Items
topic_interest is exactly
changed
-
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. -
2023-01-22
COVID Restrictions and Visiting Mom.
My mother has special needs and since 2014, lived in a townhome with three roommates, facilitated by Penn Foundation, a behavioral healthcare provider. I lived only 10 minutes away, and once a week I would visit her on my days off. I would bring fast food or pizza and we would watch movies together in her room. When the pandemic began, Penn Foundation - like most other healthcare facilities - imposed tight restrictions for the safety of those under their care. As a result, I was unable to visit my mother for half a year, and after restrictions were loosened, our visits were relegated to sitting on her front porch eating and talking. Due to a deterioration in her condition, she was moved to a nursing facility. We never got to have another movie day. The pandemic had changed the way I visit my mother forever. -
2020-03-18
My Personal Pandemic Experience
In March, 2020, a global pandemic started. Before that, jokes were made. "Coronavirus is going to take out the whole world". When the month of March began, most people were confused or very strongly opinionated about what was going to happen. It was the news of all news. Rumors got worse and worse and it was said that you could get the virus through your eyeballs, nose, and mouth. People got scared of getting sick so the world completely changed. Masks started arising with the thought that they'd slow the spread. Shortly after, however, masks became very political. In the world of demanding masks, canceling school, major political conflict and complete chaos I felt worried, annoyed, angered, and most of all disappointed in and for what the world became. -
2020-09-29
the handshake in jeprody
The story I wanted to tell was about something that is so common and frequent that it became extremely awkward and strange for me. This thing was the hand shake. Before covid hand shaking was a norm and everybody did it. It was the universal way to greet people in a polite and also professional way if you're working. But as Covid-19 came into the picture this norm would become altered and even disappear all together possibly. 2020 was going great until a virus in china was discovered and people started to die very fast shortly after. No one knew this mystery virus until a test came out that it was a very dangerous and deadly virus capable of killing people in days. The virus was only found in China but soon spread around the world. I live in america and as soon as this virus hit thing changed. The first thing was to wear a mask 24-7 when in public. Another thing that started to change that no one realized was the common handshake.due to the virus people became more scared to interact with people. This caused people to change their social behavior. One such example was when I was out with my family and friends. We were all going to meet some people and when we arrived I did not realize I went to shake the person's hand. As soon as i did that the person came back with sorry i don't want to shake hands. Then I went to another person and they were different. They were fine but did elbow bump instead of a conventional handshake. This change is greeting people became awkward for me because I had to read the person and if they wanted to handshake or do something else. There were times were i would think they were all right and then they weren't and the greeting looked like some twister baird with my hand flailing around stupidly with no motive. I became embarrassed and didn't shake or greet anyone after that incident. After this event I realized that the handshake kinda just disappeared and people did not want or even think of handshakes. covid-19 changed the social que for meeting someone to glancing at them and saying hi and that it. I can't imagine how awkward this is for businesses. From this experience I realized the hand shake might disappear altogether after covid or be much less the norm. Covid has had the power to restructure how we greet people and socialize by minimizing our interaction with others at just a glance. I hope the hand shake survives but if not the world will be very different without the handshake because it was such a norm in society for lots of years. -
2020-08-07
COVID-19 knocked actors off the Broadway stage. But are the lights dim forever? -NBC News
The news article is about the impacts the coronavirus pandemic had on Broadway and how it affected the people related to Broadway, the article also emphasizes the fact that the pandemic may have changed Broadway forever. This is important to me because when I was younger, my family and I used to go see shows every time we were in New York City, it was always a magical experience for me and my brother. This isn’t one of the most common ‘tragic outcomes’ of the pandemic, so I wanted to share the devastating losses that Broadway and the theatre community is experiencing due to the pandemic.