Items

• 
  2020-07-22

  Comic-Con 2020

  This photo was taken during what would have been Preview Night of San Diego Comic Con in 2020. Fans made a shrine of art, flowers, and merchandise at the Tin Fish restaurant directly across the street from the San Diego Convention Center.
• 2020-07-13

  The Last Man on Earth

  I run almost every day. During the summer of 2020, I was undergoing prostate salvage radiation therapy. Radiation therapy is sometimes proscribed after one has their prostate removed. I ran no less during the prostate radiation therapy. I've always eaten healthy food. Still, I drank water more regularly during radiation therapy. Driving from my home to the Anderson Cancer Center was an enjoyable experience, mostly because the freeway was so deserted–there were almost no cars on the road. I live in uptown San Diego, so my long runs take me through downtown San Diego. Before each run, I spend a few minutes practicing martial arts. I imagine the neighbors watching me thought I was having some kind of fit. After warming up with martial arts, I start my run. The first place my run takes me is through the Hillcrest community, usually a place with the lively hustle and bustle of people moving about, but on this day, Hillcrest was deserted. Most restaurants were closed, and a few people were milling about–Hillcrest was a ghost town. It reminded me of the town portrayed in the 1973 film High Plains Drifter. Folks were hiding, hiding from COVID by hiding from each other. From Hillcrest, my run took me through downtown San Diego where the streets were equally deserted. The deserted streets reminded me of running through another movie, the 1964 film, The Last Man on Earth. I imagined inhuman monsters were preparing to spread COVID that would spring into action without warning. Of course, all this fantasizing made my daily run even more fun and pleasurable. I could let my imagination wander momentarily, then return to the peaceful meditation of running through deserted streets. The COVID protocols made possible the escape from the COVID reality itself. I'm convinced the long runs played a vital role in mitigating the effects of radiation therapy.
• 
  2020-01-01

  UC Berkeleyland

  Daily photographic journal golf UC Berkeley during the Covid-19 Pandemic years 2020 through 2022
• 
  2020-08-11

  Virtual Learning in California

  The American response to the global COVID-19 Pandemic was multi-faceted. However, of specific importance to the nation were the changes made to public education. As the Pandemic resulted in the closure of businesses, teachers and students were required to continue their educational programs online from the privacy of their homes. Although the effects of distance learning will continue to be seen, virtual learning severely limited the ability of students and teachers to use sensory perception as a tool for learning and instruction. First, distance learning no longer enabled American teachers to utilize the sensory perception of “proximity.” Throughout public education “proximity” is used to encourage student engagement with both instruction and content. Many teachers will walk their classrooms during student activities and use sensory perception to sensorially inform students that they are near to them and are assessing their engagement. Teachers use this strategy as a reinforcement tool to develop students’ ability to stay on task. Yet, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, social distancing policies made “proximity” not only impossible, but also illegal, limiting to what extent teachers could use sensory perception to foster engagement and learning. Second, not only were educators no longer allowed to use the sensory perception tool of physical proximity, but also many educators were forced to rely solely on the sensory perception of sound. School districts throughout the state of California, for example, did not permit educators to require their students to verify their attendance in live video format. The result was educators and students were engaging predominantly through speaking and listening. Furthermore, being denied the sensory perception of sight, educators could not assess to what extent students were engaging with instruction and activities. In conclusion, the COVID-19 Pandemic enacted emergency response strategies which directly affected the education of Generation Z. For both students and educators, sensory perception became more limited for every student. Yet, the sciences, including social science, are built upon the empirical information a human being receives through them. Perhaps this video will serve as evidence to answer the question, “To what extent were students denied the right to sensory information and science?”
• 2020-11

  Free drinks?

  I was working at Target in Fullerton, CA while I was going to school for my bachelors degree, as the first year of covid-19 was winding down to its end. On my lunch break, I would usually grab a drink from the Starbucks located inside the store at the front. Usually working there would be a young woman around the same age as myself. Around this time of year I would get myself an iced peppermint mocha, and the first time that I got one there, I asked how much it would be, but the barista smiled behind her mask and said there was no charge. I thought this was a nice perk of the job and thought nothing of it. This became a regular thing until one day I ordered a drink with a different barista working behind the counter. He took my order and then expectantly told me how much my drink would be. I expressed my confusion, but he insisted, and I did not argue. I paid for my drink and went back to the break room. I told some of my coworkers how the barista had made me pay for my drink, and I was met with a confused "yeah... we all pay for our drinks." I probed a little more, and they all assured me that it was not a part of our job to get free drinks at the Starbucks. I smiled as I thought of the usual barista and how special she had made me feel. I was the only one who did not have to pay for my drink while she was working. Maybe that meant that she had feelings for me, or maybe she just decided to express a subtle act of kindness to me in particular. Either way, I felt deeply appreciated in a way that almost no one else made me feel during that year. In a time when strangers could almost have no meaningful interactions, with their faces almost entirely obscured by masks, this person that I didn't even know made me feel more seen than any stranger had in previous years. That peppermint mocha tasted sweeter than any of the others had because of her, even though it was the only one that hadn't been made by her. I still remember the sensation of it.
• 2020-03-20

  A Theme Park on Day 1 of the Pandemic

  Disneyland popcorn comes in a variety of colors and flavors- and with the opening of Galaxy’s Edge in 2019, my new favorite popcorn stand was ushered into being. This stand carried popcorn that had fruity pebble flavoring on its salty kernels, a little sticky, but delicious nonetheless. It was spring break at ASU, and currently, I was enjoying this sweet-salty concoction with not a care in the world, in Disneyland with my family. I was standing under the sad shade of a newly planted tree when my father turned to me, mouth agape, and proceeded to hand me his phone despite the sticky residue I was attempting to warn him about. His cell phone screen, with its glaring blue light and notifications rapidly appearing across the top, shouted a message at me I would much rather ignore: “The CDC has declared COVID-19 a worldwide pandemic.” Given that my father works in medical software, he quickly snatched the vibrating, ringing phone back and began an onslaught of calls that sounded identical, almost always culminating in “I don’t know what this means.” All around us, the previously carefree park patrons were beginning to reach into their pockets to investigate the commotion, and finding the same or similar results. Gasps and shouts were heard all around us, and the sound of feet moving quickly increased. Coughs were now akin to fire alarms and sent crowds scattering on the wind. Large throngs of people began to move towards the park exit, but I was keen on finishing my treat. After all, why rush out with hundreds of people when you can stroll out with dozens? We only remained in the park for about an hour after that, my parents endlessly debating the pros and cons of driving to Arizona right that minute. Would they close the borders between states? Would they get a refund for the cost of the hotel? What would we do with my little sisters’ birthday cake, sitting in a mini fridge and awaiting a dull butter knife later that evening? Families all around us were having the same sorts of conversations, a concert of panic arising in the Happiest Place on Earth. As my parents squabbled and people scattered, I was struck by the monumental meaning of this moment. Disneyland was going to close- and it previously closed for events like 9/11 and the assassination of President Kennedy. Something was very, very wrong...and I figured I should stop eating my popcorn that had seen unknown hands and unknown places.
• 
  2021-09-16

  Life is Better Where It's Wetter

  Travel had always been in my blood. I can even remember the first time I was legally allowed to board a plane on my own without having to wear a silly "Unaccompanied Minor" badge around my neck. The idea of getting on an airplane and landing in a completely new place only hours later would always thrill me. Unfortunately, when the pandemic hit, travel started to look a little different. The freedom I once felt when I stepped foot on a 737 began to feel more like an anxiety-filled hassle. Normally, I would have been found jet-setting across the U.S. to the big cities on the east and west coasts where the parties lasted all night long, but that was no longer possible. I started to remembered how I had always wanted to visit Lake Tahoe. I'd always seen the outdoorsy girls on my Instagram feed post pictures of the clear, blue water. Maybe this was my chance to take a break from the major hubs and slow down my pace. One thing remained, though. I still didn't want to face those airports. That's when I made one of the biggest decisions of my young life. I packed up my Jeep and started out on what would become 3 weeks across our American highways - just me, a Jeep Wrangler, and the open road. I never could have expected what I would discover while driving. I truly gained a new appreciation for the world around me and realized I much preferred travel by wheel than by wing. Here I thought the freedom I felt when traveling was at risk of becoming obsolete, when in reality it was the opposite. Any time there was a unique store along the road or a picturesque landscape, I simply stopped. I never could have done that in an airplane! When I finally made it to the beach at California's gorgeous Lake Tahoe, I was speechless. It was everything I could have imagined and more. The views, the smells, the sounds - breathtaking. It was in those moments, I got my freedom back in the middle of a pandemic.
• 
  2020-06-01

  Tranquility at Camarillo State Hospital

  The property of California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) was not always the site of the CSU’s twenty-third campus. From 1936-1997 the Spanish-colonial style buildings housed 7,000 of California’s mentally handicapped population at Camarillo State Hospital. The site sat vacant for 5 years from 1997 until CSUCI took over the old hospital buildings in 2002. The COVID-19 pandemic brought back an unnerving quietness, reminiscent of when the property was unoccupied. My mom and I took advantage of how serene the campus was and made a point to walk our dogs there several times per week. We did it not just to get out of the house, but due to how enjoyable it was to take in the beauty of the campus. Recalling these memories strongly evokes all five senses and immediately brought me back to the lockdown times of the early pandemic. The absence of college students rushing to their next class made the campus strangely quiet, but there was an enjoyable quality to it. You would occasionally hear ocean breezes whizzing around the vacant corridors and then immediately get greeted with the smell of salty beach air. It would be common for the air to be mixed with the smell of cilantro and strawberries being harvested at farms surrounding the campus. However, not all smells are made equal. When the winds would change, the on-site wastewater facility would waft heinous odors into the direction of the campus, momentarily ruining the blissful experience. The open corridors of the former hospital buildings contain steady slopes, occasionally requiring one to hold the handrails that have stood for nearly one hundred years. It always made me dive back in history and think about the thousands of patients at the hospital that probably held onto that same rail. At times we would hear screeching from the sky near the old Receiving and Treatment hospital where the current university library stands. We both would look up and see large turkey vultures or hawks elegantly gliding over the thousand-acre property, creating a picturesque scene above us. Now that we are in a post-pandemic world trying to return to normal, these experiences are not quite the same as they were in the height of the pandemic when the school was completely emptied. Students have returned to the dorms, and university-related events are once again a common occurrence throughout the campus.
• 2020-08-11

  Long-Distance Learning

  The American response to the global COVID-19 Pandemic was multi-faceted. However, of specific importance to the nation were the changes made to public education. As the Pandemic resulted in the closure of businesses, teachers and students were required to continue their educational programs online from the privacy of their homes. Although the effects of distance learning will continue to be seen, virtual learning severely limited the ability of students and teachers to use sensory perception as a tool for learning and instruction. First, distance learning no longer enabled American teachers to utilize the sensory perception of “proximity.” Throughout public education “proximity” is used to encourage student engagement with both instruction and content. Many teachers will walk their classrooms during student activities and use sensory perception to sensorially inform students that they are near to them and are assessing their engagement. Teachers use this strategy as a reinforcement tool to develop students’ ability to stay on task. Yet, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, social distancing policies made “proximity” not only impossible, but also illegal, limiting to what extent teachers could use sensory perception to foster engagement and learning. Second, not only were educators no longer allowed to use the sensory perception tool of physical proximity, but also many educators were forced to rely solely on the sensory perception of sound. School districts throughout the state of California, for example, did not permit educators to require their students to verify their attendance in live video format. The result was educators and students were engaging predominantly through speaking and listening. Furthermore, being denied the sensory perception of sight, educators could not assess to what extent students were engaging with instruction and activities. In conclusion, the COVID-19 Pandemic enacted emergency response strategies which directly affected the education of Generation Z. For both students and educators, sensory perception became more limited for every student. Yet, the sciences, including social science, are built upon the empirical information a human being receives through them. Perhaps this video will serve as evidence to answer the question, “Is the right to sensory perception and scientific information included within the natural rights of life, liberty, and property?”
• 
  2022-07-12

  Email to project coordinator of SMhopes

  I hope Santa Monica will use its resources to clean up the streets from urine and feces instead of covering it up with art. A good power wash plus a lawsuit against LA county for wasting our tax money that was supposed to go to affordable housing would make me much happier than beautiful art in a smelly street. COVID made this worse. Art won't make it better. Please do something. Anything.
• 
  2022-07-21

  SMhopes and the Big Blue Bus

  Through a grant from the City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Department program, Art of Recovery, artist Paula Goldman designed five banners based on uploads to the project call page on this website, SMhopes: an Archive of Hopes and Dreams. The banners will run on Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus transit system for the month of July, 2022.
• 
  2022-05-26

  Relocation in Isolation, Reconnection in Solitude

  When Covid first kicked off, I was in the final months of my undergraduate degree, weeks away from obtaining my B.A. in history from CSU Stanislaus in December 2020. I had made plans to travel and work in Japan, teaching English, doing cultural work, and generally immersing myself into the culture I found so fascinating in my studies. However, the world's shutdown would put an end (or a pause) to this plan. Now working remotely from home, I stayed in my room working on my senior thesis, looking out the window to the often empty street. My family had decided to move, as we had decided years before but loose ends such as my degree were the final threads to be cut. Remote work had given us an unexpected leap in our time-frame, and so in the midst of the Paradise fires, to which I vividly remember the dark orange skies blotting out the sun and the ever present ashy, smoky stench on the air, carried by the warm breeze from the north, we began the process of transitioning our lives to be on the road, and to be resettled in northern Idaho. For the next year and a half or so we settled in to our new home, however the world was still largely in lock-down, and so I spent most of my time inside or in the basement where I had set up a study space to finish my senior thesis and to earn my degree through my last online semester. It was a self reflective and solitary time, in which I would often take many breaks to venture out my backdoor, which quite literally lead into the forest. Not fifty feet from my home, we have a circle of trees where we would eventually put a fire pit and often sit around together around the warmth on cold nights, talking and sharing fun with one another. When alone however, it serves as an incredible spot to simply sit back and become immersed into our natural world, an amenity I often take advantage of to this day while working on my M.A. through ASU's online program. This audio recording is a sample of that, and in it, you can hear the spring time birds chirping away, the low rumble of the highway just over the mountain, feel the breeze through the trees and the valleys from the lake, and imagine the smell of pine and flowers on the forest floor.
• 
  2020-08-16

  Mask Breath and Swamp Mouth

  In 2020 it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 + Celsius) in August in the eastern area of San Diego, California. I was working as a delivery driver for Amazon delivering packages around greater San Diego County. Having been about six months into the pandemic, masks were required pretty much everywhere. For health and safety, we were required to wear those masks while delivering. The picture above shows me wearing one of the masks which is made of cotton and double layered. These masks have a sleeve inside to insert a filter. Elastic strips with a stopper on the end goes around the ears to hold the mask over the nose and mouth. Because this mask irritated my ears, I took a bread wrapper twist and hooked it to the back and tied it so it wouldn't sit on my ears and was instead tied around the back of my head. This jerry rigged mask led to a tighter fit on my face. This in turn led to sweat and moisture collecting in the fabric of the mask throughout the day which led to an extremely pungent stench because of the sweat, mucus from a runny nose, and stinky breath. The other issue that caused more distress was the soaked mask. Especially on this particularly hot day, I was essentially breathing through a wet rag. Breathing through my mouth was the only option because my nose wasn't strong enough to draw in enough air. Climbing up stairs and up and down drive ways made it more difficult to breath. I had to take intermittent breaks to pull down the mask to get air and breath fresh air. Needless to say, mints, gum, and breath freshener was regularly on hand after this day. Along with lots and lots of water.
• 
  2020-05-26

  Reyes_Gia_

  C19OH
• 2020-07-08

  Motherless Immigrante Through Covid-19

  Before the covid-19 pandemic, I immigrated with my father to the U.S. after my mom's death. It was a fresh beginning, I was living like in a dream, exploring, and being mesmerized by how beautiful and advanced LA is. However, one day everything changed and a lockdown that was supposed to last for 2 weeks, ended up lasting more than a year. At first, it was fun. I was looking at the positive side, doing times I haven't done in a while, watching movies and shows with my dad was incredible fun. However, with time my dad started to worry because he lost his job and did not receive any type of help. He eventually find a job for the summer, but I had too much time by myself that everything I could do was miss my mom. There were days that I didn't see my dad for the entire day because he needed two jobs to be able to pay our expenses and his dad's expenses outside the country. I started to get depressed. School started again but my cheerful character and interest in school never came back. Now, I feel like I am in airplane mode all the time.
• 2022-04-29

  The Pandemic in the Military

  When I found out about the start of lock downs and the fact that a pandemic was even happening, I was at the end of a training rotation at Fort Irwin, CA. My colleagues and I were extremely concerned about the welfare of our families as we had all been screened for symptoms, but there was talk of us not being able to return home until the DOD had figured out exactly how they were going to respond to the “sudden” emergency. I only put sudden in quotes because the government had plenty of warning that this was coming but decided that it wasn’t worth acting on until it had already started happening. Once home, the adjustment to a new way of life was akin to being dropped in a foreign country that speaks a language you don’t understand and has none of the customs you are familiar with. While families, dependents, and civilians had had warning, albeit minimal, that lock downs were going to be a thing and that masks were now mandatory regardless of where you were going, those who had been away without any media or contact back home, were suddenly thrust into the lifestyle of April, 2020. From that time to now, not only has vaccination and the reality of the virus become a contentious topic among coworkers, friends, and family, but what side of the issue you place yourself on has led to some of the worst division the nation has seen since the 1960s. Families have been ripped apart and friendships destroyed because the views expressed and sides taken on pandemic related issues, including the 2020 election, have adopted the same level of identity in our lives as our ethnic, racial, or religious backgrounds. Those who would have found common ground in shared religious belief, or shared culture now create new divides on the basis of believing that the vaccine works or not or believing that those who participated in the Jan 6, 2021 Capitol incident were justified or not.
• 
  2020-05-30

  The Two Sides of COVID

  COVID has a double-edged coin valuation for me. 2020 was one of the best years of my life. While that was true for me, the exact opposite was true for so many others around the world. The photograph that is contributed to this archive is one of me and my fiancé, who got engaged in March of 2020, with our two pets and our brand-new vehicle getting ready to drive cross country in May of 2020. I had been let go from my job due to the pandemic, but my fiancé received a promotion, but that promotion required us to move across the country from Los Angeles to Camden, Arkansas. We had been talking about getting out of LA for years and this seemed like a calling from a higher power that it was the right time. This picture symbolizes the pandemic from my personal perspective because this move was the easier move I’ve ever done because everyone was at home, rather than at the hotels, restaurants, and rest stops that we needed to travel to in order to reach our new home. However, it also gave us a unique perspective to see the country without all of the people in it. When we were driving across Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas it was shocking how little traffic there was and how there seemed to be no one around. When we took a flight to check out prospective homes, there was no one on it! It was very strange to experience the isolation of COVID-19 right at the beginning because when we moved to a new town, no restaurants or events were taking place to try and meet people. It became one of the loneliest years of my life. When 2021 came around, things got back to normal in Arkansas and life seemed to begin again. I look back at this photo and remember the excitement of something new, but also the loneliness and isolation it brought.
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #30

  I wish that in the future I would have a trillion dollars; I wish the animal the Phoenix would still exist; I wish I had a gingerbread house; I wish I had another cat.
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #29

  I hope the future has more nature, and animals can talk. (The bulldozer is tearing down buildings, and the animals are attacking, to make more room for nature.)
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #28

  Help the Earth! We want Covid to end! Stop littering! Stop fires! Stop capturing animals! Stop wasting! Stop cutting trees!
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #27

  I hope I will have a house that can make dinosaurs and more trees, and no fire.
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #26

  I hope the world turns to chocolate and I hope the world is eatable.
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #25

  There will be shoes with fire shooting out of them in the future.
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #24

  Back to the future
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #23

  Me: We can help the earth. Diego: We can save earth.
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #22

  I hope for a cleaner world
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #21

  Technology will take over the World!
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #20

  There will be roads connecting buildings in the sky and over water.
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #19

  More nature
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #18

  End world pollution
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #17

  In the future I want to be a singer and an artist
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #16

  World peace is one project that we all have to do together!
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #15

  I think that the world can be a better place.
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #13

  In the future, the world will be clean, with no germs.
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #12

  In the future I want to be a baseball player.
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #11

  Yo quiero ser un jugador de fútbol
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #10

  No taxes, no Roblox, no homework, no veggies, no pollution. Edgar will be President and I will be Vice President
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #8

  I hope that in the future I am a gajillionaire and the world will have high tech cars, machines, etc. All humans will be smart so schools will not exist! I also hope that people will live forever, but that will also mean that people cannot have babies. Which means that we cannot reproduce because the world would be over populated. The world will also have a high technology system named "Operation Last Long" which will allow us to survive when the Sun eats Earth, which will be kind of cool because we will be living inside the Sun. The sight would be cool and I'd be very fortunate to not be melting! But before that happens life will be extraordinary! All food will be brought to the next level! Everybody will have super powers too! And Magic will finally exist! With infinite land, space and etc. with infinite money too! Because then everyone will be gajillionaires! So there will be no homeless people and no one will suffer from financial problems.
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #7

  Santa Monica is the future
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #6

  20 years in the future
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #5

  All these eyes will help for seeing things better. Or if you're getting attacked these eyes will help you dodge or more.
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #4

  No more people = no more pollution; it's the truth
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #3

  No violence in the world
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #2

  Let's celebrate our differences
• 
  2022-04-12

  VAP and SMhopes #1

  I wish that I turned into the Flash,
• 
  2022-03-01

  Military Mask Guidance Update

  The attached is a memorandum for record from the Under Secretary of Defense. This memo was published 1 March 2022 and was a big deal for us in the military and really everyone who works on military installations or in other Department of Defense facilities. Prior to this memo, we were all required to wear face coverings at all times when in doors, regardless of local state or county guidance. This memo was a great policy move as it changed the requirement from an overarching blanket policy to instead replicate local community guidance. I can tell you, we were very relieved to not be required to wear a face covering at all times. unlike many other sectors across the US, many military members did not have the opportunity to work from home during the pandemic. This is just due to the nature of our jobs, therefore we were masked up for a long time, even in places such as Texas and Florida where masks were no longer required according to local state and county guidance.
• 
  2020-08-28

  A flier advertising free Covid-19 shots in Sacramento.

  This event offered Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson vaccines, free Uber rides and Spanish and Hmong interpreters. The event was sponsored by the NCNW Sacramento Valley Section and La Familia Counseling Center.
• 
  2020-06-10

  Call to Action: A virtual town hall on Black Business and Economic Development Issues in Sacramento, California

  This flier describes a virtual town hall arranged by the Observer Newspapers and the Sacramento African American Coalition on COVID-19 that focused on the issues facing Black businesses due to Covid 19. Speakers included Moderator Larry Lee, President and Publisher of Observer Newspapers; Chelsea Rae Crowder, Vice President at JP Morgan; Khalil Ferguson, Executive Fellow at California Urban Partnership; Sfensa Ari Antch Shepsuaba, Proprietor of Cleo Cartel Inc and Sankofa Workx; Mark Adams, President AHI Construction, Inc.; and Stephanie Bray, President and CEO United Way-CCR.
• 
  2022-02-02

  The Luxury of Eating at Restaurants

  My wife and I really like going out to eat at the local restaurants. Of course, when the pandemic first hit the Los Angeles area everything closed due to the stay at home order that was issued in Los Angeles county. Naturally we believed that this would just be a temporary situation and looked forward to the day that the order would be lifted, and we could go back to our regular way of life. I decided to use the time sequestered at home productively and to resume my education and I enrolled in Arizona State University to finish my degree while my wife was able to continue working remotely. Ten months later we were able to begin the long journey that was the return to “normal” as the stay at home order was lifted. Much to our surprise, many of the small restaurants that we like to frequent were now closed, out of business due to their loss of clientele and the fact that many were only staying open on a month to month basis when operating regularly. It is a sad thing that the collateral damage from this Covid virus impacted small businesses all over the world in a manner that would not allow them to continue to stay open. Even now, a year after the end of the stay at home order, mandates and medical rules are still limiting the amount of people that are able to enjoy eating good food at their local eateries and it is affecting those businesses that are struggling to continue to provide services. I recorded the interior of one of our favorite restaurants one morning as my wife and I went out to breakfast, but there were still plenty of empty tables.
• 
  2022-01-31

  THE WISDOM OF TWO-YEAR-OLDS

  As I got out of my car last Sunday morning in pursuit of caffeine, I took one last deep breath of the freshly-brewed coffee emanating from my local barista's shop before pulling on my N-95 mask and entering the cafe. I live in California and masks are required in all shops in my part of the state. So snug was my mask’s fit, that the aroma instantly vanished. Masks and odor are tightly related, not in just snuffing out outside scents. For anyone who has ever pulled on a previously worn mask, you will have noticed an opportunity to smell used YOU, up close and nasally. Walking in to get my brew, I passed a family with two-year-old twins, bedecked in pink glittery princess gowns complete with wands, tiaras, and the newest in royal attire—tiny COVID masks. One skipped and the other twirled, both seemingly unbothered by their face coverings. And they are not alone. I am still stunned by the casual aplomb of the very young when it comes to mask-wearing. I first noticed this phenomenon several months ago at LAX. It was late in the evening—peak red-eye time. Preschoolers, some overtired and wired, others sleepily dozing in their parents’ arms, passed by. All wore COVID masks; Spiderman; Elmo; mini soccer balls, dinosaurs. None complained. Perhaps they welcomed the slight dulling of their sense of smell since young noses are far more sensitive to odors than mature ones. This makes me wonder why small children do not feel the need to evoke the Gestapo or Hermann Goebbels when it comes to a small piece of fabric that has saved millions of lives. Apart from a diminished sense of smell when wearing N-95s, will we miss mask-wearing when it is no longer a matter of life or death? I for one am not sure. I like the fact that there is no need to wear lipstick. I can skip makeup from the brow down and stop obsessing about new wrinkles. I welcome the feel of an extra layer of warmth on chilly mornings. But perhaps we should look to the two-year-olds who have accepted this bit of sartorial attire as a fun accessory—a tiara for your nasal passages.