Items

• 2024-11-11

  Parallel Timelines

  In 2020, I jumped to an alternate timeline. Everything I had known before became somewhat stranger, uncanny, the familiar suddenly not quite familiar. I began to lose trust and safety in my community, my family, and myself. I wondered if it was the beginning of the apocalypse. I wondered how we would survive -- any of us. It started with an earthquake. We lived in southeastern Idaho, and I had never experienced an earthquake in my twenty-five years. I was home with my partner and our two dogs. There had been news of the virus spreading in places far from us, but it seemed distant and inconsequential. Nothing seemed to touch us in our rural, isolated patch of Idaho desert. Things were as they'd always been and always would be. We had just made dinner -- mini Hawaiian sliders, kettle chips, and orange soda -- and had settled in to eat when the soda in the bottles began to ripple and shake. The dogs lifted their heads and tucked their tails. We both stared at the soda, then shifted our gazes out the window to the dry Lost River Valley, where we watched the land move in a way that didn't seem to make sense. I felt the shift internally as the earth shifted in kind. Something inexplicable had changed. Soon, people began to talk of the apocalypse; swarms of locusts (or murder hornets), natural disasters, plague, conspiracy, political unrest, riots. It was global; it was in our backyard. It was far out of our control and too close to home. And though wouldn't know it for a few more months, I was pregnant. I had never planned to be a mother, but I suddenly had to grapple with bringing a daughter into this unstable, dangerous landscape. The following week, my partner was laid off from work. Uncertainty grew. Lockdown protocols began, but they were ignored by most of our community. I continued going to work at my public-facing job, afraid each day that my unborn child and I would be infected with the mystery virus by the many, many people in my community who didn't believe it existed, who ridiculed me for wearing a mask, who thickly associated the taking of health precautions with opposing political ideology, compromised morality, and poor intelligence. My partner began to experience inexplicable health concerns: sudden, severe bouts of vertigo, rapid heart rate, weak pulse, fainting spells, inability to digest food, and days-long migraines. It was chronic and debilitating, preventing him from seeking consistent work. None of the health providers he met with was able to identify the source of these issues, citing either anxiety or sympathetic pregnancy and sending him home. He worried he was dying of an undetectable disease. I worried that nothing would make sense ever again. When I was seven months pregnant, our landlord made the decision to turn our home into a vacation rental. This left us to either pay highly increased rent or find a new home. However, over a few short months, the cost of housing had nearly doubled in our community, and we could no longer afford to live there. Our only option was to move out of state to live with family. My daughter was born healthy, though I gave birth alone because the hospital would not allow visitors. A couple of months later, in our sick and sleep-deprived states and while navigating new parenthood, we packed all we knew and took the leap. We came out alive on the other side. Nothing was as it had been, but we were hopeful of new opportunities. Trump left office. The vaccine was developed and distributed. My partner found ways to cope with his mystery illness and found meaningful work. We both returned to school. Things moved on, forever changed but not destroyed. But now, in 2024, I've jumped timelines again. It started when I swallowed a pill of Iodine-131, a radioactive isotope of iodine meant to kill the thyroid cells in my body that had become cancerous. Something shifted at that moment, and each event since has eerily mirrored the events of 2020. I once again find myself feeling that sense of strangeness, that uncanny reality, that loss of trust in the self and the other. I am unexpectedly pregnant with a second daughter, and the pregnancy is high-risk because of its proximity to the radioactive iodine treatment. My partner works, but I have struggled to get back into the workforce. There have been sudden personal conflicts with the family that have supported us, and we are now faced with finding a new home within the next six months. My physical and mental health have declined. And as of this week, we are living with the nearly unfathomable reality of a second Trump presidency. I try not to attribute unneeded significance to perceived patterns, but it's hard to ignore the parallels between then and now. Each shift feels like stepping into an uncanny mirror: familiar yet alien. I wonder if these parallels suggest a lesson or are simply the chaotic rhythm of life. In the midst of it all, I hold on to the small victories -- the ways we’ve learned to cope, to rebuild, to love fiercely in uncertain times. Despite everything, we are still here. I hope that this time, the other side will bring more than just survival: it will bring peace. As I sit with the weight of both past and present, I am reminded of what remains constant: the love I carry for my children, the strength I find in my partner, and the quiet resolve to face whatever version of reality lies ahead. Maybe we all live in parallel timelines, revisiting familiar struggles in different forms over and over again. For now, I’ll keep moving forward, one hand in each of my daughters', one uncertain step at a time.
• 
  2020-12

  The impact of COVID on the LGBTQ+ Community

  This PDF details data related to the LGBTQ+ Community's relationship with COVID in America. Based on the data, it is clear many within the community struggled with excessive financial issues, the inability to receive medical care, and the loss of insurance. While the pandemic has placed serious burdens as a whole on society, data such as this is valuable as it allows a look into the most vulnerable communities within society already, and how COVID has destroyed the once normal lives of so many.
• 
  2022-05-09

  Predominantly Black college to shut down after Covid-19 and cyberattack burdens

  This is a news story from CNN by Omar Jimenez. After more than 150 years, Lincoln College in Illinois will be closing its doors due to struggles on cyber attacks and COVID. This college is significant because it was the only college to be named after Abraham Lincoln when he was still alive, according to the US Department of Education. COVID created many economic burdens for the college with the transition to remote learning. COVID also created drops in enrollment.
• 
  2021-12

  How My Life Has Changed

  My life feels weird. I feel like everything almost moved too fast, but not fast enough. I think due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we all have a weird feeling of how time works. It seems almost as if the days pass by faster than I can imagine, let alone each month. I blink and the semester is practically at a close. My life feels busy. My days are consumed with school work and nannying, as almost every week feels the same. I try to incorporate different aspects of my daily life into each day to have a feeling of change, yet also normalcy. I personally have faced academic and personal challenges. I feel as though I do not have the same energy I did when in the classroom. I felt like I have lost my passion for learning, as it almost feels more forced than it did before. To do all your work through a computer screen is not easy, let alone to do it for years on end. Personally, I have had a hard time with a lack of communication with family and friends. Some of my peers and I discussed the difficulty with just talking to people now! It just feels so strange. The sudden change to college was weird. I started off at a University and hated it. I think due to COVID, I had a hard time picking out what I needed in a school, as I also didn't know how the upcoming school year would look with the pandemic. I feel as though I have adapted, but I wish things could go back to the way they were. Nothing feels the same anymore and I feel as if my life is slipping through my fingers. Therefore, I try to embrace the time I do have, even though we are still living through the midst of a pandemic.
• 
  2021-10-26

  Do We Even Matter?

  This poem talks about the failure of our medical field when it came to covid. They focused more on those with Covid than those who were struggling with cancer. My grandfather became one of those victims.
• 
  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.
• 
  2020-04-01

  COVID-19 Through My Eyes

  This story is about my experience with Covid-19 and how my family and I endured the hardships we faced and everything we have gone through in the past years. This is important to me because it shares about the struggles we went through and shows what we experienced through what i consider to be the worst moments of my life.
• 
  2020-12-22

  How COVID-19 Hollowed Out a Generation of Young Black Men

  This is a fascinating and heartbreaking article about the struggles of young black men and health inequity brought to light by COVID-19. The difficulties of systemic racism are costing young black men their lives.
• 
  2020-11-22

  I Lip Read Badge

  My ‘I Lip Read’ badges are still available. £3.75 including postage. DM me if you would like one or a few. They have really helped with people’s awareness. Once all this rubbish mask business is over these badges will be a good addition to a denim jacket or rucksack. #deafawareness #deafcommunity #deafacademy #ilipread #deafandproud #deafandcovid #selfhelp #makepeopleaware #dontstrugglealone #lipreadermask #lipreader #deafculturesorority
• 
  2020-10-24

  On the Navajo Nation, COVID-19 death toll is higher than any US state. Here's how you can support community relief.

  This news report highlights how the public can help contribute to the Navajo Nation COVID-19 relief efforts. It includes video interviews with Navajo members struggling to survive without proper resources and offers five Native non-profits that people can donate much needed necessities to. Archiving this piece will allow future researchers to document the Navajo struggles and the relief they received from non-profit donations.
• 2020-12-15

  Life through Photographs during COVID19

  Coronavirus hit me as a senior in high school. It began as an exciting two-week spring break and then continued to alter my life and everyone else's with no end in sight. I acknowledge that I was lucky in the ways coronavirus affected me as I did not lose my job, any loved ones, and was lucky enough to stay healthy along with my family. However, coronavirus and its related restrictions did hit me in ways I never would have imagined. It started with the loss of graduation, the loss of closure at the end of my senior year, worsening mental health, and questioning everything that was to come of my future. I had a plan: a plan to graduate along with 400 other students, a plan to travel in the summer, and a plan to go to college. These plans that seemed so certain were all uprooted instantly. Instead, graduating high school seemed like a formality, not a celebration, college at UW seemed so uncertain and financially difficult that I questioned attending, and traveling became a walk to the park. In the first few months I found myself sinking into a depression, my body and brain shutting down. I felt lost. As time passed, I began to find purpose and to find enjoyment in little things I never would have months prior. In the first few months, I found myself trapped in my house with little interaction, falling into a rut of depression and anxiety. I slowly began to find enjoyment in small things that got me out of my head. About a month into isolation I found myself scrolling through years of photos and videos reminiscing on my pre-covid, pre-mask, and pre-isolation self. I instantly began to print these old pictures creating photo journals and I made several slideshows of photos I had taken or found throughout my life. I created a video of my senior year of highschool full of photos and videos portraying the amazing times I was able to be a part of. I watched myself grow in these photos along with some of my closest friends and family. At first, these old photos made me sad, made me feel so alone, and then the photos made me appreciate everything I have been a part of. Looking back on the past, I realized how much I took these moments for granted. The small things such as going to restaurants, attending school in person, playing sports, etc. While looking back at the many adventures, I appreciated every photograph, every laugh, every cry. I realized how important the small things were. This is when I discovered my love for photographs, collaging, and slideshows. Creating these photo journals and slideshows gave me a reason to get out of bed and made me feel like I had a life in a time like it felt like I was completely lost. I had a five-month summer ahead of me, the longest break from school I have had since I was five years old. These photographs allowed me to spend time and energy on something that distracted me from reality. Slowly, the reminiscing and creation of these collages of my pre-covid life led to a sense of longing, a longing to be rid of this pandemic. I then found a job and instead of dreading a shift, I looked forward to it as it gave me a sense of purpose. I would document my coworkers who soon became some of my closest friends. I took photos of us at the break, spilling mop water on the floor, and going on drives to buy us all coffee. I then used the photographs to document the time I was in instead of the time I had once lived in. As restrictions started to lift I began to see my friends again but not in the same way. We would sit in our cars in parking lots, at parks six feet apart, or wearing masks on each other's front yards. I photographed all of this. I made videos of us blasting music as we sat in our cars not being able to hug or embrace each other. I wonder how these photos will age. These moments I have captured are of unimaginable times. I will view these in years looking back as the best and worst times of my life. Slowly I was able to create my social bubble of work, family, and a few friends. ll of these people became my support system, my family. Through these last few months, I and those around me have gone through more than I have experienced with anyone else. This includes loss of employment, loss of income, loss of family members, and loss of mental health. I started to create collages and photo journals to give to those around me. When sharing these pictures with those around me it brought smiles to our faces as we reminisced about our memories together or laughed at the altered world we live in today. I found that when I got to my darkest points I found solace in my photos and the sharing of these photos. Later in quarantine during July a few of my friends and I decided we were going to explore Oregon in every aspect we could. We hiked beautiful mountains, swam in the lakes, went to the beach, and watercolored in parks. I documented all of this along the way. Now instead of looking back on what I missed pre-COVID, I look at what I found during COVID. I found my family, my escape, myself. I found that I have captured more memories during these last nine months than at any other time. I have done more for myself and with those around me than I ever have. These photos and videos have been my way of illustrating the positive effects of this pandemic in my life. A couple of years ago I may have looked at these photos and videos and thought why masks? Why social distance? Why so much time spent with my family inside? Now, they bring a smile to my face. Yes, COVID19 has taken many things but it has given me many things as well. And one day I hope to show what it gave me through my photos.
• 
  2020-12-08

  Wings Over the Rockies Through the Pandemic

  Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum is located in a hangar of the former Lowry Air Force Base in eastern Denver, Colorado. The museum offers a host of historic aircraft, artifacts, space objects, and more. According to their website, each year the museum can expect “roughly 160,000 visitors representing all 50 U.S. states and 34 countries around the world.” This year has been much different. The pandemic of 2020 has had a major impact on people, the economy, and businesses all around the world. Certain organizations that rely on in-person attendance has been hit especially hard by the effects of COVID-19. Wings Over the Rockies closed its doors on March 13, 2020 indefinitely. Some staff members were able to continue to work from home. Others were not. When Wings reopened its doors over three months later the museum looked and operated entirely different. In an effort to follow state and CDC guidelines as well as put staff and guests at ease, the museum adopted a new system. Now, museum staff and visitors require face masks, the hangar is sectioned off to keep track of the amount of people in one area, signs and markers are placed throughout the museum to enforce social distancing, and visitors are required to pre-purchase timed tickets. Even with this entirely new system throughout the museum, the biggest effect of COVID-19 on the museum is the silence that plagues its building. As people are reflecting on the pandemic and adjusting their own lives to the changes it mandates, certain organizations, like museums, are struggling to attract visitors. Compared to the year 2019, the attendance to the museum during the months of August through November was down an average of 55% this year. Events at the museum, which provides a major source of revenue, is down 75%. A majority of employees work an average of 2-3 days from home per week. The educational programs that Wings provides, which previously saw students running about flying model airplanes and even building an actual plane, are being moved to virtual platforms or are being cancelled entirely. The question for places like museums is not “when will it be safe to return,” because the 182,000 square foot hangar boasted by this museum is more socially distanced than your local grocery store. The question is, “when will people feel financially and mentally comfortable to return to optional places such as museums.” Until society can step up and do what is necessary to return life to normal, the hope is that the educational and fascinating gems, like the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, can keep its doors open to see that day.
• 
  2020-10-27

  How am I Supposed to be a Student When the World is Burning Down Around Me? A Student’s Personal Experience

  I wanted to share the kitchen table's image in my family's house because it has become my workspace and classroom. I have my laptop, water, and food in the image because the virtual college has become a non-stop task. As an undergraduate student transitioning to virtual learning, I have struggled greatly. The weekdays are filled with zoom classes, discussion boards, dozens of essays, and monotonous assignments that feel like busywork. Weekdays and weekends are the same. Universities and professors have maintained high expectations for students even though we are in a pandemic, economic depression, detrimental election year, and significant social justice movement. Most days, I struggle to want to be the best student I can be when I feel less like a person. It is difficult to get out of bed, especially as hope fades every day with an increase in COVID-19 cases and deaths, people becoming jobless, homeless, and the human rights of so many people being violated. It feels insane sometimes to log on for hours when the world seems to be burning down around me.
• 
  2020-09-08

  Child Struggles with Distance Learning

  Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you. This story is important to me because while I do not have kids, I believe education is so important, especially the quality of education they are receiving. I have many friends that are teachers who are struggling with distance learning themselves and have also questioned the quality of education that children are receiving now as they believe any one-on-one help they would be able to give in a classroom is unavailable now to students who already struggle with learning in a regular classroom setting. It is difficult enough for adults to be self-motivated with online education and for kids this has been deemed to be extremely difficult.
• 
  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.
• 
  2020-10-19

  Everything is not ok

  This mom has two preschool aged kids. One of them is not even a year old. She’s feeling alone, depressed and overwhelmed. Unfortunately those feeling are not unique to moms of small kids but COVID has heightened them. Social distancing means no daycare for her oldest and no in home help either. She feels alone because she is alone. After I saw her post on ig I got her permission to share her story. I felt like it was so important because every mother has had these days, weeks, months of “bad” feelings. Mental health is not something new moms pay much attention to since they have a new baby (and usually other kids) to care for. Moms are expected to give everything to their children and for their children. Sadly, society hardly ever pours back into these empty moms. This picture shines a light on the realities of motherhood and how COVID has made our lives more difficult.
• 
  2020-08-23

  Having No Mouth

  My story of the Quarantine is that initially I was kind of excited about the prospect of having an excuse to stay indoors. This is due to the fact that I am a homebody and would rather chill with my friends rather than go to parties. However, one thing that I did not think of was that not only would I be staying home most of the time, but a majority of the rest of my family would as well. When I was younger, having everyone home was not a problem, but now we are all grown up, and we all need our space. Due to Quarantine, getting that space that I wanted was rather hard. It felt like I was having a hard time being able to be alone without someone hearing what I was saying. Not only that, but it was also hard because the conflicts in my family came to become more and more prevalent/ This is due to the fact that things like the college process and transitioning from high school to college seemed to have been made a lot harder. Instead of this Summer being relaxing and giving me room to breathe, it was made into one of the hardest times of my life. The short story titled "I Have Mouth, and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison captures how I felt during the pandemic. In the story, the characters are trapped underground and are totally helpless to the situation that they find themselves in. In many ways, I felt almost the same way to these characters. I felt like I was trapped in a place that I felt as though I had no control over anything because it was not my domain. Like the narrator of the story, I too felt as though I had no mouth by the end of it all. This is due to the fact that I am not the best at standing up for myself or handling conflicts. Not only that, but I feel like whenever I would try to argue my point, I always felt like nothing would happen. Even if anything did happen that went my way, it always felt like it was not enough to feel like a victory. By the end, it would just reinforce my unwillingness to speak up for myself or to just let things go and allow them to continue. I hope that I will be able to improve things once my time at Suffolk starts and when this Quarantine ends.