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Eleven teenagers scattered around the parking lot of their High School, practicing social distancing during the pandemic.

2020-05

A Pandemic Ending

The memory I think of first when asked about my experience with the pandemic was my last day of school. In May of 2020, I was a high school senior (and convinced I had the worst luck). It started in mid-March with two weeks of online school, which was then followed by morning after morning of anxiously checking the news to see if the nightmare was finally over. Day after day I was met with more uncertainty and yearning for an email saying everything could return to the way it was. After weeks of being let down the day finally came, my last day of school. Twelve years of education coming to a close on a Google Hangouts call. As I saw my classmates pop up on tiny boxes on my screen I began to think. This was the only year I wanted to savor every day. Every class, no matter how dry, was meant to be mine. I wished away three years of school just to have the days I waited for be ripped away from me. I frantically search for somewhere to place blame, someone to direct all my anger towards. I closed my laptop, walked into the kitchen, and that was it. It was all over. No hugging friends in the hallway, thanking teachers for the impact they had, crying in the parking lot with my best friend, or struggling to open my locker one last time. At that point, the only positive I could find was the next day was a weekday and I could sleep until noon. I was told to look on the bright side, that I would be off to college in a few months and it would be a time for new experiences. Although this would be something a normal high school senior would be excited about, nothing about my class was normal. In a matter of a few weeks, we learned that none of the “fundamental” milestones of growing up were guaranteed. It was up in the air whether I would be moving halfway across the country or be confined to my childhood bedroom in August. At the time it felt like things were not over yet. That is the fall I would head back to high school and finally close that chapter of my life. But that never came. Two years later so many of us are in search of closure, feeling as though we’re imposters who are not qualified to be where we are.

2020-03-12

The emails

It's March 2020, a young freshmen college student is packed and ready to head to the airport for her one and only shot at study abroad for the next 4 years. As she lugs her suitcase down the stairs of her dorm she gets an email that she will never forget, the study abroad trip has been cancelled do to an outbreak of new viral disease in Berlin Germany. Disappointed she headed back upstairs to call her parents and let them know. She unpacks, and repacks from her home in Texas instead. Once home she receives another email from her school, classes will be online for 2 weeks after spring break due to this new viral disease going around. She's upset but settles in to doing class at home. Then comes another email. School will be online for the rest of her semester, move out from the dorms will be staggered over the next couple of weeks and return date to campus is unknown. She is upset and sad over the loss over the end of her freshmen year, but hopeful that this new disease will settle down and that life will be able to return to normal in the fall. Alas this was not true and the series of unfortunate emails just keep coming, email after email. She kept being disappointed and heart-broken over all the loss of memories and chances do to a virus. 2 year later, she now wonders will the emails ever stop?

2020

New England Student in COVID

It seems as though every winter all of the kids in schools get a cold. Classrooms have a chorus of sniffles and coughs until springtime and we all suffer sickness together. At least, that’s how it started. My college sent an email to all students, staff, and faculty, saying the school would be monitoring the COVID-19 situation in other countries on February 10th, 2020 and there was no threat to worry about. Everyone left for spring break on March 8th, 2020, expecting to be back in a week. Instead, we got an “extra week” of the break to make sure anyone who traveled could quarantine, just in case. That week turned into a handful more and started online classes ASAP. Students were given the opportunity to go back to the college in a 3-hour window to retrieve any materials necessary for a few weeks online until the surge dies down. Fortunately, I am studying computer science, so a majority of my professors had minimal difficulty making the change, but others were not as fortunate. Quickly, the handful of weeks became the remainder of the semester. All courses would be graded on the basis of pass/fail if the students elected for each individual course they were enrolled in, due to the nature of this huge and unprecedented turnaround. All exams were online, many professors canceled their midterms to alleviate stress from the students and fears of cheating. We would receive semi-weekly updates from the college, mostly fluff pieces about missing the student body with information that was important sprinkled in. Eventually, we were permitted to sign up for a window of time to go and move our belongings out of the dorms, once the state allowed outside travelers in. In the midst of all of the chaos, I transferred colleges and started the next academic year attending one that was much larger and had more resources at its disposal to deal with COVID-19. This school had planned to welcome students back to campus in fall 2020 with a few expectations in place. They had devised a “COVID-19 Compliance” system to keep the population safe and maintain records of who was following protocol. Students would have a “green badge” assigned to them in the morning if: they had completed a daily symptom check-in that was negative, they were up-to-date on their twice-weekly COVID tests and had not been marked as a close contact to someone who had tested positive. Had one of these not been completed, you would have a yellow badge to mark non-compliance, a red badge for isolation, or an orange badge if you were symptomatic. Students must show a green badge to enter ANY campus building. Some classes were online, others hybrid in-person/online at the discretion of the professors. Masks were to be worn at all times, students must get vaccinated once they were eligible, dining areas were to-go only, the campus was littered with signs to promote 6 feet of social distancing, and a student-run campaign called “F*ck It Won’t Cut It” was started to bring attention to the urgency of staying compliant to stay on campus. We would receive weekly updates about the status of the campus’s overall positivity rate. It felt like a shell of a college experience, as students could not visit other students’ residences, no clubs could have in-person meetings, attendance at sporting events was prohibited, and students reporting other students for non-compliance created an atmosphere of disdain. We are now in the second full academic year of the pandemic and there are a few deviations from what I described for fall 2020. Now, COVID tests are once weekly rather than twice, students can now visit other residences and attend sporting events, all of the dining spaces have opened up to sit-in dining, masks are still required at all times, all classes are in person, and the “F*ck It Won’t Cut It” campaign has been retired. It seems as though we are creeping towards the idea of a “typical” college experience, but it feels like this will have an everlasting impact on the next few incoming classes of students and change college as people know it.

2020-03-06

It was supposed to be a week

I was at my grandmas house with my siblings because my parents had work that day and needed someone to watch us. I was watching tik tok when our phones buzzed. I was in a cushy white lazy boy chair with a white throw blanket wrapped around me. The email detailed that we would get an extra week of spring break. We were so happy we got an extra couple days of break thinking we’d go back after a week or two. While this email isn’t the exact email they sent us that told us they were extending spring break, it shows how we were supposed to have a normal spring break. There was only supposed to be one week of spring break, but now I know the exact spot where I was sitting when the world nearly fell apart.

2021-11-01

Getting Funds to get Students Home due to COVID-19 Pandemic

When this series of emails was sent to St. Mary's Faculty and Staff it really hit hard and really touched me. I didn't realize that some students did not have any means of getting back home, students were not prepared for this at all and due to the pandemic all dorms and classes were cancelled, they were worried they would not make it home. So, St. Mary's sent an email out reaching out to everyone that was able to give funds and send students home. When this pandemic hit us no one was prepared for what was to come.

2021-09-23

COVID vaccines for people aged 12+

Tempe Public Schools sent this email today that includes information on free vaccines in Tempe, especially around Scales and Jaycee Park which are both in the same neighborhood.

2020-03-13

Official School Shutdown

I first knew this when one of my friends texted me. She told me to check my email and when I did, the screenshot above told us that we were not going to go back to school until after Spring Break. It was a Friday and it didn’t occur to me that we would have online school. So I just assumed that we had no school at all, like an extended break. However, we got some more follow up emails saying how we still had to do classwork and such. (This is when I started checking my email daily) Back then, I had limited access to technology and I didn’t want to bother my parents too much; so I had to work with what I had. But then the date kept changing. It was extended to May, then to the rest of the school year. And the first half of this year. It was extremely distracting to learn from home, it felt like my siblings became ten times more annoying, we had to be more careful with cleaning/sanitizing and had to store more food/supplies. I didn’t leave the house for a couple of months and I barely talked to my friends. I did get to try more home cooked meals and it was easier to prepare in the morning. Many political and racial things began happening like getting justice for hate crimes (ex: BLM protests) and unfairness from police officers became relevant. When George Floyd got murdered, it caused a bit of controversy between my family and I, specifically my mom. My mom claimed that he was a criminal so she said the police officer was just doing his job; while I said that it still wasn't right. We kind of ignore that topic now.. A new president was also nominated and it was the first time people had to mail in votes. The new president wasn't official until two weeks after counting the votes. There were people that raided the White House and the 45th president of the USA got banned from many social media platforms. Since he was upset about not being president again and sort of hinted at people attacking the capital. Many people hate and like this man. Mostly hate. After about a year, scientists and doctors were able to create a vaccine that successfully blocked out covid. So many people are getting vaccinated and the public is beginning to reopen. Going to school in-person (late March 2021) had less distractions and I’m actually learning. We're still doing safety precautions and lots of sanitizing.

2021-03-08

Trust me, I'm aware that in-person learning starts March 15

Tempe Public schools sent a reminder email about in-person classes starting next Monday. Right now, the kids are on spring break, while having more time at home to argue about media use isn't ideal, at least we can say the days of online learning are behind us.

2020-12-14

Working in a pandemic

This was an email sent out to employees about a coworker that had been infected with Covid-19. This is important because it shows that stores are now required to inform employees when another person that works there is confirmed to be covid positive. However, as this is a personal experience the company did not inform employees that there was a suspected case prior to the confirmation. This shows how money hungry corporations are even in a pandemic. They may say that they had the employee's best interest in mind but their actions speak louder, than a lousy email sent out.

2020-09-28

Dr. Romo cancels classes due to internet issues

Dr. Romo sent these two emails to his students after expressing issues with his internet. The first email he had sent was directed towards the wrong class and when we sent the second email he made emphasize on the struggle of using his phone to communicate correctly. This is one professor that was okay with opening up about his struggles with online teaching at the moment they were happening. Professors aren't immune to having technical issues while teaching online so have an open conversation with students about those struggles makes it feel less frustrating.

2020-02-27

School Emails regarding COVID-19

Some emails sent by my school to students and family as the COVID-19 situations developed. I selected these emails because it shows the lack of information there was about COVID during the beginning. Shows a situation a lot of people experienced. I think first hand sources are great and I hope in the future people will look back and see first hand emails. It will help a lot of people in the future place themselves in our shoes.

2020-08-26

Grandpa & Gracie

I’ve missed my Grandpa terribly, but we’ve able to bond during the pandemic through a continuous email exchange concerning my dog. I’ll send him photos, and he’ll help me conspire ways to keep her safe from falling in our pool. We’ve been able to connect through our shared love of Gracie, even though we haven’t seen him or my Grandma for months. It’s been one of the most fulfilling experiences I’ve had in this plague year, especially because Grandpa is mostly deaf and can’t communicate well in person. It’s interesting how technology (and Gracie!) have facilitated connection between us. For a nonagenarian, he’s probably more proficient with technology than I am!

2020-11-03

Career Virtual Fair

This email was sent to me to set up an appointment to do a career virtual fair. This email shows who's is going to be at the career fair and who you can set up an appointment to meet with them. It also shows all the set ups you need such as making sure you have proper internet connection, using the right internet function such as Chrome or FireFox and making sure you set up appointments. This goes to show what the new way of trying to get a job during a pandemic is like. To get interviews, you need zoom and you are not able to meet face to face with the employers. It affects the students by not being able to meet face to face with the interviewer.

10/11/2020

Ashley Pierce Oral History, 2020/10/11

Ashley Pierce, a graduate student at Arizona State University, lives in Avondale, Arizona. In this interview, she reflects on the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has affected her life. She highlights the effects the pandemic and quarantine has had an affect on her family life and work at the Sheriff’s detention center. She describes how it has affected her work personally . She also touches on the division caused by COVID-19, politics, and the politicization of the pandemic by both sides politically. Ashley also describes the precautions taken by her and her family and friends to avoid catching the virus, and how the quarantine and the current political divide has affected their relationships.

2020-09-04

Precautions and Code of Student Conduct at St. Mary's University during COVID- 19 Pandemic

This email is relevant and important because it is a clear example of how life as a St. Mary's University Student has changed. The email discusses the precautions the students and faculty should be taking in order to ensure the health and safety of everyone at St. Mary's. The email also lays out the possible consequences for students (especially on campus) who aren't following the rules in the Code of Student Conduct relating to these COVID Precautions. As I am a student with all online classes, living at home- therefore I am not on campus- this email does not affect me in a huge way. I am also not going to any in-person classes however, I think it is great that these precautions be enforced and closely monitored as the health of other students and professors or faculty who are on campus may be jeopardized. It is important that students learn to respect others and that they understand that their actions can affect a large group of people and not just them.

2020-07-09

Covid-19, Education and Making Choices

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced almost everyone to make decisions, some small and some drastic. The following is a reflection of how my studies as an international student at the University of Melbourne, Australia were affected by the pandemic. The date is 9 July 2020. Covid-19 cases have been on the rise in Melbourne in the past two weeks. This trend seems specific to Melbourne as the rest of Australia seems to have the situation under control. I receive an email from the University. The email announces that the studies for the second semester (July to November 2020) will take place entirely online. The majority of semester 1 (March to June) had also taken place online. But students were hopeful that a return to face-to-face teaching would be possible given the relatively low number of cases of Australia up to late June 2020 (when the second wave started). As an international student, I must make a choice. To stay in Melbourne or to fly home. I need to do so quickly, since incoming flights to Melbourne had already been suspended, and there is no guarantee that the same might not happen to outgoing flight. In my case, returning home seemed the obvious choice. I would rather have stayed in Melbourne (a city I love!), but alas at least to return means to be closer to friends and family during these times. I write this in October 2020, the semester is almost over, and the number of daily cases in Melbourne has now dropped significantly (to single digits), after months of strict measures. For much of the rest of the world however, there does not seem to be an end in sight. Submitted as part of the HIST30060 Making History subject at the University of Melbourne.

2020-08-16

Wedding Options

This is an email I had to send to a bride who was upset over COVID-19 ruining her wedding plans. These options were developed after deciding what was doable under mandates at the time. The bride ended up moving her wedding to 2021 and had an intimate ceremony in her home.

2020-03-11

A shift from physical course to online course

During spring break, RIT have decided to shift the courses from physical meeting to online meeting. The shift from meeting course to online course is huge. After the shift, my sleep schedule tends to be a complete mess. The motivation for me to study is become less, and less impactful, as now, I tend to skip more online session. Instead, I will look more into Zoom recap, or simply Zoom records. Even my grade is still fine, I sill hope for an in-class meeting for my personal motivation.

2020-06-03

The emails about the Covid-19

Because as an international student, I am very worried about the this virus and I always feel panic during the quarters. However, these emails give us some direction or confidence about living in this kind of special moment.

A poster created by the organization "Feed My Starving Children" that discusses how the organization brought food to an elderly woman in Ukraine.

2020-05-21

"Providing Hope" Feed My Starving Children

An email sent to supporters of Feed My Starving Children describing how the pandemic is affecting those experiencing hunger. The email describes the experiences of one woman, Anya who gratefully received support from FMSC partner Mission Eurasia.

2020-04-07

Chain Email of Covid Jokes

Text copied from a chain email received from my aunt in Winnipeg which is simply a list of one line jokes about covid and the pandemic.

2020-04-14

Distance Learning in Allaikh

Schools of Chokurdakh, Olenegorsk, Berelyakh learned in Russian Ust and Byagnyr where they wore masks and kept a safe distance. After a few weeks, an order was issued to transition to distance learning. “During the restrictive regime, parents and legal representatives have received applications and consent to transfer students to distance learning. The educational process is carried out through landline and cellular telephony, through the email of parents (legal representatives) and through the educational platform “Uchi.ru”. Grades are set for completed assignments by students. On the passage of the program and educational material, teachers keep a report on the control sheets for the implementation of program material, and the responsible coordinator of the correspondence form of training forms sheets of teachers' working hours. Certain categories of students for the period of the restrictive regime are provided with food in the form of dry rations,which set includes: stewed beef, condensed milk, paste, cereals, pasta, sugar, jam, etc.” #IndigenousStories

04/22/2020

Mr Darcy's COVID greetings

This meme resonated with me because I'd noticed several other aspects of society that reverted to Austen-esque practices during COVID-19. Emails became more like letters; personal and sometimes lengthy. People really began to enjoy walks in pairs again. It forced us all to slow down and consider one another more. (For unit HUM404) Creator: Twitter user Hannah Long / @HannahGraceLong using a still from the BBC's 'Pride and Prejudice' miniseries.

2020-03-01

Flatten the curve - No restaurants

Cartoon used in private email and social media correspondence to lightnen the mood.

Email with the subject "Plummer" stating "What is happing with the Plummer? Is the minister able to help out? Have you been able to talk to Hunter? How is he doing? Sunday is Mother's Day. Do u get to see him or talk to him? Everything is the same her in New Jersey.our schools were cancelled for the rest of this school vear and they have not made a decision about September yet.I do not baby sit the three kids I sat for the past two years just do not want to take the chance they always were little Petrie dishes for colds and flu. How are things going with you? Lots of our communities and churches have food drives for those who are having a hard time
buying food. Does your community and churches? One town even had free dog and cat food and I went to it because I foster cats and kittens and buying all the food for them gets expensive. I got all my kittens
adopted and the momma cat went to a friend of mine. I now have Sabashtion a black cat. He is. Very shy and he got out of the cage and he is hiding under a cabinet in the dinning room. I hope he comes out when he gets hungry. I had two people look at him for adoption but both said he was too afraid of people. He is listed on bet finder so I hope someone can give him
a good home. That is all for tonight.
Love MOMS
Sent from my iPad"

And a second email that says "Our minister is looking into fixing the house. We will get it taken care of. We love our home and we are part of a very caring church community. If it is possible for them to help us out they will. They won't let us suffer housing insecurity with all of this going on but also there are tons of people needing tons of help and as this is not currently a dire emergency (we have running water, it is not in immediate risk of causin. structural harm to the house) helping us has been prioritized appropriately amongst other people who have more immediate problems. Think of it like triage. I have patience because I have trust in our
community. They won't let us down. We are avoiding the food banks at the moment because we have managed each time we have needed it to get food either by using credit or for instance David just started to get unemployment (tho he still doesn't know if he is eligible for the federal expansion... Frustrating and increasingly worrying) and the food banks have seen an approx 5x increase in people needing to use them, one of them here used to ca their services at 170 people a dav now that cap is 1000 and they are still turning people away. We need tr make sure both that people who are really desperate for food can get it and that if it gets to the point where WE get really desperate we will be eligible and not have used up our available chances, the one I mentioned for instance onlv allows you to come every 90 davs. Also goinq requires waiting in line for hours (in cars but still) risking exposure with workers who have been exposed to all of those thousands c people all day. The government already wants to render pointless the sacrifices my family has made by not seeing our son since January 24th, recklessly opening up the economy for the sake of a few dollars and throwing the immense suffering in this country and right in my own house back in our faces. I will do nothing on purpose to risk my health or David's and render those things we sacrificed, all that grief and
time lost completely useless. I donated $35 to Safe Harbor in your name for Mother's Day. They are suffering really badly in the pandemic. they have had to move their shelter operations to hotels to facilitate distancing, the resale sho is closed and all of their Spring fundraisers were canceled. I would probably be dead without Safe Harbo and/or Hunter's biological father a murderer without them, having either killed me or Lizza in the process of abusing us and I definitely want to help them. They said that they would send a Mother's Day letter to the person of your choice with a $35 donation in their name and David got his unemployment the next
dav. Happy Mothers day. I hope that they get it to you on time. Hunter and I get to talk about once a week, tho I send him frequent letters and post cards. We are supposed to talk later today and I will get to see how he is doing since last week, which was better. If he continues to improve he could be looking at coming home in a month or so but it's hard to say because follow up services for a dude like him look very different now. So they may want him to be REALLY stable
before he leaves. I am alad that you are enjoving fostering animals. Hunter wants to volunteer at the animal shelter but I don't know what that is going to look like now with the virus getting worse not better. It's hard to tell wha anvthing is going to look like anymore. My neighbor across the street keeps feeding one of our cats and is making me crazy! She has to eat hairball control food or she throws up everywhere and the neighbor just feeds her whatever then she comes back home and throws it up at our property. We have picked up
all of the plates and bowls, left notes... She just moves them somewhere else and keeps feeding the cat.
Ugh!
Ash
Clan Dragonahast
They/Them"

05/06/2020

Email exchange between my mother and I

This is an email exchange between my mother in Randolph NJ and myself in Taylors, SC. My mother and I have a strained relationship and have only started to communicate again recently in light of the Coronavirus, the fear and uncertainty it has caused, tho I still do not speak with my father or brother. The strained nature of our relationship makes this read almost like a cross between a brief note and a newsletter of current events. It covers so many of the current pressing issues. My mother mentions the schools being closed, being unable to babysit for fear of the virus, fostering cats from the shelter because most animal shelters have closed or severely reduced their indoor kennels and seeking food for those animals from a pet food bank. She also references my son who is in a long term hospital and whom we have been unable to visit since the outbreak. In my reply I talk about being supported in our need for a substantial plumbing repair by our church community but needing patience because there are just so many people in need right now and express similar about our need to go to a food bank at the moment, stating that I want to make sure that people who really can't get food at the moment are able to and expressing fear that we could be exposed to the virus by interacting with the volunteers who are working on overburdened lines. Additionally I tell her that I have donated money to a local domestic violence agency in her name for Mother's day as they helped me years ago and are suffering from a lack of ability to fundraise at the moment. The entire exchange covers so many of the ways that our lives have changed and been affected by the pandemic.

2020-03-24

Wildcat Connections

Due to the pandemic, my university had to switch over to online classes and this email helps students go through that sudden change by offering guidance and support.

2020-04-11

"First Lines of Emails I've Received While Quarantining"

This tweet is a picture of a poem that the twitter user @jessica_salfia wrote using the first lines of emails she's received during quarantine.

March 13, 2020

Journal of a Plague Semester

On March 13, 2020, at 3:55PM, Catherine O'Donnell asked the question that generated Journal of a Plague Year. Within 5 minutes, Mark Tebeau & Richard Amesbury replied, and we were on zoom within 10 minutes. Within the next hour, Mark Tebeau had registered with Omeka.net and implemented the first iteration of Journal of a Plague Year, using Omeka Classic via the hosted Omeka site (at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media.). Even though we all recognized the importance of the moment, the title reveals how ephemeral she thought it might be.

2020-04-14

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