Items
Tag is exactly
FaceTime
-
2020
Dystopian utopia
During covid I almost failed high school. Quarantine occurred during the end of my sophomore year and all of my junior year. These years are exactly the middle years of highschool and it being online felt dystopian yet sort of utopian. Sophomore year online classes were my best grades in highschool. When they were just figuring out how to manage online classes, the workload was much easier than in person classes and the teachers were more understanding due to the circumstances. Junior year started and the longer that zoom classes continued, the less I felt the need to keep up with work. Having online classes didnt feel like being in class and skipping/sleeping through class came easier when I was already doing classes in bed. Especially when learning that a whole year of my highschool time was going to be remote, it made me lose motivation for grades. It was more so that grades felt like something that doesn’t really exist. I was here at home, locked inside because of a global crisis, and I had these FaceTime calls as class. Socialization was the main factor that motivated me to go to school in the first place. I prioritized socializing online over grades since I’m an extremely extraverted person who relies on socialization to feel energized. This led me to the most chronically online time of my life. I became practically nocturnal, staying up all night to play games or FaceTime with my friends. I met a lot of people online as well, people I am still friends with. Towards the end of the school year, I was failing all my classes. During Covid they had this policy that students couldn’t really fail, or that teachers had to provide more assistance to students who were failing. I didn’t really know what policy it was, I only heard about it, but it definitely worked in my favor. Last week or two of classes I had to complete a shortened list of assignments and if I completed them I would get a passing grade which wouldn’t affect my gpa. I completed them and then it was summer when we started getting used to going outside again. Quarantine time felt definitely dystopian, with toilet paper wars and a global lockdown. Throughout that, it brought a new perspective on what we really have and having reduced responsibilities, knowing that the world had enough resources for us to not have to work for a year but instead be provided for by the government, felt utopian. It felt like, for many, that we have been on a grind mindset for so long when we are a developed and advanced society. We have abundance to share, nationally, and are past the point of just survival. All in all, covid was an eye-opening, very weird time. -
2021-10
HIST30060: Long Distance friendships
Throughout the past three years, I've spent much time going back and forth between Sydney and Melbourne (largely unrelated to COVID). I went through a fantastic period where I managed to avoid lockdowns in both states (not on purpose, I promise!), but then I ended up doing both Delta lockdowns in Melbourne and then in Sydney (karma). I've never been more grateful for zoom and facetime so I could keep in touch with my friends no matter where I was. -
2020-06-01
The First Hug
The pandemic was a time of separation for all of us. The two weeks of isolation to lessen the curve turned into months of remaining at home, at least six feet away from friends and loved ones. As an intensely social creature, this was a time of anxiety and loneliness, despite being quarantined with my husband and three children. The person I missed seeing most was my best friend, Allison. We spoke on the phone daily, and attempted FaceTime (though it felt awkward to both of us). Prior to Covid, we saw each other at least once a day, working closely together to serve our church and meeting at the playground after school with our children. In April of 2020, we planned a coffee date with our daughters as a way to see each other and get out of the house. We went through the drive-thru line of a coffeeshop, and drove to adjacent parking lot. We parked opposite of each other, climbed into the backs of our SUVs, and had the first "coffee date" in over a month. Seeing my best friend's face, in person, brought me to tears - as did the distance between us. I needed a hug, desperately. As I drove away that day, I wondered when I would ever get to hug someone outside of my immediate household, when I would shake hands with someone, when I could high five my daughters' friends. In June of 2020, our church cautiously reopened for in-person services. Masks were enforced, and the six-foot rule was heavily encouraged. However, when I was finally in the same room with my best friend, I couldn't maintain the six foot rule. With my mask on and my hands carefully sanitized, I gave her a hug. It was one of the best hugs of my life. -
2022-05-10
Anasitasia Viatele Oral History, 2022/05/15
Anasitasia Viatele is from Kent, Washington. She recounts her life during the pandemic and the struggles she has faced during that time. She discusses her family in American Samoa and touches on their struggles as well. -
2022-05-09
Brett Reinert Oral History, 2022/05/09
Brett Reinert is from Springdale, Arkansas. He works at a toner company as a deliverer. He delivers copier toner for a small business in Northwest, Arkansas. Brett talks about his home state of Arkansas and how the state government reacts differently to the pandemic. Brett and his family take the pandemic very seriously and made sure that his two grandmothers are not exposed to it. Brett also talked about his observation of the changes around him as many restaurants in the state started to require a proof of vaccination to eat in. And the changes with the requirement of masks felt weird to him. Although there were changes, he has seen what the pandemic brought to his life and the people around him, he hopes that people will take the pandemic seriously if we experience another one in the future -
2020-09-09
The Four Walls of Insanity
The day my life completely changed, QUARATINE had been announced in my district. What had begun as a light conversation with no expected impact on us later came to crumble our walls of reality and how vulnerable we really are. We live in a time of the future a virus wasn't expected to take so many of us out the thought that we've evolved beyond this point was false. We were unprepared for anything that was to come. I never got to enjoy my senior year complete my senior year, a year I'll never get back. I had begun with so much excitement it was my senior year in cross country I gratefully got to finish my season with all my teammates and some of my best friends from high school. However that would later come crashing down as I was getting excited for prom season shopping for a new dress and planning the night out with friends we were sent on a "2 week spring break" I never got back. Classes continued online, I no longer was able to do my daily routine of going to school then practice with friends. From now on any interaction was via Zoom or FaceTime we longed for reconnection. I'm someone who thrives off interacting with my friends especially pre quarantine the lack of interactions was draining me. I had to find a new way to cope which as you can see led to many hair color changes within a couple months. The four walls I would be so excited to come to after a long practice now became a prison cell. I would't change the way I chose to quarantine because I saw the negative affects of socializing with sadly one of my neighbors passing during that height of pandemic. However we are all only human and selfishness is part of who we are and I think it's fair to say my mental health took a large toll during the couple months that felt like years. Once my family as well as others became more lenient I was a able to hangout in small groups of people but never large and still fear it a little over 2 years later. I don't believe I have fully recovered from the situation this time period put us through. The isolation did allow me to discover new interests and how to spend time with myself which can be difficult, as well as an appreciation for long walks on your own. However it was a confusing time and one that only brought about more anxiety and fear with someone who deals with this struggles on the daily. -
05/19/2020
Trent Jansen Oral History, 2020/05/19
An oral history interview with Trent Jansen. Trent discusses how family and friends have been impacted by the COVID pandemic. He also talks about how his day-to-day work life has evolved during the pandemic. Trent additionally discusses his views that it is time to reopen businesses and get people back to work. He theorizes that mental health issues caused by shutdowns will result in worse long-term issues than the virus itself. -
2021-12-16
Mourning Far Apart
When my grandmother died during the pandemic, my family and I were unable to visit Massachusetts, (where she lived), to go to her funeral. We joined the funeral over FaceTime and it was really sad that we weren't able to be there with our family. -
04/18/2021
Morgan Ward Oral History, 2021/04/18
C19OH -
2020-07-11
Marissa Crawford Oral History 2020/07/11
C19OH -
2020-05-28
Gomez_Elizabeth
C19OH -
2020-03-28T19:52
Technology Fun During Pandemic
The photo I am submitting is a screenshot of a Facebook video call with a few of my family members. My family has always been very close. We are a loud and very big Puerto Rican family that enjoys our get togethers as much as possible. Over the last few years, people have scattered about the country, making it harder for all of us to get together. One things this pandemic enabled us to do was to communicate and gather together via online video platforms. As my aunts and uncle turned to facetime and facebook video calling in order to check in on my cousins and I, it actually gave us room to gather more than we had been pre-covid. When the world move to technology and zooms to bridge the gap of human face-to-face interaction, people got closer while being further apart. -
2021-09-17
Sabrina Sakata and Emily Fink Oral History, 2021/09/17
This audio interview shows how my friend, Emily Fink, and I have experienced the pandemic and how it has affected us. -
2021-04-09
Small Sense of Normalcy
My daughter often has medical procedures and my husband and I have a system of working together to care for her during hospital stays and surgeries. Since the pandemic, there have been tons of restrictions and we are not able to physically support each other. Only one parent can go inside for appointments and procedures. Only one parent can stay in an inpatient room at a time. We had the appointment scheduled for over a month, but did not get the news that some restrictions had been lifted until the day before the procedure. My schedule is more flexible than my husband's so the original plan was for me to take our daughter and FaceTime him for the doctor consult. Luckily, my husband was able to get off work on short notice and we both were able to be there at the hospital! The only restriction was that only one parent could go back into recovery room and parents could not switch out. We did not receive good news, so it was good my husband and I were able to be together. -
03/10/2021
Ellen Galindo Oral History, 2021/03/10
This is an oral history of Ellen Galindo, a teacher in Orange County, California. The date of this interview was three days shy of the one year anniversary of when her school shut down. She has been teaching online for a year now. She is also expecting her first child. Her oral history is focused on her experience teaching through Distance Learning and her feelings on being pregnant during the pandemic. -
2020-06-11
Challah Time
During the summer of 2020, the day before Shabbat, I decided to make challah during the quarantine. A friend of mine in Canada taught me the steps of making bread through FaceTime. It took all day to make, but once the challah was finally baked, I felt like a proud Jewish baker. This was a day that didn't feel boring like every other day in quarantine. -
2021-02-12
New Year, New Hope
This Year of the Ox is coming in much differently than the Year of the Rat. Last year, with the smallest shadow cast over the new year with news of a SARS type virus spreading through China, we were still able to celebrate normally, and thought those who had taken to wearing masks were exaggerating the seriousness of the disease. We had new year’s dinner with family, the kids wore their traditional outfits to school and fed red envelopes to the lion dancers, the city held their annual parade, and we even celebrated at Disneyland’s California Adventure, with local community groups coming in to perform and celebrate. Whether you say “新年快乐,” “Chúc Mừng Năm Mới,” or simply “Happy New Year,” Lunar New year is a huge celebration in our community and that celebration certainly isn’t happening in the same way this year. However, even though it’s tempting to focus on the fact that we’re sequestered at home and are physically separated from family, friends, and big celebrations, there is much optimism with the hope of the vaccine. All day, my phone’s been buzzing with new year messages, most of which end with “may the new year bring better tidings” or “may this new year bring much health.” Even talking to my in-laws for the new year today had an extra sense of joy, because they shared they are getting their second dose of the vaccine on Thursday. With light at the end of the tunnel, we are able to talk for the first time about maybe being able to see each other in person by the spring. When my son played piano for them virtually, I imagined it won’t be too long until these FaceTime visits will be replaced by the real thing. So here’s to the new year - may we all see health and peace. -
2020-04
COVID. A Blessing in Disguise?
The pandemic has allowed me to take a step back from everything in society to see what I truly care about and what truly matters to me. Not only what matters, but who in my life I love and care about that matters. The photographs I have attached show exactly who those people are. Throughout the pandemic I have made stronger relationships with my family. Although there were moments that it was hard spending time with just them 24/7. It was difficult knowing I could not see friends from home that went to different colleges during the year. This is because their parents were definitely stricter about COVID than my parents were. And I completely understood that, but it was tough not seeing one another knowing they were just five minutes away. To fill that frustration, we would have Netflix watch parties from our houses on our own computers so that it would feel as if we were all watching the same movie in the same room. Then after a few months we would take our dogs for walks outside, and that is shown in one of the pictures. We did this so that we could see each other while being able to properly social distance. It was just hard having to accept that for now it would be our new normal. Going home from Duquesne meant that all my friends from school would also be heading home. In another picture it shows a few of my friends and I all FaceTiming one another. We would all group FaceTime together just about once every day to play games and just catch up which also gave me something to look forward to. A positive that come from quarantine was being able to do workouts with my family three times a week. We never got to do this because I would be at school and my brother would be working. Two times out of the week we would work out at a local park near my house. Then every Saturday morning bright and early at 7 AM my dad’s trainer would pick a different sight throughout the city to work out at. This was something I definitely looked forward to once a week because typically we would just work out at the same gym. Now that the gym had to be shut down it allowed us to think outside the box. In one of the pictures it shows my dad, brother, his girlfriend and others that worked out at Point Park one freezing morning. It was definitely hard waking up on a cold morning, but having a change of scenery, being able to be outside and be physically active with some family and friends was nice and refreshing. We went to other destinations around the city too such as outside Hinze Field, PNC Park, and Pitt. In another picture is my mom and I. We have always been close, but with me being away at college COVID had allowed me to be around her more often. We would watch movies, cook dinner, and make fires together which was nice to be able to spend more quality time together. Overall, COVID was hard not being able to see certain friends that I have missed, but it had also allowed me to make stronger relationships with those I had not spent a lot of time with because I have been away at college. In some aspects I would say that COVID was a blessing in disguise for me and my family. -
2021-01-31
Growing up online
I have a lot of family that lives in Italy, which is a place that has been hit harder than most by COVID 19. I have not been able to see my family in over a year now due to the pandemic closing boarders. I now have to talk to all my family members via FaceTime. -
2021-01-22
Redecorating
Before the pandemic, my room was very unorganized and had just a bed and a table with a tv on it. Being in my room for months straight without leaving my house and having nothing to do or having anything to occupy my mind was getting to me. I realized that I was probably going to spend more months in my small boring room. I decided to use my money I had to redo my whole room and add some furniture. I built most of my furniture with the help of my dad. I bought a desk, to finally have a place where I could do my work, and a dresser, to replace my old table with my tv on it and put some clothes in it. I did some DIY things like that mirror on my desk as shown in the picture and added plants and other things. Having a better environment to work in and having a goal I could work on improved my attitude toward spending all day in my room. apart from having this project I Facetimed a lot with my friends and played games like Minecraft. Finding little, or big, fun things to do while staying safe could really help you stay sane during these times. -
2021-01-19
The Happy Little Chef
The media focuses a lot on the losses children are facing during the pandemic. And while I certainly would prefer that the virus was contained and my son would be able to attend school in person, take piano lessons with his piano teacher beside him instead of on a Facetime call, and play with a friend outside of his older sister, my six year old son is genuinely enjoying quarantine. I realize this is a privilege - we have a backyard, space, two working adults who can afford food and technology, and a live-in grandma who can help with any distance learning issues. But my son seems to be thriving in this much simpler and quieter life. We always did a lot together as a family, but we did not spend a lot of time actually at home. Now that we’ve been home together for over ten months, we have settled into this new life that involves my son helping my husband make dinner every night. And he LOVES it. It’s not as though he had never cooked before, but to be able to do it every night, side by side with his dad is an experience he did not have in our pre-quarantine life that was much faster paced and on the go. Many nights, the little chef will bring me a menu that outlines the dinner and asks for my order. He takes such pride in telling all of us what parts of the meal he was in charge of. He assures us he is both the owner and the “cooker” of the restaurant and that his daddy is his employee. When dinner is over, he asks to take my plate, and has recently become very interested in washing all the dinner dishes himself (no complaints here). I certainly long for the day that we can go back out in the world, but I feel very blessed that my son will be able to look back at this year with happiness, even in the midst of such a dire situation. -
2021-01-20
Zoomin' Through High School
As it almost reaches the 1-year mark since COVID drastically transformed our lives, everything has become a norm. It is normal to go out wearing a mask, it is normal to stay in your house all day, and it is normal to go to school or work online. With schools closed down, Zoom has become a necessity to connect to others. As tiring as it is, we wake up every morning and log in Zoom for hours because it is something we have to do. As high school students, we no longer get the chance to make new friends at school, interact with each other during class, or participate in sports. For most, it is certainly upsetting to not be doing all those things right now, but as time goes by, we can only hope that things will go back to normal soon. For me, I do not mind online-learning and being confined to my room all day. Though it is boring, at least I have technology. Everyday, I communicate and connect with my family and friends through text messages, FaceTime, or Zoom. During a time of unrest, the best thing to have is friends and family, and when we can not come in contact with one another, technology is the only way. Since the start of junior year, my best friends and I talk everyday to compensate for the times we could’ve spent together in person. It is hard to plan safe and fun ways to hang out together, but we find ways to interact, such as, studying together on Zoom or daily FaceTimes. However, as our birthdays and the holidays have passed throughout the year, my friends and I have gone to each other’s houses to surprise each other with gifts. When we do choose to see each other in person, we try our best to ensure that none of us are sick and we are all safe. I hope that soon my friends and I can spend time together without worry and have lots of fun before the end of our high school careers. It is no doubt that we all use technology everyday as it has become an essential part of our lives due to this pandemic. 2020 was arguably the most disastrous year that I have experienced so far, and I have hope that 2021 will be better. As I have been living on the same schedule since March 2020 and the first semester comes to an end, it seems like it has made my junior year go by in a zoom. -
2020-01-17
My Five Favorite Things That Have Helped Me Cope During the Pandemic
Although the pandemic has been rough, there are several activities that help keep me sane during our time at home. We all have to make the best of it, right? The following are five things we did to make the best of this crazy time: 1. We Facetime'd with our children and grandchildren two to three times weekly. Nana and Papa quickly got into a fun routine to help virtually put the granddaughters to bed. 2. We established Friday afternoon Zoom happy hours with friends. It turned out to be way more fun than we anticipated. 3. My husband I found some great Netflix shows that we binge watched together. 4. We took advantage of our extra free time to cook and eat together as family almost every night rather than a couple of nights a week due to busy schedules. 5. We love how restaurants and other establishments who previously did not deliver started using DoorDash. My family has definitely taken advantage of Baskin Robbins ice cream deliveries! This past year has definitely been an interesting and probably much needed social experiment for our family! -
2021-01-15
Covid 19 Virtual Learning
After months and months of online school I developed my daily routines. Roll out of bed, get ready and hop on the zoom call at 8. Take a break, make a snack and get back into class. Online school was difficult because everyday felt the same. Over and over days up in my room finishing assignments, watching a zoom, and talking to teachers. FaceTime and Zoom were the closest possible thing to interacting with friends which posed as a difficult obstacle for everyone. Although we were able to wake up later and not have to wear uniforms, I was never more upset about not going to school. It seemed like it was all bad but there were a few things that especially brought me joy like spending time with family, playing video games with friends, setting up zoom calls on holidays with relatives. It seemed as if the world had shut down for brief period of time. Businesses, airports, restaurants and even some grocery stores were closed. Here we are now slowly returning back to the new normal and adapting to a new way of life. Things were tough but overall I think we came out stronger together than before. -
2021-01-15
Virtual Learning 2020
The first day we were informed we would be doing online school was on March 13, 2020. My parents had both gotten an email from my school explaining that we would be doing school from home on our laptops. I was both shocked and excited when I heard about this. Before that day the thought of us doing online school was just a rumor. The following day at school was just learning about how online school was going to go, and how to get logged on to all our classes. Everyone was so excited for the first 2-3 weeks, since we didn't have to get up so early. But soon enough, we all started to become lonely, bored, and anxious. Most people couldn't wait to go back in person. Online school was boring since we had to do all our classes over zoom calls, and it was extremely hard to focus trying to learn through a screen. The days were long, drawn out and boring. There was no way to socialize with your friends other than FaceTime. Personally for me the online good party about learning virtual was the fact that we got to sleep in an hour later. Overall, we did online school for 8 months(not including summer break). It was unlike anything I've ever experienced and we've finally gone back to school this month(January 2021). It isn't even a question how much better in person school is than virtual learning, for me. It was boring, dark, quiet, and everyday was exactly the same as the day before. I am so happy we get to return to the way things were before last year, but we still do have lots of precautions for covid-19. I'm just glad that people are finally getting things back on their feet, and things are returning to normal(well, at least more normal than last year), and we can all appreciate in-person school for what it really is. -
2020-03-13
Virtual Learning with Covid
It started in March 18. The death of me. Online school... staring at a computer for 7 hours a day. My eyes hurting after each day. My mind racing at all times on other things. I sat at my desk in my room. I had barely any social interactions with my friends. All I could do was FaceTime or text them. The one nice thing about online school is waking up at 7:50 everyday. I also liked that during my breaks I could just shoot outside on my court at my house. Other than that, I am glad we are back in person school. -
2020-12-25
My COVID-19 Christmas
My 2020 Christmas was different but some things stayed the same. I started out my Christmas break finishing online school for the semester. After I took my finals I started packing my suitcase to go to Colorado. I was born there and I have my whole family there. My mom and I go every year to visit my grandparents on their farm. My sister is in college in Arizona so she meets us in Colorado for Christmas. This year was different because she couldn't come to our grandparents house. She had to work. So on Christmas day we face-timed her to open presents and it was very fun. Another thing that changed this year was was the plane. We flew on United airlines and the plane was only half full. My mom and I wore masks and got our temperature taken before we entered the plane. We stayed in Colorado for a week and it was super cold, but there was no snow. After we flew home to California I spent the rest of my break playing volleyball at the beach and binge watching TV shows. -
2021-01-07
A COVID Christmas
Every year, all of my relatives that live in Europe fly to California and celebrate Christmas with us. We make our traditional lamb on Christmas morning along with our favorite Armenian food. I look forward to Christmas every year but this year was different. The airports were all shut down and they weren't letting people who don't live in the U.S fly in. Because of this, all of my relatives stayed in Europe for this Christmas and we missed them greatly. I woke up my family at 8:00 am dragging them out of bed. Still wanting to include our grandparents we called them on Christmas morning once we were all up and opened presents over facetime. We told them how much we missed them and could not wait to see them again. We still enjoyed our Christmas this year, but there were just some things that we needed to fix to have a safe COVID free Christmas. -
2021-01-07
A diffrent Christmas
For many people Christmas in 2020 was a little different than in the years past. The Carona Virus on Covid 19 struck America and changed everything. In previous years we were able to go Christmas shopping with our friends in crowded malls and with no mask. But this year it was different and we would not know how long this difference would be. Having to stay in the environment of your home with not many family members to celebrate the holiday with. Having to Facetime friends instead of meeting up in person. It was different and we had to get used to it. -
2020-12-25
How my Christmas was different
On Christmas day, my family usually goes over to my aunt's house where we hang out with friends and family we rarely get to see, but this Christmas was different. Instead of going to their house my family stayed at our home and did not get to see them. We where not able to see them at all until 3 days later where were able to Facetime them. Other than that my Christmas was not very different. -
2021-01-06T10:00:00
Christmas with covid
for Christmas the year, it was definitely different. Since I have divorced parents, I was spending this year with my mom. On Christmas Day, we would usually wake up at 8 or 8:30. but this year we ended up waking up at 9:30. it went by very fast. we went in the living room and opened our presents. then we had bacon and eggs while we watched the grinch. the day went by very fast and before we knew it, it was already 6:00. we had our Christmas dinner, which was, steak, mashed potatoes, green beans and cranberries. just a standard traditional Christmas dinner. then, I FaceTimed my friends to show them what I got. I would usually go over to my cousins house but this year we stayed home and didn't see anyone. I ended up taking a shower and then going tom bed at around 11:15. -
2020-08-09
My life in Covid
With covid my daily life has changed and my grades have gone down. I guess covid just has made me feel like I have no motivation to finish and do anything. I try to motivate myself but staying home and just laying on my bed don't help. The only thing covid has done for me is become closer to my friends since we facetime almost all the time I have actually hung out with a few friends and that was really fun. I guess with covid I have gotten more confident in myself and don't feel so insecure. I also had my quinceanera but it was in mexico. But covid has its ups a down I miss school my friend and in school gives me motivation I just wish this covid thing was over and things go back to normal -
2020-10-03
Dating During the Pandemic
Being under an extreme amount of stress from trying to switch to online school or working from home fulltime, you were under more stress if you were in a relationship. If you lived with your significant other, it started off amazing. You finally got to spend more quality time and try new things. But soon after it started to take a toll on the relationship by being with only them for four months straight and not seeing other people. On the other hand, if you and your significant other did live together, the beginning was the hardest. You had no idea when you were going to see them next and your relationship mostly consisted of Facetimes. As time went on it became the new norm of dating and seeing each other in person became a once-in-a-lifetime moment. No matter what situation you were in, it really pushed your relationship to the next level. -
2020-10-14
Visiting with Friends during the Pandemic
My friend Victoria, has shared ways that she has been able to keep in touch with her friends during this time of quarantine, social distancing, and precaution. Victoria captioned this screenshot with: "Before COVID, I would hangout with my friends in person which was a good and fun stress reliever. However, now that we have to social distance, I FaceTime them which helps just as much" I, personally have also resulted in communicating with my friends via video chat calls. I usually try and schedule a time to call them where we can catch up and chat. I usually am not a huge video chat fan however, with COVID-19, I have become one. In order to minimize the spread of the virus and keep our families safe, most of my friends and I, have been relying solely on facetime calls to catch up. It's weird but it's definitely better than getting sick! -
10/17/2022
Sachiko Mortia-Mulaney Oral History, 2020/10/17
This is an Oral History interview with University of Cincinnati student Sachiko Morita-Mullaney. Sachiko discusses her experience as a student at the University of Cincinnati. She brings up her identity as a Japanese-American woman and how that has affected her personally during the pandemic due to anti-Asian racism. She also talks about her small online business, and the different ways her and her family’s employment have been affected by Covid-19. Sachiko, a Political Science major at the University of Cincinnati, is very informed about the government’s response to Covid-19. She shares her opinions about healthcare in the United States and how racism and classism have affected the United States’ response to the coronavirus. Finally, we talked about the future and the quality of the US response to the coronavirus. -
2020-04
Family facetime
At the start of lockdown it became clear that my family would not be able to see each other for a while. Most of my family lives in Sydney, some of us live in Melbourne, regional Victoria and Canada. In response, my sister initiated a Coffey Family FaceTime every night at 6:30pm with whoever was available. However, this meant teaching my grandmothers how to use Facebook and how to start a call. More than 8 months later and both my grandmothers still can’t turn their video on without direction and also can’t start Facebook calls. This call kept us together when we felt far away. Celebrating father’s day and birthdays and anniversaries on FaceTime made some moments more memorable and some feel more lonely. Face timing each other was fun until there was a family dinner in Sydney and you couldn’t leave the state. However, there were fun moments, stirring up my parents dogs by yelling “walkies” or “dindins” and then leaving the call, FaceTiming on empty trams and using the weird face effects to confuse my grandmother about who’s camera was whose. The call gave structure to the days spent inside and caused me to talk to my grandmothers and extended family more about the current world events. HIST30060 -
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. -
10/03/2020
Lucy Li Oral History, 2020/10/03
Lucy Li speaks on her experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the cleaning ritual she has developed, her new recognition of the need for social interaction, remote work and school, and how the economy’s dip will affect her generation. She finds work-life-school balance, feeling stuck in her apartment, and connection with others challenging. She finds that nihilistic memes, social media management strategy, and park walks with friends keep her grounded. Li finds hope in community resilience. -
2020-05-15
Please focus a little bit.
My fourteen year old brother struggles so much with staying focused on work. When we went to online learning, he started falling behind immediately. To help him focus on work, I would sit in his room and go through each piece of work with him so he would stay engaged. He got completely caught up and stayed on top of work until the end of the school year. I lost hours and hours of time. Up to six hours a day that I would spend sitting next to him trying to get him to finish a math sheet, not text his friends back, and encourage him to add another sentence. this was on top of my own schoolwork each day. It felt like a waste of my time, to sit there staring at a wall while he worked through each piece of homework. I was grateful to spend time with him that I normally would have been at school for, but I still felt like it was hours of time I was using for nothing. He would ignore me, fight me, lock me out of his room and refuse to work. He would also make me laugh until I could not breathe, show me a new way of approaching a problem or question, and smile at me when he was proud of himself. Now, he calls me two to three times a day. He tells me about school, his friends, things that are bothering him, and tells me about what he is learning about and reading. He does all of his schoolwork in my room at home and frequently calls me from my own desk to update me on something small. My dorm would be a lot more lonely without the consistent ring of his Facetime calls. Quarantine and virtual learning is now something I am extremely grateful for. My brother and I are closer than ever and I contribute that entirely to online learning and the time I was able to spend with him that normally would have been spent in my high school building. None of those hours were wasted sitting next to him while he worked, they are all showing their worth as he calls me to tell me about his day, something he used to be very closed-mouth on but now initiates. I am grateful for that time I was able to spend with him, and am grateful for safer at home, with the acknowledgment that I wish that time had come from a less deadly cause, but since it did happen and I could not control it, I look back gratefully on that time. The attached photo is from photography outings we started taking during online learning. He would use my Nikon and frame photos while telling me about why he thought it would make a cool photo. We would be out there for hours watching geese, turtles, birds, muskrats, and frogs sharing each other’s silent company. They are some of my favorite memories with him, and one of the highlights of my 2020 -
2020-09-02
Keeping in Touch With Angie
COVID-19 has affected several of my relationships and how I have stayed in contact with friends. I wanted to talk about how COVID-19 has changed my interactions with one of my friends, Angie. I have known Angie for several years but we became really close friends when we attended the same church congregation in Provo, Utah from 2015-2016. When I graduated from school in Spring 2018, I moved away from Provo for an internship and I haven’t lived in Provo since. Angie also graduated around the same time and she continued to work in the same area. Normally, Angie and I will visit one another every other month and get lunch or I would spend the weekend with her at her apartment. The last time I was with Angie before COVID-19 lockdown began was in February. I was staying with her for a weekend in Provo, Utah for a wedding. On February 7, we got Korean BBQ bowls and went to an art museum. The next morning we woke up early and got kolaches. And I was thinking we’d get together soon in another month or so. For Angie’s birthday that same month, I sent her a sun hat because we made plans with our other two friends to go to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in June. But with the news of the onset of COVID-19 a few weeks later, we ended up canceling those plans. After a FaceTime call in April, we both figured out that we needed ways to stay connected while social-distancing safely. However, we didn’t have any new things to report because we were social-distancing. So we started our audiobook club to give ourselves something to chat about. So far we have listened and discussed The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11, I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, and White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. We are currently listening to Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood. Neither of us remembered who suggested our book club, but I’m glad we have stayed connected through it. Both Angie and I have enjoyed each of these books. They have made us much more knowledgeable about the world around us and I like discussing them with Angie. My favorite book we read together was White Fragility. We read it in response to the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. As white women, we realized we needed to better educate ourselves. We had a tough conversation, but I’m glad I had it with Angie who is incredibly compassionate and thoughtful. Besides our book club, we have had video chats with some other friends and we’ve texted one another. I finally saw Angie in person while she was passing through where I lived. We cautiously sat outside 6 feet apart and ate popsicles on my grass lawn. And I met her boyfriend for the first time! The pandemic has changed how I connect with my friends. I rely much more on technology and scheduled calls. I have learned to cut myself and others some slack for this situation because there is so much more social friction than before. Weirdly enough,in some ways it has helped with my social anxiety because I don’t feel FOMO (a.k.a. The “fear of missing out”). We’re all in the same crappy boat. The pandemic has also helped me think about why certain people are my friends. Now it’s less about proximity or someone’s availability but more so about someone’s loyalty, kind heart, or strong values. -
2020-06
During Covid-19
We didnt get to do very much because lots of places shut down. I watched alot of TV because there was nothing else to do. You have to wear a mask everywere. I facetimed my friends alot because I couldn't see them. -
2020-04-14
Distractions
Music helped me during quarantine because it was an amazing distraction and I was able to tune everything else out. I would listen to music in my different ways including a record player, a cd player, and my phone. I played music just about anytime I wasn't doing something else. It helped me calm down in such stressful times. Quarantine was such a dark time, we expected to finish off the school year but that got taken away from us. We weren't allowed to see our friends, we didn't get to say goodbye to our teachers, all we really needed was distractions. Music wasn't the only thing that helped, some other things were facetiming, text messaging, TikToks, movies/tv shows, and reading. -
2020-07-12
Laughing with my Family from Over Six Feet Apart
On a Sunday this past July, my cousin texted me out of the blue saying that she was about to start driving from her home in Oakland, CA to Los Angeles and that she would love to stop in Santa Barbara, CA to have lunch with me. I was really excited to get her text, because I had been feeling extremely lonely that weekend. I hadn't seen any family members in-person since March, since I don't live very near any of them. My cousin had been following social distancing guidelines extremely carefully since March, and I had also been following them while allowing myself a little more freedom. Given that, we didn't even consider having a not socially distant lunch. I picked up food from a restaurant for us and set chairs far apart for us to eat in my front yard. When my cousin arrived, she even volunteered to go the bathroom in yard so that she didn't have to enter my house. I thought that was a little over-the-top, and we ultimately decided it was okay for her to come in wearing a mask to use my bathroom. We had a great lunch, just eating and laughing. It was so uplifting to be in the same vicinity as a loved one. Then my sister FaceTimed us from her home in Chicago with her baby. This is where things got pretty hilarious. We tried to set up my computer in a way that allowed my cousin and me to both see and be seen while also staying more than six feet apart. It was nearly impossible, but our attempts made us laugh so hard. It just felt like such silly thing to be doing. I had such a great time with my cousin for those couple of hours. Her presence and all of the laughter definitely lightened my mood. -
2020-03-22
Family Photo
This photo is important to me because it shows how having to be at home forced me to communicate with my loved ones in different ways. I think the photo also represents a strengthened relationship between my boyfriend and I and my sister and I, and how the three of us became friends. -
05/20/2020
Kelly Cook Oral History, 2020/05/20
This is an oral history interview regarding COVID-19 and its effects on the interviewee and her family and friends. Interviewee wanted the title to be "Virtual Death." -
2020-04-23
Face-Timing in the Park
This is a brief story about a different way of communicating with my students through Face Time. It speaks to the flexible nature of teaching and how the pandemic caused me to shift my flexibility and availability beyond office hours. It's important to me because it has allowed me to grow as a teacher. -
2020-05-31
Missing You
With the COVID-19 pandemic that has lasted for a few months now, keeping in touch with my friends and family has been hard. We are all stuck inside and I can’t reach out to my friends and it’s hard to not feel connected in my social life. My friends and I stay connected by calling each other on Facetime at times. This picture was captured during one of our calls when we watched my friend Emely cut her hair. Even though we stay connected by calling each other on Facetime, it doesn’t feel the same and I miss in-person interaction. My daily-life isn’t as productive with school now being online based. I miss seeing my teachers who I love even though I was complain about not wanting to go to school. I miss being able to go outside without feeling suffocated in a mask. I miss going out to places with my friends. Being in quarantine has made me notice how not being at school for this long has affected me. Being by myself has made me feel discourage and I’ve realized that I rely on my friends to make my days happy. I’ve noticed that some friendships I made rely solely on common classes and in-person interaction and now that I can’t do that those friendships have started to fade. It’s sad that had happen, but at least I have some strong friendships that will last even when we hardly interact with one another. Even though it’s tough see my friends and my family, we should know that it’s important to keep social distancing. Going to eat with friend and going to beaches surrounded by a lot of people’s would just increase the number of cases. It doesn’t just out your own health at risk, but the people that you’ve come into contact with would be at risk as well. At this moment, it’s important to keep in mind that we need to take care of those you love by staying away. I know it may be hard, but it’s for the best ! -
2020-04-08
Innovation Keeps Studio Art Classes Vibrant
Studio art classes would seem to present a particular remote learning challenge. Yet professors like Audrey Goldstein are sharing ideas in nationwide online forums and then implementing ideas for maintaining a vibrant educational experience for student artists. One way students and professors stay connected is through one-on-one video critiques that follow Zoom class meetings -
2020-05-19
Reid’s reflection on the pandemic 19 May 2020
-
2020-04-28
Family Houseparty call
as a way of staying close with friends many people have been utilizing group video calling services such as Facetime, zoom, skype and houseparty during this call it was the first time in about two years that I have talked to my cousin because he lives in Miami which goes to show that there are still a few positives even right now as things are mostly negative.