Items

• 
  2021-01-16

  In Grey

  It's an expression of my pain fro. Losing my daddy and it helps me to heal to tell the story thru music and video like this.
• 2024-07-23

  Why don't I remember most of Covid?

  I remember working remotely from my kitchen for my job. I remember watching movies. I remember being locked down and taking trips to the supermarket wearing masks. I remember avoiding touching things and copious amounts of hand sanitizer. I remember my parents getting older and using facetime to be able to see them. I remember them dying and not being able to take a flight across the country to be there. I remember that birthdays happened without parties. I remember having Covid after being vaccinated, being careful and giving up so much of life. I remember finding out that friends had passed away and not knowing they passed. I remember starting to make changes in the way I do things like open a door without touching the handle. I remember being concerned for the safety of others and wearing a mask for their protection. I remember being chastised for wearing a mask and people trying to shame me for it. I remember holding my breath when a person passed me on the street to reduce risk. I remember standing farther away from people in line and not talking to people. I remember not seeing a smile and not remembering to smile. I smile now. It takes effort but I smile now.
• 
  2021-02-17

  It took my world

  This is a photograph of my best friend, my mother. In December of 2020, we went to Disneyworld and came back with Covid-19. I was barely pregnant at the time, but my Covid symptom was only a cough. This cough would only hurt my uterus, so when I started to miscarry, I wasn’t too surprised. My mom, on the other hand, thought that her muscles were sore from walking around the parks for a few days. She had a cough and a bit of a fever, but was still walking around the house as we quarantined together. She was cold, which only ever happened when she was sick. One day, she didn’t leave her room because she was struggling to catch her breath if she did too much. She had me turn the heater on for her because of how cold she was under her blankets and comforter. She had been keeping her C-PAP machine on to give her the extra air support, but when we checked her oximeter, it was only at 70. So I called the paramedics like she asked me to, they came, we met them at the door, her vitals were taken, and they said that I could take her to the hospital or they could. I told her that I would drive. I had to take her to the emergency room that was not in our normal network because that’s what was open. I took her there with the expectation of getting her transferred the next day. When we called, the other hospital couldn’t take her because all of their beds were filled. So, she stayed there, and I couldn’t be with her because they were trying to keep the spread down. She was texting and FaceTiming me for the first 4 days that she was in the emergency room. On the 5th day though, she stopped responding. I called the hospital and they told me that she had spoken to her doctor and they had decided to put her on the ventilator to give her body a break for a few days. It was not a few days. On day 39 of her being on the ventilator, they lowered her sedation medication and she had no eye movement. So, I told them to let my brother go in and say his second final goodbye and to call me when they had ended her fight the next day. They called and said that she took a few seconds off of the ventilator before they called the time of her passing. I was alone now. My dad passed away in 2006 and my brother was a technical part of my family, but it was just me and my mom in the house still. Now, it was just me. A year later, I lost my home because I couldn’t get a loan approval to buy out my brother’s half of the equity. At that time, I was pregnant again with the baby girl that my mom dreamt of me having. This child that she had planned to be overly involved with, to play with, to snuggle, to kiss, and to have memories and adventures with. But now, the nursery would be someone else’s room. A stranger. Covid-19 took my baby, my mom, my house, my stability, and my will to love. I have been able to love my baby girl, but I am always comparing myself to my mother and thinking about how she could’ve been the best grandma. How she would’ve helped me. How we would’ve traveled to so many places together. And now, I struggle to pay rent on a single room. I leave my child at daycare 5 days a week and try to keep her there for each meal in case I don’t have enough to feed her. And I hide away from a lot of socializing because my mom was my favorite person to hang out with.
• 
  2023-12-14

  Aaron Danner Professor Clarke Comp II 13 Dec. 2023 COVID-19 Archive Entries

  During COVID, I unearthed some pre-existing online culture in certain spaces, like the larger Black online communities. With the pandemic especially disproportionately affecting communities of color, sometimes it could be fun to send photos back and forth, especially when there was nothing better to do. These entries into "A Journal of the Plague Year: The COVID-19 Archive" somewhat reflect my background (black, chronically online, good music enjoyer). Through careful consideration, the images above contribute to the COVID-19 Archive by centering on the Black online experience during the period. Entry 1: Photo - "I’ll take the seen bro" This photo, posted sometime in 2022, directly references group chat culture and highlights the isolation that such online social hubs sort of erased, to some degree, which provided an outlet from which experience further caused damaging effects. In the span of the 36-odd months between the start of covid 2020 and this time Fall of 2023, many things surrounding sociability changed. This entry envisions the underlying happy-sadness within the digital spaces at the time. We were thankful to have someone to share these posts with even if we couldn’t see them in real life. By the presumed “end” of COVID, many become “chronically online”, or at the least, the youth became even more enthralled with social media communities than before. Saying “I’ll take the seen” demonstrates a joking willingness to sacrifice one’s online profile (an exaggerated act) concerning group chat message viewing and response. Entry 2: Photo - Sosa in the Ukraine” Also from around 2022 (speculatively), entry #2 involves an enlarged edit of Chief Keef along over a cityscape with the caption “On the way to Ukraine 🚶💥🔫🏃‍♂️.” This edited image of Chief Keef (@chiefkeefsosa on Instagram) reflects on the early stages and meme culture of the COVID-19 period Ukraine conflict. The transcendent Chicago star posted this image as the conflict overseas began to heat up. During this time, the underlying danger of the war as well as the widespread long-term effects of the pandemic were still fresh on the internet. The post’s lighthearted attitude was quickly absorbed by the rest of the internet, where the image continued to circulate. Surely, future researchers will unearth photos like these in amazement at how simple memes assisted so many in pain during isolated periods. They helped maintain comedic and cultural connections despite physical distancing measures. Circulation and archival of images from the Black community, from the pandemic period, will provide a more complete record for the future.. The selected items offer a window into the complexities of the Black experience during the pandemic, shedding light on both the challenges faced and the enduring spirit of resilience and resistance that defines the Black community. Through these submissions, I invite a more comedic perspective of the socio-cultural impact of the pandemic, ensuring that this part of the COVID narrative won't be forgotten.
• 
  2021-04-28

  Til' Death Do Us Part

  I've included a text story and video of the first time I traveled since the the massive Covid lockdown in March 2020. This text and video are important to me because not only was it a brave thing to do after being confined for so long, but it was also a defining moment in my adult life. I am now married as a result of that trip.
• 
  2020

  Life of a Trini during the Covid 19 Pandemic

  My story talks about difficulty I experienced during the pandemic
• 
  2020-04-14

  Training Terrorism

  Ongoing internal displacement.
• 
  2023-07-19

  COVID-19 Archive Story_H. Crowder

  I have uploaded a personal story of how COVID-19 impacted my life; and how, in my mind, there is a before and after, two different sections of my life. I also observe the changes that were influenced by the Pandemic.
• 
  2020-09-20

  Unconventional Joy on the Green

  It was a bright, sunny, and cheerful day in Staten Island, NY, as three boys embarked on a mission. Their goal was to create an amazing YouTube video that would uplift people's spirits during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Frankie Cappello, Johnny Philp, and Christian Pineda, best friends for many years, shared the dream of becoming full-time content creators, entertaining millions worldwide. In this particular video, the boys headed to La Tourette Golf Course to film a prank-filled adventure, intending to bring smiles to others' faces. The first prank was orchestrated by Frankie, who pretended to swing a golf club (which was actually a selfie stick) and hilariously failed, exclaiming as he claimed to have fallen on his behind, surprising nearby golfers.

 For the second prank, Johnny and Christian approached a group of golfers, aiming for a "meaningful" conversation. Little did they know, the adult golfers decided to prank the boys by offering them a can of beer and jokingly asking if they were familiar with the popular song "WAP" by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. 

After successfully capturing these moments on film, Frankie's sister Ava took a snapshot that would later become the video's thumbnail and a cherished symbol of their friendship. Following a long night of editing by Johnny, the video was uploaded to YouTube the next day, forever preserving the memories and spreading joy among the boys and their supporters.
• 
  2023-06-20

  Finally got COVID

  I finally got sick with COVID after 3 years. I went on a cruise to celebrate my fiancé’s graduation and had to remove my mask when the heat was so bad in Mexico, Belize, and Honduras. I’m mostly worried about getting my fiancé sick who is disabled, but hopefully we don’t live together just yet. I’m currently being isolated in my parents house watching people stream on Twitch.TV and playing Animal Crossing. I had a fever of 101 yesterday, and hopefully am able to return to work on Friday which means I’ll be able to represent my work at Hampton Roads Pride on Saturday. Since it’s pride month, me getting COVID feels very homophobic
• 
  2021-11-30

  Project Hospitality on the Frontlines of Covid

  This video was put together by our development department. It showcases the work Project Hospitality has done during the pandemic.
• 
  2020-07-27

  Empty Rockefeller Center

  During the height of Covid, when New York City first went into lockdown, it was surreal to say the least. I think the last time the city was so empty and void of life was 9/11, so to see it again in 2020 really highlighted just how severe the situation was. Two of my sisters, who are a nurse and hospital manager, talked about being in the city for work, and practically being the only ones working in person, and it feeling like some kind of post apocalyptic movie. I remember around May of 2020, I helped my other sister move out of her dorms at #NYU, and it took about 15-20 mins to get to the bottom of Manhattan (Union Square) from The Bronx, due to the lack of fellow cars on the road. To see such a highly populated and lively city such as NYC turn into a ghost town almost overnight was something of a shock. It was one thing to see photos, and speak on how insane the situation was, but to actually be in the heart of Manhattan at this time was… well scary. So, seeing such a busy area such as Rockefeller center be completely empty is insane to say the least, and brings up a sad reminder of just how bad things were in the initial stages of the pandemic.
• 
  April 23rd, 2020

  Hospital During Lockdown

  What Hospitals were like doing during lockdown
• 2022-06-15

  Preventing the Inevitable

  When travel restrictions were lifted, my family and I did not travel right away. We waited about a year until we felt it was safer to travel. When that year arrived, we decided to take a pre-pandemic planned trip that was canceled due to Covid. We traveled to Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Chi Chen Itza, and Xcaret in Mexico. As you can see, we were anxious to travel the world. The main reason we decided to go to Mexico as our first trip during Covid was that it was economical for a family of ten. Additionally, Mexico was very lenient with Covid restrictions which made it easier for us to travel One of the most memorable memories was to have watched my kids have so much fun while learning and visiting a country they had never been. As for myself as a History teacher, one of the experiences I will never forget was visiting Chi Chen Itza as I was able to see History with my own eyes and learn more about the locals, community, and culture. With all these great memories that I had as much as we protected ourselves by wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, using hand sanitizer at all times, and all of us fully vaccinated. Half of the family ended up testing positive for Covid while in Mexico. The one thing we were avoiding the most ended up happening during our first trip since Covid began. While Mexico did not have restrictions to enter their country for tourism, the United States at that moment had a policy that all returning travelers must have a negative Covid test prior to boarding the plane. two days prior to our departure the restriction was lifted, and my family was able to return back to the US without having to wait out in Mexico and extend the trip. Since the family was so conscious of Covid we made sure we had KN95 masks at all times, did not share items, and reduced the amount of contact in order to not spread the virus which is what helped half of the family not get it. Overall, this was a trip that we will never forget. We had a blast and would love to visit the country another time. We would continue to be safe while traveling even if there are no restrictions. Covid has really changed how I live my life, especially during travel. What I have submitted is important to me because it will become a record in history in sharing my personal experience during the pandemic. It is also important to me to demonstrate that this area in Mexico is heavily dependent on tourism. While I was there, I met people from countries that had a lot of travel restrictions, and due to Mexico having almost none, it was a very popular traveling destination.
• 2022-11-21

  Why?

  At the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic, my dad was (and still is) a skeptic. He would always ask, "Why do some people get Covid, and others don't? How does the virus choose it's victims?" As the Pandemic continued to grow and spread, my step-mother and I got Covid at the same time. My dad took care of both of us, yet he still did not get Covid. We all survived. Then, the vaccine shots came out, and my dad said, "Hey, I never got it. Why should I take something, when I never got it in the first place?" He did not get the vaccine, while the rest of the family did. Then, my step-mother and I got Covid for a second time. We survived again. Dad said, "I never got the vaccine, and I never got Covid. You guys get the vaccine, and you have it twice. I don't understand at all." To this day, Dad still has not gotten Covid and still refuses to get the vaccines.
• 
  2022-07-12

  Email to project coordinator of SMhopes

  I hope Santa Monica will use its resources to clean up the streets from urine and feces instead of covering it up with art. A good power wash plus a lawsuit against LA county for wasting our tax money that was supposed to go to affordable housing would make me much happier than beautiful art in a smelly street. COVID made this worse. Art won't make it better. Please do something. Anything.
• 
  0031-03-22

  Pandemic songs - modern classics reworded

  For about 18 months during the main phase of the pandemic, I sent a daily covid (numbers and rates) tracker to a large number of colleagues in the Health and Social Care community in Plymouth. From October 2021 to March 2022, on each Friday I also included, with the covid tracker, a reworked pop song with Covid-related lyrics. It was a bit of fun, but people loved it and some Teams actually had a sing along to the new release each Friday. Depending on your age, you may know some of them. If nothing else, it made people look at the tracker.
• 
  2022-04-22

  The Shanghai Lockdown. Seen from Another Angle

  This is a screenshot of an article from globalresearch.ca about looking at the most recent Shanghai Lockdown. Yet, the article does not talk about the Shanghai lockdown until maybe halfway through the article. It goes on a tirade about how the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak went after the "Chinese race" and how it became an early trial for China before COVID. Then the author states that China has "mastered the disease" and managed to reopen its economy by the end of 2020, which leads to the conclusion that China's economic growth hardly suffered during the newest outbreak. The author asserts that China will surpass the U.S. economy in 3-4 years and then launches into a world history lesson about Cold War politics. The author tends to wander in the article, going from pandemic skepticism on vaccines sterilizing women, being lied to the government, or having HIV ingredients. Then somehow, Ukraine has virus labs...I don't know. Somehow, Russia is involved in this article, but I'm not sure why. I don't know how this is supposed to persuade its audience because the author goes all over the place with his points. I suppose skeptics will like the fact that the vaccine is being questioned here? Personally, I don't even understand why skeptics would want to read this because I think they would lose even more brain cells from just trying to read it. I think this article is just a gigantic mess and it makes my brain hurt. I find myself just not understanding a single thing that is being written in this article. I don't understand why anyone would even understand or like this article. It literally makes absolutely no sense and there are even typos in it. The look of this website and article makes me want to run my virus protection at least three times because I feel like they're going to infect my computer with a Trojan horse.
• 2022-05-07

  Covid

  I have never been one who went out and played or had activities. I like to play video games. However, during the past couple years everything has been pretty tough on everyone. I find myself getting frustrated that many places are closed to me and how boring college life is. I started college two years ago and it was miserable. All there was to do was just to sit in my dorm and play games, watch movies, and do homework. There wasn't any fun in college anymore with the effects of covid. As of now I feel drained in almost every way possible, I am usually an A student and now I am becoming a more C student and it frustrates me and angers me yet I still can't find any motivation to try harder. With the past couple of years all I would like to do is just take a break from everything and just work for a year or so then jump back into it.
• 
  2022-05-04

  Families during COVID

  A popular narrative across several media platforms is that Covid-19 brought together families. Thanks to Covid-19, we were forced to gain a new sense of appreciation for our family and those dearest to us. Not only that, but it forced us to spend more time with our families away from digital technology, work, and other factors that strained family relationships. For the most part, this is true. Lockdown and quarantine forced us to reflect. However, the extent to which this was true is questionable. When you think of essential and frontline workers the first thing that comes to mind are health care employees such as doctors or nurses, however, a subcategory that often gets overlooked are those important for the continuous function of our economy and society. This includes individuals who operate and work in food and agriculture, transportation, education, public work, general merchandise, maintenance, janitors, etc. While a majority of the world was shutting away at home, making use of the additional time they have with their family, this wasn’t possible for certain people. Specifically parents who were forced to continue working during chaotic and fear fueled moments. At extreme cases, some parents weren’t present at all at home because of Covid. In my case, both my parents were extremely absent during the beginning of lockdown. Not because they wanted to, but because they had to. With lockdown in course, my mother and sister were not able to return home, getting stuck in another country for over five months or so. The process to return was not easy. There were all these requirements that needed to be met that were not available and or accessible in El Salvador, a third world country struggling as it is to have some form of control over the virus. When we thought she would be able to return, then El Salvador initiated their lockdown. It became this back and forth cycle of possibility and hope of having our family together, healthy and safe. My father on the other hand had to continue showing up to work, working ridiculous hours. When the whole world including my father was consumed by fear and confusion, there was no room to process and plan. My father, an employee of a multinational beverage corporation, experienced no change in his routine. On the contrary, besides wearing a mask, everything remained the same; crowded working spaces, no social distancing, etc. My sisters and I questioned why he continued to go to work knowing the danger that posses to not only his health and safety but also ours. His reason was “because the world doesn’t stop. There are still expenses and bills to pay regardless so not showing up is not an option.” This made me question just how many parents continue to work because they need the money to survive, especially at the beginning of the pandemic when many businesses were taking advantage of the short supply of items such as disinfecting spray, wipes, toilet paper, etc. and committing price gouging, knowing people were desperate for such things. That being said, stories as such continue to expose the disproportionate disadvantages that many low income communities and working classes face. Not only that but the additional strains placed on several families because of Covid and just how important resource and accessibility is.
• 2022-04-29

  Dementia and Covid

  Over the last two years, being away from people, and having to social distance, I have still taken care of my grandfather. He has Dementia. Now that things are starting to get a little better, and a lot of people have been vaccinated, I have been able to have him come stay the night at my house every Friday. The first couple of times he was confused, but now he seems to instinctively know the routine of it all. He likes getting to spend time with my stepdad and my girlfriend, and walk outside to see the horses. Covid has taken a lot, besides the countless lives. It rapidly increased my grandpa’s progression in memory loss. Most days he can’t quite remember my name or my mom's name. But at least he is happy, he laughs and smiles, and knows that he loves and trusts us. Him not being able to have as much social interaction as he used to has drastically changed his cognitive abilities. Today is a Friday. He was pretty quiet on the drive from his house to mine. I got him an ice cream cone. No matter where he is cognitively that man will always, always want an ice cream cone. Vanilla to be specific. We used to get ice cream cones from McDonald's when I was little when he would pick me up to spend the night at his house. I wonder how many ice cream cones we have left. I hate that his memory has been cut short and stripped from him. He had been slowly declining for the last few years before Covid, but once we hit the lockdowns, it was all over. He was good at hiding it for the first 6 months or so, but in the last year and a half it has been very clear. I miss who he was, I know we all do.
• 
  2020-04-03

  My Neighbors and I

  My neighbors and I have known each other for multiple years, and are good friends. They came from India as immigrants back in 2000 and started a family, eventually moving in right next to us about two years before the pandemic. Once COVID hit, our usual Saturday night bonfires together came to a halt as we wanted to be safe and not spread the potential infection. Instead, they bought an entire fire pit off Amazon, and through the trees each Saturday night we continued our Saturday night bonfires together, just not next to each other. This was honestly a beautiful experience because no matter what we found a way to continue to connect with each other in a safe and timely manner! We still keep in contact to this day and reminisce on our old memories as neighbors.
• 
  2020-04-26

  A World Apart

  Nearly a decade ago, I immigrated to South Africa. At the time of the start of the pandemic, my partner and I had been struggling with our visa papers and it had been 7 years of fighting with Home Affairs. March 2020 saw the closure of Home Affairs, a national state of emergency with nearly a year of stay-at-home orders from the government, curfew, and limited access to the public sphere, and for the first time, a reprieve from the nightmares of the immigration process. Just like that, in a single memo to the public, Home Affairs resolved all of its bureaucracy, in favour of public safety, and my partner and I were able to stay in the same place together for over 18 months. The longest we'd been able to stay together since immigrating. In a situation that saw so much upheaval, pain, uncertainty, and widespread panic, I found precious moments of peace and safety. I felt lucky and guilty all at once. Living in a rural forest community in the mountains, with my nearest neighbour over a mile away, stay-at-home orders had little impact on my daily life and I was able to relish time at home with the people who mean the most to me. All the while, stories of social and political dissent and unrest played a continual reminder that not all was right with the world, that my experience was unique and world's apart from the collective pandemic experience. I was made painfully aware that this global phenomenon, one that connected people so thoroughly and completely, was a deeply and fundamentally separate experience for myself. I have a privileged, unique, and unusual story of joy and peace experiencing the pandemic. As an American in another country, I was able to see first hand what a nation with limited resources could do when it decided to put public health and safety above all else. The pandemic provided me with my very first experience of feeling wholly communally supported, safe, and protected. This is a story I want to share because so many people were deeply traumatised by their government's response to covid and the subsequent fallout of the lack of support, and for them to know that it was no failing on their part for feeling like they were put through a meat grinder. Every single person on this planet deserved to experience the ease and simple joy that I was granted, and in a world with such immense wealth, there is honestly no excuse for why my experience was so unique.
• 
  2020-07-17

  Going away to Paradise

  Going away to Paradise during the Pandemic was the most beautiful moment for me and my family. Connecting with nature and seeing the big blue sea of the Caribbean and its beautiful white sand beach. After all the hectic moments of surviving COVID and saying thanks to mother nature for its amazing glory. Thank you, God, and thank you to the great family that I have. #REL10
• 2020-03-16

  March 16th, 2020

  On the morning of March 16th, myself along with millions of other people around the world woke up to go to school and work like any other day. There had been talks in the news recently of some new disease in Asia, but us Americans weren't too worried. As the day progressed, whispers and talks around campus began to swirl, with the rumor that we would be getting a free week off of school to see what affects COVID-19 will have as a few cases began to spurt up around the country. Me and my friends were just excited to be getting a 2 week spring break, but what we didn't know was that this would be the last time at school for awhile, and this would change our lives forever. After that first week had passed, it was announced we would not be returning to campus in person for the remainder of the school year. Fear of the unknown began to sink in. What had life become? How will I live my every day life now? Will I survive? People always learn about history in the classroom and on the internet, and now I was living through a part of history that will be talked about and remembered forever.
• 
  2022-01-18

  Is ‘fat positivity’ healthy or dangerous? COVID puts the question in stark relief

  This is a news story from New York Daily News by Cathy Young. This is an opinion piece questioning what body positive activists have been claiming about obesity and COVID, with many claiming weight has little to no effect on recovering from COVID. Quoting the CDC, Young says that obesity puts people at greater risk of dying from COVID than those of normal weight. Other parts of this opinion piece deal with the language surrounding the body positive movement, and how there is no distinction made between listening to medical advice and getting harassed. The author says that this is a major issue because it makes it so people reject sound medical advice at the expense of their own health. She says that while outright harassment is cruel, genuine concern and wanting people to improve their well-being is not. There is also criticism towards feminist writers in this article, such as Kate Manne, a philosophy professor from Cornell University, that claims all dieting is "morally bad." Young acknowledges that dieting can be unhealthy, but it is not unhealthy in and of itself. She thinks that if you have realistic goals, maintaining a healthy weight is not impossible. At the end, Young explains that this body positivity movement is destructive towards people, and that those struggling with weight issues should be met with compassion, but not "acceptance." This essay shows some of the social impacts of COVID. With some people reporting weight gain during lockdowns, it is easy to see why body positivity would be encouraged as a result. Though, since obesity puts one at higher risk for more complications with COVID, or any other disease for that matter, it should not be encouraged, in my own opinion. It is one thing to be shaped differently, it is quite another to accept being obese when it poses many health risks.
• 
  2021-01-05

  The Covid Pandemic as a Senior in Highschool

  The website that I am linking describes what happened to students all over the world in March of 2020 when all students in schools and universities had to go on lockdown and switch abruptly to complete online learning. This is an important covid-19 related topic to me because I was a senior in high school during that time, and I really struggled with my mental health, academic achievements, responsibilities, body image, and just overall my whole life. This article isn't as personal as it could get, but it gives a good historical and general idea of what student experience during the pandemic was like.
• 
  2022-04-09

  Covid sped up my great grandmothers death

  My great grandmother was diagnosed with dementia and was living in a nursing home for a few years, she started to get worse when the pandemic started so but we weren't able to visit her due to covid-19. She began to become very depressed due to the lack of visits and her son (my grandfather) had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in June and was given up to 6 months to live. My grand father died on October 19th of 2020, my great grandmother caught covid while in her nursing home and on November 20th 2020 my great grandmother died from covid-19. Even though she was dying of dementia, covid sped up the process and caused her to die alone in a nursing home. I couldn't even burry her like she would have wanted because the nursing home had her cremated for contamination purposes. I would give anything to be able to hold her hand as she passed and give her a proper funeral that she would have wanted but covid compromised this.
• 
  2022-04-05

  Big Changes to a Small Island

  At the "heart" of Polynesia, (referring to its geographic location in the Polynesian triangle) American Samoa appears as another tiny dot on the map. Nevertheless, it means the WORLD to its 55,000+ people, and to some, it is all they have ever known as their home. It is also the southernmost territory of the United States (below the Equator) and the second to the last place on earth to always welcome the New Year LAST. Perhaps it coincidently depicts the slow-paced nature of the island to which many visitors claim that "it feels like time slows down", here at a piece of heaven on earth that is deeply rooted in the Christian faith and the "Fa'aSamoa", a.k.a the Samoan culture or literally, the "Samoan way of life". The people of our island are like a big tight-knitted family--we are all related anyway--when something good or bad happens on the west side of the island, news travels to the east faster or about the same as the speed of light! It has its disadvantages, but for the most part, it is a beautiful thing to see the collective reaction of our people when it is of happiness, support, and sympathy. When the coronavirus started spreading rapidly in the United States in early 2020, our territory continued its commercial flights until mid-March when Hawaii's cases started to rise. Since March 2020, our borders were closed to commercial travel for the next 11 months, not including cargo flights and ships. Residents were stuck in the States for nearly a year. The first of many repatriation flights finally began in February 2021. The repatriation flights took place once a month, during which passengers would undergo a strict process of testing and reporting, a quarantined stay in Hawaii for 12 days, and another 2-weeks quarantine upon arrival in American Samoa. Throughout all repatriation and medical flights, the quarantine process was still a requirement, which was how positive cases were caught and taken care of to prevent community spread. Fast forward to February 2022, exactly a year later, news of a COVID outbreak quickly spread when it was leaked on social media that the family of a Department of Health worker tested positive for COVID at the main hospital. The general public was seeking answers and taking their concerns on social media until later on that same evening the said family tested positive, the local news channel held a Livestream in which the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and the COVID-19 Task Force officially announced the community outbreak of the virus. People rushed to the stores to buy necessities and food before the lockdown was set to begin at midnight. The lockdown was marked as Code Red, with curfews from 9pm to 4:30 am, and business hours to be from 8am to 4pm, while all government workers and non-essential employees are to stay home, except essential workers and first-responders. Students transitioned to virtual learning and now interact in class with options such as "raise hand" and/or "mute/unmute". Our people had to adjust very quickly to the new reality we now face. A small island once free with family gatherings, church services, and close human interaction as we are known for...now all of that sounds like a distant memory that will take some time to experience again. Beaches and parks used to be crowded with people and all the happiness they offer their surroundings, now empty and eerily quiet with a "CLOSED" sign nearby. We are masking up everywhere--with little to no physical interaction--so far with 4,700+ cumulative positive cases and a total loss of 7 souls, which has hit our dearest island with extreme sorrow. While the world has moved forward and learned to live with COVID, even opening back up and unmasking, our island is once again a little behind with the experience. It is only the beginning for us! Fortunately, our unwavering faith in God continues to be our ultimate Hope, along with the support of our loving families, beloved people, the United States, and our fellow Pacific islands. One thing we are sure of is that WE ARE RESILIENT PEOPLE, having overcome many challenges for centuries! This too shall pass...on the bright side, in order for it to pass, our journey with COVID had to begin. Now we must go through it, endure it, and overcome together AS one like we always do! God be with us...God IS with us.
• 2022-03-25

  How COVID Changed my Marriage

  I got married in May of 2019. When I got married, I had no idea something like COVID would happen and change the dynamics I had with my husband. COVID happened the first few months into our marriage. With it, my husband had to start working from home. I won't lie and say it wasn't an issue with my husband having to not be in the office anymore. I felt like I couldn't do as many things, as my husband had to talk to clients and go to meetings, where I couldn't be too loud. Another thing I wasn't used to at the beginning of all of this was seeing my husband far more often than just before or after work. With that, I had to learn to communicate better with any issues I had instead of bottling it up as much. As we were together more, I had to learn to accommodate for that. From reading news stories early in 2020, not everyone was able to make their marriages work, and ended up getting divorced after some spouses were made to work from home. I think that is one thing people aren't always aware of being an issue in a marriage. Sometimes too much time together can have the opposite effect, especially if communication was already shaky even before the pandemic. There were a few times I did get angry with my husband for not feeling like I was being understood. With him being at the apartment more, there were more opportunities for me to get annoyed with him. At some points though, the anger wasn't even really his fault, but my own for not dealing with the lockdowns well mentally in addition to forgetting to take medicine or do other tasks. I had to learn to speak more openly about these issues rather than letting them linger. Funnily enough, it wasn't until February of this year that we both really learned to talk to each other more productively. The big fight we had was partly from me feeling jealous of how my husband would talk to his friends more often than he would me, as for a while by that point, we had gotten into a routine during COVID of both of us being on our phones way more than we should be. We later had to come to the agreement to set aside specific time for each other without using our phones. It has already been over a month since that change, and the relationship has improved drastically. Some of my habits that I made to help cope with COVID and general anxiety issues kept me from having as solid a relationship with my husband. Intimacy was another issue that came up due to my husband working from home. Even though we physically saw each other more often, we didn't kiss nearly as much as we used to. I think that sometimes kissing goes to the wayside if people become too busy. This was something we ended up having multiple discussions on, as we wanted to show more affection with each other, but did not think to do it. Overall, the biggest changes that happened in my relationship with my husband because of COVID was the way we communicated. Being together in person more often meant we had to work through multiple issues we had prior to COVID or because of COVID. Being alone together more often may seem like an ideal situation to some people looking from the outside, but with it can bring a host of new issues. Some people during the pandemic learned this the hard way and ended up getting divorced. The problems me and my husband have had were not unsolvable, but they take some maturity to work through without it causing resentment. I think sometimes of what it would have been like if COVID never happened early on into our marriage, and now I am glad some of it did, because I have become a better wife and am able to meet my husband's needs better than before. Life really did hand me one very tart lemon by having to deal with a pandemic the first few years in marriage, which many say are some of the most vulnerable years for a couple. That tart lemon has since been made sweet, but only because both of us were able to recognize problems and figure out ways to help each other.
• 
  2022-03-16

  School Shootings, I don't miss them.

  This is a ParentSquare message from the superintendent from the school district that I work at. A student from the Online school that our district provides as an alternative for students because of COVID-19 decided it was a good idea to shoot at fellow students. This is particularly frustrating for me as a school employee because this student put other students in danger and ended the life of at least one student. Actions like this also put the school employees or outside civilians in danger if they get caught in the crossfire. Gang activity has become an issue in this town and I fear there will be more retaliation and the cycle of violence will continue. This will likely interrupt the student's education even more because of fear or fascination, probably just as much as COVID has. It has become increasingly difficult to engage some students with their students because they are behind maturity-wise after a year of being online due to COVID and this school shooting is not helpful.
• 2020-06-27

  Graduation

  This picture, it is showing me having my high school graduation in a parking lot. All having to stand 6 feet apart, outside and listen to our names being read off through the speaker of our cars. Not your typical graduation from high school and I'll never get to go back and have one because of covid.
• 2022-02-06

  A never ending battle on COVID-19

  It’s been nearly two years since the start of the pandemic, and if you ask some people, the state of this disaster hasn’t improved a whole lot. I turned 20 a few days ago, which marks my second birthday that has passed since the official start of Covid, which if I’m remembering correctly was March 13th, 2020. I’ll never forget the announcement made over the Pine Richland High School loudspeakers that day. Sitting in the back of the statistics classroom, the statement told us that we would have no school for the next two weeks, which at the time beat any time off we’d ever had prior. Fast forward two years later and we still wear masks indoors. We still have to wash or sanitize our hands after just about any surface we touch to hope we don’t get the virus. Even more importantly, I haven’t been able to see some of my family for years now. Driving all the way out to New York would be risky since they aren’t in the best health, and it’s not worth taking any chances with how bad this virus can be for some people. The worst part of it all has to be that we don’t know when this is going to end. It’s been long enough that the pandemic has become political, with rivalries between those who choose and refuse to get the vaccine, but will it ever stop? Will there ever be a point in time that we can all feel safe enough to be able to do anything without living in fear of this virus? I never expected to be sitting here years after this all started writing how just about anything is still affected by Covid, but I guess I’ve gotten used to it. After all of this, though, the whole “you never know what you got until it’s gone” saying really does remain true.
• 
  2022-02-03

  Zero attendance sports games

  As a lifelong hockey fan, specifically for the New York Rangers, it was highly disappointing to find out that the rest of the 2019-2020 season would continue without the attendance of fans at Madison Square Garden due to lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Watching every hockey game at home simply did not compare to being able to witness the firsthand action of rocket slapshots, massive hits, and gruesome fights seen up close in person. Although, I am fortunate that the rest of the season continued, and I was able to see the Rangers compete in the playoffs despite them being eliminated in the first round. Yet, the beginning of lockdown was indeed a scary time for most people. There was no anticipated end to quarantine restrictions nor an end in sight to the highly contagious virus itself. Writing this excerpt two years later, thankfully, the vaccine and the use of masks has allowed for regular attendance to return to most sports arenas and stadiums nationwide. Hopefully, we will find a permanent solution to the virus itself in the future and continue normal sports activities restriction-free!
• 
  2022-01-03

  It finally happened

  We’re two months short of the two year anniversary of the Covid outbreak here in the US. My family of four followed the rules, masked up, quarantined and my husband and I were vaccinated as soon as we were able. This holiday season we found ourselves living life as we had before Covid, we got too comfortable. Our children are small and we were still unsure if we wanted to get our six year old vaccinated. We went into public spaces unvaccinated, participated in all the family Christmas festivities and then we got sick. I thought it was a cold at first and then one day it dawned on me that my sense of smell and taste were gone. Then the guilt and shame set in. We got too comfortable, we lost sight of the fact that Covid is not gone. People are still dying. My husband and I are fine, it’s like a cold with the added adventure of not being able to taste anything. I worry for my kids though. I feel guilty that we didn’t get my oldest vaccinated. I hate to watch her fight this with only over the counter medication to help her. I feel for my three year old. I hope they don’t get worse. This was a rude awakening for us all, Covid is not gone.
• 
  2020-03-24

  Sample Virtual Learning Schedule for Middle Schoolers

  When we returned from spring break in 2020, we were sent a PDF of a sample schedule. Online school was mostly asynchronous (async) for a few weeks before we switched to a live virtual format. We would usually have one or two synchronous advisories per day and the rest of the day would be independent work. I had just returned early from a family vacation and we had only just begun quarantining. When we received this schedule, we still thought that the shutdown would only last a few weeks before life would return to normal and this schedule marks the very beginning of my pandemic experience.
• 
  2020-11-05

  Life as a Student during Covid

  Living on a college campus during a pandemic had many stuggles. You had to get creative with ways to spend your time.
• 
  2020-05-04

  An Empty Street of Times Square

  This photo was taken in Times Square during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. As someone who lives near the always bustling square, it broke my heart to see it so depressing and empty. This pandemic has prompted the question of whether city life will be able to survive Covid-19. Seeing the city so lifeless made me realize how reliant on tourism New York City is. All of the iconic activities that New York is known for, going to restaurants, museums, broadway shows, all had been canceled. However, despite the difficulties, the city maintained a positive attitude, with motivational messages to frontline workers and medical professionals displayed throughout Times Square.
• 
  2021-10

  Covid Online Zoom Memes

  These memes show just how "zooming" was while doing school when we went online because of the Covid pandemic. Waking up and going to class was never easier. How it usually went is I would set my alarm for 5 minutes before class, make my coffee downstairs with my blankets wrapped around me and sit back down, just like it shows in the one meme I attached. Another way I would do things is set my alarm 2 minutes before class, login to zoom and go right back to sleep with my audio on only. I think many people can relate to these memes from the past year and it really sums up how online school or work went while on zoom. It is unforgettable.
• 
  2020-03-17

  Senior Year of High School

  Back in March of 2020 when Covid first hit, I will never forget when my school was on an extended 2 week spring break because of Covid scares. At the time, I was a senior and we were getting ready for all of the end of the year fun things going on. Unfortunately, that got cut short. During this 2 week time off- it continued to get extended and eventually we got officially put online until the rest of the year. It was very sad for us seniors as we had no idea that day back in March would be our last day of high school. I cried as well did many of my friends as we did not get a proper end or proper goodbyes to our high school experience. Never did I think walking into school would I not be able to have a real graduation because of a virus. Graduation ceremony was online as they put photos of each graduate. It was all very depressing and a sad way to end the year. No one saw this coming and I as well all high school or college seniors around the world will never forget it. I cannot wait till tell my children about this in hope everything is back to normal in the way future and that they can properly graduate.
• 2021-12-10

  An Instructional Aid's Unusual Everyday Life at an Elementary School in 2021

  12/10/21 Once I enter the school, I must be wearing a mask and have cleaned/sanitized my hands. Once I reach my classroom, I see a clean and disinfected classroom. It is part of my job to make sure the students stay in a safe, risk-free environment where they can learn without the fear of transmitting diseases such as COVID. I use special wipes that were given to eveery classroom that is specifically designed to kill germs found in COVID-19 strains when I wipe desks, chairs, toys, books, ect. Pencils have always been kept in the classroom and now, so are lysol spray bottles! When the kids get to class, they must keep their masks on, or they atleast try to. I work with SPED, so it's hard for them to follow this rule consistently for various reasons, i.e., the feeling of the mask might be too much stimulation for them at times. They sanitize their hands before and after each recess, as well as lunch, and when they need to use the restrooms, only two students are permitted in the bathroom at a time. This is to reduce traffic, therefore keeping the children safer from germs and contamination. Lastly, before the students go home, I clean and disinfect everything all over again, for their safety, as well as mine. Being an instructional aid also means being a cleaning nanny!
• 2020-04-29

  Giving Birth During The Pandemic

  My name is Niki, I'm 38 and live in Clovis CA. In March of 2020, I was about 8 and a half months pregnant with my son, Tate. I went to school part time, majoring in Early Childhood Development. I was also a stay at home Mom to my then 3 year old daughter, Quinn. She’s my driving force in school because she is on the autism spectrum. In March she was just beginning to talk and have real words,and her brother was coming, it was an exciting time. My husband Mike, is what they call an over the road trucker. Meaning he was gone all week and home for 30 hours over the weekend. The situation was not ideal for us, but it worked to give me the freedom to be with Quinn to take her to the therapies she needed. Then Covid came to the US. Everyone was forced inside. School shut down. The daycare closed. All therapies were put on hold. Everyone was told to wear a mask and sanitize everything. My baby shower was canceled too many people, myself included, were too scared to get together. Mike was not allowed to come home, in fear of being exposed or exposing us. He had to stay on the truck and keep delivering supplies. Then the hospital called and said I needed to prepare that the beds might fill up in the maternity wards with Covid cases and I might need to do a home birth. Could I find someone to assist me ? I had no one! We had only lived here for a year and I haven't made many friends. I had my Mom but she’s older, not able to deliver a baby and quarantined for her health. My sister lived kinda close but she was with her family and was quarantined like everyone else.I had my three-year-old who only had 4 real words !! Then the hospitals call and say “ Don’t worry you can give birth here, no one can be with you and we might take your baby from you right away and keep them from you for about two weeks to make sure they dont have Covid '' Um No ! Home birth sounds good right about now. I had the worst dreams up until my son’s birth. Thankfully, there were beds open in the maternity ward. Thankfully my husband's dispatch got him home just in time for Tate’s arrival. The hospitals allowed one support person in the room for the birth, so he was there. It was the scariest experience. I begged everyone to not take my baby. The hospital didn’t look like a hospital. Everything was covered in white plastic from ceiling to floors. Everyone had on masks and face coverings. It was a scene from a scifi movie.It was one of the scariest times of my life. Amidst all the chaos and stress my beautiful chunky completely healthy son made his entrance into this world on April 29th, 2020. We stayed in the hospital for two days and no one took him from me. I made sure of that. We went home and adjusted to life with a newborn and living with Covid like everyone else. Its been a year and a half and the hospitals have not changed the rules about only allowing one support person in the delivery room. I try to share as much information to expecting mothers as I can. There are no in and out privileges anymore.Once you are in the hospital, you have to stay there. You need to pack snacks! Or you can have food delivered to the hospital. Still can't have visitors. Have an extensive “go bag” ready for when it’s time to go. I hope with all the advances with the vaccine and lowering cases and people being more conscious of their health the hospitals will relax a little on the support team numbers for expecting moms soon. That’s my Covid19 share.
• 
  2021-12-08

  End of Semester Covid-19 Interview Oral History 2021/12/08

  This interview is about our thoughts and understandings of the Covid-19 pandemic after having taken a semester-long course about the history of pandemics spanning from the black plague until the Spanish flu. We've discussed how we think the world could have handled this pandemic differently, the similarities and differences between this pandemic and previous pandemics, and how this pandemic affected our personal lives.
• 
  2021-12-07

  Marc Carolla and Niccola Lutri Oral History, 2021/12/07

  Marc & Niccola discuss their experiences with COVID-19 and relate it to past pandemics that they learned about in class
• 
  09/30/2020

  Joseph Spataro Oral History, 2020/09/30

  This interview consists of a perspective of a white male from Vermont living in Florida for the school year, whom has experienced COVID from the rural suburbs of Vermont, to the maskless warzone that is Florida. His perspective is one from a gamer, only knowing the interviewer though playing videogames together.
• 
  2021-11-09

  Professor Perspective on University Changes

  Dr. Sara Ronis, a theology professor at St. Mary’s University, gives us a faculty perspective on how she believes the university handled the COVID-19 pandemic. She feels that despite being in such difficult positions, the university made the decisions they knew would be best for the St. Mary’s community. As a professor, she immediately thought of her students when COVID cases began to rise and the possibility of being sent home became an even more real possibility. She admires how St. Mary’s students, new and returning, have adapted to these new learning environments.
• 
  2021-11-11

  Commuter Student Perspective on University Changes

  Chelsea Osorio is a commuter student at St. Mary’s University and among the many personally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In her interview she highlights key points about what changes she noticed around the university that were used to protect our community. From a student perspective, she explains how safe she felt at school, especially with all the guidelines that were put in place. This goes to show how St. Mary’s students, faculty, and staff were committed to ensuring not only a healthy online environment but also making sure we returned to a safe and healthy community.
• 
  2020-06-30

  Living on COVID

  It is Summer 2020 and students nationally, and even internationally, are preparing themselves to live on campus. For some, it is their first time, and for others, they are returning to their home away from home. However, it is a new experience for both as they adjust to the new rules and regulations of living on campus. This email from the President of St. Mary's University was sent to all Rattlers and is symbolic of the changes students had to adapt to in order to live on campus.
• 
  2021-01-10

  The Desperate Times Continue

  Students slowly began to return to campus and in-person classes as we moved into the second full semester during COVID. While policies were still place for things such as masks and attendance, they became more lenient as COVID “lessened.” This goes to show how difficult it could have been for the people in the positions to make these decisions. Their decisions were based on the new information that was being released by public health officials throughout the pandemic.
• 
  2021-09-30

  Pro-Vax, Pro-Union Anti-Fascist Poster - Jewish Melbourne

  In the wake of the anti-lockdown riots that gripped Melbourne in September 2021, the Campaign Against Fascism movement disseminated the phrase Pro-Vax, Pro-Union, Anti-Fascist. Inspired by this, Link/לינק, a zine associated with the Jewish Labour Bund in Melbourne, posted a poster to their Instagram account, of their take on this messaging, including the shouting man from early twentieth-century Bund posters. The poster was also physically published in the zine's second edition in October 2021. HIST30060