Items

• 
  12/14/2020

  Ted Epstein Oral History, 2020/12/14

  I interviewed my boss, Ted, who is the owner of Loretta in Newburyport. I asked him a few questions of what he had to change since the pandemic began. Before I started asking him questions, I made sure he was okay with me recording and then posting this on the Covid-19 archive. Ted was given guidelines from the CDC and the government for what he had to change, and he was the one who had to implement them, which was challenging. This will benefit people looking back at 2020 because they will hear how we had to change from the perspective of a small business owner, which doesn’t happen very often. Small businesses are often silenced by larger chain companies since they are more well known. From this interview though, people will see how Ted really cares about the restaurant and keeping it open for the guests.
• 
  2020-04-10

  Finding Creativity in the Times of Covid-19

  This is an inspirational video produced by the company Apple. This short one-and-a-half-minute long video consists of various photos and videos filmed by people all over the world durig the pandemic. There are great displays of creativity and different forms of art in this video. For instance, the art of playing the violin, learning to dance ballet, as well as the craft of making of old motion pictures are all displayed in the source. I chose to display this object because reflects the needs and considerations of an ethical archival collection. This source assures that an abundance of different perspectives from people of many backgrounds are represented respectively. I also feel as though this archive does attempt to fill an archival silence and amplify the voices of marginalized groups by allowing for such a diverse array of people to be included in this video featurette.
• 
  2020-12-11

  Bumble's "First Moves Forever" Campaign

  As I sat scrolling through Snapchat one day, I was presented with an advertisement. At first I skipped, however, when I saw the Bumble logo, I immediately went back to look at it. Sure enough, I had stumbled upon a perfect addition to this mini collection that I am putting together about dating during the pandemic. The ad was for the Bumble campaign “First Moves Forever” (https://thebeehive.bumble.com/firstmovesforever) which recaps how Bumble was used in 2020, and shares the stories of some users in an interactive way. This website may interest future historians, as it shares the stories of real individuals in relationships, and tells how social media/dating apps were used during the Covid-19 pandemic. It also gives another look into the ways that brands are now using the pandemic as a way of advertising.
• 
  2020-12-13

  Positive Affirmations for Mental Health (especially in a pandemic!)

  This is a journal entry consisting of positive affirmations and gratitude practice. Just like everyone, I have been dealing with many mental health issues during this pandemic and have had days where I wanted to do nothing but disappear into some alternate universe and be rid of all my problems. I spent a lot of time on the app, Tik Tok and stumbled upon many videos about manifestations, affirmations and spirituality in general. Though affirmations have been a thing for quite some time, some of the videos dove in deeper by talking about the law of attraction. I was a bit skeptical at first but I looked up some success stories and felt intrigued. I decided to give affirmations and gratitude a go as a way to not only brighten my mood, but to help me appreciate life more in general and bring more positive vibes into it. I’m not saying that doing this solves all your issues, but it has definitely worked wonders for me, especially during these darker days of the world. I advise anyone to give this a try because I truly think just about anyone would notice a difference by making affirmations and gratitude a daily habit. Whether one wishes to try specific manifestation techniques to dive deeper into these practices is subjective based on how much they believe in spirituality, but basic affirmations and gratitude alone can make a big difference.
• 
  2020-12-13

  Covid-19 Mental Health Interview from the Perspective of a Pharmacist

  The contributor of this item did not include verbal or written consent. We attempted to contact contributor (or interviewee if possible) to get consent, but got no response or had incomplete contact information. We can not allow this interview to be listened to without consent but felt the metadata is important. The recording and transcript are retained by the archive and not public. Should you wish to listen to audio file reach out to the archive and we will attempt to get consent.
• 
  2020-12-03

  Stormy Hearts

  During this pandemic, everyone is clearly going through a difficult time. However, I think that mental health fluctuations have been especially common during this time. Sometimes we’re feeling productive and like we can accomplish anything, other days just getting out of bed takes everything in us. Different people are going to be on different levels of vibration, including friends. One friend may be feeling themselves while the other may struggle to even look at themselves in the mirror. The representation of this drawing is that even though one person may feel happy and one person may feel deep sadness, they can still be there for each other and walk through the storm together to help each other grow. Even though it doesn’t show it, this also applies to the Black Lives Matter Protests and overall racial problems. It is an issue we can help each other out with by taking the time to emphasize with people who don’t experience the same things as us.
• 
  2020-12-10

  Numbskull

  “Coronavirus has taken an extreme toll on my mental health and many others. This image symbolizes the emptiness in my skull. Feeling as though there is no brain at all. Mushrooms growing on the empty decomposed bits of what’s left of the brain. The majority of others, especially students right now, have little to no energy left in them. Unable to keep up with assignments and the feeling of overall helplessness. This does seem dark and scary but that is the whole point. No one is okay right now.” -Julianna Sheridan when being asked to explain why her drawing represents her mental state during the pandemic.
• 
  2020-12-11

  A New Path

  During quarantine, another way that I tried to spend my time was reading books that focused on the religion of Wicca as someone that is interested in the practice. In this photo are the two newest books which focus on Paganism and Tarot, mainly an introduction to both as someone just starting back in November. I like to complain that I haven’t read anything this year but forget about the four different books on Wicca and witchcraft in general I’ve found, along with various articles. This ties into an item that “demonstrates something significant about your generation” since the rise of TikTok and quarantine have created the perfect launching pad to spread the word. Before, it was mainly a niche group on Tumblr that needed specific search terms to find. With this growing popularity, much of my time is spent double checking information and making sure that the author is a trusted resource in the community, especially since many authors often leave out the trans and non-binary community because of the stereotype only women can be witches. There is also the need to educate me on close practices like Voodoo and the different types of sages to avoid using the endangered white sage that was illegal for natives until the 1970s.
• 
  2020-03-19

  Text Messages between my Mother and I.

  This is a small conversation between my mom and I when she went back to work during the beginning of quarantine. She works as a medical secretary at a local doctor’s office and works closely with sharing phones, computers, and other spaces. It was not until recently that there was a COVID scare following Thanksgiving, but, she tested negative since they are from a different department. This item connects to the week focusing on historical thinking on and off the web as this was never something that I would have considered sharing beyond my close group of friends since it feel mundane now. I think that this is an “Item of interest to future historians that helps illustrate something particularly significant about the year 2020” as we see her in full gear. While the precautions no longer have the dress or hair mask, she still wears the medical-grade mask with her gloves and face shield each day. Seeing people in action will humanize the pandemic and make it seem like something that truly happened than just another historical moment with accounts like this.
• 
  2020-12-02

  A Messy Study Station

  During the pandemic, my mental health as been at an all time low and that is often showcased by the condition of my bedroom. As seen here, there is the desk is pretty messy highlighting my though process at the time. I was taking a small break in this moment as I tried to complete the embroidery from another post and move onto something else that I wanted create. This study space is often passed up for the comfort of my own bed, but, having it often helps with productivity and is the first place that I start when trying to clean my room with the little victories. This connects to the week on Growing Up Digital as my laptop is showing something, never letting me escape from the almost addiction that I have with the device since receiving it last summer. I think that this is something that “demonstrates something significant about your generation” as many of us stayed home for the semester and needed to find a way to battle relax time and study time within the confines of our small rooms. Redecorating helped a little bit as my desk now is much larger than the one I had before, but, there is still that mix of working from my bed that makes it hard to fall asleep and keep myself engaged with the task in front of me.
• 
  2020-12-12

  Unfinished Projects Part 453.

  During quarantine, trying to keep myself busy as been the ultimate goal these past few months. Right before the semester started, I got into embroidery as these patterns often take hours to complete. Many of my patterns have been bought off of Etsy to support small businesses, but when I started, I bought a few kits off of Amazon since I was only working a few times a week. This connects to the idea that of something that “demonstrates something significant about your generation under Covid”. My friends and I have all been struggling to keep busy with just the things that we have so niche hobbies like embroidery, reading, and home workouts have become something of the norm. Being able to distract ourselves for a few moments from this crazy world is the goal and I think that it will be more documented than it has been before with social media. A major way that this has impacted Gen Z is “regressing” back into the interests of our younger years. For me, I’ve begun listening to Taylor Swift and One Direction almost religiously again and revisiting some of my favorite book series from childhood for that spark of dopamine.
• 
  2020-12-09

  Personal Instagram Story (December 9, 2020)

  Since the unfair deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor back in May 2020, I have been posting on my Instagram story in the hopes of educating someone. While I try to defend it as activism, there is a level of performatism since I was not allowed to visit an protests with my mom’s health and seeing how the Boston police were handling the situation. It is easy to just post a picture of something that you agree with and not show yourself doing anything that will really hope. Recently I have been trying to read more books focused on theory in order to educate myself more and this has been a major focal point of my time lately. Along with this, I have also attempted to find more petitions to sign and donating more since my job has become more stable. This item connects to the criteria of “something significant about your generation”. This comes from the fact Gen Z has always had the internet as a major component in their life and many of us find our personal worth on social media apps such as TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. Being able to see these posts everyday keeps us engaged with the world around us, however, with Instagram’s policy of random posts, not everything is being seen and it leads to certain topics not getting the same exposure. I think that while social media is good in terms of activism, there is a major need for protesters still as they are the ones that get the most change done. There is also the importance of filling the archival silence as the larger topics are being discussed. As a white woman in 2020, educating myself and making sure the voices of minorities are heard before mine. I would rather post these little infographics than about my life because educating the masses is more important than my second time visiting Michaels each week. Giving even the smallest platform to these stories is important as many of my friends have said that they have learned something new from these. It sometimes feels like I’m posting into the void, but, I hope to get the larger message across anyway that I can.
• 
  2020-06-30

  2020 Goals from June 30

  This item was created in June when I had fully decided to stay home for the semester rather than renting an apartment close to campus. It was another ploy to create some kind of hope that this lockdown would be over in the next few months. There are four major sections divided into my dream room since I was allowed to remodel it (spoiler: the only thing that changed was my new bed and shifting the furniture), clothing, places that I was hoping to visit, and random photos that I wanted for my ‘aesthetic’. The only one I came even close to completing was the clothing with my four pairs of plaid pants and mountain of sweaters. Out of all the criteria listed, I think that this “item of interest to future historians that helps illustrate something particularly significant about the year 2020”. During the beginning of lockdown, self-improvement was a topic that many people in my generation along with others were attempting to tackle with this time at home. For this photo, it highlights my personal life and the things I thought was important during this time. I connected this with the Social Dilemma documentary because I did post it to Instagram for a reaction, showing the importance of social media and my computer through Photoshop is important for my life.
• 
  2020-12-08

  Mental Health in a Pandemic, 2020

  “It represents my mental health in the sense that the muddled background color represents all the “crappy” things going on in the world, and the chaotic lines also represent that, but they are the more pressing matters. The chaotic lines also connect to the head, representing the way everything got to me and in my head during this, and gave me a very jealous outlook on life, because there were a lot of people better off than I was, mentally, physically, financially, even though I was not in THAT bad of a place comparatively to others. Also the different textures between watercolor, pencil, and pen is representative of the different layers and different things going on in my life all at once. I really utilized the symbolism of things as well as playing with different textures in a cohesive way to represent myself and my feelings in a more abstract way.” -Sydney Avtges's response to when I asked her how her drawing represents her mental state during the pandemic.
• 
  2020-04-06

  Hospital COVID-19 Visitors Rule

  This call was informing her a month before her due date that she was NOT allowed, visitors. This was one of the many different calls that caused a nerve-racking feeling. We had been in quarantine for about three weeks and it was determined that she had to go through this all alone. This call was very important because it is something you never want to be taken away from you. Sharing moments like these with your family are very valuable and in a very tough situation, you need a support system. Her spouse was not allowed either. The last month of her pregnancy she had to face alone up until the moment she was in the labor delivery room. At this point, she feared she wouldn’t be allowed to have anybody in the room with her. Luckily, Massachusetts laws allowed her to have at least one.
• 
  2020-12-04

  Retailers/Businesses Profit off COVID-19

  This object represents all businesses that use the words “quarantine”, “social distance”, or any COVID-19 related word to make a catchy phrase to make a “meme” or merchandise”. I worked in retail when COVID-19 was in its earlier stages of spreading. Our shipment included countless “fashionable” face masks, tee shirts, mugs, posters, etc that were related to the pandemic. This represents our generation, as everyone is very quick and witty to make a profit or a joke off of anything going around. In earlier times, you wouldn’t find tee shirts that say “Keep Calm and Sanitize On” or “Social Distancing club” in retailers. With the technology and resources, we have now it is very easy to make these sorts of items. The idea is exploiting COVID-19 and maybe even seen as bringing light to the situation, which this generation is very well known for. This baby tee is just one example of the many witty merchandising being sold almost everywhere.
• 
  2020-03-25

  Mandatory shopping orders implemented to help pregnant women

  When these orders by the state and corporations were released everyone was reading them. These played a very important role in ethics. Governor Baker and many stores like Target released orders to implement for shoppers during the pandemic. There were large crowds, long lines, and hectic shopping everywhere, these orders were placed to help those at a disadvantage. Baker said stores must allow an hour before regular hours for those 60 or older and this included disabled people and pregnant women. Target‘s order specifies that pregnant women were allowed to come in during shopping hours that were restricted to these certain groups of people. This is a very ethical thing to do for these people. Standing in line or being high risk in crowds was very dangerous for everyone, but especially for these people. These orders relate to an ethical archive piece that represents how pregnant women were treated during the pandemic. This was a small advantage for them in these unprecedented times. These were put out to reassure their accountability if a situation struck out where these people were put in danger in the crowds when shopping. Also, they both acted in this very quickly, they knew it was ethically the right thing to do, in order to protect these people with a disadvantage or at high risk.
• 
  2020-03-27

  Marginalized groups in a pandemic

  This article is focused on how COVID-19 affected a pregnant woman's birthing experience, especially harming black and native women. This article is very interesting to read and compare it to Brittany's story. Shaine Garcia and Brittany both were hoping for a healthy and smooth experience while giving birth, and COVID did not let that happen for them. The author mentions how the rules implemented allowed no visitors or accompany in these appointments. This prevented doulas and midwives from also being there. Those who were fortunate enough to have home births, midwives, or doulas were at advantage compared to those who could not afford this privilege. “Among mothers with low socioeconomic status, 18.7 percent of white women reported mistreatment compared to 27.2 percent of women of color. Indigenous women were the most likely to report experiencing at least one form of mistreatment by health-care providers during birth, followed by Black and Hispanic women,” says the Giving Voice to Mothers study.” This is the reason many prefer to have doulas because the black maternal mortality rate is twelve times a white woman. There are many disadvantages to those that could not have a home birth or the presence of extra support while giving birth. It is a very dangerous situation for these marginalized groups of women, that are not being treated correctly, especially during a pandemic where they are likely to face it alone. This correlates to the criteria of an item that attempts to fill an archival silence and amplify the voices of marginalized groups. Many people are not aware of the mistreatment happening to black and native women in hospitals. Doulas and midwives are there to help support and protect the mother in many more ways than people know, and because of covid-19, these privileges are being taken away. Although this article doesn’t specify those women who can’t afford them anyway, these women are being silenced. This article serves the purpose to educate and inform those that it is an issue going on and possibly getting worse during the pandemic. This is an article that shares the experiences of black and native pregnant women and how their experiences differ much more than other women. It was found through research.