Items

• 2020-08-22

  The Difficulties of a College Student During a Pandemic

  During the start of the school semester of spring 2020, talks of a very contagious illness stated to spread. Most students on campus believed COVID-19 to be a threat nut one month later, all colleges across the world shut down. While moving out, my friend's dad said we would be back that same semester. I believed him until infection rates increased across the United States. States started to shut down including the one I lived in. Restrictions, isolation, and guidelines were enforced to ensure public safety. Instead, thousands of people went into depression including me. Not being able to leave my house during the pandemic was difficult. Not only was I hundreds of miles away from my friends at school, but I couldn't see my friends at home too. My experience with online class didn't make interacting with people any easier. Most of my classes didn't require the camera to be on, while the other class didn't even meet online. This was very difficult for me because I was used to being around friends everyday. I started to become depressed as I spent 2 months without interacting with anyone but my family and my teacher. Fortunately, restrictions eased up as the spring semester came to a close. I was able to get a job at a donation center for the summer. I still wasn't allowed to see my friends which made for a disappointing summer but working helped the time go by. When it was time to go back to college, I was relieved. My college was fortunate enough to have students on campus for the fall 2020 semester. I was overly excited to see any friends after months. I counted down the days until we moved in. But I knew the semester would be different. When arriving on campus, I learned that several rules and regulations were implemented to "keep the community safe." Some of these included no visiting anyones dorm room, scheduling when to eat, certain doors were entrances while others were exits, no guests from off campus, must wear a green bracelet at all times, must get randomly tested, etc. I made sure to read the rules and regulations but unfortunately, my roommates didn't. The very first night on campus, my roommates decided to have friends over. I told my roommates that it wasn't allowed but it did not matter. The guests stayed until there was banging at the door. The Resident Assistant working that night wrote us up, and we had to meet with the Dean. While meeting with the Dean, I explained how it was not my fault and I was against having guests over, but I was charged with a $200 fine. Completely upset, I change all my classes to online classes and moved back home. I did not trust my roommates enough to stay. The last thing I wanted was several fines that weren't my fault. When I got home, I was really depressed. I was the only one home out of all my friends and I was back to remote learning. I couldn't see anyone while home and I felt betrayed by my roommates. I felt like my life was crumbling as another semester of my college experience was being wasted. This caused me to have a mental breakdown, and lose all motivation to do work. Four months passed by slowly and I escaped the semester with mediocre grades and a crippling mind. Fortunately, my parents noticed I was not in the best shape of mind. They had me see a therapist and find new activities to do during the pandemic. This got me back on my feet and my friends from home started returning from school. The gap between semesters when well and I was joyful again. However, it was time to decide if I wanted to return to campus for the 2021 Spring Semester. I was torn because some of my friends were staying home that semester and I still did not trust my roommates. I thought rationally and contacted them to see our their semester went. To my surprise, they received 4 fines and one of them had to quarantine. This gave me reassurance that I made the right choice on leaving campus during the fall semester. Currently I am taking the 2021 Spring Semester all remotely and I am happy. I am seeing friends and have synchronous classes. I am confident that I will keep seeing my friends at home and keep a good mindset throughout the semester. I wish for everyone to stay strong during the pandemic and seek help if you're depressed.
• 
  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.
• 
  2020-11-04

  A Little Tired

  This meme is everything that COVID/riots/election America is right now. Nobody’s talking about it, but suicides are way up. Divorce is way up. Casual alcoholism is widespread. People are doing so many drugs it’s insane. People are visibly deteriorating, not taking care of themselves and it’s showing. Men I know who used to be clean-cut and disciplined aren’t getting haircuts, aren’t shaving, and barely exercise anymore. Depression is the real “new normal.” Everyone is affected. Oppressive government regulations, blatant abuse and murder of American citizens by the police, arbitrary emergency orders, and openly fraudulent election processes have broken the spirits of almost everyone. No one even thinks change is possible anymore. People want this nation to collapse and are now openly saying it. All hope has been lost in the hearts of the average American. It’s funny because it’s TOO relatable for EVERYONE.
• 
  2020-11-02

  Election Day Feelings 2020

  As many Americans hit the polls on Election Day 2020, many are left with uneasy feelings of anxiety and depression. There is so much at stake with this presidential election, including decisions about healthcare, women’s rights, the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Although election day is on November 3rd, it could be days before a president is chosen due to the amount of mail in ballots casted by voters. Therefore, this election day fear and anxiety could hover over many nervous Americans for days to come. With all the looming negativity, it is best to remember to keep calm and reach out to those closest for support during this very difficult time.
• 
  2020-10-28

  ‘I’m here for you’

  2020 is a difficult year, especially for someone like me staying alone in foreign lands. What frustrated me was not only the difficulties in life, but also loneliness and lost. I have no roommate in Melbourne. Therefore, after the 5km travel ban was issued, I rarely contact with the outside world. Not only that, many of my friends choose to defer their studies and stayed in their mother country due to the plague so I gradually lost contact with them. In this case, speak to my classmates on the tutorial became almost the only way for me to communicate with the outside world. I am not ready to face this situation, and these sudden changes made me so depressed. Social distancing between men made me feel ignored and isolated, and I even considered about postponing my studies. Until a few days ago, I found some cards (as in the photo) from my apartment’s common zone. On the front page of the card there is ‘I’m here for you’, and residents could leave their contact information on the card to people who want to make new friends. I take one of the cards and left my message. Although I have not contacted that person so far, I can feel the kindness from strangers, and the support there makes me believe that everything will be fine. #HIST30060
• 
  2020-10-23

  COVID funeral

  Although the death had nothing to do with COVID I wanted to showcase how many people are being forced to say good bye to loved ones during the pandemic. I attended a funeral this morning through zoom, my friend was killed a few weeks ago in the east coast and today his family laid him to rest. On the plus side I saved on airfare and travel and was able to watch in the comfort of my own home. Most people were live and had their cameras on while others chose to turn them off. Since I was one of those with the camera off, I can say I felt the liberty to mourn as I wished in the privacy of my own space. A few minutes after the service started, I almost forgot I was on a zoom meeting until the sound gave out for a few minutes. The service was like any other I had been to, with eulogies, songs and a picture slide show BUT it was unlike any I had ever been too because it was remote. There were over a hundred people in the meeting from all over the country. Those who were physically in the church wore masks until it was their turn to speak, and the over all theme of social distance and COVID was not lost even among the tears. I snapped a photo to show how I was watching.
• 2020-03-22

  Quarantine Day 7 - 22 March 2020

  It was only the seventh day of quarantine. While my two younger children, (then aged 6 and 3) were still enjoying the "newness" of learning from home, my oldest child (pictured here at age 10) was done learning from a distance. In these three photos, I captured my son physically crawling across the floor to the dog's bed in order to cry. He would eventually cry himself to sleep simply over having to learn virtually. He had had essentially no warning that his life would forever be changed when he left school on March 13, 2020. He went from school five days a week, hockey practice five days a week, and a constant stream of friends to play with to being shut in his house with his parents and two sisters. From Day 7 (documented in the picture), he did not cope well with the change. This is the first documentation I have of what would be later diagnosed as his depression.
• 
  2020-10-20

  Suicide watch

  This post is not my own but it did make me reflect. Social distancing and quarantine are affecting people in a variety of ways. Mostly increasing depression and anxiety. Last week, my cousins twelve year old daughter killed her self. On the outside her life seemed normal, some would even say she lived a privileged life. Internally though, it’s clear that she was suffering. She was silently carrying a heavy burden which because unbearable when she was no longer able to leave the four walls of her home. I can only imagine how many stories there are just like hers. COVID is killing people physically and emotionally.
• 2020-03-15

  Depression in Isolation

  Before Covid, like most others, I had made plans. My plans were to go on a mission trip for a whole month to Thailand. The week before all went to hell, I went to Chicago for a training session to prepare myself for the month-long mission trip. The people said that because I was supposed to go to Thailand in April that the trip could potentially get cancelled. I replied okay, but at first, I didn’t think Covid would be as bad as it has gotten, so I thought that I would still be able to go. I took a flight back to my hometown, and less than a day later, they called me and said that my trip was going to be cancelled. I immediately fell into a deep depression because I was really excited to go. I also work for Starbucks, so I had to continue to work through COvid the entire time, and I continued to get depressed because of all the events that are going on right now. I then, a couple of months later, heard from the people from Thailand that said I could come and reschedule the mission trip there. So my spirits got lifted from there, but it is still up in the air right now.
• 
  2020-04-05

  Corporate Growth

  This is a photo of Elon Musk smoking marijuana on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, captioned with the phrase “show me the money.” This is a reference to the astronomical growth of the Tesla Corporation in 2020 and the average investor’s potential to secure massive gains, as well as a joking reference to the near worship of Elon Musk that can be found in the subreddit ‘WallStreetBets.’ This subreddit often features ‘absolute madlads’ making huge gambles on stocks (usually TSLA, AAPL, or AMZN) and subsequently either securing massive returns tallying into the hundreds of thousands or losing everything. When most of my family was laid off from their jobs, my brother and I turned to day trading to keep ourselves and our family afloat. I was one of the only ones still employed at the time, and I was doing this in addition to working up to 75 hours a week to take advantage of overtime pay stacked on top of hazard pay. Although only my father and I were still working, everyone in the family still had bills to pay and the rent was still due. Tesla’s stock, specifically, has grown almost 500% this year and is set to grow even more. This meme is somewhat of an inside joke my brother and I had as we began securing leverage and buying covered calls on TSLA to increase our overall cash flow with the little savings we had to work with. We were quite literally counting on Elon Musk and his revolutionary car company that we had placed our faith in during this time to pay our rent. Luckily, it worked out for us. Ironically, the massive transfer of wealth to corporations from small businesses that went under as a result of COVID-19 was incredibly beneficial for my family and I since we invested in the right stocks at the right time.
• 
  2020

  How I navigated a touch based sport during a time of 6 feet apart

  My story is my own story of what I experienced as a martial artist in the Covid Pandemic. It is important to me as, from what I understand, it is one of many just like it.
• 2020

  A cacophony of silence

  This is a personal account of my time during the height of the pandemic, how it affected my studies, and ultimately the crushing loneliness of it all. Hello, My name is Shemar Providence and this is my account of the COVID19 pandemic. I will begin at the start of the virus. During this time I was going to classes as normal. The virus had become known as it swept through Wuhan china. My mother and I were worried that it would eventually make its way over to the states. Overall I would describe the climate around the virus as a general sense of apathy. “As long as it wasn't over here everything is fine” was a common sentiment among my peers as well as governing officials. It was the beginning of March when it began to spread like wildfire in new york. The most apathetic of us were now worried or decided to stay home. Colleges began to transition to online learning to stop the spread. Within about 2 weeks, from the gossip to the first outbreak, New york was put into a standstill. I was born with asthma as well as a weakened immune system. For me, the virus was a matter of life and death. I live with my mother who quarantined me in the house until the virus would cool down. We bought masks, hand sanitizer, gloves, whatever we could get our hands on to keep each other safe. During this time the mania had begun all over the country. People were buying things in bulk fighting each other over the most basic of things. It was a mess. it was approaching the end of March. In just a few short weeks I got a glimpse at what pandemonium looked like. Remote learning was a challenge. My neighborhood had poor connectivity issues. For about half of April, I had no internet connection and could not reach 2 of my professors. I ended up not getting credit for those classes. For the other professors, I was able to reach I was able to come up with a compromise. A lot of instructors weren't really well versed in remote learning and would go missing some days. With poor connectivity zoom meetings would stutter and stop. Overall the entire learning process was halted not only for me but for others as well. Considering how many others had a poor connection and were forced to drop classes. The greatest thing to experience first hand was the politics of the virus. You would think a matter pertaining to community health would not become a divisive issue but it was. Like everything in recent years, it had to be split down the middle to appeal to the most radical on both sides. Some people were saying it was a hoax and that the government was seeing how far they could control people. These people felt as though being forced to wear a mask violated their civil liberties. These were the most apathetic of us not caring about what happens to those of us who are less healthy. They bemoaned anyone who would wear a mask as a democrat thus sparking the aforementioned democrats to return fire. And like that the division grew. I think the isolation from the quarantine probably helped to heighten tensions but looking at it live it just seems so stupid. A matter as simple as stopping the spread became a democrat and republican issue, and a rights issue. republican s even put less emphasis on the virus due to it spreading in primarily blue states. It was all truly awful. With the country seemingly falling apart in pandemonia staying at home felt more and more suffocating. The same four walls became a coffin of sorts. If the virus got in I would be done for. However, I was still dead to the world around me. Keeping touch with friends was my only salvation between schoolwork and deafening silence. It didn't help that my own mother kept live streaming the ongoing pain at its height. I couldn't escape it. The death of the depression the pain. It was all around me. People I knew and loved in my neighborhood died and I couldn't even see them go. I grew depressed and more cynical as a person. It seemed like hell. It just kept going and going. School ended leaving me more depressed over my studies than ever. But at least the rate of death had started to decrease. It is starting to get better, slowly but surely. But it still feels as though there is worse yet to come. This year has been so divisive and sad. And I feel like it will just keep getting worse.
• 
  2020-04

  Tweets from Inside a Prison 4/5-4/11/2020 by Railroaded Underground

  These images show Tweets from a prison inmate using a contraband cell phone for the week of April 5th through April 11th, 20202. He talks about waiting in a cage for covid to get him, the poor are the ones imprisoned and now they are at higher risk of getting covid, he sees depression and hope, talks about how old the facility is and the black mold he can see growing outside his cell.
• 
  2020-06-16

  Quarantine's Progression

  This tweet encapsulates the mindsets of many people from the beginning of quarantine in March to the present day. I would describe the first stage as optimism/depression as the full reality of being stuck inside set it. Then came the phase of trying to learn productive skills or keeping busy; for many that meant taking up baking or cooking. Most recently, as restrictions have been eased people have poured into the streets to protest racial injustice. This item was added TAGS v6.1.9.1. I originally searched under the hashtag #coronavirus. Within that search, I have chosen to add the following tweet because it describes the emotional states that people have progressed through as quarantine has dragged on.