Items

• 2020-03-24

  From The Traditional to the Unknown: Moving from In-Person to Online Learning

  Much like other college students in the spring of 2020, I did not know how to react to the news that a virus called COVID-19 had begun infecting major cities, towns, and people. As an avid gamer, it appeared to me as though we started heading down the path of a zombie apocalypse or something similar to that, such as the ones you see in Call of Duty. I can still remember where I was as a sophomore in college when my school decided that it needed to shut down, sending students back to their homes and moving classes to the online world. At the start of what became pandemonium, I was with my friends in one of their dorm rooms, and we watched as the former president of the school, with a panel of other officials, answered questions about the pandemic and how the institution would respond. From my perspective, it seemed that no one knew what to do, and it was disconcerting to see that the leaders of the school were themselves in a state of flux. But who could blame them? In many ways, that spring of 2020 was unchartered waters, where everyone, including our leaders, did not know what to do or how to set forth a concrete plan. The lack of certainty, as I recall, led many students to become unsure of how the school would handle classes, graduation, plans for reimbursement for housing and dining costs, and, most importantly, the health and safety of the students and faculty. From that moment in spring 2020, it seemed that the college landscape would never be the same. With that said, this leads me to the point of my story. When the school decided that all classes would go online for the remainder of the spring 2020 semester and the entirety of the following school year, 2020 - 2021, it seemed entirely new and, in some ways, scary. Never before had I taken online classes, let alone know how to operate a program called Zoom. When I read the newsletter from my school saying that the 2020-2021 academic year would be online, it seemed, from my view, almost pointless to make students do schoolwork at a time when everyone was more concerned about their health and not getting other people sick. From that perspective, I felt angry, confused, and dismayed about how online classes would work. More importantly, I wanted to know how professors would respond to the situation, hopefully having them recognize that they should not assign a traditional amount of school work for a semester course given the extenuating circumstances beyond the classroom and college. I can still recall taking my first online class, and I felt utterly lost. I did not know how to operate Zoom, I did not know how to interact with my professors and classmates by staring into a camera on my computer, and I did not know, at the start, how challenging it would be to feel motivated to do the schoolwork. The latter was a difficult obstacle to overcome as being back at home and not in a classroom made it easier to forgo doing school work for a day, creating a lackadaisical mindset that negated my ability to do my assignments in a timely manner. On top of that, not being able to physically see my professors, either in class or in their office, made it even more difficult to ask questions. As someone who typically raises an abundance of questions, it seemed to me that that was no longer possible. Having to send several emails back and forth and then only have a few minutes to speak with a professor on Zoom after or before class made the process more cumbersome. The transition from the traditional classroom setting to the unknown world of online learning was a significant curve ball created by the pandemic that made the last part of my sophomore year and my entire junior year feel less important. The online medium essentially made the coursework seem less valuable to me. Even though I lived on campus in my junior year, 2021 - 2022, at the height of the pandemic, the educational side of my college experience became impacted to such a degree that I found myself not as engaged about the work or the course material. To that end, I share this story because it is one of many about how the pandemic took a substantial bite out of educational processes from 2020 into 2021. The classroom never felt the same during the pandemic and when I was on campus in 2021. Everywhere was a ghost town. In many ways, having to go from the traditional classroom into the expansive world of online learning was not something I thought I needed to think about as a college student. Of course, no one could have predicted what was going to happen, making the situation during that time all the more difficult to accept. I look back on it now and realize that I did lose a year and a half of my college experience. It is an unfortunate outcome of the pandemic, but I am thankful that no one in my family passed away from the disease, and all of my friends were safe as well. I wish I could relive my sophomore and junior years as a regular college student. However, having gone to college in the midst of the pandemic is historic, and I want to tell other generations about this experience. It will be challenging for future students to know what it was like to go to school at the same time a rampant disease spread across the globe. On the flip side, I think going to college during this time shows resiliency and courage on the part of many people. I hope this story is one that many can relate to as we move forward from these troubling years and continue to grapple with the legacy caused by the pandemic.
• 
  2020-03-19

  Eating Food in Class

  This is a video my friend shared with me at the beginning of the pandemic of him eating food in class when he believed his camera was off.
• 
  2020

  Zoom Meetings

  This was a meme my friends and I shared around after Zoom became the #1 way of communicating, both in work and personal lives. It's poking fun at how awkward and stiff people usually look on camera, as well as the learning curve around using different Zoom functions.
• 2020-03

  Zoom, Kraft Mac & Cheese, and Avatar the Last Airbender

  These three things basically sum up how I spent my days during the lockdown of the pandemic. I would go on Zoom for class, would typically make some Kraft mac & cheese for lunch or dinner, and would binge watch Avatar the Last Airbender on Netflix. Sometimes I did a combination of both; I remember eating mac & cheese and playing hangman with my friends on Zoom. These are three things that I associate with quarantine.
• 2021-10

  HIST30060: Long Distance friendships

  Throughout the past three years, I've spent much time going back and forth between Sydney and Melbourne (largely unrelated to COVID). I went through a fantastic period where I managed to avoid lockdowns in both states (not on purpose, I promise!), but then I ended up doing both Delta lockdowns in Melbourne and then in Sydney (karma). I've never been more grateful for zoom and facetime so I could keep in touch with my friends no matter where I was.
• 
  2021-02-06

  Model UN in the time of a Pandemic

  I uploaded a screenshot of my Model UN conference that had to be conducted over Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a normal year, a Model UN conference would take place at a large event space, usually a university or a hotel. Model UN teams from high schools across the globe participate in the conferences that my school attends. Unfortunately, I did not get to have this unique experience during the pandemic year. Instead, my school took part in an online form of the conference via zoom and discord, through Boston University. Although it was not the same, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet plenty of interesting people from all over the world! This screenshot shows the "bloc" (or alliance) that I had formed with students representing countries such as Mexico, Nigeria, and Russia. I can be seen in the middle box on the right, representing the nation of Afghanistan!
• 
  2022-05-20

  Online School Problems

  Having such a difficult school year before the pandemic hit, I initially couldn’t be more excited for this break from those all nighters. After getting the opportunity to recharge for a few weeks, finishing the school year was relatively easy. Summer flew by, and I soon realized that my entire junior year would be online as well. I quickly found the homogeneity to be unavoidable; I could sleep and attend school without moving more than a few feet. Each day was the same, a mechanical routine of jumping from Zoom meeting to Zoom meeting. Countless students would log into these meetings for roll call, and simply tilt the camera at the ceiling fan as they went out with friends or took a nap. It was easy to think this situation was just an obstacle to get past, another building block for the vision I had put in place for the years after high school. For me, this vision was about college, building knowledge towards my future career, and compiling a worthy resume. However, there was no reason I couldn't give value to this time period, to give meaning to each day such that they didn’t all blend together. From the daily differences in curriculum to the unique interactions of each period, I found these minute contrasts to be more significant. Realizing the importance of being mindful, even when little to no dynamic quality existed, allowed me to continue furthering my studies and interests. Looking back now, during a time when I have gotten accepted to one of the best schools I could’ve ever asked for, I think about how difficult that year and a half was for me, and how much harder the situation was for many other individuals. Again, the biggest lesson I learned was the importance of mindfulness. Whether it be a triumph or a tragedy, these life events should not be skimmed over like a mountain or trough to pass through. They are all lessons in some form, pieces of knowledge that should be taken with thought.
• 
  2022-05-20

  Online School Problems

  Having such a difficult school year before the pandemic hit, I initially couldn’t be more excited for this break from those all nighters. After getting the opportunity to recharge for a few weeks, finishing the school year was relatively easy. Summer flew by, and I soon realized that my entire junior year would be online as well. I quickly found the homogeneity to be unavoidable; I could sleep and attend school without moving more than a few feet. Each day was the same, a mechanical routine of jumping from Zoom meeting to Zoom meeting. Countless students would log into these meetings for roll call, and simply tilt the camera at the ceiling fan as they went out with friends or took a nap. It was easy to think this situation was just an obstacle to get past, another building block for the vision I had put in place for the years after high school. For me, this vision was about college, building knowledge towards my future career, and compiling a worthy resume. However, there was no reason I couldn't give value to this time period, to give meaning to each day such that they didn’t all blend together. From the daily differences in curriculum to the unique interactions of each period, I found these minute contrasts to be more significant. Realizing the importance of being mindful, even when little to no dynamic quality existed, allowed me to continue furthering my studies and interests. Looking back now, during a time when I have gotten accepted to one of the best schools I could’ve ever asked for, I think about how difficult that year and a half was for me, and how much harder the situation was for many other individuals. Again, the biggest lesson I learned was the importance of mindfulness. Whether it be a triumph or a tragedy, these life events should not be skimmed over like a mountain or trough to pass through. They are all lessons in some form, pieces of knowledge that should be taken with thought.
• 
  2022-05-07

  Ashlee Harper Oral History, 2022/05/07

  Ashlee Harper is a single mother and high school history teacher in Phoenix Arizona. Ashlee recounts the struggles of adapting to the Covid-19 pandemic, the hardships of teaching virtually, and the acclimation back to in-person teaching. She also describes how Covid-19 affected interactions within her personal life as well as how it greatly impacted the development of her students.
• 
  2021

  High School Yearbook in 2021

  Included is a picture of the page of a yearbook from the school that I work at for the 2021-2022 school year. This school year was very unique in that we started the year online. All classes were held virtually through Zoom from August to the end of September. At the end of September, students returned to school using a phased-in approach where one grade level at a time returned. After Winter Break, the school was held virtually again for two weeks. During the time that we were in-person, teachers were required to teach students in-person and online through Zoom at the same time. Because of that, I would have students in the classroom, and students listening to me and interacting with me through Zoom. Many students with health concerns never came to school in person. For everyone else, masks were required at all times. In addition, teachers were required to move desks in a way that students were at least three feet apart from each other shoulder-to-shoulder. This yearbook page shows different ways that teachers and students were affected during this year. The top left picture showed a Zoom screen with the students attending Zoom class. The large picture underneath shows a masked teacher standing in front of her students while also showing her students on Zoom behind her. Other pictures show teachers with their Zoom classes and empty classrooms. The text on the side was written by students who took the Yearbook class. It shows a student perspective on the pandemic and why classes were made to be held virtually for students. The 2021-2022 yearbook as a whole is an important object to me as this is the first and only school year that was affected by COVID-19 in its entirety in a way that can be seen visually. This year was unlike any other and forced me to have to change and adapt constantly. During this school year, I had to space students apart and had to make a seating chart for every class. If a student needed to move for a few minutes for any reason (like needing to charge their laptop), I would have to update the seating chart with the date to show where that student was and who they were sitting by. If a student tested positive for COVID-19, any students within three feet of them then had to stay home and learn virtually for a set amount of time. This time changed throughout the year but could be six to ten days. Looking back on these memories, I believe that it is so important to see what students and teachers went through during this time, as we are all still trying to catch up and adjust to the way that the pandemic disrupted and changed beliefs, attitudes, expectations, and ways of learning.
• 
  2020-03

  ZOOM University

  When COVID-19 first surfaced it didn’t seem like a big deal at all. I remember packing for spring break and crossing my fingers that we would have an extended break due to this virus. I never imagined that fast forward two years into the future we would still be in the midst of this pandemic. Zoom was the one thing that sticks out in my head through COVID-19. Without Zoom, I don’t know how we would have been able to continue on with school. The transition from regular schooling to virtual learning was a rough experience but with patience and learning on both the students and the professors ends, we were able to continue learning without having to worry about spreading or contracting COVID-19. To this day, Zoom is still being used by professors. It’s crazy that I will be looking back on my undergraduate experience and one of the most prevalent memories I will hold is learning through my computer screen for the majority of the time.
• 
  2021-10-13

  Zoom University

  While my life has changed significantly due to the covid-19 pandemic, I would say that the biggest adjustment for me was adapting to the different methods of instruction at my university. As a college student, I was used to and grew comfortable with in person instruction. This was the method of learning that I partook my entire life; the sudden change to strictly online had significant effects on my academic performance and overall retention of material. For me, it was remarkedly more difficult to grasp concepts that I would have comprehended under normal study conditions. Taking science heavy courses such as organic chemistry, instrumental analysis, physics, and molecular biology were all much more difficult than they would have been normally. It is also prudent to note the inconsistencies of professors during this time period, as they had to adjust just as much (or even more) than students. Old-school professors that did not have experience with the newest technology were forced to orient their lecture material in a format completely foreign. Needless to say, professors who were very effective instructors in person often struggled in the zoom format. Specifically, issues related to zoom that affected the quality of teaching included connection issues and students having incentives to not pay attention. For example, I took biostatistics 1 completely online, where the professor was older and not technologically adept. Every class the professor would write notes on a paper and and show it to the class. This strategy for teaching proved to be ineffective because the quality of video was not definitive, the lighting was poor, and the handwriting was small. All of these combined factors led to an entire class who had no idea what was being taught to them. While this is unfortunate, I adapted by reading more of the textbook than I would under normal circumstances, and met with the professor during office hours to work out material that I did not understand.
• 
  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.
• 2020-03-09

  Online School

  During the pandemic, I had to participate in an online school. This is one of the zoom links I used to do my online classes. I did not like participating in online school, it was very difficult to learn.
• 
  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.
• 
  2021-10-21

  Paul Uhlig Oral History, 2021/10/21

  I strongly believe that every perspective matters. We as students do not see what professors had to go through. We were aware of the situation, but I believe an interview with a professor from St. Mary’s University could help students to see the magnitude of the pandemic. COVID-19 affected all of us and that is why I think we should see everyone’s perspective and that includes the professor’s perspective. We can see Dr. Uhlig’s point of view with this interview and how the pandemic affected his profession.
• 
  2020-05-13

  The Little Things

  The pandemic hit and many new college students were forced to enjoy their admission celebrations from their homes through their computer screen and Zoom. Still, St. Mary's University pushed forward to make this event memorable and celebrate future incoming Rattlers to their new school. This screenshot is a still shot of the emotions and celebrations early freshmen experienced during the pandemic. Being accepted into university is no small thing, but a Zoom celebration is a small gesture of congratulations that feels very big.
• 
  2020-04-17

  “Can You Teach Art Online?”

  “Can You Teach Art Online?”, published on Art in America online, examines the questions artists-instructors are asking amidst a transfer to online learning. Different instructors who teach in various mediums are interviewed and expose difficulties of teaching art virtually as well as the positives and new innovations that have come out of necessity. I found the argument by Carissa Rodriguez, a Harvard professor in the arts, very interesting. She discussed the limitations of platforms like Zoom and how it is difficult to engage others in an artistic subject behind a screen. Rodriguez teaches a screen-based artistic medium and she explains that for her subject matter “the platform seems a notch too self-reflexive, collapsing screenings, critiques, and discussions onto the equalizing plane of her students’ monitors, the same site where they browse social media and binge-watch TV shows”. The article highlights how instructors are using lockdown to explore ways to make art and complete projects without institutional resources. Therefore, questions of shifting models in academia arise.
• 
  2020-04-02

  HIST30060: Birthday Zoom!

  HIST30060: This screenshot of my auntie's birthday celebration on zoom would be a familiar scene to many. This is one of the many ways my family had to adjust to "covid normal". Birthdays always involve a big gathering and a way for everyone to catch up; losing this was really disheartening . However, this photo also represents the resilience of my family in still being able to find a way to be together, even if zoom felt like a poor substitute. Zoom was and still is a crucial part of many people's lives in the pandemic, yet can create a barrier for those who find the interface challenging to use. Elderly members of my family often found zoom quite tiring and hard to use, creating a further barrier to connecting in lockdown.
• 
  2021-08-30

  Jewish Melbourne - Yiddish Choir on Zoom

  The 'Mir Kumen On' Yiddish Choir, affiliated with the Jewish Labour Bund Melbourne, migrated to Zoom at the beginning of the pandemic and returned there at each lockdown and, depending on the how restrictions affected singing indoors, during non-lockdown periods. Holding choir sessions over the internet isn't easy, for example, participants are required to be on mute during songs so that there isn't lag, overlap, and interruption issues. Therefore while singing, one can only hear the pianist, Tomi Kalinski, who runs the sessions. But it's still an absolutely enjoyable time, seeing everyone and singing the soulful Yiddish songs, even if it's only to yourself. There have been some benefits too: with the online platform, Yiddish lovers from around the world have been able to join our little Melbourne choir, including from France and Scotland. The weekly zoom choir sessions have definitely lightened some of the darkest periods of my lockdown experience.
• 
  2021-10-29

  Kehilat Kolenu Online Services - Jewish Melbourne

  During the lockdowns and COVID restrictions in Melbourne, Jewish communities found ways to connect. Especially important are the Friday evening services for Shabbat. Kehilat Kolenu, a Humanistic Jewish organisation held zoom meetings in place of their usual Kabbalat Shabbat services. Especially during the loneliest, most isolating periods in my lockdown experience, these zoom meetings where I could hear the songs of my culture helped me feel spiritually and socially reconnected. HIST30060
• 
  2020-05

  HIST30060

  This photo was taken in May 2020, when Melbourne restrictions prevented religious gatherings from taking place. I attend Westgate Baptist Community church in Yarraville in the western suburbs of Melbourne, and it had transitioned to zoom for its church services by this point. On the day this picture was taken, we were meant to organise our own bread and wine for the ritual of communion. It was strange to source these elements on our own and even stranger to just pass them to each other instead of being given them by the pastor. It probably took some sense of gravitas and 'specialness' out of the ritual. At the same time though, it was evident that in a very precarious, unprecedented time, this community was really hanging on to such rituals for some normalcy and comfort in a sense of the divine's presence. We would not be back to in-person services until February 2021.
• 
  2020-05-03

  HIST30060 Zoom Church

  This photo was taken in May 2020, when Melbourne restrictions prevented religious gatherings from taking place. I attend Westgate Baptist Community church in Yarraville in the western suburbs of Melbourne, and it had transitioned to zoom for its church services by this point. On the day this picture was taken, we were meant to organise our own bread and wine for the ritual of communion. It was strange to source these elements on our own and even stranger to just pass them to each other instead of being given them by the pastor. It probably took some sense of gravitas and 'specialness' out of the ritual. At the same time though, it was evident that in a very precarious, unprecedented time, this community was really hanging on to such rituals for some normalcy and comfort in a sense of the divine's presence. We would not be back to in-person services until February 2021.
• 
  2020-09-18

  HIST30060 Zoom Family Gatherings

  This screenshot was taken during a zoom call with members of my Dad's side of the family in September 2020, during Victoria's third COVID lockdown. At this point, we hadn't seen each other since early June of that year, which was unusual - in normal times, we would gather in person at least once a month, but lockdown prevented social gatherings with anyone outside one's household. We were zooming in from 8 different locations and with competing voices, technical difficulties and zoom-illiterate older relatives, it wasn't quite the same experience as catching up in person. One thing we realised very quickly was that it was impossible to initiate more intimate, one-on-one conversations with people on zoom. Instead, each screen in the call got a chance to give an update and we missed the more personal conversations. It was also strange seeing families grouped together in this virtual family gathering. In person, certain people in the family would naturally form groups based on age and gender and families wouldn't appear so much like a unit as in these calls. Although it was good to see people's faces again, I think we would all agree zoom calls are a poor substitute for the real deal.
• 
  2020-03-15

  Community Engagement: Transitioning to Zoom

  Previous to COVID-19, everything related to community engagement was hands-on, face-to-face, and in-person. However, right after spring break in 2020, everything changed because of COVID-19, and new ways of interacting with the community and each other were used. To demonstrate this I uploaded for this item a screenshot from the Instagram page of the Community Engagement Office of St. Mary's University. Almost none of us were used to zoom and in a couple of weeks zoom turned into the number one platform used by businesses and schools as a means of communication and our community engagement was not the exception. One of the activities that were made during COVID-19 was a Netflix Party through zoom with many students engaged through the network. As a personal experience, I was part of a group/class called Empower: Ecuador that was very focused on personal relationships and community building, and transitioning to zoom was not easy. However, we were able to culminate our semester and encounter new ways to connect with each other through zoom and other social platforms in meaningful ways while keeping each other safe from getting sick. It was a matter of caring for each other so deeply that connecting in person was no longer an option, but our intentionality to connect and interact with each other grew in many other creative ways to achieve the goal of community engagement despite all the difficulties that we were all going through.
• 
  2021-10-10

  Zoom Meeting Attire (HIST30060)

  (HIST30060) This is a photo of what I wear during Zoom meetings; a button-up top and pyjama shorts paired with moccasin slippers. Although talking about wearing pyjamas has become somewhat of a cliché during the pandemic, it does not make it any less true. When Zooming with friends and attending online university tutorials, I tend to make an effort from the waist up and opt for comfort from the waist down. I figure if wearing pyjamas all day is one of the small glimpses of joy I can get from an otherwise tough situation, then I’ll take it.
• 
  2020-09-01

  Every story matters - Student's perspective

  Classes in Fall 2020 were either fully virtual or hybrid. In hybrid classes, the professors would have to put the projector with some students being on zoom. This was a good idea because it helped students be safe and at the same time learn. It was also challenging because sometimes professors would pay more attention to the students that were in the classroom and not the ones on zoom. I took this picture a year ago to show my parents how classes were working. This was something my parents appreciated because they saw that St. Mary’s University was using all their resources to help students continue their studies. They liked seeing me continue my college experience in a different way but not fully virtual. I saved this picture for over a year to see the changes the world was going to have during the pandemic. I am glad we are finding new solutions and making changes with still being careful with COVID-19 guidelines.
• 
  2020-04-01

  Zoom Meeting Fashion

  What's been your pandemic work attire? It's gotten much comfier these days when you're only having to be seen from the chest up.
• 
  2021-09-19

  Juliana Marston and Sydney Champagne, 2021/09/19

  This video interview discusses Sydney and I's respective experiences throughout the pandemic. It is important to me because the two of us realized (through the interview) that our experiences were more similar than we first thought.
• 
  2021-07-13

  Brian Harvey, Oral History, 2021/07/07

  Brian Harvey, a Managing Director at Deloitte and Touche, discusses the changes the pandemic has caused to his job as an auditor. He provides insights into the various industries he has interacted with over the past year.
• 
  07/25/2021

  Lauren Pease Oral History, 2021/07/25

  Ashley Tibollo interviewed stay-at-home mom, Lauren Pease about her experience with the Covid-19 pandemic. In this interview, they discuss her experience with the lockdown, her worries about the pandemic, and what life was like during lockdown with her foster child. This interview also touches on political protests, virtual learning and her husband's transition to working from home.
• 
  2021-07-24

  Janine Brown. Oral History, July 24, 2021

  In this two-part interview, Ashley Tibollo interviews Janine Brown on how her life was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first part of the interview, Brown discusses how her last year of college was impacted and about her transition to remote teaching. She discusses her fears of the Delta variant, what sources she uses to get her information and what her feelings are regarding government action. She also discusses family life and how she was affected by the quarantine. She ends this part with her hopes for the future. In the second part of this interview, Brown discusses her decision to move in with her boyfriend right before quarantine and what it was life navigating a new relationship amidst a pandemic. She also discusses her pets and how their moods changed as her life changed. She discusses the difficulties of house hunting and the ways that the pandemic has affected the market.
• 
  2020-04-09

  Grieving Rituals Lost to COVID-19

  Rituals are an important way to celebrate special occasions and victories as well as to deal with the stresses of life. This article discusses the grieving process people have gone through because of the loss of rituals (graduations, funerals, weddings) during the pandemic and the importance of creating new rituals.
• 
  2021-06-28

  My Pandemic Experience

  When the pandemic was coming, I was initially relieved. I was supposed to fly to Chicago to visit my sister and go to our favorite band’s (Keane) concert, but as a person with anxiety and panic disorder who is terrified of airplanes and crowds it allowed me to back out. The concert was cancelled. It was the excuse I needed to back out without shame or blame. It seems silly now, but at the time covid seemed more like a bad cold or flu to me. It seemed like another Swine Flu or Avian Flu or other scare in recent memory which hadn’t amounted to a plague style pandemic. Lockdown was even kind of nice at first. My husband, daughter, and I got to spend a lot of family time together. I had taught ESL online for a number of years previously, so converting my in school classes to online was easy. I had no problems teaching over Zoom. I’m a homebody anyway, by habit and by anxiety, so this was great… until the body count started. I was horrified and sickened to hear about the freezer containers being used in New York City to store the overflow of bodies. The germaphobia that had plagued me in childhood, that I had gone to years of therapy to overcome, came roaring back with a vengeance. Like everyone else, I went to the grocery store to stock up so I wouldn’t have to leave me house for awhile, only to find shelf after shelf empty. As a super health conscious, organic, vegan my choices were extremely limited. My husband and daughter aren’t vegan, but they do eat only organic, which became impossible. Soap, disinfectant, cleaners, and hand sanitizers were nowhere to be found. At a time when it was so important to be as clean and healthy as possible all those modern conveniences were utterly gone. I felt helpless. I imagined that people living during pandemics like the bubonic plague and Spanish flu must have felt similarly. After a couple of weeks, quarantine started to feel more like a claustrophobic prison sentence than a family vacation. I missed my sister, my parents, my friends, my colleagues, and my students. On my birthday and Easter I just had to wave at my parents through the glass door. My favorite hobby- taekwondo, which I had started in order to relieve stress and help with my anxiety was taken from me. I had to do the classes online from my living room, which was nearly impossible. I felt trapped. A raging epidemic across the planet from which there was no escape. If I spent too much time thinking about it, I would start to feel the claw of panic. By the time summer arrived I was at breaking point. Luckily with summer we had some reprieve. Case loads declined, and I started meeting my best friend outside. We socially distanced ourselves and wore masks, but we were together and that was a start. By the end of summer she and her boyfriend were on our “quaranteam” that is we decided we could see each other since we weren’t seeing anyone else. In the fall school started. Since I teach at a Catholic school we were able to have school in person full time, though we had students in every grade who opted to go remote. But my bestie and I were back in the building with most of the kids, and I started to feel less trapped. I was going to stores masked and my daughter was also in school. But as soon as Thanksgiving hit everything changed again. So many people ignored all of the recommendations and restrictions and got together with family and friends. It made me so angry that people were so careless. A friend of mine had a large family in Pennsylvania who all got together for Thanksgiving. She didn’t go because she thought it was reckless. 8 out of 14 people at the family dinner got covid and 2 of them died. Then at Christmas, my great uncle passed. No funeral. No wake. Nothing. Schools shut down again. We were trapped. Then the vaccines came. It was nearly impossible to get one for a long time even if you were eligible. Slots filled as fast as they were posted. You needed to present a lot of proof of eligibility in order to get one. As a teacher, I was able to get mine earlier than many others. I got the Moderna. The first shot made me feel a little sick for a few hours, but with the second I had a fever of 103.5, aches, chills, nausea for 12 hours and a general malaise for 3 days. A friend of mine in taekwondo, who has some autoimmune problems, had a severe reaction after her first Moderna vaccine. She has had side effects for a few months now that are not going away. She has dizzy spells and heart palpitations regularly. She is undergoing testing and being monitored by the CDC. Despite some horror stories, the vaccine is still the absolute best thing that we could have hoped for. I would like my daughter to get it as soon as they open it to the under 12 population. A lot of people won’t get the vaccine because they are in the “Science is fake, I’m a Trump supporter” camp. In my opinion, Trump’s misinformation and mishandling of the pandemic cost tens of thousands of American lives, and his diversive legacy is going to cost us dearly for many years to come. It is now June again. School just finished. New York State is allowing people to enter buildings unmasked if they are vaccinated, but few people are actually requiring any proof. Given that the people with a cavalier attitude toward wearing masks are many of the same people who are against getting vaccinated, an honors system policy towards wearing masks is really just a no-mask policy. It is very frustrating to me that people can’t just deal with masks for a while longer to fully insure this disease’s eradication before we have another relapse and find ourselves back in quarantine again.
• 
  2021-06-23

  Blank screens

  Turn on video All eyes on me, exposing Me, I turn it off… -discouraged student
• 
  2021-06-23

  Zoom Paranoia

  Stub my toe on chair Scream bloody murder, oh shit! Mic was unmuted ;c -someone who just exposed themselves on a zoom call
• 
  -2021-06-20

  Losing Connections with Older Relatives and with Their Life Knowledge

  I am an individual over 60, which means that my aunts, uncles, and cousins are also over 60, and several are in their 80s and 90s. Luckily I haven’t been separated from family members younger than me, but because of the health and safety concerns for older individuals, I haven’t been able to meet with these older family members during the pandemic. I’ve found that my older family members don’t enjoy connecting through technology, as they know that doing so, although better than not connecting at all, is a poor substitute for face-to-face connections. Trying to communicate over Zoom results in frustration and dissatisfaction for people who are used to another way of communicating, a way where body language, touch, and energy are important components of the conversation. So the level of connection with these individuals has declined greatly during the pandemic, as we haven’t been able to meet in person and our technology-driven connections have been unsatisfactory or infrequent. The lack of connection is particularly sad as this demographic is more likely to fall ill with the virus or suffer another illness, or even death, and I may not have another chance to see them. I’ve lost an uncle to the virus this past year already. I’ve gone without seeing friends this past year, but I fully expect to be able to see them again in the future; with my older family members, this connection in the future is far less certain. The lack of connection is also sad because these individuals have lived long lives and encountered hardships, including diseases and public health scares, and their advice and history would be sources of comfort and knowledge for these times.
• 
  2020-04-12

  Easter has Landed

  When I first told my six-year-old that we would be Zoom-ing with family for Easter, he frowned at the idea. Once logged on, he was engaged with them much more than either of us had expected. After we discovered the background options, it became a dress-up party. We stayed on the call for over an hour. This photograph really drives home the feeling of isolation and the reliance upon technology invading our lives.
• 
  2021-05-06

  APUSH - Online Learning Edition

  The first time I saw over 75% of my 171 APUSH students in person was the morning of the test. One girl brought me a bouquet and said “I wanted to give you this today because it will probably be the only time I see you.” What a strange, strange year. The kids I teach are my life, I usually can tell you at least 10 specific weird things about each of them. I’m embarrassed to say I can’t this year - how do you REALLY get to know a kid over Zoom? Still, I am touched by the level of connection we were able to make. And I was amazed that out of 171 kids, 170 came before the test to say hi and pick up their goodie bag. After the test, they rushed back to see me and tell me how they felt. For that moment, it was like any other year. I truly feel I gave them the very best of me, I never “phoned it in” and even this week, in our last five days of school, we’re doing modern topics until the end. But I will always feel guilty. Because despite giving my best, I know it doesn’t live up to a normal in person year. Still, their happy faces and kind words show that despite my own internal disappointment, the kids are alright and it wasn’t a total loss for them. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to the fall, having my tables back and full classes five days a week. Yet, these kids who I shared a Zoom screen with for 180 days will always hold a special place in my heart. I may not know them at the level I usually do, but their perseverance and diligence in ever changing circumstances will also motivate me to continue to give the best of me.
• 
  2021-05-27

  An Ode to Zoom

  How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways. I sorrow til I can be free of thee and back in classroom With only bad memories of the days and nights of Zoom Crowding my screen with people who wish to be transparent I hate you with the heat of a thousand sun filled rays You never send my messages to who they are intended My voice and an alien’s, these you have always blended One wrong number in a Zoom ID, I become a student errant I wish for asynchronous or even class by email I am required to use camera, even if I loathe it so Because, when I’m present, you see one fatigued female
• 
  2020-04-12

  One Way to See Family During a Worldwide Crisis

  Primary Source Essay Wildania Hernandez The primary source I’m using for this project is a picture of my family on a zoom call celebrating my father’s birthday on march 12, 2020. This is how my family and myself had to gather together to actually spend some time since the virus started. Our family is a very united family, we are very close and before COVID-19 started we used to get together in somebody’s house and just cook and dance and talk, and enjoy every second of it but everything changed when the virus started it was spreading too fast, and everybody was scared. I remember how my mom was always watching the news and you could see all the videos of all those people that died in Queens and they had so many bodies that they didn't have a place to put them. Funeral homes were full and all I could think was about those families who lost a loved one and how some people were thinking that COVID was fake. The first time we use zoom was to celebrate my father’s birthday, it was something new and not something like we usually do but at least we got to see some of our family members. We were always home since we stopped working because of the pandemic. We used to work for a medical transportation company so we were “Essentials Workers”, we transport people to get dialysis treatment 3 times a week and after the virus started to get stronger we had to stop working because almost every patient we transported died of COVID-19 before the wave of summer even started. Sadly the COVID ended the life of two members in my family, at the end of June we got the news that one of my aunts was at the hospital on life support, three weeks later one of my uncle was in the same situation. We couldn't see them or say goodbye, everything just happened so fast that we were in shock and this is how we started our “Weekly zoom meetings”. The reason why I selected this source is because I want to show historians of the future how families use to communicate in a group without getting together. We used this tool to so much that we had an schedule, every Friday we had a zoom meeting to just talk about our week. To talk about our different point of view of the pandemic and not only that but all of the events that happened last year, like the protest that started shortly after George Floyd was killed, and the election in November but most importantly those zoom meetings was just to make sure that everybody was good and to support each other since some of my family members were still working outside. Crazy how everything started last year and now we have a vaccine and hopefully everything will go back to normal in no time but for now we need to live with the memory of what started in the year 2020 that affected the whole world.
• 
  2020-03-13

  My Experience with Online School and Quarantine

  Hi! My name is Wendy! Right after a normal weekend in March, I never expected that we would switch to online learning. I was shocked to see the email in the picture on March 13th, saying that we would no longer go back to normal school. This screenshot is very important to me since it made me realize that Covid-19 was a bigger issue than I thought. There was talk of a new illness (Covid-19), but I honestly didn’t feel like it would turn into a whole pandemic. I was kind of thankful since I had a dentist appointment on Monday that would’ve made me be absent from class, but all the cons of Covid-19 outweighed the benefits. The first few weeks were awful- it was hard to adapt to the constant isolation, and being with my family all day was tiring. Also, school wasn’t as engaging or fun anymore. We weren’t able to connect with our teachers or talk to our friends in class. Furthermore, seeing the news and how thousands of people were dying was very frightening. But it's been more than a year of online school, and I found out that what helped me cope was the small things like texting my friends on Discord, hanging out (with masks and 6 feet apart obviously), and exploring things that I couldn’t do before quarantine like drawing or playing the piano. Of course, there were days where I was fed up with being inside or when I felt depressed, but making the most out of this situation gave me the drive to keep social distancing. So remember to keep wearing masks, keeping 6 feet apart, and get vaccinated! This lack of social interaction and not being able to go to school or public places normally is unfortunate but we must stay away from each other to stay together. When it gets hard, find ways to connect with others through safe means like social media and use all that free time to improve and discover things about yourself.
• 
  2020-03-13

  My Experience with Online School and Quarantine

  Hi! My name is Wendy! Right after a normal weekend in March, I never expected that we would switch to online learning. I was shocked to see the email in the picture on March 13th, saying that we would no longer go back to normal school. This screenshot is very important to me since it made me realize that Covid-19 was a bigger issue than I thought. There was talk of a new illness (Covid-19), but I honestly didn’t feel like it would turn into a whole pandemic. I was kind of thankful since I had a dentist appointment on Monday that would’ve made me be absent from class, but all the cons of Covid-19 outweighed the benefits. The first few weeks were awful- it was hard to adapt to the constant isolation, and being with my family all day was tiring. Also, school wasn’t as engaging or fun anymore. We weren’t able to connect with our teachers or talk to our friends in class. Furthermore, seeing the news and how thousands of people were dying was very frightening. But it's been more than a year of online school, and I found out that what helped me cope was the small things like texting my friends on Discord, hanging out (with masks and 6 feet apart obviously), and exploring things that I couldn’t do before quarantine like drawing or playing the piano. Of course, there were days where I was fed up with being inside or when I felt depressed, but making the most out of this situation gave me the drive to keep social distancing. So remember to keep wearing masks, keeping 6 feet apart, and get vaccinated! This lack of social interaction and not being able to go to school or public places normally is unfortunate but we must stay away from each other to stay together. When it gets hard, find ways to connect with others through safe means like social media and use all that free time to improve and discover things about yourself.
• 
  2021-04-14

  Zoomies

  I am lying on my belly while giving my two cents, and I just rolled my eyes at that one guy who likes Mike Pence. No one can hear me burp or see me eating; this is way better than an in-person meeting. My responses are thoughtful and I am on a roll; they asked me to share and I am baring my soul. I stare at black squares and blank expressions when all of a sudden, someone interrupts with, “Hey, you hit the mute button.”
• 
  04/07/2021

  Jitinder Walia Oral History, 2021/04/07

  Jitinder Walia, Executive Director of Bronx Community College’s Early Childhood Center, describes how she and her staff managed to continue educating the children of BCC’s students after the campus had closed. When she first realized the pandemic would cause the Center to end in-person classes, she felt devastated. But she quickly realized that the children and their parents needed the Center’s services during this extremely stressful time. So she and her staff figured out how to provide online lessons for young children and social services for parents without in-person contact. Jitinder misses hugs from children and face-to-face chats with parents. She’s looking forward to the day when she can hear the sounds of 100+ energetic children in her building. Yet she’s immensely proud of the way her staff has continued the Center’s mission during the pandemic, and she plans to continue some of the online activities created because of Covid.
• 
  2021-04-15

  Second Semester Done, One Year In, But What Will I Miss?

  The end of the semester is near, with one week left in my college semester and only a few weeks left at the high school where I work. As my first year as a Ph.D. season comes to a close, I have to say I am actually going to miss some parts of spending the year going to class via Zoom. It’s been nice to not have to worry about superficial things like my outfit and practical things like making sure my water bottle is full and that I have had lunch before class. Zoom is exhausting. Being aware that my classmates can see me, and I can see everyone else all at once. Sure, I can hide self-view, but in a way that makes me more nervous because I won’t be able to see if my face looks silly. I spend a lot of time holding my face in a specific way to avoid “resting bitch face” that I often end my 2.5-hour classes with headaches and jaw tension. I guess I won’t miss that. Monitoring chat and live conversations is a nightmare. So much so that I don’t pay much heed to the chat at all. I won’t miss that. Not having to find parking on campus though... that has been super nice. Not having to account for traffic, being able to schedule appointments more easily. It’s also allowed my professors to be in other states for meetings when necessary or step out for other Zoom meetings when they have to for a few minutes and then return. I guess it is what we have been saying for the better part of nine months now, that we have always had the ability to be flexible, just no willpower, and the pandemic has shown us that we really can be flexible. Selfishly it makes it easier to work and go to school as well. I haven’t missed a single class all year. It made being a TA easier too, since I didn’t have to go to campus for those classes either, which would have further complicated a work schedule. I am ready to go back to school, after three online master’s degree, the perpetual student in me was so excited to go back to campus for classes and be a part of a college campus again and I didn’t get that because of the pandemic, but I think in some ways it made the transition easier for me. It made it easier for me to feel like I could do it all at once.
• 
  2021-02-19

  Professor Abusive Toward HoH Student in Online Class

  A professor is being placed on paid administrative leave after a viral video showed the instructor berating a student in front of the Zoom class.
• 
  2021-03-02

  The 128th Day, aka Day One

  For the first time in 374 days, I taught from my classroom today. It is the 128th day of school, we have only one quarter left. As nervous as we are about our community and the COVID risk level, I feel very positive and relieved to be back. COVID numbers have dropped considerably, and though I haven’t always seen eye to eye with my district in the way this entire pandemic has been handled, at the end of the day, I really feel like the right decisions were made Compared to neighboring districts, I feel our safety standards exceed the norm. It is strange still - the largest in person class I will have is seven students and the smallest is zero! Many families in our community have opted to continue distance learning through the rest of the school year, which I understand. We made the same choice for our two kids! Still, it was nice for the first time in over a year to wake up and have somewhere to go. Even though on one hand it seems ridiculous to Zoom an entire class of kids with two kids in the classroom who are sitting far away from me with headphones on and are logged into also the same Zoom meeting, I did feel re-energized to just be back in my classroom. I don’t think I have a greater prayer right now than for the vaccines to continue to work and for the adolescent and pediatric trials to successfully run their course. Wouldn’t it be incredible to have the kids vaccinated by fall? I know it will not be a reality for all students, but I think that piece of the puzzle will be a big part in mitigating the spread. In the meantime, I’ll continue to follow the pleas of the SOS sign that is taped all over the school. Indeed, let’s save our school year and the next one, too!
• 
  2021-02-25

  Jewish Melbourne

  As a Yiddish teacher the plague year was marked by a shift to online teaching. Of course this involved inconveniences and accomodations but mostly I was so grateful to have a job that meant I got to stay in contact with people throughout 2020. In classes I worked hard to support students in a difficult time, but also found myself energised and reassured by the regular social contact they provided. I've chose two pictures of my classes - one, a kids class featuring members of my family and the other, a screenshot from one of my long running classes at the Kadimah. The kids class was often fairly chaotic on zoom, marked by kids disappearing, scribbling on the screen or more interested in making faces in the camera than anything else. But it still represented a weekly engagement with Yiddishkayt for these kids, who all live in the North of Melbourne and attend state schools. The image I chose of one of my adults class is from a night when there was a blackout in my street - all the lights went off and my connection cut out. I realised though that I could teach using my phone for internet - it just meant sitting in the dark! I remember a strong feeling of "the show must go on" in a time when so much else was uncertain it was important to me that every Monday evening was the same - Yiddish class with my longtime students. Throughout lockdown students have been so patient and understanding of everything that has had to change and even now as I am extremely over teaching online I am honestly so grateful for what they've given me - meaninful, interesting, engaging work and social contact! We should all be so lucky.
• 
  02/21/2021

  Eva Ruth Oral History, 2021/02/17

  This is a mini oral history of Eva Ruth by Monica Ruth, about the silver lining of the pandemic experience.