Items

• 2020-08-04

  Lonely at the Lake

  My family has owned a small cabin by a lake in Northern Minnesota for over 60 years. This is my favorite place in the world and was our family vacation destination every year. As years went on my dad and I are one of the few who continue this tradition. After quarantining in April and May and businesses slowly reopening in June we decided in August 2020 that it would be safe enough to go up there. However, this trip ended up being much different than usual. While Minnesota was under a mask mandate the area we were in was much different than the suburbs of Chicago. At home more often than not people did adhere to the mask mandate and there was a mandate to self-quarantine when returning to the state after traveling. The area where are cabin is located is very densely wooded and not exactly populated. The small town has about four hundred people and the nearest large grocery store is a forty-five-minute drive away. While grocery shopping in town it was clear the mask mandate was not as strictly followed up here. Only about half of the customers in the store were wearing masks. The likelihood of adhering to the mandate dropped even further once we reached our township. Even though there were signs posted to “wear your mask” my dad and I were considered the odd ones out at the bait shop or lumber store, as I did not see a single person with a mask on in the ten days we were up there. All of our neighbors who live on the road that hugs the bay are all older. I have known most of them my entire life and some have even watched my parents grow up. Many of them live downstate near the Twin Cities, and some even live out of state, but very few of them live up there full time due to the harsh weather and isolation. It wasn’t until the last few years that the country started to plow our road in the winter. This ten-day vacation is normally packed with multiple dinners at neighbors' houses, tubing and fishing, parties and yard games, and finally ending the night around a fire with our neighbors, their kids, and often their grandkids. This trip, there was none of that. Windows and doors were boarded up because out-of-state neighbors never made the trip up to open their cabins. Jetskis and other water toys were locked up because most older neighbors did not risk leaving quarantine. As far as we could tell it was just my dad and myself. Fishing was just the two of us, the only people we had to argue with over card games were each other, and we both fell asleep more than once on the boat or dock while reading books because it was so quiet. It might have been much more lonely and quiet than normal, but it was still relaxing to be surrounded by nature and absorb its sounds uninterrupted. COVID-19 changed my vacation, but not necessarily in a bad way. I am lucky to have a lake house that was isolated enough that COVID did not seem to touch it. Although we missed our neighbors and have since seen everyone the loneliness allowed for a sense of stillness, the ability to fully emerse myself in nature and relax.
• 
  2020-06-04

  HIST30060: Loneliness

  The past three years have been incredibly lonely. I've included here a picture of my younger brother on his 18th birthday: a picture I find eerily reminiscent of Edward Hopper's Realist paintings from the 40s and 50s. My brother has always been the most popular person in any room, constantly surrounded by friends, a real party animal. But on his 18th, he was alone (with me and my parents) and couldn't celebrate in the way he would have liked. Since then, he has had a makeup party, but it isn't the same. He also finished high school during this period, and god I feel sorry for the classes of 2020 and 2021. It is easy to be sorry for myself, who has only experienced university through the lens of a post-COVID world, but I was fortunate enough to celebrate my 18th with my friends, finish high-school not on zoom, go to schoolies and travel on a gap year before we were prevented by the pandemic. Poor Sam didn't get any of that, and that really makes me sad.
• 
  2022-05-09

  Brett Reinert Oral History, 2022/05/09

  Brett Reinert is from Springdale, Arkansas. He works at a toner company as a deliverer. He delivers copier toner for a small business in Northwest, Arkansas. Brett talks about his home state of Arkansas and how the state government reacts differently to the pandemic. Brett and his family take the pandemic very seriously and made sure that his two grandmothers are not exposed to it. Brett also talked about his observation of the changes around him as many restaurants in the state started to require a proof of vaccination to eat in. And the changes with the requirement of masks felt weird to him. Although there were changes, he has seen what the pandemic brought to his life and the people around him, he hopes that people will take the pandemic seriously if we experience another one in the future
• 
  2022-04-26

  Most magical place on earth becomes a lot less magical

  This is a photo of me at Downtown Disney in February of 2021. At this point the pandemic had been going on for almost a year. I had been going to Disneyland once a year for several years up until the pandemic. This photo is from when the Disney parks were not yet open, but we could go to Downtown Disney and basically only go to stores and eat food. Luckily we were able to eat food at a table, but before we went it was only take-out. We went for an afternoon and evening to walk around the shops and listen to the Disney music playing on the speakers - and as you can see, I wore my Mickey ears to get in the spirit of Disney - but it obviously was just not the same. I went home and told all my friends and family that it’s just not worth it until the parks are actually open. This seems like probably a minor inconvenience to some, and it’s definitely a first-world problem, but it did really affect me. This was an experience that I always looked forward to each year and saved up for and took time off work for. This is just one aspect of life that changed because of Covid-19. I think many people experienced different things like this. One might say that I was religiously making sure I would go to Disneyland for years in a row, to the point where I was not stopped by a pandemic. I think many people had to make sacrifices for the things they are passionate about during the pandemic, more than we probably realize.
• 
  2022-04-15

  The Years of Covid 2020-2022

  How covid affected my transition from high school to college
• 
  2020-05-02

  Empty NYC

  The once bustling and lively city of New York, thanks to Covid-19, transformed into a deserted and helpless concrete island. I captured this photo in May of 2020, a depressing time for so many in our city, country, and world. If I had taken an identical photo in the same spot at the same time 3 months before, I would have quite frankly been run over. The concept of one of the most crowded compact cities being abandoned was unthinkable as well as symbolic to the unimaginable and tragic things this pandemic has brought.
• 2021-12-16

  Cats

  Throughout the pandemic, the one thing that got me through it was my cats. Sure that sounds silly but they helped me when it felt like no one else did so I used this photo to show how much they mean to me and how much they helped during the pandemic.
• 
  2021-07-07

  Two Weeks

  "See y'all in two weeks!" we joked as my cousins left my house after a long game of Monopoly. There was talk in the news about some new virus and having to be on lockdown for two weeks. This was all still so new and unbelievable, literally. We never thought a quarantine would happen, especially since being isolated for two weeks felt like an eternity. A few days later when we realized we were going to be separated for two weeks, we could not imagine how we were going to get through these two weeks without seeing each other. Two weeks, that is it. Looking back, that sounds like nothing. Two weeks turned to three, weeks turned to months, and months turned into over a year. During this time, the things I missed the most were the little things. I missed watching my little cousin do cartwheels in our backyard. I missed hearing my older cousin's deep laugh as she tried to teach me how to dance. I missed stressing out over getting ready to go out. I missed arguing over the rules of Monopoly with my cousins. Fast forward 15 months, we are all vaccinated, and hopefully will return to rejoicing over a game of Monopoly soon.
• 
  2020-04-30

  Won't You Be My Stranger

  Before Covid-19 descended upon Chicago, Ukrainian Village was a neighborhood of friends and acquaintances. The threat of illness has suspended neighborly activities. The neighbor whose door this belongs to has a beagle named Molly I used to pet on her walks. Now Molly and I keep our distance, lest her owner or I get sick. It’s demoralizing not to be able to trust people, not because of any personal shortcoming, but because of the potential that one of our health be jeopardized. The status friend and acquaintance has been supplanted by temporary stranger.
• 
  2020-12-01

  Tea Time Together

  I am very close with my mom, and used to regularly visit my grandmother, but I moved across the country right before Covid-19 and was unable to visit this year. I was feeling extremely homesick during the fall, as my grandmother and I have birthdays near each other and usually celebrate together but we were unable to do so this year. While my grandmother and I did send letters and cards to each other and I facetime with my mom fairly often, I was still experiencing a feeling of loss and a lack of connection. To bring us together, my mom proposed that the three of us all use the same tea advent calendar to celebrate the holidays. We all got the same mug, the same tea set, and spent the month of December enjoying tea from three different places, which allowed us to feel a sense of togetherness, even when we are apart.
• 
  2021-01-31

  Spotify Called Out My Podcast Addiction

  Throughout the majority of 2020, I had very little social interaction. I wasn’t working a job for the majority of the year, I had moved away from most of my family and friends, and I grew so lonely very quickly. In response to the lack of social interaction, I turned to podcasts for a sense of conversation and connection. While my mental health did suffer and I continued to feel lonely, it gave me an outlet to focus on that was different than what was occurring in the world at the moment. For those who don’t know, Spotify records users' listening history through the end of October and presents it to you at the end of the year in what they called “Spotify Wrapped.” Mine presented this to me, that I had listened to 18,677 minutes, or about 311 hours, of podcasts by the end of October 2020. I am thankful to podcast creators for providing me with constant entertainment when I wanted to think about anything besides the pandemic.
• 
  2020-03-22T12:49:00

  Overwhelmed

  When I wrote this journal entry the world was just starting to go into a panic. Mass hysteria caused every town to be placed on lockdown. Everyone was being forced to quarantine and had a curfew at 9 pm everyday. There was no explanation of what the Coronavirus was other than it was fast spreading and killing thousands of people. In March, there was still a lot of uncertainties. As a college student everything was very abrupt. Our classes and school were shut down fast following students traveling and coming back and testing positive. With being locked into a dorm where roommates left, the dorm life got very tough. Feelings of anxiety, depression, and loneliness were common to feel during this time. You go from having an active social life to being terrified to be near someone. It takes a toll on your mental health. Additionally, in this journal entry I talk about a relationship with a guy that wasn't going to work, another active conversation about how the want to see someone amidst the pandemic was not attractive and easy. There was a want to go home, but my family lived in Miami and their cases were higher than the one's on the West Coast of Florida. This entry was important to me because I thought it was a perfect description of the chaos and emotional uncertainty of the beginning of the pandemic.
• 
  2020-12-25

  Christmas

  This picture of a mask is one I wore throughout the holiday season. I wore it seeing family, going in public, and going to establishments. While I have been wearing them throughout the pandemic I wore them a lot more during the holiday season. This made my christmas different because I had to distance and wear a mask the entire time around the people I’ve known the longest for the first time ever.
• 2020-11-26

  Thanks Giving in Covid

  My Thanksgiving did not serve the right potatoes. They were not their because my grandma could not come. The Cowboys lost which was different. We all had to socially distance. This year's Thanksgiving was different.
• 2020-05-18T16:30

  Ghost town in Fisherman's Wharf

  When I was walking through Fishermen's Wharf, the location of tourists was completely dead to the point that it looked like an apocalypse, no boats were sailing through the ocean, no store's were open, not even a place to grab a cup of water; the area looked dead. The reason this photo/story is important to me is because in the beginning of Covid-19 it has shown how obedient people are when there is a deadly disease spreading throughout states.
• 
  2020-03-23

  Caffeine, Essentially

  When news of the pandemic reached my area, one of my biggest concerns was whether or not I would be able to keep working. As a Starbucks employee, I wondered if what we did fell under the category of "essential worker". Sure enough, we are essential to many of the doctors, nurses, and other first responders who are truly essential in this time. Starbucks as a company immediately took precautions to be able to safely serve people who came to their establishments, as well as ensure the health of their workers. For the first two months of the pandemic, we operated as a drive-thru only store. It was truly startling to see all of the café furniture pushed to the walls, and once the sun came up it looked even more bizarre to see a quiet, empty area, where it is usually crowded and noisy.
• 2020-10-03

  Eating in Front of a Mirror

  Pre-Covid I already lived an isolated life, both physically and due to pervasive anxiety. I would spend weeks pushing myself, go inside the store, talk to three people at yoga, text four people, a million little social tasks that I did to keep my human animal happy. I live in a rural area, work part time at a library, and survive in a sort of genteel poverty. About every three months I'd drive to visit an old friend. Beyond customers at the library and polite friendships with coworkers, that was the only social interaction I really had. Stage one of the pandemic and my workplace closed, we were furloughed. Still paid. And after a single massive shopping trip at the end of March I just stayed home. Really stayed home. I was lucky, I'm already an introvert, have a home on acreage, pets. It wasn't great, but I was comforted knowing so many people were quietly going through the same thing. Then George Floyd was killed and I was called back to work a week later. This was the worst time so far. The building was closed and yet staffed, so we sat surrounded by clorox while people banged on the windows and cursed us. The pointlessness of it, we were only there so our employer could qualify for the PPP money. The anxiety of each coworker potentially being ill. And then, in the lull of work, the many many political opinions of all my white coworkers. I stayed silent, the lone POC, but I can assure you, I now detest them all. This phase ended when my boss got covid an ill-advised vacation to the Gulf. Coming back from our isolation I entered phase 3 of my pandemic. I now hate all my coworkers and view them as existential threats. Due both to their extremely foolish behaviors and their racism. They attend 200 guest count weddings, take discounted flights, and attend funerals. I try to work around them, taking vacation days to avoid them directly after they return. I have moved my desk out of the shared office and directly into the main room of the building. We are fully open again. Masks are not required. It is possible to drive around my small town and see not a single sign of the pandemic. The local diner which has flouted all the mild restrictions since April still has their sign out front, "Our Fried Chicken is to Die For!" I've started to feel mildly insane for still isolating, for still wearing a mask. But I'm also used to having the sole dissenting opinion in the room. For now my plan is to just not get sick, there's no plan if I do get it. I just go home and spend another weekend eating in front of a mirror, and sleeping with a hot water bottle to try and quiet my lonely human animal.
• 
  2020-03-09

  New York City: The Pandemic

  New York City, March 2019. Every year, My friends and I would come home from our universities, no matter where our colleges were located, to participate in the NYC St. Patrick's day parade. This was our half way point through the semester for us to reconnect and talk about our summer plans were going to be after the semester finishes. After this, we had the end stretch of our semesters at school and we would be taking our finals and coming home to see each other once again. Except the year of 2020 was different. Everyone was aware of COVID-19 being in China and in foreign countries, but none of us even thought of the chance of it making its way to the United States, nevermind NYC. I live right outside New York City, my father works in New York city, my friends and I would go to New York City every weekend we were home. But not this year. As we were all preparing for the St. Patrick's Day Parade, because it was still being held as of 2 days before the actual parade. But then the news came on 2 days prior. Breaking news. NYC was being shut down completely in preparation of COVID-19. All work was put virtual, restaurants shut down. Videos and pictures of New York City looked like a zombie apocalypse just happened. Seeing New York City dead like that, was terrifying. We thought summer would come along and we would be able to make up for all the lost time we had in our favorite city, but no. Even in September 2020, I still have not stepped foot in NYC. I was locked up in my house form about March to June, when my work finally started opening up at the golf course and my friends and I would have small get togethers outside. All I can hope for now is a vaccine and for New York City to go back to its packed fill streets and life to be normal again.
• 2020-04-09

  In quarantine I watched Greys Anatomy and finshed all 16 seasons.

  This shows that we all had a lot of time during the quarantine.
• 2020-08-10

  Essential worker and a baby

  In the beginning of the pandemic I was 7 months pregnant and working in an ICU. As things starting getting worse more changes would come on how we operated day to day. Day to day became hour to hour, things would be changing. New policies, then new policies would change. I was also becoming concerned about how the rest of my pregnancy and delivery would be. When the policy came down that all hospital personnel had to wear a mask at all times I started to have a problem. Due to wearing a mask and being pregnant my gag reflex would be triggered and I would get sick. After trying to work for 3 days my only option was to take early maternity leave. So while I was not at work for most of the worst part of the first wave of the pandemic it was still a little unnerving. I stayed in contact with my coworkers and stayed up to date on my unit and the hospital policies. It was not only going to affect my job but also the rest of my pregnancy and delivery. On my last doctors appointment I was sent to labor and delivery to have my baby. I was nervous because honestly who wants to bring a life into a world of pandemic. I feared for the health of my newborn child. Upon admission you have to be tested for Covid-19, it was very uncomfortable! I was lucky to be able to have my fiancé there with me for the labor and delivery but once he left the hospital he was not able to return but only to pick me up from the door. Granted, this was my 4th child and I knew what to expect, it still was sad that he was not able to spend the entire time with me nor were my other children able to come and visit. At least I was able to have previous experiences of giving birth before the pandemic. After giving birth, we were pretty sheltered. No one visited. We never left the house unless absolutely necessary. My newborn son had only left the house to go to the doctor before this past week. I had to return to work so he is now attending a small daycare along with my 2 year old daughter. Their father and I are both essential workers. Having children during this time makes things so much more complicated. Can't take the kids to the store or to any appointments so trying to organize schedules is very complicated. I miss going out as a family. Before the pandemic my family and I would go every where together. Even if it was just the store. We loved just to spend that time together. Now I feel like we are never all together unless we are sleeping, then we are all home together. I pray for the day that we are all able to go out together, take kids to do activities and just spend time all together outside of the home. This pandemic has made me and I am sure many others realize how truly blessed we were and if at any point in our lives things get back to where they were before the pandemic to not take such things as going out as a family for granted.