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2021-03-31
Retiring Betsy for Alani
This was the time my mother, brother, and myself came home with a brand new truck during the Pandemic. It was by far my favorite memory of the pandemic because not only was it the family's first ever brand new vehicle, but it was my first car purchase as well. We had an old hunk of junk 2001 Mercedes Benz SUV that was falling apart on us, which we nicknamed Betsy. She served us well as a reliable SUV, but my family and I had talked at length over the course of months that we needed a new car but couldn't possibly imagine actually getting on, especially during the microchip shortage of 2020-2021. Somehow it happened, and it will always be my favorite memory of the pandemic. Why is it called Alani? Alani in Hawaiian means Orange, and that's pretty much the main feature of the truck. A giant orange pumpkin with wheels. -
2020-04-03
My Neighbors and I
My neighbors and I have known each other for multiple years, and are good friends. They came from India as immigrants back in 2000 and started a family, eventually moving in right next to us about two years before the pandemic. Once COVID hit, our usual Saturday night bonfires together came to a halt as we wanted to be safe and not spread the potential infection. Instead, they bought an entire fire pit off Amazon, and through the trees each Saturday night we continued our Saturday night bonfires together, just not next to each other. This was honestly a beautiful experience because no matter what we found a way to continue to connect with each other in a safe and timely manner! We still keep in contact to this day and reminisce on our old memories as neighbors. -
2022-04-11
New Year, New Dreams
This is an Instagram post by ankletzdreams. This is a post of a woman who has received her Pfizer booster shot. From the hashtags and the post, she seems fairly content with it. -
2021-08-11
Sorry, Not Sorry. Vaccines Are Necessary.
In two years of everything under the sun becoming political, it’s not a shock that vaccines are yet another unnecessarily politicized topic. Of course, unlike masks, which were not a part of our daily routine prior to 2020, vaccinations and anti-vaxxers are not new. And honestly, if my two elementary aged kids could be vaccinated I would care a lot less about anti-vaxxers. I think they’re selfish, but for the most part, they’d be hurting themselves (and the immuno compromised that cannot be vaccinated.) But my kids can’t be vaccinated and I have been trying to stay positive knowing next week they’re walking into a classroom with only a mask for protection. I asked my mom “what is their teachers are unvaccinated?” I mean, every unvaccinated person poses a risk - what is the adult in charge is an anti-vaxxer and anti-masker? So it was with complete and utter shock and total relief to get the official word that teachers in the state of CA must be vaccinated. It’s a shame that this seals the fate on governor Newsom’s recall. I don’t love the guy, but I sure as heck want him more than a DeSantis and considering the last time CA recalled a governor, we ended up with the Terminator in charge…well. With Florida’s teachers being threatened with losing their pay over mandating masks, I am relieved to live in a state taking the opposite approach. Call us Commiefornia, I don’t care. Like I’ve been saying for a year and a half, this is a public health crisis. This isn’t about politics, it’s about an invisible virus that is continuing to mutate and spread. And as a teacher, I truly believe it’s my responsibility to do anything to help mitigate the spread. -
2021-05-25
Covid 19 archive entry (Starcraft Edition)
What this mainly shares my experience with my esports team during the pandemic and also how my social life changed during the pandemic. The object is to talk about how I made new friends and also how Covid 19 wasn't the only world wide issue, and example would be the crisis in Myanmar. -
2021-05-18
2020 Senior, First Generation
I experience COVID my senior year of 2020. I never thought Thursday before spring break was going to be the last time our senior class would have a normal day. I didn’t get to have a traditional graduation but I felt proud having a car graduation. I was the first one to graduate from my family and even if I didn’t get to walk the stage I was still happy. Happy that I graduated got handed my diploma. -
2020-04-18
Support, Family & Friends
At the beginning of quarantine, people were planning surprise personal birthday parades filled with cars of people honking, holding posters, or even throwing confetti. I believe that this was one of the moments that showed communities coming together, and it is really awesome to see this good news. I am very grateful that my family and friends helped me celebrate my birthday safely like this! -
2020-08-08
Positivity Throughout a Pandemic
I submitted a story of my life during the pandemic and the positives that I have decided to focus on when looking back on this past year. -
2021-03-31
Shot One - Community Vaccination Clinic
I got my Moderna vaccine at the Branch- Hillsdale - St. Joseph Community Health Agency Vaccination Clinic held in Hillsdale Public High School. My first Moderna shot was on Wednesday, March 31, 2021. It was well run - I hardly had time to sit down. There was no waiting. It was held in a large gymnasium. Everyone was wearing masks, which is rare in this part of Michigan. I was relieved & quiet while I got my shot, just taking it in. Later that night my arm was sore at the injection site. I was also exhausted that evening, but I think the exhaustion was more of a psychological response to finally starting my vaccination journey, & not a side effect of the vaccine. My husband got his two weeks previously at a Rite Aid in Coldwater, Michigan. He also got a Moderna shot. -
2021-03-17
A Child’s Reflection
We’ve had my 10 year daughter journal her thoughts during the past year from time to time, and they’ve ranged from mundane (“we made a fort”) to outraged (“Black people are being hurt in this country and not being heard”), so I was curious what her reflection on a year in quarantine would be. Interestingly, her reflection is overall positive. This surprised me a bit, since she is doing online learning through the end of the school year, missed an entire season of competitive gymnastics and has not had a Girl Scout meeting in person in over a year. I’ll admit I’m relieved that her inner thoughts are about Minecraft, playing in our flooded backyard, and continuing to practice gymnastics at home rather than focusing on all that she’s missed. It makes me think that though this year has impacted my kids that to them, their childhood is still pretty normal. Now I just have to break it to her that when she returns to in person instruction next year, she won’t be able to listen to her music during class! -
2021-02-25
Finding a friend
When I found out I had COVID it put me in a dark place since I couldn't hang out with my friends and I couldn't see my parents for 16 days. So I realized that when I was here I would try to find a forever friend and I ended up adopting my cat named Millie. From a bad thing and a bad place came a good thing with a new and lifetime friend. -
2020-05-13
Birthday celebration
The workers at Centre universitaire de santé McGill celebrate the 92nd birthday of a patient in quarantine. -
2020-07-18
Denver Botanical Explorations
This is a photo of some social distanced exploring done at the Denver Botanical Garden. It was to get out and see the flowers! It’s so beautiful there! Everyone looked so happy to be out in the world exploring. It was such a fun day. -
2020-12-10
My Thanksgiving Corona virus Story
This year's Thanksgiving was different than most years. My family and I usually spend Thanksgiving in Lake Arrowhead and luckily we were still able to go its year. We also still got to spend thanksgiving with my cousins, aunt, uncle and nana like we usually which was fun. One of the things we love to in Lake Arrowhead is shop in the village but this year some of the stores in the village were going out of business because of the coronavirus. In the other shops that were still open we had to wear masks and there were lines outside of some of them. Another thing that was different was that a lot of our favorite restaurants were closed for seating and instead we had to pick up the food. Our family still had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and we ate turkey and all the normal foods we would usually eat. However, when we went to the local grocery store they were sold out of all of food and the grocery was packed even more than it usually is because people were getting worried about not having another food while were in lockdown. -
2020-04-10
The Balcony: My Families Sanctuary
During the first, and most unknown parts of the pandemic, my family and I were in a small apartment in Miami. There was less information about the pandemic, so we weren't really leaving the house for anything, and our only access to the outside world was a small balcony. We had never really used the balcony, or the apartment for that matter, but it was a safe place where we could regain our sanity at the end of the day, together. Whether this was my mom and I reading our books, or my entire family watching the sunset, listening to music, and talking, we could not have made it through those first few months of the pandemic without this outside space. -
2020-09-26
Family Fights
HIST30060 My family is pretty large: I have two brothers, a sister….and a whole menagerie of animals! Gracie dog is the best, but we also have another dog, several cats, a rabbit, and a variety of feathered friends. My siblings live interstate, so we’ve been barred from seeing them since February because of border restrictions. During lockdown, we’ve been keeping in touch by having consistent arguments on our family group chat about how to rank our pets from best to worst. My brother frames it like a ‘best and fairest medal’, as you’d receive in sport. The conversations remind me of when we all used to live together at home, and they’ve provided a nice reprieve from more ominous discussions about the pandemonium enveloping society. I think the notion of ‘reprieve’ is central to the power of animals in this plague year: they distract us from our pandemic woes and force us to take a sabbatical from our anxieties. -
2020-07-21
Pets in the Pandemic
HIST30060 It’s been difficult not seeing friends and family, but one stalwart of this year has been Gracie: my beautiful four-legged companion. Gracie’s been a source of much needed support this year, accompanying me on my daily allotted exercise and stopping for regular belly rubs. She’s cut through the pandemonium and provided me with a constant supply of love and laughter. I think pets have outperformed themselves this year, especially when human connection has been sparse due to restrictions. ‘History from below’ might not literally mean below knee-level, but I think considering the experience of pets during the pandemic will be a valuable avenue of historical enquiry. -
2020-06-01
Drive Thru Graduation
During the Pandemic there was panic and indecisiveness around graduation, soon ideas began to flow in, while I was on my way home from work one day nearing when graduations were happening I saw a long line of cars driving by with 2020 balloons, ribbons and soap writing “congratulations”, “ Class of 2020”, and other celebratory slogans. I realized there was a graduation at one of the schools close by. This caravan had people stopped on the side of the road or driving by honking and cheering those students in the car! It was heartwarming because during all of this there came something good and pure. While I had no part in these kid’s lives, I hope being there honking along with others I gave them a memory that will last forever. I sure won’t forget that either. I found this picture, but did not take it, because I was driving it was not safe with so many other cars around, so I used a photo I found online. -
2020-06-25
Seniors Embrace the Arts During Quarantine
These images are so visually striking and uplifting. A lot of diversity is represented in the group as well. The seniors used their creativity and their imagination to take part in the challenge. These photos were taken at the Amenida Seniors Community in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Perhaps other museums can follow suit and issue “museum challenges” to ease the stress of Covid-19. -
2020-08-28
NBA Bubble
During the pandemic all sports stopped, at least until there was enough safety procedures to safely play. The NBA found a location in Orlando at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort, which was able to both house the teams invited as well as the staff and support staff for the teams. The games would be broadcast with virtual fans. This worked pretty well because the people in the bubble were tested and could work out and play on the many courts that the complex boasts. This idea was one of the better sporting decisions but with the size of the teams much more easily done than with other sports, with larger teams and more staff. The NBA soon returned and began to play and give people live entertainment with few COVID cases reported from the bubble -
2020-08-10
NCAA Football May Be back
During the reopening phase, many schools were deciding on if there would be a college football season, after many of the professional sports seemed to be ok in starting. Baseball started out with a few games that were cancelled but would travel, and test players. The NBA had figured a way to play in a “bubble” where the players would stay on Disney resort and play each other and be regularly tested. But the NCAA had yet to figure out it’s procedure for College Football. Trevor Lawrence the star QB at Clemson wanted to play and let his voice, as well as other be known that they hoped to have the chance to have a season, and through playing many of these players would have a better chance of avoiding COVID-19 at school versus where they would normally be if no football or school happened. -
2020-05-01
What I did During Lockdown
During the Covid pandemic lockdown was starting to ramp up and my manager came through the hospital with sheets that basically were to be shown to police or someone who would stop me from driving on the highway, or roads while going to work. This paper stated that I was an essential employee of the UNC hospitals, and that I had permission to leave my house. However many people were not allowed to go to work because their buildings were shut down and local government were not allowing businesses to operate. Some of my friends were let go, my sister was furloughed, and my roommates had to work from home. I never realized that the sheer boredom started to get to people. One of my friends had to take medication for anxiety because not being able to go to work or do anything social was becoming too stressful. While I worked a full 40 hours every week, I found that I had my weekends that I filled with classic films, new TV shows and all types of social media. Cleaning the house every weekend was part of my weekend routine because there was no where else I really felt like being, and seeing the whole hospital cleaned up I started finding things to clean around the house. Within a few weeks I began going to the local lake, Falls lake and would take long walks around it or just sit and watch the sunset, during the later part of the summer I went to photograph the sand storms from Africa that made the sunsets spectacular. While many people had to make things up and go back and forth between work and boredom and being in the same environment all the time, I was given the luxury to see the weekend in a whole new way. With the coming of the summer at the time people were expecting to have a summer hopefully and as can be seen in this video from Wral planning on having outdoor time that they could go about in the old social environments, such as the mall or local shops. -
2020-09-25
Cholo skateboarding to Fleetwood Mac
Isolation has been so difficult for some of us. I chose this video because it represents the opposite of depression, hopelessness, and despair. @Doggface208 was skateboarding and drinking juice through a hill towards his job while listening to Fleetwood Mac. This TikTok video went viral, in the first 20 hours had more than 4 million views, but it also provided some hope, calm, and happiness to the complicated reality of the pandemic. Social media users even commented about this video as "This part of 2020 doesn’t suck", "This guy didn’t know he saved 2020". -
2020-10-17
Trivia nights for graduate students
This photo is of the participants of a trivia night for Spanish graduate students at ASU. We have been getting together on zoom and having trivia nights every other Saturday to try and connect, since most of us don't see one another due to covid. Most people either take their classes and/or teach them online, so the comaraderie of the office is gone. We aren't able to meet the new students in person and make them feel at home because of the distancing required. -
2020-05-16
Boss Gave a Private Prom
This was when I worked at a cafe throughout the pandemic, and at the time I worked there with my boyfriend. The cafe was located on the edge of a lake, with lots of other nice resteraunts surrounding it along with wedding and party venues. Our boss felt bad that the pandemic took away basically everything from us, so she decided to do something really kind for us, which was throw us our own private prom. The room was very large and reserved for the two of us, and there were really great decorations, lights, and food. We had access to the side of the lake next to the water and the entire room was only open for us. It was one of the kindest gestures anybody has ever done for us, and it was one of the best moments that I had throughout the pandemic. -
2020-08-28
A Love Story Made Possible by Covid-19
Right as Covid-19 had seriously begun to hit the world in March of 2020 and was deemed a global pandemic, I had my heart broken by my boyfriend of a year and a half. I was not able to recover from the relationship like most people typically would by going out with friends and partying because of the lockdown. I was left all by myself. With no siblings, no friends in my area and a very small family, I had to find other ways in which to communicate with others so that I wouldn't lose my mind. In July of 2020, I joined Bumble and decided to get back in the dating game, that's when I met Jacob. Jacob and I matched because he was on vacation in Florida, however, we matched and began talking on the day that he was flying back to his home in Houston, Texas. We kept in contact though and were presented with our first Covid-related blessing: cheap plane tickets. As college students who are unable to afford most things, when we found out that a roundtrip from Houston to Florida only cost $58 we jumped on that opportunity. Jacob flew out to Florida so he could take me on our first official date, which went amazing. We continued talking when school started and that is when we realized we were presented with another Covid-19 related opportunity. Since all of my classes were online and airplane tickets were still cheap, I was able to fly out to Texas for a week and be with him. Although Covid-19 is a terrible and deadly disease, it has allowed me to find somebody that I can call my own, because without the pandemic we would not be able to afford to see each other nearly as regularly and my school schedule would not allow me to leave the state at random to be with him. love, oppurtunity, bumble app, happy, unexpected -
2020-08-22
“We are car”
This is a photo I took when my friends and I (a total of 3 of us) came together for the first time in 5 months. We had masks on and went to Mcdonalds on skateboards. Because of covid, mcdonalds only had a curbside pickup or drive thru. We decided to do curbside pickup so we didn’t get in the way of cars. We ordered online, stood in a parking spot and pretended to be a car. Hence our saying “we are car”. This photo shows how teens now persevere through these tough times while following corona regulations. -
2020-07-09
New Car!
Throughout the pandemic, I needed assistance. I had to rely on other people for the things that I needed. Through God's grace, savings, and unemployment assistance, I got my new car! I would've never imagines i qould get my car during a global pandemic, but i am so grateful! -
2020-08-04
Sanity during Corona
Tennis has been the one thing that has kept me going through this whole thing, I was lucky enough to have a court in my grandmothers backyard so I was able to stay active and still play. -
2020-07-01
Quarantine
I submitted a pile of packages in my room as my photo because with nothing to do and preparing for college, I found myself ordering a lot more items and clothing online than I ever had before in my life. Mostly all of the online stores were also having huge sales, which did not help my shopping addiction especially while I was bored with no where to go and nothing to do. -
2020-08-04
My Quarantine Happiness
The best passing time in my opinion is reading, but also watching the books come alive in a movie. My quarantine favorite was "The Fault in Our Stars". I like to read the book and then watch the movie, but never the other way around. -
2020-06-06
Cancel the noise
Since I've been stuck in the house doing a lot of chores, I use my AirPods a lot. I like to put them in and play some of my artists while I do chores. It makes a not so pleasant activity pleasant. Even when I'm not doing chores it provides a release. I get to kind of take a step back from being stuck inside with my family because I can't hear anything when they are in. -
2020-06-22
M&M Taste Test!!!
As a parent of young kids I find myself feeling very guilty that my kids are missing their friends and all the activities they were supposed to be doing. We seem to be compensating a bit with extra desserts! However we try to make more of a fun game of it and enjoy the time together as a family. We bought 5 different types of m&m’s for Father’s Day and we did a fun taste test to see what we liked best and worst. The kids enjoyed it and it will remind me of the creative sugar fun we had while we spend so much time at home!! -
2020-05-15
We Will Find a Way
This picture demonstrates the enormity of the Covid-19 situation that we are in as a country through the measures put in place to protect the priest and the baby being baptized. It is important that while we have to obey certain sanctions put in place, we still find, as a religious community, ways to practice our beliefs within the restrictions. -
2020-05-20T20:00:00
Even though there is so much going on around us the world can still show its beauty.
Even though there is so much happening in this world there is still something beautiful about it.