Items

• 
  2021-09-20

  Vaccine Doubters

  I have a screenshot of several anti-vax debates from my town's FB group. The poster was against vaccinating kids.
• 2020

  Computer Problems

  Over the course of the pandemic, everything went online. One of the major problems I faced was with technical capability- my computer was an older laptop, meant for doing assignments but not much else. Having to run Zoom, project applications, and other online requirements fried my laptop. It also made me think- How were underprivileged students doing work? I was lucky to even have a computer, and I mostly relied on the desktops at my university in the library before the pandemic started. Now I have a new laptop, but I know most people aren't so fortunate.
• 
  2020

  Nervous Cats: Pandemic Pet

  I first adopted my cat, Beans, in 2018, so she wasn't technically a "pandemic pet." However, she ended up becoming very anxious during the pandemic, especially with the first lockdown of March 2020, since I was home all the time! She has since developed mild "separation anxiety," and has to travel with me wherever I go. She is super adorable though :)
• 2021-04

  Teleworking: Good and Bad

  I started a job earlier this year that is entirely remote. Before COVID-19, I would never have considered a remote job/ the possibility of teleworking simply because I thought it was something that wouldn't be possible in the field of History. Obviously this all changed when things shut down in 2020- and in some ways, the work realm changed for the better. I was able to secure a remote job relevant to my field for good pay, something that would not have been possible before the pandemic. On the other hand, working entirely remote makes it much harder to connect with coworkers and get out of the house.
• 2020-03

  Grandma and COVID-19

  During the height of the pandemic in 2020, my family and I were super concerned about keeping the older members of our family safe. Keeping our 80+ year-old grandma safe was a challenge since she was under the impression that she was tougher than the virus, a mindset that seems to be shared across a lot of the elderly community. We tried not to visit her during the first couple months of the lockdowns, but eventually we went over to her house with masks on and stayed 6 feet apart. The pandemic created a difficult dilemma in which people wanted to keep their older loved ones safe, so they stayed away, but at the same time, the elderly were incredibly lonely as they had relied on family visits for stimulation and company. Now my entire family is vaccinated, so we can safely visit our grandmother, but the fear still lingers.
• 
  2020-10

  Pandemic Birthday at the Aquarium

  Last October 2020 I celebrated my 22nd birthday. Between COVID-19 and the death of my father, my birthday wasn't high on my list of things to prioritize. However, my family and I decided last minute to go to Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut as it is one of my favorite places & they had socially-distant protocols in place. I enjoyed seeing the belugas, seals, penguins, and jellyfish in a safe and distant manner.
• 2020-06

  Learning to Cook

  Before Covid-19, I only knew the basics of cooking, and for the most part, I stayed away from the kitchen. However, once the lockdowns began, I started to force myself to cook more. I tried to learn new recipes (which my sister usually taught me) and gradually I began to improve my abilities. One of my favorite foods to make now (which I learned in the summer of 2020) was Chicken Tikka Masala.
• 
  2020-06

  Pandemic Gardening

  While there were a lot of terrible things that happened as a result of Covid-19, I feel that one positive was humanity's return to nature. With so many places closed down, people were forced to go outside and enjoy forests, beaches, yards, etc. I was one of these people, and I discovered a talent for gardening. I enjoyed gardening before Covid-19, but the hobby really took off during the 2020 lockdowns. I grew potatoes, onions, flowers, herbs- anything that could be planted, I planted!
• 2020-03

  Rural Connecticut: Covid Doubters

  I lived in a rural part of Connecticut during the 2020 Covid lockdowns. Despite the widely publicized nature of the pandemic, at least half of the citizens in my town didn't believe the disease was real. There was a real divide over wearing masks and closing down schools/work because many people felt the disease was over-blown, not deadly, or simply wouldn't strike a rural place as hard as a city. While my town didn't suffer as much as places like New York City did, we still had Covid cases and deaths across the county. It was frustrating to live in a rural place during the outbreak, because even though we were "safer," than city-dwellers, nobody took measures to preserve that safety. This mindset continued when vaccines became available, and the latest rage in rural areas is using Ivermectin (horse medicine) instead.
• 
  2020-12-21

  Mayans and Covid-19

  The topic of Language & Communication during the Covid-19 pandemic stood out to me because my father was from Guatemala, and I am of Mayan descent. I recently read an article from last year discussing the impact of Covid-19 on indigenous communities, especially the Mayans. The article mentions how certain problems were exacerbated by the pandemic: for example, the inability to effectively communicate the pandemic situation across many dialects. Despite a variety of struggles, the article highlights several benefits that Mayan communities experienced, including a renewed sense of community, culture, and farming.
• 2020-03

  Finding Joy in the Little Things

  As someone with anxiety, existing during the pandemic lockdown of 2020 was very difficult. I found myself even more anxious with health-related thoughts, especially at the beginning of the lockdowns in March of 2020. There wasn't a ton of accurate information being disseminated, and I remember my family and I religiously sanitizing everything, including shopping bags. One of the ways we kept each other sane was by recreating experiences at home. For example, I created a "home theater," for my boyfriend. In reality it was just a sign that said "Home Theater," with a few movies we could stream, but it made the experience fun. We joked about the little movie "tickets" I made (scraps of paper) as well as the theater seats (pillows propped on the bed). In the end, it was moments like this that made the first wave of Covid bearable.
• 
  2021-05-15

  Graduation: We Made It Work

  I was very lucky to graduate in Spring of 2021 from Eastern Connecticut State University, as my school managed to create a socially-distanced graduation for us. It was a tricky event for the university to handle, and commencement had to be divided into three ceremonies at various times. You had to wear a mask and each chair was placed six feet apart. Handshakes were skipped in favor of elbow bumps and air fives. Despite all the planning, the event was truly memorable and so special to me. In 2020 my father unexpectedly passed away (not COVID related). Being able to attend a "real" graduation in 2021 meant the world to me, as I felt like I had achieved something and was honoring his memory. Though COVID-19 has limited many events, I was fortunate to have participated in a commencement ceremony this past semester.