Items
Creator is exactly
Stephanie Berry
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2021-08-07
Food Is Not Always Comforting
This is a story of my family's experience with food and the pandemic. For us, it was a reflection of another difficult time in our lives. -
2020-08-22
Stephanie Berry Internship Portfolio
Before starting this internship, I had little to no knowledge of working behind the scenes in public history. My focus is on public history, but I am still learning the ins and outs. I learned many valuable lessons on not only public history but also working with the public in an academic field. For me, some of the most useful parts of the internship were the oral histories and the ethics of the archives. I learned about the importance of transcripts and how much work goes into recording oral history. When it comes to ethics, I am still learning, but I am grateful to have experienced how JOTPY protects people's privacy and sensitive information. I am now aware of when and how to redact sensitive information and the best practices for redacting in an archival setting. I am more aware of the best file types to use when preserving digital items. I am eager to learn more about the digital side of public history from Omeka to apps. I chose to preserve the impact of the pandemic on the food industry, food habits, and body image because of my tie to the industry, my interest in food history and fat studies. It has been a difficult topic to work on, but the experience I gained working on the Foodways collection has been priceless. In hindsight, I wish I had chosen a more relatable collection because I often felt like I was alone in left field. Other interns were able to share and exchange items, that did not happen with my collection as much as others. Besides a couple of interns, I did not get the chance to network with others. Food is a relatable subject, but the industry is not. I found areas that I need to develop, including my networking skills and being confident in what I bring to the academic table. I gained a lot of confidence in my abilities through this internship, and I am grateful for the areas; it helped me see where I have room to grow. As a student with learning disabilities from a non-academic background, I was the fish out of the water, but so many of my skills did translate. The internship also gave me the push I needed to leave my comfort zone and view myself outside of the industry I've been working in for decades. If I could keep working on this archive, I would in a heartbeat, I am grateful for all that I have learned this summer. -
07/06/2020
William "Billy" Cummings Oral History, 2020/07/06
William “Billy” Cummings, an employee of the food service company, Choicelunch shares his experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. He describes the suddenness of the pandemic. Billy explains the impact COVID-19 had on his job and on the jobs of his co-workers. He discusses how the company he works for pivoted their business model to stay open. Billy expands upon the impact COVID-19 has had on the food service industry and food services workers. He details his initial reaction to COVID-19 and describes the pressures families are experiencing at home. And reflects upon how this experience may impact the types of jobs people have in the future. Billy calls upon the greater community to come together to ease the impact of COVID-19 on businesses and families. -
07/17/2020
Kiersten Camby Oral History, 2020/07/17
This is an interview of Kiersten Camby about her experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kiersten is a fulltime wedding planner. She lives with her fiancé and two German Shepherds in Spartanburg, South Carolina. At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kiersten was temporarily furloughed from her job and spent most of her time in self-isolation. Her fiancé is an officer and continued to work. Kiersten was able to return to work 3 months after being furloughed and was able to slowly return to full-time status. During her time in self-isolation, Kiersten continued to be able to see her family to enjoy dinners and at-home movie nights. Kiersten and her family have taken the precautions to remain healthy and she hopes that life will one day return to normal. -
2020-07-01
Masks are Not Dangerous
Anyone who follows me on social media knows I am pretty open about everything. I talk openly about my disabilities, my activism, and my health struggles. One of those is my allergic asthma which seems to increase in severity each year due to climate change and this year, bored neighbors over mowing their lawns. As an avid outdoors person having a severe allergy to grass pollen is a major bummer but last year I found a way to enjoy the outdoors without dying. It's cheap, it's more effective than most of my medications, and it comes in cool colors; a mask! For two pollen seasons, I have happily worn and talked about the wonders of wearing a mask and the freedom they give me to live my life. So for the life of me, I cannot understand why anti-maskers I know personally have chosen to privately message me their memes about the dangers of masks. I can only sit back and laugh at their complaints and fearmongering. I'm not the only one who has worn a mask in the US long before the pandemic but our very existence debunks the beliefs of anti-maskers. No one cared about our oxygen levels when we wore masks due to the fires in California or Montana. I got odd looks from people on hiking trails but no one feared for my safety. I can only laugh and carry on at this point because it's just silly. Photograph shows the first vog mask I owned. I was so happy to get it because I had been wearing disposable masks before and I wanted to environmentally friendly. I posted this on all my social media accounts. Meme was privately messaged to me through facebook messenger. For ethical reasons I did not include the original sender. This person is well aware that I wear masks on a daily basis long before the pandemic. -
2020-05-24
Sunday Brunch
[Curatorial Note]: Discussion of neighbors holding neighborhood get-togethers despite social distancing protocols. -
2020-04-07
You Shall Pass
The Hershey Company started having me work from home on March 17, 2020. I am a baker for the Hershey Company's baking products test kitchen. Since March I have been baking and working on recipes from home. In order to re-enter the building, I was required to take my temperature at home, photograph it, and present that photo to the security officer on duty. On April 7, 2020 I took a photograph of my temperature before leaving my house to restock my baking supplies from the test kitchen pantry. I presented this photo to security before filling out a health declaration form and signing into the building. Once I had been fully checked in I was able to collect the supplies I needed before signing out of the building. Since March 17th, I have only had to return to my work area twice to restock. Now Hershey has temperature check points that operate during specific windows of time and no longer requires employees to photograph their temperature. In this way, the Hershey Company has been able to accurately track employees in and out of the buildings in order to keep employees safe. The image shows a closeup of a thermometer reading 97 degrees. -
2020-05-23
Learning to Play
[Curatorial Note]: Discussing finally learning to play guitar with free time due to COVID 19 quarantine. -
2020-05-22
Root canal during the pandemic
On April 8, 2020, I had to have a root canal redone. I had been in self-isolation since March 17, and it was unnerving to leave the house to have this procedure done since I have asthma. Catching Covid-19 would not be suitable for me, so having to lay with my mouth wide open for an extended period was not ideal. Unfortunately, the procedure could not wait. When I arrived at the dentist's office, my temperature was checked before I was allowed to exit my car. I wore a cloth mask into the building where I was required to wash my hands before interacting with the staff. Once I was taken to the back, I had to rinse with alcohol-based mouth wash for no less than 30 seconds. During the procedure, the endodontist wore a face shield and mask. Air was circulated over my face and away from both the dental assistant and endodontist towards the open door. The procedure took about an hour since they chose to examine the failing root canal, refill it, and seal the crown all in the same day. Typically this would require two visits, one to check and refill the root canal and one to seal the crown. After the procedure was done, I was allowed to wash my hands before putting my mask back on and then rewash my hands before exiting the office. Once in my car, I used hand sanitizer before driving home. By far, the strangest visit I've had to the dentist, but they made sure to take every precaution they could to keep their patients safe.