Items
Tag is exactly
Florida
-
2021-03-09
Lady Pink's solo show at the Museum of Graffiti
This story talks about famous graffiti artist, Lady Pink, and her upcoming solo show at the Museum of Graffiti in Miami, Florida. Lady Pink mentions getting the vaccine as part of travel plans and virtually attending her show opening, and the transition of graffiti art to gallery space and the corresponding taboo. -
2021-02-24
Same Country Two Seperate Lives
This tweet is a great example of how different the pandemic was handled in Florida. This was tweeted on May 4th, 2020. It was the first day that Florida opened back up after shutting down for the month of April. This is significant in my experience of the pandemic because I have friends and family down here in Florida with me, where the pandemic isn’t taken as seriously. I also have friends and family up north in Wisconsin where the pandemic is handled completely different. For instance, Wisconsin didn’t open back up until late June. Since I live in Florida where stores and beaches opened up quickly, I was able to spend a lot of time outside swimming and relaxing by the beach before I went back to school in fall. This made the whole “quarantine” less miserable for me whereas I know people up north that struggled immensely as they were stuck in a shut down. The cold, gloomy weather in Wisconsin doesn’t help their case either. Additionally, my mom was able to get a job down here in Florida because she’s a teacher and schools are open and have in person learning. On the contrary, my brother who just graduated college in spring of 2020 and lives in Wisconsin still hasn’t found a job. It is now February 24th, 2021. Many companies have lost revenue by having to shut down for a few months and as a result, they let many employees go and are not looking to hire anyone else. The only potential new opportunity risen from this pandemic is that some jobs are all online now. This allows my brother to apply for jobs outside of Wisconsin if he is desperate enough. Overall, as a college student here in Florida, my life has not changed significantly. I still go to class, I still go to the beaches, and I still go shopping as long as I have my mask. -
2020-01-01
Surviving 2020 & COVID-19 Pandemic: Life As A College Student
As the ball dropped on New Year’s Day I embraced and kissed my boyfriend in excitement of what would await us in 2020, if only I knew. As we said our goodbyes to our friends we drove home on a side road to avoid the frantic traffic of drunk drivers and people rushing to get home. All I remember is driving in front of my boyfriend’s car and then waking up to him sobbing over me. My car lights were on, sunroof open, glass shattered everywhere, my blood stained on my wheel and purple bruises on ribs. Long story short I was smashed into by a drunk driver, my car flipped, rolled, and was finally crushed into a tree with me inside while my significant other watched it unravel before his eyes. This was my beginning to 2020 and I wished and hoped that it would only be better from there on but I was horribly wrong. On March 11th of 2020 I received an email from my university stating that it would be closed and urged all students to return home for the remainder of the semester. As many college students saw this as an extended spring break at the time we were all happy since it basically meant more partying. After week one passed of receiving the email I quickly realized that being isolated would be my downfall and it sure was. By the end of the Spring semester I had failed a couple classes and was desperately trying to crawl out of a depressive episode. Since I am, or rather struggling to be a nursing student still, failing my Anatomy and Physiology I class sent me into a spiral of what ifs and how my GPA would recover from these failed courses. The realization of retaking these courses in order to save my future and using my only two chances of “erasing” my unsatisfactory grades crushed me. I was shattered by this reality but continued to push myself through Summer term to ace these courses, I studied day and night sacrificing friendships and days out for an A. As Summer came to an end Fall came and I barely passed the classes online because I struggled to adapt and truly retain the material meanwhile peers in my class were either completely giving up or cheating their way through the online, remote exams. To add the cherry on top, I was battling my university’s Housing Board in order to cancel my dorm agreement because many COVID cases had been recorded in my building and my roommates still went out to clubs while not wearing masks. As the months passed and semesters came and went, I felt my sanity slipping and today I still sit in fear of my future. I struggle leaving my apartment due to the fear of exposure to COVID and accidentally passing it onto my only parent who suffers from lupus. This pandemic has truly crushed me and unfortunately it seems that I will be spending the remainder of my college life and 20s in this chaotic, barren, and lonely society where we only see each other screen to screen. -
2021-02-24T13:24:52
A 2020 Senior's Experience
Link to my Story https://eaglefgcu-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/vdearmas2389_eagle_fgcu_edu/EfbXTEMivQhBlns1iufe0PUBKjsdXqzsQvBkamaxWh4YAg?e=IwR5k3 -
2020-02-24
My Coronavirus Experience
In the beginning of the pandemic, I immediately realized how a large portion of the public was not focused on the virus itself, but the racial controversy of the virus' origin. This was unnerving to the core, because it is a fact that COVID-19 came from China. While it was unacceptable to accept this as fact, MERS literally stands for Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome. It is clear that there was a pro-CCP agenda being pushed in the background when propagating the "COVID Safety" spiel. As time went on, more and more inconsistencies began popping up. Beauty and barber shops closed, but Nancy Pelosi is more than welcome to get her hair done. Masks become required to enter any building or participate in society at all, but when the new President was sworn in, the spectators were sitting shoulder-to-shoulder and masks were few and far between. What my story says about the pandemic is that while we may have had a real potential global crisis, I believe things were skewed, twisted, and flipped so that it is most convenient for those who hold the power, and not done in the best interest of the American people. An example of this in real life was how the Los Angeles Lakers, Ritz Carlton, and Bank of America (per store) were able to get PPP loans, drain the pool of PPP money, and leave small business owners fighting for crumbs. I have linked a Washington Post article below that expands on the PPP loan problem and how our government failed small business. The pandemic I fear will have long-lasting, Orwellian effects on our society in the sense that those in power will continue to use fear mongering to control the public through COVID. Even though a vast majority of the population has already had it and are building antibodies, Western European-style, 1940s era vaccination cards are beginning to circulate. I fear these cards will be the new "gold star" or "Scarlet Letter'', except those without it would be barred from society, rather than those with it. In my opinion, COVID today is what AIDS was in the eighties. Lots of unanswered questions, lots of fear, and government intervention so that free thinking is minimized. These three, and you have a perfect recipe for controlling the masses. Both diseases were politicized to death, and public opinion of the disease swung back and forth with politicization. If AIDS was blown up to the proportion that COVID was, I couldn't imagine the backlash the political and science communities would get from a certain demographic of people who are very vocal and have a statistically higher likelihood of contracting HIV. I hypothesize that pandemic would turn into pandemonium. With that, my experience during quarantine was as expected. Mental health suffered due to lack of human interaction and ability to go outside, and physical health suffered due to inability to go outside and lack of motivation which was connected to mental health. The main positive thing from the pandemic I can identify is the performance of my stock portfolio. Even though I lost my job due to COVID, I was still able to afford rent, food, and supplies to stay hunkered down in my new $900/month prison for my three month sentence. Another big positive from the quarantine was my savings. The pandemic helped me realize how much unnecessary or emotional spending I do. It helped me point out lots of bad habits I have so I can work on fixing them. Things like spending money when I'm sad, and identifying vices that hold me back in my day-to-day. While the pandemic brought a lot of negatives to me and the world around me, I believe there are some positive things to take away from it. Opening your mind to more than what the government feeds you, appreciating every moment you have, embracing new hobbies, and learning how to maneuver through change. These are all things the pandemic has taught me, but if I had the option, I wouldn't do it again. In terms of being a part of history, simply by living you are a part of history. I was at Sloan-Kettering in NYC with my family getting a life-extending cancer treatment for my father when 9/11 happened. He was one of three patients that day because while in surgery, the first plane hit the towers. The rest of the patients to be seen that day were canceled. I suppose the point I am trying to make is that history is subjective. 9/11 wasn’t 9/11 to me. 9/11 was the day I was blessed with enough time to make some foundational memories of my father before he passed. It can be argued that since I have been invested in GameStop since November, I was a part of history there too. I went to the Game 7 Cardinals vs. Red Sox World Series Game in Fenway Park. The game that broke the Bambino Curse. Again, it could be argued that I was a part of history there too, except my three year old self was asleep for the last two innings. History is subjective, and every day, everyday people like you and I make history. Historians and memoirists will use these events in the future to write articles, make movies and tv shows, write books, and extrapolate many other kinds of art from it. However, most often historical stories are told through a lens of subjectivity, and because of that, eventually all history becomes skewed to the point where it is indistinguishable from fable. -
2021-02-21
Silver Lining Mini Oral History with Jessica Goldman
This is an interview done by Robert Baker-Nicholas, interviewing Jessica Goldman for the Covid Archive. I asked her a couple of questions in this short mini oral history interview. The questions included her name, age, race and where she lives, along with the question that states, “What’s one positive thing you’ve experienced during the pandemic?” Jessica Goldman replies to the question with a detailed explanation of how the COVID-19 has impacted her job and her students. -
02/21/2021
Kim Feins-Snow Oral History, 2021/02/20
This is an interview done by Robert Baker-Nicholas, interviewing Kim Feinz-Snow for the Covid Archive. I asked her a couple of questions in this short mini oral history interview. The questions included her name, age, race and where she lives, along with the question that states, “What’s one positive thing you’ve experienced during the pandemic?” Kim Feinz-Snow replies to the question with a detailed explanation on how the Covid had impacted her resilience and how she is actually more resilient than she originally thought she was. -
2021-02-12
Local man becomes victim of COVID-19-fueled spike in unemployment fraud
Along with COVID-19 came a spike in identity theft. These thieves then use the stolen information to apply for COVID-19 unemployment benefits. In some cases, the states try to get the victims to pay back the money given to the thief. -
2021-01-26
COVID Satistics
COVID 19 has been horrible for all of us. Many people have been lost and many families have been affected. According to Statista since January 25, 2021, over 25.1 million people have been affected by the coronavirus across the United States. California, New York, Florida, and Houston are the states that are reporting the highest numbers. Since January 25, California has the leading number of cases at 3,168,528, then Texas with 2,250,421, right behind is Florida with 1,649,449, and lastly New York with 1,335,695. In total, these four states add up to 8,404,093 cases out of 25 million. After a year of experiencing this horrific disease, I am very happy that there is finally a vaccine. My uncle works in the emergency department of a hospital so he could be getting exposed to people with COVID daily. Since there is now a vaccine I am not as worried when he leaves to work. Because he is a health official he has already gotten the vaccine and luckily had no side effects. A couple of weeks later my grandma got the vaccine because she is high risk and fortunately she is not experiencing any side effects either. Now that everything is calming down and COVID is becoming a new norm like the Flu, I have learned many things throughout this pandemic. Although the pandemic was horrible for everyone including my family, it helped give me a wake-up call. I realized that every day is not guaranteed. You can do everything right but still, end up hurt or even worse dead. Throughout this pandemic, I have made a promise to myself that I will work harder for the things I want, spend more time with my family, and cherish the moments I am given. -
2020-06
A College Student Surviving the Pandemic
I chose my Target employee card from when I worked there over the past summer in my hometown, Venice, FL. I chose this object because it represents to me the pandemic when everyone was at their worst, during all the main lockdowns. I keep it in my wallet because I still somehow have an employee discount. But every time I pull it out, I am reminded of that scary summer of when no one knew what was going on or what was going to happen. -
2020-03-01
Covid in the Last Frontier
The object I choose was the first "mask" I ever wore during the start of this pandemic. During the time, I was in Alaska, and when news of the spread of Covid hit, we (the state) went into lock down almost immediately. The object I submitted has more of a symbolic nature, as it signified a new world that not only were we not prepared for, but one that would become a new norm. At the beginning, it was hard to secure masks, as they were going as fast as toilet paper, so we had to make due with what we had, hence the bandana. What made things relatively difficult was the strict lockdowns and what time of the year they specifically happened. In Alaska, it is crucial soak up as much sun as possible in the late spring and summer due to the long, dark, and cold winters that often lead to Seasonal Affective Disorder, or Seasonal Depression. Not being able to leave your house, and having summer activities closed down made it difficult to soak up the sun and energy we needed. But as humans always do, we found a way, through homemade masks and long, socially distanced walks. I currently reside in Florida now, and the atmosphere was and still is completely different than the one I faced in Alaska. It was an eye-opening experience to live in two states during this pandemic, and how each state handled the virus in their own way. -
2021-01-24
An uneasy Quarantine
My experience during the pandemic was a little unsettled. My fiancee and were in the process of selling our house when this new SARS virus started to really spread throughout the United States. Surprisingly we received many good offers and one was too good to pass up. We had a house lined up in a rural area of Florida but that deal fell through. It seems as the pandemic got worse and spread rapidly in the major cities a lot of other people began buying properties in rural areas driving the prices up so the deal fell through. We then began looking for a house in the suburbs of Fort Myers, Florida. In the meantime, I had to live with my parents while we closed on a new house. This was an anxious time as both of them are over 60 years old and my father has existing lung problems I was and am dreadfully worried about him. However, with some luck and a great deal of vigilance and adherence to recommended conduct by the CDC, none of us ever got infected. My fiancee works in a large hospital because of her knowledge of safety procedures and warning signs our family has so far never gotten sick. Despite a few people close to us contracting the virus including our neighbor and her brother who was frail before contracting Covid and is now fighting for his life. These are scary and painfull times. -
2021-01-24
Wearing Me Out
I am a contrarian. When the culture seems to be telling me to go outside and enjoy the sunshine and beaches (I'm on the coast of Florida) I always did the opposite. I was a shut-in for my entire life and had always disliked being adventurous, open, courageous. Probably, I was just anxious and scared. I was just beginning to open up at the beginning of the year and when COVID became the prime news and media and the culture seemed to flip and become about isolation and shutting-in... I snapped. I said no, I won't. I won't stay inside any longer. I won't isolate myself from others. I started taking better care of myself, doing yoga on the beach, watching my diet, working out daily, threw out half my wardrobe, and bought these boots. I put myself out there and met many people that changed my life for the better. I am now adventurous, courageous, forthcoming, and open to new people and experiences and, in my opinion, it is all thanks to the quarantine and shut-down. I did contract COVID and did isolate with my family who all also caught it (my mother brought it home from work, where they all wear masks). These boots carried me through this year and have made me feel confident in myself and what I can do for the first time in a long time. -
2020-03-22T12:49:00
Overwhelmed
When I wrote this journal entry the world was just starting to go into a panic. Mass hysteria caused every town to be placed on lockdown. Everyone was being forced to quarantine and had a curfew at 9 pm everyday. There was no explanation of what the Coronavirus was other than it was fast spreading and killing thousands of people. In March, there was still a lot of uncertainties. As a college student everything was very abrupt. Our classes and school were shut down fast following students traveling and coming back and testing positive. With being locked into a dorm where roommates left, the dorm life got very tough. Feelings of anxiety, depression, and loneliness were common to feel during this time. You go from having an active social life to being terrified to be near someone. It takes a toll on your mental health. Additionally, in this journal entry I talk about a relationship with a guy that wasn't going to work, another active conversation about how the want to see someone amidst the pandemic was not attractive and easy. There was a want to go home, but my family lived in Miami and their cases were higher than the one's on the West Coast of Florida. This entry was important to me because I thought it was a perfect description of the chaos and emotional uncertainty of the beginning of the pandemic. -
2021-01-23
Change of Life A Friends Story!
I realized the seriousness of the pandemic when I began an exercise program on February 6, 2020. There was not much noise being made about the pandemic yet. I got my nails and hair done on February 11-12, 2020. I would realize now that this would be the last time since I have done this in a year. As the pandemic progressed things were places shutting down and I left my exercise program on February 28, 2020. I early voted on March 2, 2020, and wore a mask. Saw my dentist on March 4, 2020, and got my hair done one last time. By May, I went practically to my doctors and my general physician via telehealth, and then finally I realized this was very serious. People I know began to test positive for Covid. One of these people came into direct contact with me so as a result I went and got a Covid Test as a safety precaution. I found out it was negative. I began to not leave the house now due to the rising cases in my community in Florida. In August cases began to surge even more as people returned to school since summer was over. The holidays came in December and the numbers continued to grow and caused me to not leave the house anymore. This has been a terrible year of isolation and has caused me to lose many dear friends due to the pandemics of isolationism and people's change in attitudes. I am blessed to have a great spouse and a home with a bed to sleep in. I got vaccinated in January 2021. While this brings hope I have to figure out what I am to do and how to move forward as a result of the ongoing pandemic while I have to still maintain safety protocols. I hope the end is in sight due to there now being federal government oversight. -
2021-01-19
COVID lockdown rules
The stupid COVID rules that have been put in place are not worth following, this virus has a 99.9% recover rate for anyone in between 4-50 and we have to shut the whole country down. I live in California which is democrat run so we have to be on red alert like this virus is a threat to all humanity. It’s stupid and it always has been. I wish I lived in Florida at this point because I can play sports there and live life. But no, I have to comply to California’s socialist communist ideology’s. -
2020-12-16
Finding out our Season was Cancelled
All of these photos were taken after our last game of the trip along with the last of our season. We found out our season was cancelled the day before and our coaches planned all of this in a day. Also two of our coaches who stayed in Boston flew all the way down to Florida to watch our last day of games and experience it all with us. It was crazy and overwhelming. The game before the last one got cut short because the other team’s coach got a call from their school saying they need to come back immediately because of Covid. This is when we knew it was real and it was over for real. It was a lot of sadness and the seniors did not want to go out like that. Every single senior athlete went through this same thing at every college and high school, all around the country. These photos give the viewer a personal aspect of Suffolk softball and how we dealt with it along with some words that our coach wrote in one of the Instagam posts. It allows historians to look back at how the pandemic affected athletes and maybe compare Suffolk softball to other schools and look at the timeline of before, finding out, and during the pandemic. These images are important to this archive because it is directly related with what is going on today and if people wanted to learn about this then there should be some sort of information on it because there are very little personal stories about athletics. -
2020-12-16
Suffolk Softball Before the Pandemic
These photos represent what softball at Suffolk was all about before the COVID pandemic started. As a team, we did everything together and that was normal and we did not have to wear masks and socially distance. We did Christmas events together and team Thanksgiving and it allowed us to really bond as a team and have that comradery every team looks for. We also went on the annual spring trip to Florida to play softball and our coach planned fun events throughout the two weeks we were there. But it all ended so fast because Covid hit and that made our trip end differently than ever imagined. These photos are good for future historians to look at to be able to compare to suffolk softball before the pandemic versus after. Photos make it more realistic and really give people a look as to what we did as a team. This is important to this archive because people can relate to it along with using this information to research further. -
2020-11-18
How COVID has changed my home life
The initial stages of COVID were almost surreal. I was in Key West, Florida when I first got the email from my college that we were going to be all online from mid-March to the end of the Spring 2020 semester. This carried into the Fall semester and that changed how my girlfriend and I were going to live. We decided that if we are going to be at home all the time we need a place big enough for us to separate our bedroom and our school stuff. So we moved from Fenway’s backyard to Somerville and from a studio apartment to a one bedroom. Instantly everything felt better. There was space for all of our stuff, we were able to spread out, and most importantly, we were able to get a dog. We previously had two cats but having an animal that needs to go outside and see the light of day more than once a week has made everything easier. It forces my girlfriend and I to take breaks from the mountains of school work we have and it gets us out of the house for more than just spending money or making money. Finally we got our second dog and she has made life even better because now our dogs get to play together and we get to go out more often to places like dog parks without having to worry about other people and their dogs being there. In the picture you can see Oakley (grey and first child), Tucker (orange and second child), Millie (blue Pitbull mix and third child), and Zoe (white and brown Pitbull mix and fourth child). These little creatures have made everything worth it. Without the pandemic I would not be able to say that I am as blessed as I am now to have four adopted animals that I get to call my world. -
2020-03
Schooling During the Pandemic
With the pandemic going on school has been quite different and this is more of a general outlook of how that is effecting me personally, because I can't speak for everyone else. When COVID really first started hitting us in March, I packed up all my things almost out of no where because my school (FGCU) suggested that we all go home for the semester and changed all of our classes to online meetings. When it first happened I suppose that it wasn't a huge hit to my education because the semester was already pretty much over and we only had a month or so left. However, when summer came and I had to do two more challenging classes over six weeks I started to realize how much I actually appreciated going to classes in person. Especially with Physics, which was very difficult to learn and comprehend in six weeks all while being taught online. Even more challenging was the virtual labs which in of itself is ironic. Nonetheless I was able to pass physics (barely), and now fast forward to present time we're in the Fall semester and not too much as changed. I understand what we are doing, but it is honestly quite annoying when you're trying to pass all of your classes, especially being an engineering major like me. For example, just now as I'm writing this I'm supposed to be in a class, but for some reason I can't connect to the zoom meeting and neither can anyone else. Thankfully my professor records all of our meetings so I can watch it later but regardless it is pain because finals are this week and I'm more worried about my calculus and engineering classes. I really find it more challenging to pay attention to a class when it's online compared to when I'm actually there in person, maybe that's just me but I couldn't imagine I am the only one who agrees with that. -
2020-11-30
Home for The Holidays
I live in Florida and my friend goes to school in Vermont, but for the holiday's she decided to come home. We knew this would be risky situation with her flying and having stops between, so I was able to get an extra rapid test for her since my family was already getting tested. We haven't seen each other since August, so we had been eager to be back at home together again, even though things are so different. Everyone has gone through a difficult time this year; one of the things I feel hit home is that my final stages of "childhood" and cherishing everything before I move was not at all what I wanted it to be. Now that my best friend and I are safely home together for winter break, I know we will both be doing our best to soak up all of our hometown before everything changes for good. -
2020-11-14
Tatiana's Work Enviroment
Tatiana works at Davita Dialysis in the Miami, Florida area. Her work experience has been immeasurably altered due to Covid-19. Walking in to work everyday feels very different for her with all of the warnings and no visitations allowed. -
2020-11-20
Rick Scott Latest GOP Senator to Test Positive
There seems to be another outbreak in COVID cases among GOP lawmakers. This week, Rick Scott, the Republican Senator from Florida, tested positive for COVID. He is the most recent case, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa also tested positive earlier this week. Both have been quarantining themselves and working from home. -
2020-04-10
The Balcony: My Families Sanctuary
During the first, and most unknown parts of the pandemic, my family and I were in a small apartment in Miami. There was less information about the pandemic, so we weren't really leaving the house for anything, and our only access to the outside world was a small balcony. We had never really used the balcony, or the apartment for that matter, but it was a safe place where we could regain our sanity at the end of the day, together. Whether this was my mom and I reading our books, or my entire family watching the sunset, listening to music, and talking, we could not have made it through those first few months of the pandemic without this outside space. -
2020-11-11
Covid-19 - Higher Education
It is now almost time to wrap up my fourth semester of college at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida. I've always been told ‘as you get old time goes by faster’ and wow if that isn’t one of the truest things i've ever heard. We are in the middle of week thirteen of sixteen. My university, I'm sure many others, have suggested students miss out on Thanksgiving break this year because of the risk we bring Covid-19 home to our families and the community and potentially infect others. Luckily, I do not have any final exams and my in person class after Thanksgiving is giving us the option to go home and complete our work from there. I have decided I will be going home and I plan on getting a Covid-19 test before then to ensure I am not bringing any germs from my university home to my family. Despite the addition of masks this semester nothing seems like it has changed. Students are still deciding upon partying and having large get togethers. It is obvious that many students must think Covid-19 is ‘fake’ or they are ‘immune’ because they continue to put themselves at risk every weekend. Many universities and school systems across the United States have had to transition to complete remote learning once again because of outbreaks in classrooms, residence halls, and Greek life organizations. Covid-19 is not a ‘hoax’, it is very real and should be taken seriously as people's lives and jobs are depending on it. -
2020-06-23
A COVID Graduation
I found this story of an in-person graduation to be a bit tragic story. This is because people wanted to believe that COVID was simply ignored in some states. While living in NC we had people that felt that it was just too little risk to slow down large gatherings, we also had restrictions that prevented this exact behavior. I saw many people were doing graduations online, and some were just not even having graduations at all. But this article shows that there was an attempt to hold this ceremony with indications that people were maybe encouraged to wear masks, but they were not mandatory. While there is no indication of more COVID positive people after the graduation, there is a sense of dread to have to go be tested especially after what should be a cause for celebration. -
2020-08-28
NBA Bubble
During the pandemic all sports stopped, at least until there was enough safety procedures to safely play. The NBA found a location in Orlando at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort, which was able to both house the teams invited as well as the staff and support staff for the teams. The games would be broadcast with virtual fans. This worked pretty well because the people in the bubble were tested and could work out and play on the many courts that the complex boasts. This idea was one of the better sporting decisions but with the size of the teams much more easily done than with other sports, with larger teams and more staff. The NBA soon returned and began to play and give people live entertainment with few COVID cases reported from the bubble -
2020-10-14
COVID Closure Collections Reward
Award given to me and my supervisor from the manager of the Museum of the Everglades that recognizes our effort entering 6,000 items into our collections system while we were working from home. While the museum shut down in-office operations the collections team (my supervisor and me) were able to utilize our time at home skillfully to enter 6,000 records. This item memorializes the hard-work our collections staff puts in every day, even amid a frightening pandemic. -
2020-09-15T16:35
COVID-19’s Impact on Collier County Museum Projects
This is an article written by the Naples Daily News discussing the budget issues that Collier County’s museum system is facing due to COVID-19. Since the museum system is primarily funded through the tourism tax, the funding has plummeted about $300,000 due to the pandemic. Steve Carnell, the director of the public services department, said that the museums have taken the hardest hit - the operating budget had to be reduced by a whole quarter ($464,000). Because of this, a lot of the planned growth of the museum has been put on hold until funding can be secured. The article includes even more information on how operations in the five museums have transformed due to COVID-19. -
10/09/2020
Elizabeth Sconyers Oral History, 2020/10/09
This oral history was conducted for the HST580 Archive course through Arizona State University. The interviewee discusses her life and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The oral history explores the COVID-19 virus and its relation to themes such as, lived experiences, family life, employment, the economy, government, and community. -
2020-10-20
Sight words
Virtual learning has been a pain in the butt for a lot of moms. I don’t think I’ve ever related to someone when it comes to parenting like I did with this Florida mom. Although my daughter is no longer doing virtual learning here in Arizona, I do homework with her and am very familiar with sight words. It’s funny and comforting to know that I am not alone in my feelings. -
2020-10-16
To Go or Not To Go
What happens when you live 3000 miles away from home, and your father asks you to meet him and your only sibling in Florida to celebrate his 90th birthday? This year, the answer is that you disappoint your father and feel guilty about not going, knowing that his time left here is limited. But, you know deep down that you are doing the right and responsible thing. I have only known my father for the last year, but that’s another story, and would really love the chance to spend some real time with him, but I know it would be risky. Not only is my father almost 90, but he is also diabetic. So, I’ll wait to see him sometime next year, because even though I am sad and feel guilty about saying “no” this time, it may give us an opportunity next time. I think that many people are going faced with making these decisions during this year of the quarantine, especially here in Los Angeles, where a good portion of the population is a transplant from somewhere else. But, there are even much tougher decisions or limitations on seeing family and loved ones. My dilemma seems minor, but it does matter to a 90 year old. -
2020-03
Time to Complete a Decade-Old Project
We had just moved from Fort Bragg (Fayetteville), North Carolina, to Eglin Air Force Base (Destin), Florida, when my husband learned he was deploying to Afghanistan this past January. Usually, when my husband deploys, I have work to occupy my time, but I did not find a teaching job when we moved. I decided to return to my hometown of Kane, Pennsylvania during my husband’s deployment. When the pandemic started, I decided to fix up a one-hundred-year-old table left in my sister’s house by the previous owner. I made my sister keep this table in her basement for ten years, with the promise that one day I would take it with me. It only took a deployment and a pandemic to get me started on this project. I figured working on the table would be an excellent way to pass the time since I could no longer visit old friends due to the pandemic. I started working on the table in my sister’s basement armed with paint scrapers, wire brushes, CitriStrip, Mineral Spirits, and an acrid-smelling varnish remover. CitriStrip smells like oranges, and that is not a bad smell to have to permeate your sister’s house for days; however, the other varnish remover was not as nose-friendly. It smelt so bad that one could say that I was using biological terrorism on my family. Imagine ten thousand girls removing their nail polish at the same time with acetone, and you have some idea of the smell. It did not take long for my sister to kick me out of my (almost warm) basement work area, and I began to work on the table in the frigid temperatures of my parent’s garage where the smell of chemicals would not reach inside. Pennsylvania is not very warm in March, and I could never get warm, especially when I was using acetone. Acetone evaporates quickly, and as a result, it kept my hands cold. Also, I found that the acetone melted my latex gloves, and that made matters worse. My hands were always dry. Removing the old varnish was laborious, and I am still not sure if it was varnish that coated the table. Research led me to believe that it might be shellac or a type of wax, and when I scraped the layers off, everything turned into a goopy mess. As I scraped each layer of the varnish off the table, I could begin to see more of the table’s features. I began to see the scorch marks from the saw, a mark where the previous owner left a paint can, and I could see the beautiful wood hiding underneath. Finally, it was time to sand. When you are sanding wood, you start with large grain sandpaper, and you work your way to finer sandpaper. I used both an electric sander and a hand sander. The electric sander made my hands numb, but the hand sander was time-consuming. As I wiped the sawdust away from the table, I felt accomplished. Now the table is a treasured part of our new home in Monterey CA; in fact, I am writing this paper on it right now. *This is the story of someone finally getting around to refurbishing an old table. -
2020-03-16T12:00:00
Finding Myself During Covid
My story discusses how throughout Covid , I found a way to make it positive. A global pandemic turned millions of lives upside down. But, I won't allow this disease to kill off my dreams with tennis. -
2020-07-21
Collier County Mask Mandate for COVID-19
This document addresses the Board of Collier County's decision to require masks in public buildings. It's important as it shows how different local governments have handled the crisis. In this case, the Collier County mask mandate did not go into affect until July 21, 2020 and was set to expire on September 3, 2020. -
2020-09-22
Married in March
My partner and I were supposed to be married in September. We spent the better part of a year getting ourselves ready for the big day, but due to the Coronavirus, we were unable to get married. We are planning to get married in March now. It has been a little depressing, but we're pushing through. We set the date of September 22nd because it was the first day of fall and is typically a beautiful day here in sunny South Florida. During the start of the isolation, we thought that we had gotten lucky and the pandemic would be largely over, we would be able to have it – when the only businesses open were places like Target for groceries, we coordinated with our vendors over the phone and email. My partner had purchased her dress a week before our shut down here, and we waited up until about just a month ago to get the finished product. It was hard for me to even get my tux taken in. When things started opening back up, we were nervous about the date, but hoped for a fast progression towards things getting better. By the end of July, we knew things were still not on track and we had to make a difficult decision. Not only was it extremely expensive to postpone, it was disappointing. We had put so much energy into getting everything right, but the world had other plans. Ultimately, the safety of our family and friends was not worth the risk, and we decided to postpone until March 10th, which is our five year anniversary. This year has been absolutely crazy! But we both know everything has a purpose, and a reason. We are fortunate for our health (and our corgi). :) -
2020-09-27
Hermit HERALD VOL 1 ISSUE 66
Bloomberg $100MM to Florida -
2020-09-20
Musical Monday's
Chet Rosenbaum and his wife Dianne host “Musical Monday’s” every Monday night in their retirement village in Tamarac, Florida. Chet, a retired chief financial officer and military veteran, and his wife Dianne a professional performer and singer have always appreciated the joy music has brought to their lives. Now, in the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic, the couple takes that love of music and selflessly shares it with their retirement community. Whether it is Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock,” Billy Joel’s “Piano Man,” or The Platters’s “Goodnight Sweetheart” Chet and Dianne host an oldies party for fellow residents who comprised this county’s greatest generation. Solitude, boredom, and depression has turned into memories, laughter, and a strong sense of community with every note that is played. The tough times are subdued by the immense participation from the community. As each song is played another heartfelt memory from the past is found, and the hours of seclusion forced on them by the need for social distancing seems to be less and less significant. The love that Chet and Dianne give to their community members has been mutually shared in their appreciation and participation. Each Monday night Chet sets up his sound system and blasts oldies from his garage to a group of residents who although are wearing facial masks, dance and sing to every song that is played. The residents are so grateful, that the community presented Chet with a plaque of thanks signifying their appreciation. It read, “Your unselfish effort to bring some normalcy to our Monday is appreciated more than you can imagine, many thanks from your grateful Monday audience.” With that kind gesture by the community, Chet and Dianne realized how important music can be in our lives and how important it is with any difficult time to reach out to your fellow man, lean on one another, and use this shared strength to overcome adversity. Chet and Dianne are role models in their community, and I am proud to call them my grandparents. REL 101 *This is a photograph taken of my grandfather who was presented with a plaque of gratitude for his work in the community during COVID 19. -
2020-08-28
A Love Story Made Possible by Covid-19
Right as Covid-19 had seriously begun to hit the world in March of 2020 and was deemed a global pandemic, I had my heart broken by my boyfriend of a year and a half. I was not able to recover from the relationship like most people typically would by going out with friends and partying because of the lockdown. I was left all by myself. With no siblings, no friends in my area and a very small family, I had to find other ways in which to communicate with others so that I wouldn't lose my mind. In July of 2020, I joined Bumble and decided to get back in the dating game, that's when I met Jacob. Jacob and I matched because he was on vacation in Florida, however, we matched and began talking on the day that he was flying back to his home in Houston, Texas. We kept in contact though and were presented with our first Covid-related blessing: cheap plane tickets. As college students who are unable to afford most things, when we found out that a roundtrip from Houston to Florida only cost $58 we jumped on that opportunity. Jacob flew out to Florida so he could take me on our first official date, which went amazing. We continued talking when school started and that is when we realized we were presented with another Covid-19 related opportunity. Since all of my classes were online and airplane tickets were still cheap, I was able to fly out to Texas for a week and be with him. Although Covid-19 is a terrible and deadly disease, it has allowed me to find somebody that I can call my own, because without the pandemic we would not be able to afford to see each other nearly as regularly and my school schedule would not allow me to leave the state at random to be with him. love, oppurtunity, bumble app, happy, unexpected -
2020
Covid-19 in 2020
I am choosing a mask to describe my story because it is the most common item seen in this pandemic and it can easily be remembered through just one look at the mask. My experience throughout Covid has been rough, I personally have not had the virus, however I lost my job for months because retail is not considered essential, I had friends and family that were severely ill due to the virus and that impacted me emotionally. It has been scary, not knowing when this will be over or if we are doing right by still leaving our houses but it is not optional. Wearing my mask is important to me because it helps me feel safer throughout these times from the people who care slightly less. I feel like it does make a difference and it is important I continue to wear one in order to stay safe and feel better throughout these terrible months in hopes that soon it will be over. *This is a picture of a mask found in google mask, florida, scared, protection -
2020-07-06
Being an International Student During the Pandemic
This screenshot I had taken on July 6th, 2020 to send to my mom in a panic. I am an international student from Saint Lucia so I flew home in March of 2020 when Saint Lucia was going through a week long lockdown. My mom did not want me to be stuck in the United States without any family if Saint Lucia locked down for months. I left Florida with two weeks worth of stuff as I thought everything would blow over quickly. Four months later, I was still stuck in Saint Lucia and my visa had expired. Unfortunately, the closest embassy in Barbados was closed. I thought that I would never be able to finish school when I got this notification as they weren't renewing student visas for many people if schools were unsure about their status. The rule was overturned and everything worked out but this screenshot reminds me of a time when I truly saw the effect the pandemic could have on so many lives. -
2020-09-27
Covid policy and my mom
I have uploaded this text conversation between my mother and I because it represents how dissatisfied people in Florida are about the very caviler attitude towards the handling of the covid outbreak. According to some of my friends in other states this appears to be an attitude many republican governors share. -
2020-04-16
Long distance letters
This photo is a birtday box my friend sent me from Maryland to Florida. We originally planned on celebrating together because we'd be at school still, riding out the end of our freshman year of college, but with all Florida universities being shut down in early March, we were forced to move out of our dorm and return to our homes. This image is important to me because with the craziness and uncertancy of the future, we went back to our roots and stayed in contact the old fashoned way, letters. While we still talked on the phone and texted, waiting to get your next letter in the mail was exciting and fun. In this particular box, I was sent a shirt that my friend tye-dyed herself & a couple of letters about different things she'd been doing (or not doing) and just letters about life. Even though we were apart, being able to write and send momentums made us all feel closer. -
2020-09-28
Dealing with Covid-19 and School
Last semester (spring 2020) was only my second semester in college and as I was already struggling to get a grasp on my school work and manage a social life outside of school and my part time job I had found myself back at home in my childhood bedroom having to teach myself the material. I am now a sophomore at Florida Gulf Coast University. This semester I have only one class in person and we just meet to complete the labs therefore I am basically teaching myself five college level courses. I also have a part time job at PetSmart and as they are pretty flexible since I am in school it is still hard to fully manage my free time to the best of my abilities without wasting any of the time I do have outside of work. I, like probably many others have found the past few months some of the most challenging yet evolving times of my life. Despite the challenges I've encountered over the last 6 months I was very thrilled to be back at home with my parents and my cat that I was very upset to leave to begin with. But, I shouldn’t have been home that long. Us, the students of America, need to be in classrooms learning hands on, we need that time out of the house to prospere, we need those social interactions with teachers and peers. We should not be forced to take classes via a computer. This is America we should have the right to decide whether we want to return to our lives normally, as we should and be in the classroom learning with our teachers in front of us. As we are now in week seven of the fall semester for students in higher level education across America there have been numerous instances of universities closing due to Covid-19 outbreaks and some not even opening back up to give the students a chance. My university has opened with the majority of the classes still being online which has been challenging. Most of the resources they provide to us have either been moved to online formatting or just simply closed which is unfair. Why should we the students who want to succeed in our lives ahead of us be stuck behind computer screens teaching ourselves the material for our coursework? America should be able to handle this pandemic a lot better than it has been to get our students back in the classrooms. -
2020-09-25
College and COVID
When COVID-19 first appeared in Wuhan, China, I, like many others, thought that it wasn’t going to be a big deal. It would be contained, it wouldn’t spread very far, and the people of China would take the necessary precautions needed to prevent its spread to other countries. Sure, I had heard the jokes of every 20 year in a century having a new plague, but those were just jokes, right? I didn’t know how wrong I had been. As COVID spread, I was still in denial of how bad it would get in the United States. My university, Florida Gulf Coast University, was still intent on staying open through the end of the semester. However, three days after getting back from spring break, the Florida Board of Governors issued that starting Monday, all universities would move to all-online for two weeks. Along with many others, I packed up to go home for two weeks, though I didn’t have much confidence that I would be returning at the end. True to mine and everyone else’s guess, the all-online was extended through the end of the summer. Still having hope that I’d return to campus in the fall, I registered for five in-person classes, finished up my spring semester with all As, and got a job at Culver’s for the summer. I struggled with the mask at first, mainly due to my sensory processing issues, which made it difficult for me to get used to constantly having something over my face. Now, I’m used to it and I wear it whenever I leave my dorm room. Although I returned to campus for the fall semester, it’s due to my on-campus job. All of my classes had been moved to online formatting, which has not been easy. All online classes are typically more work than in-person ones since you have to teach yourself the material. Life during COVID-19 has definitely been interesting, to say the least. -
2020-09-15
Antimaskers Storm Target in Florida
The video shows a group of people protesting masks in a target in Florida. The protesters can be heard saying, "Take it off" and were playing "We're not gonna take it" by Twisted sister on a speaker. anti-masker, Target, mask, Florida -
09/18/2020
Victor Madsen Oral History, 2020/09/18
Victor Madsen is a freshman at Northeastern University. He went to a high school in Florida, and he shares his experiences since the beginning of the pandemic. Mr. Madsen shares his story about how he was stuck in the Bahamas for a long time due to changes in traveling policies during the pandemic. -
09/20/2020
Mary Grace Arents Oral History, 2020/09/20
This is an interview of my friend Grace who lives in Sarasota Florida, and her experience during the Covid-19 Pandemic -
09/18/2020
Lydia X Oral History, 2020/09/18
The goal of this story was to capture a relatively normal COVID experience. This is not to say that this experience was not impactful. COVID has impacted all of us in small and big ways, and it's comforting to know we are far from alone in our experiences. -
09/15/2020
Samantha Rearick Oral History, 2020/7/18
This interview describes my experience as a senior and now freshman in college during the pandemic. From deaths in the family to missing graduation, my story encompasses how I interpreted and dealt with the pandemic.