Items
topic_interest is exactly
perspective
-
2020-04-01
Coronavirus Journal: April 2020
The essay is composed of entries from my daily journal during the month of April 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic quarantine. It shares the perspective of my partner and me, retired senior citizens in Up North Michigan. -
2022-03-15
Passionate and (mostly) respectful recent debate in the waning pandemic
While the all-encompassing strength of the COVID-19 Pandemic is waning, it still persists and lingers. This is a critical time where countries can either dreamily and abruptly attempt to return to idealized pre-pandemic existence or continue to return to their visions of normalcy through steps found in scientific methodology. Debates that focused on safety, health, and personal freedoms (especially about masks and vaccines) were constantly in the news the last two years, with some deteriorating into disheartening and embarrassing public displays. Surely, these debates will continue indefinitely, and all perspectives will be important to history. While browsing this archive, many of the stories are of those who subscribe to the reality of the pandemic, who trust and listen to science, and who have highlighted the way their lives have changed during the pandemic. I am from Arizona, born and raised. I often find myself to be the lone liberal or democrat, particularly at work, in a state formerly known as a red state, now perhaps purple. While Arizona is well represented in this archive regarding life during a pandemic, it has many people living in it who dispute the pandemic's origin, virulence, and the government's attempt to control personal freedoms, as much as I personally disagree. The attached YouTube video shows a meeting of the Kyrene School District Governing Board from January 25th, 2022. The relevant background is that before the 2021 Winter Holiday break this district emailed parents that masks would no longer be mandatory after the new year. By the end of the break, Omicron infections had increased, and the district regressed back to mandatory masks after the holidays. Please watch, specifically from minutes 20:35 through 38:28. To me, a person who reads a diverse group of news sites daily, this clip has brought me hope. Of all the ugly comments I have read on far right or left news sites, debate like the one in this video is instead mostly constructive, passionate, and respectful. I may not agree with everything discussed in this sample, but I respect people's right to debate their beliefs. I believe studying other perspectives is useful for future generations. Historians one hundred years from now may wonder why certain people thought masks were useless in schools. Hopefully, between this J.O.T.P.Y. archive and the articles that exist on the internet, a thoughtful sample of diverse perspectives can be researched. Additionally, I hope this video adds to material in this archive that demonstrates the anti-mask perspective to historians who could research and educate future generations on state and federal authority during health crises to hopefully prevent conflicts as we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic. This video is owned and uploaded by the Kyrene School District to YouTube. -
2020-03-20
The Perspective of a Drunk Teenager on COVID-19: Snapchat Memory
This was a Snapchat Memory I found from the end of the 1st week of the initial Covid lockdown. I was bored, so I got drunk in my closet by myself to have a good time. I found this video to be insightful to my perspective of how I felt about Covid at the time. -
2020-12-01
How history got me through lockdown
A story I wrote about using history to keep a sense of perspective and gratitude through Melbourne's long lockdown in 2020. Coming against a background of university job losses and policies disfavouring humanities degrees I also wanted to let historians know that their work is important and has relevance. -
2021-05-24
A Memoir of 2020-2021: How COVID-19 Affected the Lifestyle of a High school Student
The PDF tells the story of my life over the years from 2020-2021. It explains how covid affected the lifestyle of a high school student, with many other added details. -
2020-06-01
High School Students Reflect on JOTPY Archive
In May 2020, my high school students reflected on the JOTPY archive, noting the submissions that most resonated with them and the least. Some also addressed what they saw as silences in the archive. I put their responses in a document for myself to help guide me as I helped build the JOTPY teaching site. However, a year after beginning to work on the project, I find their responses very insightful, particularly their recognition that the racial prejudice facing the Black and AAPI communities needs to be better highlighted. -
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! -
02/21/2021
Michele Lebsack Oral History, 2021/20/21
On 02-21-2021, I sat down with my mother-in-law to ask about the positive experiences she had since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. -
2021-02-07
Nature Endures
This photograph shows the imposing Catalina Mountains (Babad Do'ag to the indigenous Tohono O’odham) to the north of Tucson, Arizona, USA, with a majestic saguaro in the center front. The rocks in these mountains record millions of years of history. The multi-armed saguaro has stood for at least 75 years. Viewing these natural phenomena has always been a favorite pastime of mine, but during this time of pandemic, contemplating these forces of nature reminds me of the endurance of nature and the long stretch of environmental history. The pandemic and our current difficulties will pass just as other the saguaro and the mountains have seen many other calamities pass. -
2020-08
Beach walks - HIST30060
I spent lockdown on the Mornington Peninsula; when the 5km radius restriction was put in place my family and I couldn't help but laugh - most of our 5km was in the water...While there were absolutely days where I felt that my world had shrunk immensely, I was always so appreciative to have the ocean less than a ten minute walk away. I probably visited the back beach four or five times a week, finding that the enormity of the ocean put things in perspective for me and helped me to ground myself when things were overwhelming. -
2020-11-01
Covid-19 in One Word I: Introduction
Perspective: a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view We can really only see from our eyes, literally. But figuratively, we have unlimited perspectives from which to view the world. The idea of this is what inspired this series. I know how the coronavirus pandemic looks to me, how it affects me, how I feel about it. What I do not know, is how those things look, affect, and feel to others. So, I asked others. Anyone and everyone in my life; family, friends, leaders, peers, strangers. I wanted to know what one word those people would use to describe their experience with Covid-19. This series will be the words they chose and a bit of perspective behind those. So while you may still not be leaving your house, this will take you to the life of another. One word at a time. -
2020-10-27
A New Perspective on Sports
When I heard that football was going to be returning, I can’t express how shocked and excited I became. In the past few months, my family and I had been locked up in our houses, unable to do all of the fun activities that we had loved to do before the Virus. Luckily, the spread was starting to slow, and now things, like sports, were starting to come back again. My family and I are huge football fans (GO STEELERS!), and when we heard this news we were ecstatic! While watching the first game on TV, we were shocked as to how much about it had changed. To start, no one was allowed in the stands. When watching the game, you could see all the yellow and black seats along the horizon. Usually, these seats would be packed with life. The next thing I noticed was the noise. Since there were no crowds, there were no cheering or noises coming from the background. Usually, music would also be playing to entertain the fans, but a lot of these sounds were removed. The NFL tried to add in pre recorded background noises to put into the game, but it just wasn’t the same. After watching this game, I realized how much COVID-19 has changed the things that I love. I am thankful for the slow of the spread and all of the precautions being put out to keep the public safe, but this event really made me realize how my take on the little things had changed. -
2019-10-16
Making the Best of Covid
Like everyone, at the beginning of the pandemic I was terrified. I didn't know what the future held. I had just started a new job substitute teaching and all of a sudden, the schools were shut down and I was out of necessary work. Thankfully, I worked another job that afforded me the ability to continue making somewhat of a living, although savings would ultimately get me through about 7 months of the pandemic. Cooped up at home, I had nothing but time to think, reflect, work through my own demons, and ultimately to find myself again. I finally had nothing but time-- the one commodity we all complain we never have enough of. I got to take care of my physical, emotional and mental wellbeing again, spend time with my horses and dog, finish crocheting a few afghans that I had tucked away for months because I simply didn't have time. I got my photography business off the ground and finally went out to photograph places that I loved but never felt I had enough time to drive to. I found a better version of myself--a happier, stronger, braver and fearless, take no prisoners kind of woman through all the time on my hands. I treated myself to a photography trip to Alaska in September, which turned out to be the final step in self discovery. I needed to spread my wings on a solo trip to one of the most beautiful places in the world to find that final missing piece. I can confidently say that I think I found the place I will call home next. This pandemic has been transformative in so many ways. It is still possible to respect the virus for what it is without sacrificing our own mental and financial health. It is easy to seep into the perils associated with the pandemic. Between the online bickering of political parties, the looming election, the vaxxers and the anti-vaxxers, the maskers and the anti-maskers-- what everyone has failed to take advantage of, is time. I wish people took a step back to re-evaluate their sense of self through all of this. I wish people took time to look at all the opportunity and blessings that the confusing time of the pandemic has provided us. I wish people took time to be grateful for the things they have and not disparaged by the things that they do not. I choose a positive perspective on an otherwise horrible period in our lives. I choose to make the best of covid. Photo: Matanuska River Bridge, Palmer AK, 2020. Taken by: Jordyn Clutter (Hot Mess Pony Express) Arizona State University, HST 485. -
2020-03-30
The Great Outdoors
The pandemic continues to rage over the country and has changed the daily way of life for millions. However, sometimes change isn’t bad and might even be needed. Before the pandemic hit, I lived my life mostly stuck inside, only going out for school and necessities. Due to the lockdown and shutdown for most businesses, my parents decided that this was a great time to explore the great outdoors. They knew that my lack of activities already would lead to an even lazier demeanor if those ceased to exist with the pandemic. I absolutely am not an outdoors person, nor do I enjoy being under the hot sun, but my parents forced my siblings and I out of the house. The first few days weren’t great as it was quite hard to go from nonmobile all day to exercise under the blazing sun. As I got use to it, I actually began to love the daily routine of wandering for hours and leaving my stresses behind me. I also picked up some earbuds and began listening to music as I explored. Sometimes the music brought me great energy and a new bounce in my step and sometimes, it swayed me into dreaming about endless possibilities. However, as the days passed, I began to notice more than my just my thoughts and I begun to take more interest in the nature around me. I would often stop to stare at the various flowers, trees, and scenery in my neighborhood. Hence the picture of the green fern as I begun to take pictures of the plants that I thought had a special aura. The day I saw the fern, the sun happened to be at the perfect angle shining down upon it and the swaying wind made it look majestic. What I believe is that the pandemic may have completely flipped one’s life upside-down, but it doesn’t mean it has changed it for the worse. Rather it simply takes just a little effort to take notice that there is so much more to the world surrounding us. *Photograph, I took the picture. change, our, world, perspective -
07/29/2020
Gwendolyn Way Oral History, 2020/07/29
An interview with Gwendolyn "Gwen" Way regarding her experience living in a retirement home during the pandemic. Gwen discusses the changes made by the residence where she lives to prevent an introduction or spread of the virus, as outbreaks in Long Term Care facilities have been common in Canada, and how it has effected her life within the home and her relationship with the world outside it. She compares and contrasts this lockdown and pandemic with the 19 months she spend in a sanatorium being treated for tuberculosis (TB) many years ago. The fear of the unknown and desperation at the lack of a firm end date are ideas which Gwen returns to repeatedly.