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2023-03-30
Dancing In The Face Of Uncertainty
My family and I were shown immense grace as the world endured the heart wrenching sorrow of the COVID-19 pandemic. May those whose lives were stolen by the coronavirus live forever in memory, and rest in eternal peace. At the onset of my second Freshman semester, the chatter among friends included ignorant musings such as: "what would happen if we got it?”, and my favorite, “the virus would NEVER come to the island.” Before Costco lines evoked Walmart on Black Friday, and up-to-the-minute death tolls became the linchpin of our media diet, the Bayonne Bridge signified a seemingly impenetrable chasm safeguarding Staten Island from a quarantined cruise ship in February 2020; because obviously airborne particles don’t pay tolls, right? A strange sense of wonder and excitement overtook the CSI campus on March 11, 2020: the day Gov. Cuomo announced CUNY & SUNY schools would “pause” in-person instruction. I'll never forget hearing the announcement on radio before walking to class for the last time until September 20, 2021. As I drove down Loop Road, a group of students (presumably upperclassman) cheered while blasting music on the Great Lawn. If those students truly were upperclassman, their dancing in the face of uncertainty would spite the commencement celebration they would never receive. I suspect a webpage and some pre-recorded speeches is an inutile stand-in for sitting among thousands of graduates on that very lawn. In tandem with devastation, panic, and uncertainty, the pandemic thrust society into a hard reset. So much of life is spent planning, yearning, and working towards the future - all of which are meaningless novelties to a hellacious virus. To survive the pandemic, besides evading COVID by way of masks, social distancing, and grace from above, each of us had to sift the remnants of our livelihoods to make out what our “new” present would look like. I thrived through the pandemic with music blasting, self-reflection, and a sense of liberation. Family bonds grew stronger, passion projects were completed, and for the first time in a decade, my life felt tranquil. I am repulsed by the fact that while millions took their final breath, businesses shuttered for good, and anxiety tormented the world, I found inner peace reminiscent of my childhood summers. Eerily, I vividly recall sitting in the basement of 2N during a 8am Geology class wishing for, “all this crap to end”, and lamenting, “why didn’t I go to SNHU or some college online?” I guess someone got their wish, and dragged humanity down with him. My father was the only non-essential worker in the house; he didn’t get that fancy paper from the state which supposedly let you free if cops pulled you over. We spent the first full day of lockdown scouring local stores for the coveted (and effective) N95 masks. At a time when the CDC told people to not wear masks so medical professionals had supplies, we were on a mission to guarantee we had protection for the long haul. My family recognized that the “pause” would not be a 1 to 2 month patty cake. My father was adamant his Window Cleaning & Power Washing business would collapse from the indefinite closures of his commercial clients. Our first purchase was the last 3-pack of Milwaukee N95s with those gaudy exterior respirators from homespun Garber’s Hardware. The ever-jovial gentlemen behind the counter adamantly said something to the effect of, “we’re gonna be here ’till they tell us to shut them doors.” 3 masks wouldn’t cut it, so we continued down the way to ye olde Sherwin Williams; where the employee had no suspicion we needed a 20-count box of 3M's finest for anything other than some recreational spray painting. Mask wearing wasn’t en vogue just yet. Those masks were needed when my Uncle could not get out of bed at 1:30pm the following Saturday. He worked the night prior, Friday the 13th, at his second job as a bouncer in Manhattan. On Saturdays he would saunter out of bed by 10:45 the latest; but here he was: frozen in bed, voice hoarse, and coughing like a smoker. I threw on the 95 and nitrile gloves just to speak to him from the hallway. That day was also the first time I ventured out in full biohazard regalia. I still remember the condescending scowls at my neighborhood’s second rate deli counter. The treatment advice the CDC hotline provided was to load up on Extra Strength Tylenol and guzzle water like there was no tomorrow. Thankfully my Uncle did see tomorrow and recovered in about 5 days. While my Dad and I kept our distance as my mother tended to the patient, we realized there must be a fruitful pastime besides burying our eyes in CNN coverage all day. My father, perpetually seeking the next project, came to the realization that, in plain english: we needed a pool table. When I was 6 years old, my father built a pool table out of wood when he was working for a contracting firm that operated in what is now Brooklyn’s Industry City. At 9 feet It conveniently sat atop our giant dinning room table. It was a gorgeous deep blue with every authentic accoutrement short of nicotine-reeking cloth. The table lasted about 8 months until my mom wanted her dining room back, fair enough. For a long time that table felt like a fever dream. After the it departure it was seldom mentioned; the balls and commemorative Coca-Cola cuestick sat dormant in the far reaches of our old home. The biggest hurdle to this project was space. The only feasible location was the unfurnished room in the back of our basement. The room experienced iterations as a screen-print emulsion lab, woodshop, actual chocolate factory, punching bag area, and video recording studio. After countless YouTube tutorials, including a Filipino gentleman building an unleveled table where all balls rolled to one side, we ventured to Lowe’s “Indoor Lumber Yard” to rekindle the magic of 2007. We sourced only the finest un-warped 2x4s and the purest synthetic wood crafted by the hands of man: Unfinished MDF Board. The 97 inch composite wouldn't fit down the basement stairwell, so we asked the one employee not running from us to cut it down the middle. Our makeshift table now presented two unique considerations: first, the board had to be precisely glued back together, and second, did you know commercial lumber dimensions are several inches off the actual product size? And in case you were not aware, “real” pool tables are made of slate. Breaking ground on March 19th, we used our decommissioned 20-year-old kitchen table as legs for our new creation. The board’s overhang allowed pockets to sit freely (no ball return system needed). On the days I had online class, my father intended to go downstairs “for about an hour” in the morning, before getting stuck in a jam by lunch, and working until dinner. I would assist in between classes, and when I was free, we’d get caught up in the room for hours on end. With Music Choice and MTV Classic the soundtrack of our toil, my Dad and I measured “tournament standard” dimensions - only to be slightly off, argued about what the heck a 142 degree cut really is, and savored the aromatics of wood glue and contact cement. The room was coated in sawdust, with scrap wood scattered neatly about. I was finally involved in my dad’s carpentry prowess after years of staring at his convoluted tools. Have you heard a Mitter saw in action? The grinding of the spiraling blades drown your ears with the screams of a motorcycle whizzing through a tunnel. I’d wince in fear that the time would come when the blade’s “SHING” would be followed by an agonized scream. My dad made mention of how woodshop teachers were always missing an appendage. He even shared horror stories like the time the blade guard failed to engage on a circular saw, skid free, peeled the side of his boot, cut through floor tiles, and sputtered wildly until it sliced the power cord. When I did schoolwork upstairs while listening to SiriusXM (another pandemic coping tool) I regularly heard my dad belt obscenities en español louder than both of our blaring radios. The table was declared playable at 8pm on Monday March 30th. I know this because the music on tv tuned to a channel recording CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE (I DVR’d many movies during lockdown). The table is not 100% complete, and has some quirks which challenge you to be a better player. We practiced and played on that table at least an hour a day everyday until in-person classes began to cloud my schedule. Under lockdown, my family spent days and nights hanging out in the backyard, barbecuing and laughing loudly, before we capped the night with rounds of pool. In homage to the California Spring Break shelved by the obvious, I burned a best of California Hip-Hop Mix CD to play on our old stereo that found new life in the pool room. As New York overcame the epicenter phase, the laid back qualities of spring carried into the summer and fall. Everyday felt like a celebration of life. People were out in parks and open spaces, roads were traffic free, and in my case, I was able to hold the people I love closer. I wish everyone could have experienced the “new normal” as I did - with their own sense of peace. Don’t get me wrong, I have loved ones who no longer walk this earth because of the pandemic, and myself and my entire family experienced onset and lingering side effects from both the vaccine and the coronavirus. I do not think I would have survived contracting COVID as I did in May 2022 if I was not vaccinated. I look back at my lockdown experience so fondly because I choose to focus on the joyous moments in the midst of global tragedy. Perspective is key. Perhaps I was forsaken the “true college experience”. I know for sure I was afraid of COVID. I only stoped wearing my N95s after having them for 12 hours straight while coughing phlegm from the virus. I feel a sense of sorrow and shame when people tell me the lockdown screwed them mentally; regardless of whether or not they lost someone. But what did I get out of the pandemic? A furnished room, an unbroken streak of Straight A’s, an endless summer with those close to me - and at what cost? I’m still the same shoddy pool player after three years of practice. What the lockdown gave me, more than anything, was the one thing that is unequivocally fleeting in this life: time. Maybe in hindsight, those revelers on the Great Lawn had the right idea. -
2022-05-15
The Great Reset Pandemic Skeptic
This double-sided A4 leaflet provides an extended summary overview of the supposedly 12-step plan behind the COVID. This leaflet was taken from the dissidentsignposts.org, and they hope to inform people about the “real” reason behind the COVID pandemic. This leaflet says that the billionaires want to impose new ways for global corporations but for their plan to work, they need to acquire everyone to be tagged with a unique digital identity number and surrender their privacy. As this leaflet points out, the “New Normal” that billionaires want to accomplish is to be depopulated, cleaned-up, high-tech, dehumanized, totalitarian dictatorship, genetically modified, digitally tagged, nano-chipped, etc. this leaflet tries to persuade the audience by pointing out that the COVID pandemic is just a big scheme in hopes of taking control of the total population. The 12 step that is mentioned explains the different reasons why the government is pushing for people to take COVID and the vaccines seriously. I have heard of this idea before from my friends. They were talking about it, but to me, I believe that COVID is real. I have seen my family members getting infected by the virus. I will never believe things like this and I will never let anybody put a chip or something within me. Although our world is getting more and more highly advanced, I believe that this so-called “Great Reset” will not take place. -
2020-09-29
Is This the End of Contemporary Art As We Know It?
Artist Liam Gillick and a writer for ArtReview, J.J. Charlesworth talk about the changes brought by the pandemic and the many ways that everything will most likely remain the same. Interestingly, they examine the beginning and end of “contemporary art” and the complex web of economic, social, political and cultural factors that are shifting and breaking down in different ways from our current crises. In the end, the feeling that art will survive but the idea that this particular period of art and the art world has reached its end is contemplated. -
2021-10-18
Don't Forget Your Mask!
The mask has had a huge impact on our sense of touch and smell. For one, breathing with a mask on was an adjustment. Tuna sandwiches became something to avoid at all costs because of the smell you could be stuck with all day by wearing a mask. There is also something to say about the feeling of a mask around your ears and over your nose. The constant practice of grabbing a mask and putting it around one's ears has become a ritual of protection or habit as we are now bound to this object like that of a cell phone which is now always on our person. The sense of touch also adapted to various kinds of masks that were promoted and the variety of masks that would be marketed for commercial value. The mask, one of the few things that forces us to run back inside the house because we forgot it. The mask, a true measuring stick for how quick we can adapt and change society for better and for worse. -
2020-03-19
Pandemic Smells and Silence
When the pandemic became widespread enough for schools to start shutting down, it seems that’s when life really changed. I remember - it was March 2020 - and my school district had just gone on spring break. It was still uncertain whether teachers and students would be returning to their classroom after break’s end. We were asked to come into our classrooms to gather any teaching supplies we might be able to use to teach virtually in the event that we would be told to remain at home. When I arrived at school, it was so quiet. There were a few cars parked in the parking lot, but no people to be seen. The usual student chatter, catching fragments of conversation as they walked by, the bustle of cars parking was gone. As I entered my building, a wave of chemically cleaned and sanitized air blasted my nostrils. The smells of bleach and whatever other industrial cleaners schools use wafted through the halls. They had recently been cleaned - I had never seen them so pristine. A few custodian cleaning carts were scattered nearby, but still no one to be seen. Every footfall seemed louder against the backdrop of silence. The deserted hallway and the chemical smell assaulting my olfactory system had turned my second home into something sterile and unwelcoming. Entering my classroom, I noticed it, too, had been sanitized with heavy chemicals and a jug of hand sanitizer had unceremoniously been plopped on my desk. I surveyed my classroom, nostrils burning from the bleach again, grabbed what I needed and went home. It would be the last time I would see my classroom for a long time. The memory of that shining, white hallway and the burning air of “purification” has stayed with me. -
2021-09-08
Relative Distance
A couple of weeks before lockdown began in March of 2020 I had reconnected with someone I met in college years prior. We went on a few dates before I left to study abroad and nothing developed further, but we had struck up a conversation over text and had made plans to meet in Boston the weekend that New York City declared a state of emergency. Needless to say, we never met for drinks that weekend, yet we talked every day without fail for the rest of 2020. Our initial conversations typically revolved around the different developments of the pandemic but we started to get to know each other as text conversations became phone calls then video calls. Our connection grew as a reaction to the large amount of time we suddenly had and by a new reality where distance meant something very different than before. Although I had not seen him in person for almost 2 years, he was there for me in the only feasible way a person could be during that time. He was there through personal tragedies or minor irritations in an evolving and confused stretch of months. Sometimes we did not have much to say at all - I deferred to topics like what I cooked for dinner or we compared notes on the new show that we had just watched. I called him first when my pandemic furlough turned into a lost job. I called him first when l was chosen for my Executive Assistant position many months and numerous applications later. He texted me on my first day of remote work to wish me luck and he consoled me over video chat through my tears of frustration and defeat as I navigated the new reality of learning a remote position in the typically highly visual and highly performative art world to which I was accustomed. On one of these calls he told me that he had to go back home to Italy. There were many more months of having a friendship and possibly relationship in a state of limbo with this person who now knew me better than most. We had become close through untraditional means; it felt strange at times but then again so did everything else. He came back to the United States in January of 2021 and we have been dating ever since. Connection to others took on a new meaning during that year. How we interacted and who we kept in contact with changed. Speaking with him was something I looked forward to and it gave me a sense of routine. More importantly, our conversations provided a dose of levity and joy to each day throughout a very tumultuous year. -
11/27/2020
CJ Willingham Oral History, 2020/11/27.
The Oral History interview is with CJ Willingham and she describes her experiences and views during the pandemic year. CJ gives her encounters during the initial pandemic and how the pandemic is affecting her now. She explains her perspective on more than the pandemic. CJ shares her knowledge on protests, police brutality and police reform. -
2020-05-27
Working From Home
As an architecture student at Wentworth, it was definitely a bummer to hear that our Summer semester was going to be completely online. I remembered asking myself how such an interactive and hands-on program was suddenly going to shift to an online format. The quick shift was not easy to grasp at first, especially with the inability to work with my peers in a normal studio setting. But, as the semester progressed, it became the “new normal.” The picture attached illustrates the life of an architecture student from a remote setting; the same clutter of materials, utensils, tools, and snacks invaded my desk, with the only absence being real human interaction. Through the pandemic, that is definitely the one thing I have missed the most about school, and I’m sure many others can relate. Now that working from home has become the new normal, I wonder how the shift back to in-person learning will shape the future. It will be interesting to see the changes we go through as we try to create a world that is more prepared for situations like COVID moving forward. -
2020-11-25
Working and Living in a Pandemic
I think one of biggest impacts of COVID for me has been wondering if, or when, someone close to me will contract the virus. A fear that at times can be intense or foreboding, and at other times, that fades into feeling ‘normal.’ It was several months into the pandemic before I knew of anyone who knew someone that was ill. More recently a couple of family members had very serious cases of the illness, and a couple more that tested positive but had no symptoms. Being vigilant, following safety procedures such as masks and hand sanitizer have finally become normal as well. Early days I found myself nearly obsessed with reading the news, watching the daily press conferences, and looking up the statistics. These activities have reduced to a daily glance or two to look at numbers or read the latest about the vaccination. I worry about my family. I wonder sometimes if I feel even slightly ill or off if ‘this is it’— have I finally contracted it? And then worry about giving it to others. Another way that I have felt the impact has been in the work environment. I work remotely in the technical sector, and have for several years, so at the beginning of the pandemic there were no adjustments in my routine. However, it didn’t take long to see the impacts of the virus on my clients. Impacts that were not prepared for even with disaster recovery, risk management or continuity planning. The financial impacts businesses affected their ability to ensure employees could work from home. That their employees would have the correct equipment, connectivity, could adapt to the necessary behavioral changes that can disrupt productivity, etc. How now can we receive, prepare and ship equipment, when no one can be in an office to receive anything? The changes have especially impacted efforts to bring on new employees. One thing that I found striking was the requirements in security and access to data when moving from a secure network environment, to set up for the same security at home. A majority of my teams live in countries outside of the United States where some don’t have internet in their homes, let alone being set up to manage Personal Private Information (PPI). My clients in financial sectors have stringent background checks that can take several weeks to clear in the “old world” under normal conditions. With agencies closed and workforce reduced, it is taking two to three times longer to get simple things accomplished. The last major impact I have felt during the shift to my sector becoming a “working from home one,” was experiencing people on the other end of ZOOM, as we all had to overcome our fears about interruptions. Children crying, wanting attention because they don’t understand why mom and dad are home but can’t pay attention to them. Dogs barking, doorbells ringing, calls dropping. It took several months to work out many of the kinks, and for everyone to adjust to these interruptions, but being OK with them. Overall, I would say that I am not directly impacted too much for the moment. Most of the adjustments that have been made and are now normal feeling. Things are finally feeling like they are back to business as usual, I suppose. On a personal level, my fears rise and wain, and each day is different. I am leery of vaccinations, and wonder if the “wonder cure” we’ve been promised will be miraculous, or if more difficulties will follow? The verdict is not out on that yet, so we will have to wait and see what our next ”new normal” will really look like. -
2020-09-07
An Unexpected University Routine in 2020
When I imagined my daily college experience growing up, it always included going to class, going to the dinning hall, and meeting up with friends. Never would I have thought that this routine would include setting aside 15 minutes of my day to go inside a socially distanced tent while wearing a mask, to submit a nasal sample to a testing lab. I knew coming to college during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic would be different than what I expected and I had accepted that frequent COVID-19 testing would be a large part of my experience. As a student at Northeastern University, it is policy to get tested at the university's testing site every three days. This process includes making an appointment, completing a daily wellness check, getting tested, and scanning your student ID to confirm compliance with the testing policy. Testing has become part of my daily routine as a student and is oddly something that feels very normal, when the whole concept of it is quite the opposite. I expect testing, along with socially distanced classes, online classes, and this altered reality to continue to be a part of my routine as a Northeastern student for a quite a while. However, I have accepted this and am glad to do so in order to participate in the college experience have awaited my whole life. -
2020-11-03
Life Will Never Be The Same?
I chose this because it specifically talks about what life for people over 60 after COVID-19 could be like. Most of other items I have seen have been what life has been like during the pandemic. Telemedicine will become more popular or common for the elderly as it has been a common precaution used during the pandemic. Traveling will change in ways like more driving, buying three plane tickets for two people to help social distance and many more. Online ordering of food, groceries, and even common shopping trips will be done online or have online delivery. -
2020-10-20
Not cut out for this shit
This is a post from one of my favorite ig pages. I have not been a parent for a decade but I can relate to this post. It was a nice reminder on a tough day that our current “normal” is NOT normal. I appreciate all the optimism of people getting used to this all and calling it their new normal but I refuse to stop seeing this as a phase. This can’t be my new normal, I know there’s an end to it all and I hope it comes with a new government administration. -
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. -
2020-03-23
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. -
2020-07-02
Summer College Programming During the Pandemic
The post is a screenshot from the annual McNair Scholars Program Research Symposium from the summer. The screenshot captures students and faculty from the program before they began their presentations over zoom. The McNair Scholars program prepares underrepresented students for graduate school. Students have a faculty mentor who advises them on a research project during the summer, where they write a paper, prepare for graduate school applications, and then later present the research at the annual research symposium. Usually, the program takes place on the St. Mary’s University campus, and students are provided campus resources such as housing and meal plans. They can meet with faculty and peers in person. Due to COVID-19, the program had to be completely virtual; every program meeting utilized zoom. The McNair Scholars summer research program is one example of college activities that had to adapt to the changing world with COVID-19. Although students were still able to meet virtually and present research, there were limitations to not being on campus, such as what research you could conduct and the resources and accessibility of having workspaces on campuses as many students were working at home. The picture also represents the new normal of large gatherings, especially for academic spaces. All of our classes resemble this image now. -
2020-04-28
New Norms in the Healthcare Environment
As the spread of Covid grew larger and larger, masks and face shields became the new norm at the hospital. New precautions included temperature checks at the entrances, reuse of PPE, and a completely new hospital environment. Whole wings of the hospital previously dedicated to elective surgeries were cleared out preparing for the surge. Patients were not allowed visitors and when they needed to see a friendly face the most, all they were able to see was our eyes. -
2020-07-12
Graduating during the pandemic
This personal journal tells what is it like for me, graduating during the pandemic. With ways of celebrating this milestone totally changing, and with my mother having to work at the health center on that day, this virtual graduation experience was really different. -
2020-04-30
After the coronavirus pandemic, the world can’t go back to business as usual
My letter to the editor in the South China Morning Post (in HK). Am originally from the Philippines now based in HK. How the world and life needs to change to adapt to the new post-Covid19 normal. -
2020-05-29
‘New normal’ aims to keep economy running: Minister
Due to the pandemic, economies around the world has been facing great difficulties. The 'New Normal' is the Indonesian government's plan in trying to keep the Indonesian economy running while still combating the pandemic by keeping the government's health precautionary measures. However, personally I disagree with the term 'New Normal' because we don't want social/physical distancing to be normal. Instead, I believe the term should be phrased as something that means transitioning back to the normal before the pandemic.