Items

2022-10-01

Chan Yak Ja Pbai (I Want To Leave)

Unfortunately, I have not been able to travel since the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. The last two years of my undergraduate were affected by the pandemic, and initially, I was planning to study abroad during my senior year. Unfortunately, that was not possible and I was barely able to complete my student teaching placement for my Secondary Education Minor as the program was constantly under revision to ensure student safety. Now, as a graduate student, if I could go anywhere it would easily be Thailand as that is where my personal historical focus is. While my Thai is far from fluent, I have been steadily learning the language for about a year now as I hope to have an opportunity to complete an extended stay for scholarly or leisurely purposes. In terms of specifics, I would first like to travel to Chiang Rai, Sukhothai, or across Isan as Northern and Eastern Thailand have some of the richest historical and cultural sites, combined with the fact that individuals who I am very close to are from these areas as well. I have worked part-time at a Thai restaurant in Houston for a significant amount of time which helps considerably with practicing the language. As I am one of the only foreigners that works for the restaurant, the owners, my co-workers, and the individuals I have been introduced to through them have become like a second family to me, and I am very grateful for their generosity, inclusivity, and willingness to teach me as an outsider to the culture. Thus, I would love to be able to visit the areas that have meaning to them as well as fulfill my own historical ambitions. Two of my closest co-workers and I discussed traveling to Thailand and Laos together, and we agreed it would be interesting if we started a vlog to document the process. Not every temple or historical landmark allows photography or video to be taken, but I do think a vlog would be a great way to capture the moment as I am not the best at actively documenting things through social media. Video documentation also has the advantage of directly capturing the emotions and excitement of traveling as opposed to journaling or even photography. The photo I chose is of my co-worker and me at an event for the restaurant promoting Northern Thai cuisine in the traditional "Mo Hom", or the shirts worn by rice farmers.

2020-03-28

What to do when stuck at home

Once the world shut down and everyone had to quarantine, I found that I had a lot of new found free time to deal with. Over the first few days I thought it was awesome, because I was able to relax at home and basically do nothing. After those beginning days, things started to get boring. I didn’t know what to do with myself. It took me a few days, but I began to look for more things I could do with my life. As a music major, I practice my instrument about 3-4 hours every day. I took advantage of my free time by putting in a lot of work on the horn which greatly helped my development. I have also been very interested in learning new languages. I decided to start learning German. So far I’ve been studying German everyday on my own since then. It has been very fun to read stories and news articles in German. I have also found a great podcast and YouTube channel that does an awesome job teaching German. I had also begun to exercise more during the pandemic. My friends and I would go on runs outside together. It was a great way to meet up with friends and be healthy. The pandemic was a very difficult time when it first broke out. Most people did not know what to do with themselves. There was a lot of sitting at home, watching television, or playing video games. I didn’t want to remember the time of the pandemic as a time where I didn’t improve as a person. I had decided to make these changes or improvements to better myself for when the pandemic was over. It has been a great lesson for me as the pandemic is still going on today. I have learned how to deal with difficult situations and also how to make the most out of them

04/06/2021

Rachel Bryan Oral History, 2021/04/26

2021-11-01

my unplanned graduate studies journey

My story happened precisely a month after our national lockdown in Saudi Arabia, which was in March 2020, at that time I was applying for a scholarship to continue my higher education degree anywhere in the West, either in The UK or The United States, so my dream began to almost vanish after applying for one of the UK universities and they asked for an IELTS score, though I told them IELTS centers were shut down in Saudi Arabia at that time, unfortunately, they just assumed I had no other alternative rather than sticking with that condition! no exceptions! no mercy in another word you could say! though I have provided them with a very recent IELTS score very close to the overall score they asked for, I even begged them and asked them for any alternative test they could provide me since I explained to them the situation that no IELTS / TOFEL venues were open! , they just put me down and made me search for another option, which was Pitt one of the top PA or even nationwide universities to provide with accredited graduate Master of Library and Information Science. luckily when I applied they pre-accepted my application and they gave me an option which I never thought about it as a way of such a good university as Pitt would accept it, since that kind of online test was newly launched. so I fought a lot to get that offer letter to provide it to the scholarship provider as I had little hope to meet that condition of having the offer letter on that particular short notice deadline and the very deadly period of the peak of the global disaster of covid19. I THANK YOU VERY MUCH FROM THE DEPTH OF MY HEART, 1- PITT ADMISSIONS STAFF FOR PROVIDING ME THAT ALTERNATIVE OPTION OF PROVIDING THEM WITH AN ACCEPTABLE ONLINE ENGLISH TEST. 2- DUOLINGO FOR BEING THERE FOR US AT THAT HARD TIME! 3-MY SCHOLARSHIP PROVIDER FOR ALLOWING ME TO CONTINUE MY FURTHER STUDIES IN ONE OF THE TOP UNIVERSITIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

2021-07-22

CDC Resources in Languages Other Than English

Information on COVID-19 must be available to all individuals if the US as a society and as a country are to successfully deal with this virus and prevent deaths and illness. This information must be available in a variety of languages other than English to meet the needs of those who are not proficient in the English language. The CDC created a website with a wealth of information and materials for individuals in languages other than English, including materials for migrants and refugees. The CDC also has a website for Spanish-speaking individuals.

2020-03-18

OCHS Alumni Provides COVID-19 Information In Mayan Mam and Spanish Video

Oakland Charter High School alumni, Gerardo Jeronimo Lorenzo, creates crucial COVID-19 informational video for the community. Gerardo Jeronimo Lorenzo, OCHS alum and Medical Translator II at Alameda Health System, enlists the help of Dr. Kate Kasberger and Amalia Pablo Pablo, Mam interpreter at the San Antonio Neighborhood Health Center, to provide vital COVID-19 information in Mam, an indigenous Gautemalan [sic] langauge [sic]. AMPS is so proud of our alum, who despite these tough times, is reaching across the divide to support his community. Go Matadors!

2021-06-27

virALLanguages

virALLanguages is a volunteer-led project that creates COVID safety content in different endangered languages. The project runs a YouTube channel and Facebook page where they post videos with information about COVID in rare languages, and their website also has a collection of downloadable materials in those languages. Beyond translating material, the project also seeks to tailor awareness materials to members of a community to be in touch with the speakers of those languages by using culturally-aware vocabulary and figures of speech. The attached URIs contain, in order: 1: The main page of the website 2: All of the videos the project has made, including YouTube links and downloadable videos, on the project website 3: An Internet Archive page with the videos the project has made

This is a picture taken inside of a deli.

2021-06-18

A Linguistic Tour through Arthur Avenue

I traveled to New York this summer, and one of the places I visited was Arthur Avenue, located in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx and the main artery of the Bronx's Little Italy. Arthur Avenue provided a unique insight into the function of immigrant languages during the pandemic. Most of the people I heard talking as I walked down Arthur Avenue and went into the stores were speaking English, as would be expected in most of the United States. Some had an accent similar to a "standard" American accent/my Californian accent, while others spoke in New Yorker accents. I heard some people speaking Italian, mostly if not entirely elderly people, in several stores, including Cerini Coffee and Gifts. I also heard expression of language through music, in the form of a speaker in front of Mario's Restaurant playing "Tu vuò fà l'Americano" ("You Want to Be an American") and "O Sarracino" ("The Saracen"), two famous Neapolitan language songs. I didn't expect to hear music in Italian "dialect" (called so even though Neapolitan is a proper stand-alone language). However, Belmont is no longer just Little Italy. It also has a large Albanian presence. I saw a flyer on a street pole in Albanian which I presume to either be a missing sign or a flyer for a funeral. I have no idea what the flyer said because I don't know Albanian, but among the text were two pictures of an elderly man. In front of Randazzo's Seafood, I also saw a sign advertising some type of shellfish (I can't remember which) in Albanian and English, though not in Italian, which I thought was interesting since the store is owned by the grandchildren of immigrants from Sicily. There was also an Albanian television provider called TV ALB, which indicated to me that there are enough Albanian speakers in the area to sustain an Albanian-language cable or broadcast provider, even during the pandemic. I didn't hear any spoken Albanian. This could be a purely anecdotal observation, but I saw Italian primarily as a spoken language and Albanian primarily in writing. There was some writing in Italian, but most of it was either names of food items that couldn't be translated into English or sayings like "mangia bene vivi bene" ("eat well, live well", as a command; the picture of which is attached to this story) for promotional purposes. There was no actual communication occurring in written Italian. On a non-linguistic note, most of the restaurants also had outdoor seating under canopies, a consequence of COVID.

2021-03-21

Section 11004 of H.R.1319 - American Rescue Plan Act of 2021

Section 11004 of H.R.1319 - American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 reads: SEC. 11004. COVID–19 RESPONSE RESOURCES FOR THE PRESERVATION AND MAINTENANCE OF NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES. (a) Section 816 of the Native American Programs Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 2992d) is amended by adding at the end the following: “(f) In addition to amounts otherwise available, there is appropriated for fiscal year 2021, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $20,000,000 to remain available until expended, to carry out section 803C(g) of this Act.”. (b) Section 803C of the Native American Programs Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 2991b–3) is amended by adding at the end the following: “(g) Emergency Grants For Native American Language Preservation And Maintenance.—Not later than 180 days after the effective date of this subsection, the Secretary shall award grants to entities eligible to receive assistance under subsection (a)(1) to ensure the survival and continuing vitality of Native American languages during and after the public health emergency declared by the Secretary pursuant to section 319 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) with respect to the COVID–19 pandemic.”.

2021-04-12

Corona Vocabulary

This is a comprehensive (but not exhaustive) list of the most common Corona themed vocabulary used by in the U.S. While a definition of each term is not provided, linked websites provide context and explanations of many of the words. Culled from a variety of real world sources, what is most important about these terms is what their use says about the culture they created/were used in. From the use of everyday pandemic language, researchers can gain a window into the COVID experience in a way that is inaccessible even in photographs. These terms also show the United States was undergoing dramatic social and cultural change and some terms highlight the political conflict that was often meshed with Corona in the U.S. The vocabulary also shows a degree of conformity in U.S. culture as all of these terms became part of most Americans' vocabulary. The case of the work "healthcare worker" and "virtual" are two examples of this. Before medical staff, nurse doctor, EMT, online, distance learning, etc. were used to refer to these things, but now Americans have dropped them for the COVID versions. This shows how powerful Corona vocabulary has become.

2020

Yanomami want miners out of their lands to prevent spread of COVID-19

"The most well-known Yanomami shaman and leader, Davi Kopenawa, with French anthropologist Bruce Albert. Inspired by his words and teaching, Ye'kwana Leadership Forum produced the film "The Shaman’s Message", to bring the #MinersOutCovidOut campaign to the world. The campaign calls for the immediate removal of illegal miners who are active in the Yanomami Territory, destroying the forest and rivers, bringing violence and now COVID-19 with them into the communities."

2021-04-07

Sacramento: vaccination efforts opening up

Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang distributes information about vaccination opportunities in her district. The notice contains information about registering in various languages including English, Spanish, Arabic, Hmong, and Vietnamese. Vaccination clinics have just begun to offer vaccinations to everyone aged 16 and up in Sacramento.

2020-10-20

Communication

One of the things many of us may not realize is that there are a lot of hearing impaired individuals out there who have difficulty reading lips due mask wearing. It’s important that everyone be patient with others and realize that some people may be unable to understand you. Maintaining a safe distance while pulling your mask down might be necessary for effective communication. . . Special thanks my patient of mine who gave me permission to share this post. . #hearing #hearingloss #hearinglossawareness #hearingimpaired #deafandcovid #deafandmasks #covid_19

2020-09-15

Arizona nonprofits boost aid to help refugees deal with the pandemic

By Sarandon Raboin/Luce Foundation: Southwest Stories Fellowship

2020-08-26

Arizona nonprofits boost aid to help refugees impacted by COVID-19 pandemic

By Sarandon Raboin/Luce Foundation: Southwest Stories Fellowship

2020-08-10

Tweet Changes Headline

Language is changing to be more people focused. This has happened in several arenas including incarceration. Instead of calling people inmates, prisoners, or convicts there is a movement to change the language to a people first option such as incarcerated person. One activist, Adnan Khan, of Restore Justice, a California based nonprofit seeking to change the criminal justice system, saw his Tweet about people first language cause the Los Angeles Times to change their headline.

A pamphlet in French detailing mandatory masking procedures.

2020-07-31

"Temporary Mandatory Mask By-law in effect. Help Stop COVID-19. Wear a Mask."

A pamphlet given to all residences in Ottawa through the mail explaining that there is now a "Temporary Mandatory Mask By-Law in effect." It then goes on to explain other public health measures to be observed and the reopening of city services. There is also a panel which reads "For more information, please visit ottawa.ca or for service in any language of your choice, please call 3-1-1." translated into Simplified Chinese, Hindi, Farsi, Somali, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, and Inuktitut. The reverse is the same in French.

2020-07-20

Métis artist creates 'wash your hands' posters in 21 Indigenous languages

"The Métis artist decided to take two of her pieces and, using translations she found on an Indigenous Services Canada website, add the recommendation to 'wash your hands' in 21 Indigenous languages." "There's a lot of elders that don't speak the English language fluently, so to see something in their own language would be comforting, just knowing that somebody cares enough to take the time to give you something in the language of your own upbringing." - Colleen Gray

2020-07-11

HERMIT HERALD VOL 1 ISSUE 48

RACIAL ISSUES AND HISTORY

2020-06-01

Rare language summer camps will be held in Yakutia (В Якутии проведут летние лагеря с редким языком)

"Pupils in Yakutia during the holidays will be able to learn the endangered Yukaghir language and get acquainted with the culture of this indigenous small people. To do this, summer camps are organized in the region with presidential grant funds, Valentina Akimova , director of the Kuzhuun Shorile (Rainbow) project, director of the Yarkhag Yukagir revival fund"The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg registered a complaint of the so-called Yakut shaman Alexander Gabyshev , who disputes his detention on December 10, 2019 during a trip to Moscow"

2020-05-13

Learning a New Language in Quarantine

2020-05-06

COVID on the Border: Part 1

I won’t name the town I was in due to operational security concerns but I arrived on 9 March 2020 to a small rural community on the U.S. side of the U.S./Mexican border. I had arrived in support of one of those governmental three-letter agencies and would be spending the next few weeks in the town. For a small town it had all the services necessary to fulfill the needs of myself and my coworkers; restaurants, grocery stores, even a shopping mall. Surrounded by farms, the town was predominately blue-collar and relied heavily on cross-border migrants to assist in the fields. Spanish was the dominant language and a great opportunity for me to recall my ad hoc lessons from junior high classmates while growing up in Long Beach, California. The gig was temporary but would be a new experience in a new location. I was excited. The first night in town I enjoyed a meal at a nearby Famous Daves BBQ restaurant with my coworkers. As we ate our BBQ sandwiches finished off with draught beer we couldn’t help but notice the concerns of news anchors on a nearby television over COVID’s proliferation in the U.S. Each day from that point on the restrictions grew. First barber shops, nail salons, and other non-essential businesses. Then restaurants. A week later the Famous Daves was closed for dine-in. Our world was collapsing. In a matter of a week the town’s fragile economy had come to a screeching halt. Nearby was a large shopping mall that I visited during my first few days in town. I bought a replacement wedding ring from the mall’s JCPenny after losing mine prior to the trip. Now the giant behemoth, that monument to 1980s-90s materialism, was closed. Not a soul stirred. A recreational jog around it found a family riding bicycles in the parking lot. Aside from a few lawn care workers pruning shrubs and palms it was a ghost town. I thought of the courteous saleswoman who helped me pick out the replacement ring; how was she fairing, what was her income like, what was her struggle like now? As these thoughts permeated my mind I couldn’t help but be thankful that I was still in a job that paid. I said a quick prayer for her. Could I help? The mall was locked tight, no way to find out who she was. In just a few weeks of living in this small town during this time of COVID and observing human responses and governmental orders related to the pandemic I was shocked to learn how fragile an economy can be. What did this look like for the future of businesses? Could that large mall ever open again or was it relegated to history, to serve as a relic or memorial to past human behaviors. Amazon had become king. One’s only hope was to live near an Amazon packing plant or own a business that was sub-contracted by the online giant. The farms continued to produce, the trucks continued to drive, but there was a hole in this once tight-knit small town along the border.