home one day out of the week. I take care of the house and my little sister while he's gone but I know the job is hard right now, especially with Covid-19. When I can, I buy him little gifts I think he would appreciate, like this Hawkeye Funko Pop. I honestly just wish they would pay paramedics and other EMS related first responders more than what they get now, especially since this pandemic has shown how necessary and essential their job is.
• 2021-03-26

  Open Questioning of Authority

  On Wednesday, March 24, 2021 Governor of Arizona Doug Ducey decided to lift all COVID restrictions on businesses. The governor's action contradicted CDC guidance. On Friday morning, I vented my frustration about the governor's action. A young man came to our house on the morning of Friday, March 26 to fix an appliance. I met him at the door wearing a face mask. The young man was not wearing a mask, but pulled one out of his pocket and said he would wear it if I preferred. I indicated that I did want him to wear the mask, and without thinking I blurted out that "the governor is an idiot." The young man expressed understanding and put on his mask. Actually, I don't really think the governor is an idiot. I think he knows better but does not have the courage to do the right thing in the face of pressure from constituencies that have made public health a political issue. Unfortunately, these people endanger us all.
• 
  2021-03-31

  In the Market for Thermometers

  Didn't realize there was such a wide market of thermometers until I needed to purchase one during this pandemic. Picked this one up at my local Fry's for forty dollars.
• 2021-03-25

  Is This the End?

  Personally, I feel that we are not near the end of the pandemic. However, it really seems like things are beginning to open back up. Some states have already lifted mask mandates and others have set dates for current mask mandates to expire. Businesses here in Arizona have opened back up to full capacity. I just think it's weird for a state to lift the mandate, but still say that "Masks are highly encouraged." They also still require masks to be work in government offices and COVID testing and immunization sites. If it's highly encouraged, and need to be worn in government buildings, why not out in other public spaces? It's all just because of the economy and business. That truly trumps human welfare and common sense and decency in the United States. It really is business interests and capitalism above all and it's disgusting.
• 2021-03-23

  Vaccine eligiblity

  So apparently the State of Arizona is expanding access to the vaccine so that everyone 16+ is now eligible to receive it. I saw a news story about this, and they mentioned an interesting side effect of this otherwise positive news development. Thus far, the mass vaccination sites have had very little trouble finding volunteers to help run things, in large part because volunteers are usually offered the chance to receive the shot in exchange for their service. However, now that eligibility has opened up to all adults and some teenagers, there is less of a personal incentive to help out at the mass vaccination sites. This means that sites are now having more trouble finding volunteers. My first response to this is that they should come up with at least some money to pay people for their time, if for no other reason than to attract enough people to keep the sites running. Secondly, this has made me consider becoming a volunteer myself. I feel extremely fortunate to have gotten access to the vaccine so early in the process and want to make sure everyone else gets access to it as soon as possible. Of course, this is just talk at this point...we'll see if I actually put my words into action :)
• 
  2021-03-16

  Finally got my shot

  I'd been trying to get a COVID vaccination appointment on the State of Arizona's website since late January. Finally, on the evening of Monday, March 15, I found a couple of slots open on the following evening at the State mass vaccination site at the Arizona Cardinals Stadium. It was about a 35-mile trip, and my wife drove me out there. Once we got to the site, everything went really smoothly and the staff were very pleasant. I got my first Pfizer dose and an appointment for April 6 for the second. It was nice to see the ASU banner at the site. Altogether, the travel time and the process on site took about an hour and forty-five minutes. I feel immensely relieved.
• 2021-03-17

  tension in the US-Russian relationship

  depiction of the international relationship in the covid world
• 2021-03-17

  First hug in a long time

  A lot of people probably have this same kind of story, but I'll go ahead and tell my version of it. My wife's 93-year-old grandmother lives in an assisted care facility nearby and, of course, has been forced to be very isolated throughout most of the pandemic. However, because all of us have now been fully vaccinated, we were able to go and see her in person a couple of days ago. The most heartwarming moment was when my wife and kids were able to give her a hug for the first time in a long time. I'm sure as more people get vaccinated, they will have more of these kinds of stories to tell.
• 
  2021-03-17

  Opening Early Meme

  As more and more vaccines are being given, it seems that soon we may be able to slowly begin returning back to normal. However, with mask mandates and restrictions falling off early across the United States, I remain fearful that we may experience another wave/peak. This meme demonstrates that anxiety.
• 2021-03-11

  AM I REALLY SAFE?

  Well, my COVID card has now been stamped twice. In one more week, I should be at full immunity. SO…am I going to rush out to a restaurant, rip off my mask, and eat my first restaurant meal that was not delivered, cold, after 20 minutes in the back of a Postmate’s car? It’s tricky! The bottom line is this: I am not there yet. There is still a lingering sense of dread. My children have not yet been vaccinated so they still live with their fear. My daughter has an infant and my son, has a toddler and a pregnant wife. Tonight, President Biden will give a speech about the return to normalcy, and I applaud his efforts to mend a broken nation. But the old normal may never return. Just as a bad fall leaves a scar, we will all be left with a mark, even those of us who emerged relatively unscathed. No one in my family died. Just a few were ill. We are so fortunate. But when I think of hopping on the New York subway this summer, sans mask, I cannot see it happening. I hope time proves me wrong. Truly, I hope.
• 2021-03-11

  pandemic reflections

  I wonder if I am being overly optimistic thinking about the end of the pandemic. On one hand, more and more people around the world are receiving vaccines, more and more countries renewed flights in-between them; ASU claimed that instructions will be in-person during the next fall; Moscow authorities lifted the restrictions for the seniors. On the other hand, only a small percentage of people have received the vaccine; new strains of the virus emerge. Some European countries renew lockdowns. Only the time will tell, I guess.
• 2021-02-26

  Quarantine and Dementia

  One of the most challenging aspects of having to quarantine due to Covid is explaining to a parent who has dementia why they cannot be taken places and why they have to wear a mask whenever out in public. My mom has vestibular dementia which comes and goes. On a good day, my mom doesn't show any signs of dementia but on a bad day, dementia can be a big challenge - even when everything in the world was normal. On days that my mom wants to go to the grocery store or Target and she is having an episode of dementia explaining to her why she has to wear a mask is like explaining to a toddler why they cannot have candy for dinner. Sometimes the battles are tiring. Just recently she has had both of her vaccines for Covid and on her "good and bad days" she doesn't think she needs a mask since she has had her vaccines. Somedays quarantining is more than an inconvenience - it makes life even more challenging!
• 
  2020-03-10

  Disneyland March 2020

  One year ago today my daughter and I went to Disneyland for spring break and little did we realize we would be lucky enough to be there right before it closed down due to the pandemic. We had four awesome days for our "girl getaway" and three days after we came home Disneyland was closed. We are waiting with anticipation to return to Disneyland when it reopens.
• 
  2021-03-10

  A Lot More Time at Home

  An interesting consequence from being locked inside day in and day out for almost a year. My collection of books has grown considerably, to the point of needing yet another bookshelf.
• 
  2021-03-05

  Vaccinations at the University

  This photo shows people lined up to get COVID-19 vaccinations outside the Sun Devil Fitness Complex at Arizona State University in Tempe. My wife received an email from an ASU official sent about 8:00 PM Thursday, March 4 offering university employees access to a distribution of Moderna vaccines at clinics on March 5 and 9. My wife signed up right away and got an appointment for early afternoon on Friday, March 5. I have not been able to get my own appointment through other channels, so I went along with my wife to see if I might be able to get the vaccine. I was turned away, but fortunately my wife now has her first shot and an appointment for the second. It's a start.
• 2021-03-03

  March Madness

  It is March and everyone is talking about how it has been an entire year since the pandemic began. For me, honestly this time has gone by very quickly. However, I am not surprised at all that it is not over. I knew in March 2020 this was going to last at least a couple of years and the effects would last for decades to come. It affected the entire world and people within the same government can't even agree on how to handle things. People are so divided on what needs to be done I don't see an end to this anytime soon.
• 
  2021-02-27

  Pandemic Fashion

  Since the beginning of the pandemic, I wore a mask. I think I went one place without one on Friday, March 13, as the world fell apart and I was driving home to Phoenix from my mother’s house in San Diego County. But since then, I have been collecting masks the way I would collect graphic and band tees as a teenager and young adult. I have developed “criteria” for what I like, prefer, and even need in a mask. I think about it when I pick one each day. If I am wearing patterns, I grab a solid mask in a complementary color. Solid outfits open up the gates to lots of options. Very quickly, I realized I needed a way to manage these masks. The two hooks that hang near our front door for stocking at Christmas promptly became something else. A bin of clean masks hangs on one hook and a lingerie bag on another. The routine is simple, grab a mask from the container as you leave, come home and drop it in the bag. When the bag is full, zip it up and drop it in the wash. Done! So here are some of my favorites: • Baby Yoda • Disneyland Spirit Jersey style • Old Navy, Old Navy, Old Navy – they come in five packs, available for every season and holiday, prints and solids, easy to grab, cannot say enough • And, of course – the true hero of the pandemic, masks made with love. My coworkers and I have chosen the raccoon for our library mascot. My boss’ mom had this beaver fabric just sitting around, so she made one for each of us (bonus points, this one has a nose wire), and finally, the same wonderful ex-co-worker of our department who made us all the raccoon masks made school-themed ones for us, the Desert Vista Thunder, one with lightning bolts and one with the school colors in the plaid. • Our other library theme is rainbows and all things equality – down to the matching rainbow Apple Watch bands we have to pair perfectly with this rainbow hearts mask from the Human Rights Campaign. I am not ready to give up wearing masks. I have both doses of Pfizer, and it has been two weeks, but I still think masks are a good idea and something that I will for sure be wearing when I feel any kind of sick post-pandemic if that ever happens. It’s the responsible thing to do, and frankly, I have too much invested into my masks and management system to say goodbye to it anytime soon.
• 
  2021-02-25

  Longing to go Outside

  Like people, my dog seems to miss going out to public spaces (like an out door mall, hiking, the patio of a restaurant, even the Pima Air and Space Museum) and getting attention from all the humans that pass by. He too is missing out on the social experiences that he used to enjoy before the pandemic.
• 2021-02-25

  A Strange Way to Grieve

  My father-in-law had an accident last April and passed away about ten days later. He was brought to the hospital in the middle of the pandemic. Nobody was allowed to visit and be with him. My husband was able to speak to him over the speaker phone. He missed seeing him in person. The doctors only would allow visitors in the last moments near death. My husband did not make it in time. Later, he had to retrieve his cremated remains from the car in a sort of curbside pick-up fashion. It was very awkward for him. The usual quiet moments in this situation did not happen. We wanted to hold a memorial for my father-in-law, but because of covid19, we kept pushing it back saying to ourselves, “Well, maybe in October…Maybe in December…” Now we have decided to forgo a traditional memorial for an online one. Soon in March we will have a Zoom memorial with a slideshow of pictures, video, and music, and it will be on his birthday. We hope people will make some remarks. It is stressful getting this together, and I hope it goes well on Zoom. None of us are experts with any of this technology. Handling the affairs of a loved one’s life when they have died is hard enough in normal times. It is even harder during a pandemic. As I write this journal entry I think about my husband and the hardship he and his side of the family has gone through during this time. Knowing them, they would not want to share anything like this on a public archive. I am involved in this grief, but it is different for me. My role is mainly to support. For an archive like this, its collection is all decided on what the public wants to share. Emotionally difficult stories like this may not be shared firsthand as often. My story is also not in depth as it could be if I were the person centrally involved in this grief. I hope that future historians read stories like mine and realize how strange and difficult this time was for grieving people. Nothing is normal. Having a memorial where people get together and support each other through grief with kind words, pats on the back, and long hugs is totally out of the question. We just have to do the next best thing and move on with our lives as we cope with an uncertain future and wonder when life will go back to the way it was before the pandemic or if we have truly lost this aspect of our culture, customs, and traditions.
• 2021-03-01

  restrictions lifted

  It is an article that tells the story about lifted travel bans between Russia and Georgia.
• 
  2021-02-24

  Federal Reserve Glitches

  Because covid19 has had an extremely detrimental impact on many people's financial wellbeing, a momentary hiccup of the Federal Reserve has a lot more potential to do damage than in the pre-covid19 world.
• 
  2021-02-24

  MY MOOD. MY MASK

  Will we miss them when we no longer need them? What will become of these scrappy, sometimes brightly-colored statement pieces? In many ways, a mask has become the sartorial equivalent of a tie. Men still wear ties, but really…why? They serve no purpose. Will we do the same without masks? A mask can reveal who the wearer is in a way that a bare face cannot. Study the mudroom collection in this photo reveals and you will know that someone loves Star Wars and the other is a feminist who adores penguins. After the Texas deep-freeze, and Ted Cruz’s air cruise to Mexico to escape the failure of the power grid, he returned to the U.S. hiding behind an enormous Lone-Star state face mask—as if donning it would make everyone forget his Marie-Antoinette moment. For future generations reading this: Cruz abandoned his constituents who were without power and water for days and flew to a Cancun resort with his family because they were cold. Did the mask hide his shame when he returned home after being caught? If so, maybe we should keep the mask in our wardrobes in our post-COVID futures. Perhaps the year of plague has given us a new fashion choice as well as a place to hide when necessary.
• 2021-02-11

  Oral Histories and Archiving

  Looking through the oral history section of JOTPY, I noticed a few recordings of interviews. This got me thinking about oral history and its similarities to journalism and the work journalists do. I then started thinking about how journalists and historical societies could work together to keep oral histories and newspapers. Could there be a way for journalists to get the correct permission from their interviewees to have their recorded interviews be put into the historical society of the area where they’re working? I was thinking of my time at a small-town newspaper in a rural area. What if my interviews with the local people and the local government officials who aren’t necessarily big-names were put into the archive to help fill the space? Could these interviews help provide a bigger picture of the town and the way it worked during this timeframe? Could they fill a “silence” these historical societies and their archives have? I also recorded town hall meetings and school board meetings almost every week. These meetings are recorded, but often in written form by a secretary. I was recording these events via phone/recording device (actual audio). The work I was doing (the work a journalist does) offers another medium for the archive. I think this would be an interesting interdisciplinary project, especially within rural areas. And what about now? The move towards online meetings and discussion due to the pandemic allows more accessibility to these board meetings or interviews. But are they being archived at the local level? Private meetings are a bit iffy on permissions and accessibilities, but what about those meetings open to the public? Are they being recorded and then placed where others can access it, and then is the local town historian or historical society archiving it as well? If they are, how are they doing it?
• 
  2020-10-29

  Video Games to Pass Time

  2020 was a good time for video games, particularly those that I am interested in. Releasing in the middle of the year, games such as the highly anticipated Mount and Blade: Bannerlord and Crusader Kings III managed to provide time-wasting opportunities to many people. The latter, abbreviated CK3, is pictured here. CK3 is essentially a feudalism-simulator with role playing game mechanics, famous in the PC gaming sphere for both its complexity but also its ability to organically allow stories to form in the most Game of Thrones way possible. This was one of my earlier games, after I was more familiar with how the game differed from CK2. Starting as the Raja of the real-life Northern Indian dynasty of the Imperial Gurjara-Pratihara in 867 CE, through many generations of rulers I managed to consolidate the entire subcontinent through diplomacy, intrigue, and warfare. Around 1000 CE one of my rulers who had a more intellectual education rather than the usual military one, consolidated all imperially sanctioned Hindu beliefs into the Charvaka school, a real-life ancient Hindu belief based on materialism and empiricism. As this new consolidated Hinduism united the subcontinent at a more local level, regional governors along the Indus River took advantage of political fragmentation around the Indian Ocean and pushed west, taking over not just Persia and Central Asia but also establishing Hindu-Somali outposts in Africa and Yemen. By the 1300s the empire spread from Burma in the east all the way to modern day Libya and Greece, with Rome itself falling to a Pratihara expedition. Peace was maintained within the empire's vassals by a robust series of alliances, as well as the use of the "dread" mechanic to scare any more unruly subjects into submission via planned executions and threats. The most serious threats the Pratihara Empire faced was a series of crusades launched from Western Europe, and the Mongol Conquests which were ended by assassinating a few generations of Mongol Khans leading to political infighting and collapse. Beyond the fake history being made in game, this single play through gave me enjoyment for dozens of hours. While psychical entertainment was shut down, travel impossible, and the shadow of the pandemic hung over everything, games like CK3 allow people like me to immerse ourselves in what begins as real history and ends with an alternate history that we ourselves designed. Many people who don't usually play video games became engrossed in them, particularly early on in the likewise open-ended game Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The need to develop new hobbies as a way to cope with isolation was a boon for the video game industry, which despite its massive market was seen by many people as quaint at best, or worthless at worst. There is value in video games, especially during the pandemic.
• 2021-02-18

  Vaccinated

  I received my second vaccination earlier this week. I had minor symptoms (some fatigue and body aches), but otherwise it went well. I had some friends, both in exceptional shape, who experienced high fevers and other flu like symptoms, so I guess I lucked out on that front. The peace of mind is incredible. I plan to still take precautions, especially because even with the vaccine, it is believed you can still carry the virus, but it is wonderful to not have to worry about getting sick with COVID anymore.
• 2020-08-27

  Online Learning Zoom Failures

  Online Learning Zoom Failures One of the problems with online learning on Zoom is that eventually and sometimes often, there are going to be issues and failures. Both my kids recently missed an “assembly” because they their links did not work. They were not the only ones. About one third of the children missed the online assembly. One time many months ago at the beginning of online learning, my daughter’s fourth grade teacher lost access to the Zoom call. She was kicked out of the meeting and one of her student’s was made the host. To make matters worse, my daughter’s teacher had just muted all the kids, so they were unable to hear each other. The teacher called me because she had my cell phone number already. At the beginning of the year, her teacher gave out her personal cell number to the parents in case there were issues with Zoom etc. I had texted her a couple times already because my daughter’s link would not work, or her computer battery died so the teacher and I had already established a text/call connection. So, her teacher calls me and tells me she got kicked out of Zoom because her internet connection went bad. She wanted me to try to get the kids to leave the Zoom call or have the host end the meeting. Meanwhile, the teacher is frantically driving to school to set up a new Zoom meeting from her classroom where she knew she would have a good internet connection. So, I rush over to my daughter’s desk and sure enough there are twenty-five kids silently just sitting there on the screen. You can see they are all excited and laughing. The chat is going crazy with your typical fourth-grade antics. I try to send a message to tell the kids what is going on and to log off the meeting, but no one listens to me, because why would they? I am not their teacher. I keep trying. I am now targeting the kid who was made host to end the meeting and keep explaining what is going on. He is not responding and clearly does not want to get in trouble so keeps the meeting going. By this point I am now writing messages on a dry-erase board to get the kids to end the call. Some have peeled away and left, but still a good chunk of the class is there. I am about to give up when the librarian gets on—she had a link and ends the meeting. My daughter’s teacher was able to get to school and start a new meeting within several minutes and class went on as normal. For me, it was quite the experience. Something to laugh about later. My son’s kindergarten class had a similar situation. His teacher, too, got dropped from the Zoom call, because there was an internet outage at the school. The kindergarteners were by themselves in class and not on mute, so they were just giggling and talking with each other. Some parents, including myself, realized what was going on and some cool parent decided to lead the kids in a song and dance of hokey pokey. After a couple songs, the parents got an email that class was cancelled for the rest of the day. This was fine because there was only about forty-five minutes left in class. In this situation, we made lemonade out of lemons. This happened again more recently, but the teacher was able to get back into the Zoom call. The only problem was that neither the teacher nor the teaching assistant were the hosts so they could not control the meeting. One darling girl was made the host. She did not know what to do. She called her grandma over and the teacher and the teaching assistant desperately tried to explain to the grandma who apparently did not speak English very well and is not very computer literate to do what they wanted her to do. She tried but seemed so confused. Finally, the child logged off which then made my son the host. My son was thrilled to have so much power and wanted to mute and unmute his friends. I took charge immediately, knowing what they needed me to do, so it got settled, but wow was that another comical situation with the class. Something you would never dream of happening before the pandemic.
• 2021-02-18

  One-time covid vaccine

  It is an article about an innovative vaccine from COVID that is not two-phased, but one-phased.
• 
  2021-02-16

  Recreation During Covid

  This is the creative project I've been working on in Minecraft to handle the stress of attending grad school during the Covid19 pandemic. Minecraft and other video games have been sources of stress release and social interaction since forced isolation/quarantine and restrictions on social gathering has resulted in more people playing games and joining online communities for the needed social interaction for the maintenance of their mental health.
• 2021-02-11

  Vaccinated!

  Relief was what I felt when I received my covid vaccine. I felt even more relief when my 21-year-old daughter was able to receive her vaccine since she would not have been able to have gotten vaccinated until early summer. My first vaccine appointment was at 12:30 in the morning, and my daughter rode along with me to keep me company since I had to drive to State Farm Stadium. As we exited the freeway to go to the stadium, the parking lot where the vaccines were being administered could be seen, and I was surprised that it looked relatively vacant of vehicles. When we reached the parking lot, we were directed to follow the signs and pull up to the first checkpoint, where a person verified I had an appointment. At the second checkpoint, a person scanned in my appointment and asked if my passenger had an appointment as well. I told the person “no,” and they said, “we have had a lot of people not show up tonight for their vaccination, so if your passenger would like to get vaccinated, they are welcome to do so.” I immediately accepted the offer for my daughter to get her vaccination, and we were directed to another spot where she could fill out her paperwork for getting a shot. Once my daughter completed her paperwork, we were sent to wait in a line where the vaccines were administered, and after a five-minute wait, we had our first vaccine. After we had our shots, we were directed to wait in a line of cars for fifteen minutes to ensure we did not have any adverse reactions to the vaccination. While waiting for the fifteen minutes, an individual came to our vehicle and scheduled our second vaccination appointment, which was a huge relief since going through the computer system the state had established was cumbersome. What was surprising to my daughter and me was that while we waited during that fifteen-minute time frame, a nurse came by to ask us how we were feeling. We both said we were okay and stated we were surprised that we could get through the vaccine process so quickly and how there were so few cars. The nurse told us that many people were skipping out of their appointsments out of fear of rumored side effects from the vaccine, which was why there was extra serum for individuals like my daughter, who had ridden along. So I had the right schedule for the right night for my daughter to ride along. And now my whole household has been inoculated, which is a relief after three times of being in quarantine. Whew!
• 2021-02-11

  Thoughts on vaccine hesitancy

  It feels like we are entering a new phase of the pandemic, one in which getting as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible in now the most important -- though not the only -- public health priority. Perhaps the biggest problem in getting people vaccinated is the on-going issue of vaccine hesitancy. One issue is that a significant portion of people in certain non-white communities seem hesitant to get the vaccine. On the one hand, this is understandable given the ugly history of scientific experiments being conducted on people of color. On the other hand, many of these communities have been hit disproportionately hard by the pandemic, and gaining herd immunity via vaccine is really the only viable way out. So I think it's imperative that a great effort is made to get these communities vaccinated. This should start with President Biden -- who won the presidency in large part because of support from the Black community -- and Vice-President Harris -- the first African American vice-president. Because both of them have a significant amount of credibility in this community, they really should prioritize a public campaign to convince people that the vaccine is both safe and absolutely necessary, and also that time is of the essence.
• 2021-02-11

  Star Trek and the Pandemic

  Since its release in 1966, Star Trek has been an inspiring and comforting series to millions of people around the world. It is unapologetically utopian and hopeful, and throughout the pandemic it has been of incredible utility to people suffering from isolation and other stress in their lives. Even though the pandemic has had little real impact on my day to day life, Star Trek has still remained my favorite piece of media to immerse myself in to feel a little better about the future. Set hundreds or even a thousand years in the future, Star Trek is a setting where diseases like Covid-19 have been wiped from the Earth permanently, and even unknown alien diseases can be cured and eliminated in just hours of study and research. No one suffers from homelessness or poverty, as replicators have enabled extremely high quality of life for everyone. For me, in a time when not only is there uncertainty about disease but also high degrees of political and societal stress, Star Trek is a breath of fresh air whenever I sit down to watch it. For a time I no longer have to worry about Q-Anon cultists ransacking the capital or about catching the disease. I have seen Star Trek referred to as "competency porn," and indeed that is exactly one of the things that appeals so much in this time of strife and angst. Unlike most pieces of media, Star Trek doesn't rely on failures of communication and other frustratingly real issues to drive its conflict and stories. Instead, each show is focused on extremely competent and intelligent characters who are able to work together to quickly and efficiently solve issues using their pooled knowledge, despite their differences. Through this I can revel in the utopian ideal of the show and believe even for just a moment that we could reach that point ourselves one day, even if for now our society is plagued by the very issues Star Trek posits we can overcome. One could call it escapism, but I think many people would agree that escapism is exactly what people need and want right now due to the ever-present and overpowering feeling of doom surrounding everything else.
• 2021-02-11

  Zoom Birthday "party"

  For this journal entry I plan to discuss the changes this pandemic is bringing to children and parents, and continue to discuss how their voices are silenced in this archive. My son’s sixth birthday was the other day, and I decided to host a Zoom get-together for him with his closest friends from school. It was awkward for me to text some moms I have not seen in ages because we do not go to the park anymore for play dates. This group of moms and kids would meet up on Fridays at this park the kids fondly called the “fish park” because it had a play structure with a big fish designed into it. The group got to be quite large at the beginning of 2020 with around eight families participating. As I write this, I am feeling very sad and missing those days when we were all together. We often would each bring something to snack on and share as a group. We were all there to help each other and of course socialize. It was a nice social group. It was also a friendship formed based on our children’s connection to each other. So, when the pandemic hit and play dates were out of the question, some of us drifted apart for a while. I remember when we first started learning about COVID-19, this was the hot topic of discussion in our Friday meetups. We debated and discussed and worried. They all thought I was crazy, I am sure, for going out and stocking up on food back in February because an official from the CDC told people to even back then. Later, they started to realize I was right and followed my lead before it was too late and the grocery stores started emptying out. Four of us formed a text group and have kept in almost daily contact with each other this last year. A lot of our conversation is supportive while we try to get through these challenging times as moms of small children. We share our worries and fears. We share our joys and survival tips. There have been lots of laughs, too. It has been a blessing to have this support group this year. We even met up in a park one Sunday morning last fall and spent the morning catching up. We were of course masked and sitting in chairs well over six feet apart. All these moms have made the same decision to keep their children at home. One mom decided to home school her children because she could not get adequate resourcing for her son who has autism and as a former teacher, she decided to take it on herself. Being online for school has been especially hard for children on the spectrum, I have been told by a few moms with children who are, because mainly their routine is messed up. Two of us have our children in the flex program and one moved hers to a new completely online school our district created to serve families during the pandemic. The flex program was for parents who are wishy washy on deciding whether to send their kids back to school. It is for us parents who were too scared to send their kids back so early (and had the privilege to keep them home) and optimistic that the virus would fade away enough and our kids could return relatively safe. It is not looking good that our children will return at all this year. Every quarter we say, oh maybe next quarter, and then the virus spreads in our community and the numbers tick up and we keep them home again. Anyway, the point is that my two kids have been home this entire time, almost a year, out of a brick-and-mortar school and not socializing with other kids in person. It has been very hard for them. They miss seeing their friends desperately. Obviously, a birthday party was out of the question so I decided to set up a Zoom “party” for my son yesterday to celebrate his birthday and so he could see his friends’ faces for a little bit. It did not work well. First off, I muted everyone to announce the plans and then could not figure out how to unmute everyone and that lead to tears and frustration. Kids kept leaving and coming back. Some would not participate in the games I tried to arrange. We played charades, would you rather, and did a little scavenger hunt by sending them to find objects of the various colors of the rainbow. My kids were not having it. My son was out of sorts which is not like him, and my daughter was so upset with me because I would not let her interrupt the games to play a video from her screen. So, she was pouting, and my son was pouting for some unknown reason. I think he was overwhelmed and just fatigued by it all. This is not what he wanted for a birthday party; I am sure. But I tried. I did the best I could with the circumstances, and I know some of the kids had fun even if the birthday boy did not. The bottom-line is that Zoom birthday parties are hard—harder to facilitate than in-person birthdays and wow do I give props to teachers who are doing this every single day. My son’s kindergarten teacher makes it look so easy! But I know it is not. I already had tremendous respect for teachers, but my respect has grown even more after this experience. I am very thankful for all they do for our children. They should be honored. The problem with this archive is the potential for silences. As I discussed last week, children will be silenced in this archive unless an adult writes their experiences for them. I am writing this story about this Zoom party for the archive and it is getting included, but it is still from my perspective. My son is not sharing what he felt during the party and how he has felt this year collectively. We may never know what he was thinking during the party because little kids move on and forget. At the very least though I have shared this experience from my point-of-view, which I am sure is a replication of thousands of parents and children’s experiences all over the world—at least the ones who have access to the internet and Zoom.
• 2021-02-04

  It Looks Like Its Not Just Me

  I came across this article about how many people are "hitting the wall" with COVID fatigue, and it helped me realize that my current state is not unique. Lately, I have been feeling the cumulative effects of the isolation that the pandemic has created. I feel less physically healthy, and mentally as well. Frankly, I do not think I am as mentally sharp as I was a year ago. It is at least comforting to know that I am not alone in this. There is also now hope that the pandemic will end and that life will return to some degree of its former normality, but it seems clear that this will take some time.
• 2021-02

  Vaccine

  I feel like I am running out of ideas for JOTPY entries so I thought I would share my excitement for my second vaccine appointment next week. While I know we still have a long road ahead with COVID-19, I am excited to take this next step for myself. The peace of mind will be worth it alone. It will be nice when the "plague year" is a memory rather than a current event following herd immunity.
• 2020

  Russian death rates of 2020 pike due to covid

  It is a newspapers article by a Russian media Medusa that demonstrates that Russia has one of the highest covid-related death rates in the world.
• 
  2021-02-10

  Ubiquity

  This is a personal piece, more like a little rant, about essential workers and the ubiquity of the virus.
• 
  2021-02-09

  A Field Trip to the Doctor

  What it's like to go to the doctor for a non-Covid19 reason.
• 
  2021-01-03

  Teachers Not Heard

  Parents of the high school I worked at for twenty-five years and where my husband and many friends are still working purchased this billboard to display the message of discontent for one month about how unhappy they are that their students are being subjected to online schooling. The school district named on the billboard has chosen to keep kids physically out of the district's high schools after the winter break due to the immense surge of Covid cases in Arizona. The billboard is disturbing to see since it implies that online learning and the teachers' efforts instructing the students online are not working, and students are failing. A few parents think that the teachers are not doing enough to teach their children and that their children are better off being physically in a classroom environment regardless of the exposure risks to Covid. The parents who posted the billboard do not realize that the teachers teaching online want to be back in their classrooms as much as students but that they want to be safe from unnecessary and potential exposure to Covid. Many teachers have health issues that could become fatal if they were to contract Covid; many teachers live in blended households where they take care of older family members at high risk of exposure to Covid. Many teachers and school employees have children at home learning online while they are teaching, and those teachers have to juggle being a professional and parent at the same time. All of the school district teachers are doing the best job that they can teaching online, juggling family issues for those with their own families sequestered at home. The teachers remain silent towards the public outbursts, such as the one posted on the billboard. Teachers are trying their best to be professional online and personally during this pandemic and refrain from lashing out at the cruelty of those who appear to be a privileged minority posting discontentment on a public billboard.
• 
  2021-02-05

  One year later - Erie Quiet

  This is a picture near Lattie F. Coor Hall at Arizona State University. Normally this area would bustling with students, but now, a year after the start of the pandemic, it remains empty and quiet.
• 2021-02-04

  I Don't Want It

  Did you go get your vaccine yet? Did you have a hard time scheduling? I'm trying to get my grandparents scheduled. Are you experiencing any symptoms? Is this your first or second dose? We will be able to meet in person soon for class now that the vaccines are rolling out... All the talk around school (Zoom) the past couple of weeks has been the vaccine. It's crazy to me that my classmates and professors (some of society's most educated individuals) ignore the fact that there are some people who don't want to be vaccinated for a number of reasons. I know that my colleagues know about the issues of distrust between the medical community and people that look like me. I, personally, don't want the vaccine because I have suffered from serious medical issues due to taking FDA approved medicines and doctors never disclosed the long-term effects and over-prescribed. I have to deal with the effects of this for the rest of my life. I don't trust medicine just because the government says it's ok to take. My personal experiences in addition to the numerous instances of medical abuse on the black body (the entire foundation of the study of gynecology, Tuskeegee, Henrietta Lacks, etc) have me refusing the vaccine. I don't have anyone around me that wants to be vaccinated or that talks about it so positively until I log on for class. But, I am also the only black person in any of my classes. I stay silent when the vaccination talks come up because I don't feel like my classmates care. They are trained to research and think critically. They know the history of abuse. Yet, they are totally blind to the fact that their assumptions that everyone will get vaccinated and the world will go back to normal are wrong. Being the only person that looks like me, I don't even want to try to defend my viewpoint because at the end of the day, I'll just be the angry black girl. When trying to move forward in life, especially in academia, you're often forced to be the silent black girl.
• 2021-02-04

  My Mother Will Be 80 Years Old This Week

  My mother will have her eightieth birthday this Sunday. She is not likely to share her story here. She has a computer and uses the Internet. However, she usually only looks at other people’s posts on Facebook and does not use Twitter at all. I will therefore tell some of her story myself. My mother has been stuck in her house for nearly a year now. She lives only a mile or two from each of us, so my sister and I get her groceries for her so she does not risk exposure to the virus. My mother was resistant to this for a while, from a combination of independence, a disinclination to impose on others, and a plain desire to get out of the house. My mother probably has not gotten a hug from anyone in nearly a year. We call her nearly every day, and we do visit with her on patio, but we always keep our distance. As much as she would like to see people more, she does not want to break social distancing. In her view, she has stuck with it this long and does not want to waste that effort. When I talk to my mother, she often expresses boredom. She reads, works on puzzles, watches television, and calls family (although she does not want to bother people). The other day I half-jokingly suggested that she spend some time writing her memoirs. It would be a gift for her children and grandchildren to record her life experiences. My mother has started writing several pages a day. She writes long-hand in a notepad, then types up what she wrote on her computer. I was amused when she told me this, because I have not written that way in more than thirty years, and younger generations likely could not imagine doing it this way. My mother made one of her rare trips outside the house last week. She was able to navigate the website and get herself an appointment for a COVID vaccination. I was rather proud of her for persistently navigating a website that I found confusing and difficult to use. Her persistence in seeking a vaccination speaks to her eagerness to get life back to normal.
• 
  2021-02-04

  My Grandma's Passing

  Travel restrictions and emotional impact.
• 2021-02-02

  First Round Vaccines!

  I stayed up late Monday night and headed over to my parents house around midnight. Their appointments were at 2:48 AM (and I had a time getting them appointments together), but we were planning to arrive early and expected to spend hours in line. I made myself a thermos of coffee and loaded an extra air tank into the car for my dad, in case the wait was longer than one tank’s capacity, and reminded both parents to bring their phones and tablets. It felt a little bit like loading up my niece and nephew for a road trip. We drove out to the stadium, the suburb’s quiet and empty, then followed the signs to the appropriate parking lot. It was surprisingly empty and I wove the car through the cones set up to guide a much longer line. We arrived at the first of three drive-thru tents, where my parents answered a set of questions about their health and medications. The car acquired a bit of caution tape on the side mirror and some notes on the window about blood thinners. At the third tent, they got their shots. We parked and waited thirty minutes rather than the standard fifteen since Mom has a penicillin allergy. They got their shots at 1:36 AM and we were released to leave at 2:06. We were back at their house before the original appointment time. I unloaded the air tanks and said my good nights then drove through the silent streets back to my apartment.
• 
  2021-01-31

  navalny came back to moscow

  the political protests in russia
• 
  2021-01-20

  WallStreetBets, Covid, and GameStop

  The story of GameStop, and my participation in the movement surrounding it in the stock market.
• 2021-02-02

  Silences in Archives, Some Hopeful Musings

  Gaps seem to be just about the only commonality among all public, digital, and academic history projects. One project simply cannot look at everything, nor should it. But this does not mean that each of these gaps should be considered silences. Silences in the archives are more specific. And they are typically the result of silences in the historical archives, left by those collecting the material or creating the documents. Silences can also appear naturally, for example, those who are either unaware of the Journal of the Plague Year, do not have the technical knowledge or infrastructure to access to it, are unaware that they are encouraged to participate, or who do not believe that the COVID19 pandemic is "real." In the present, they represent people who cannot or will not enter their stories into the archives. When large numbers of people in those groups do not contribute, that creates silences for the historians and humanists who will use the archive in the future to attempt to make arguments about 2020, and seemingly, 2021. The archive structure does not exclude these voices by design, but the tangible and intangible realities of the world that it is born into and built in does. And they are hard to account for, even in the most thoughtfully constructed projects and archives. Attempting to correct these silences by making entries on behalf of those perceived as "the silenced" does not always close the gap and sometimes actually silences them in favor of another's narrative. One exception might be that a tech-novice writes a story on paper, and a family member posts a photo of the paper with a verbatim transcription to the archive, listing the original author as its creator. Or assists with an audio recording as a piece of oral history and shares it. But to write stories about another, as another, seems disingenuous to the spirit of the project. Hopefully, if in 50 years the JOTPY is still a two-way street where material can be discovered as well as entered, historians, genealogists, and other humanists will scan, add, and upload the digital and analog records and accounts they find in their work, so that in 100 years historians have fewer silences to contend with. This future, of course, is reliant on sustainability, usually grounded in funding for digital projects and reliant on humanists interested in running it. Many digital public history projects are defunct online due to lack of sustainability and compatibility, and those recorded voices become lost, silencing and re-silencing them over again.