Items

• 2020

  Continuous Travels Throughout The Pandemic

  As an Active Duty Soldier during the COVID-19 pandemic I was able to travel; albeit my movements were extremely controlled and job-related and not for leisure. On 13 March 2020, when the entire Country literally reacted to and shut down due to COVID-19, I was out of town and hours away from traveling back to my duty station. The sudden reality we were all faced with felt like The Twilight Zone, especially since it was also a Friday. In May of 2020, I drove to my hometown of San Antonio, TX. My mother was a COVID patient in the ICU, and I needed to get home to help take care of my father. Thankfully, my mother recovered, and I returned to Tennessee, where I was stationed at the time. The COVID restrictions from Tennessee and Texas could not have been more different; whereas Clarksville, Tennessee treated public separation and mask-wearing with a laissez-faire attitude, San Antonio was very strict with its public safety ordinances. A few months later, I deployed to Iraq; transiting to and from the Combat Zone was extremely restrictive. Prior to the Pandemic, we could enjoy local sightseeing if we had a layover in Spain or Germany; naturally, during COVID we were confined to our lodging. However, in January of 2021, as travel restrictions began to lift ever-so slightly, I participated in a unit training exercise in California. To my surprise, we had to fly commercially to Las Vegas, NV. To ensure 6-foot separation, we were each allowed our own rental vehicles, and our own hotel rooms while we trained in the California desert. In all my years in the military, that was the only time I wasn’t required to share a rental or hotel room with anyone. After we had concluded our training, we commuted back to Las Vegas. The original plan was to use military lodging on Nellis Air Force Base, however our Commander allowed us to find our own hotels in Las Vegas, as our flights would not depart for Nashville for another 36 hours or so. At that time of course, no one was traveling or booking rooms; I was able to find a room at the 4 Queens Casino on Fremont Street for forty dollars a night. This turned out to be far more cost-effective to the US Government, as we would have paid around ninety dollars a night had we stayed on Nellis AFB. Restaurants in Las Vegas during the Pandemic opened no earlier than noon, so we had a lot of time to kill in the morning. We walked up and down Fremont Street, the Strip, and it felt as though we were the only group of people in the city. Casinos were empty throughout the day and remained empty well into the night. Being thirsty Soldiers, we visited a Speakeasy and a couple of restaurants; again, with the eerie feeling like we were the only “tourists” there. We even visited the Mob Museum and enjoyed all the history and Prohibition artifacts at our leisure! Between multiple quarantines, working remotely, COVID tests, memorandums clearing us to leave the country, and the eventual vaccination, we continued military travel. It was impossible for my unit to cease all operations due to the Pandemic; we adjusted on the spot and continued to learn throughout the entire experience. It was impossible for me to narrow my travels during COVID to just one single memory; rather it felt like one continuous surreal dream. Today if anyone asks where or how I spent Lockdown, I have to ask, “When during the Pandemic are you referring to?”
• 
  2020-04-20

  Stacking Refrigerators: A Pandemic Work Story

  This image is of me working at a refrigerator plant during the Spring of 2021. Before I started working at my law firm, I bounced around and did odd jobs to make ends meet. I came across this plant job in my hometown because the plant was suffering from severe labor shortages due to COVID-19. The plant was offering higher pay due to labor shortages and was offering to hire in employees faster because of it. We were required to wear mask inside the plant at all times regardless of it being extremely hot and were expected to do overtime and come in on weekends if needed. I did not only want to highlight the work conditions of this job but illuminate businesses began to operate due to the dire conditions of the pandemic. I also wanted to highlight how some people had to continue to work during the pandemic despite setbacks with workers, production numbers, and work conditions. It is important to illuminate stories like these because many essential workers stories are not heard and recognized. Despite unemployment numbers being at all-time high nationally, people are still working. Therefore, it is important to recognize the sacrifices and contributions workers like I had to make in order to continue to support ourselves and our loved ones.
• 
  2021-07-02

  No kids in the hallways

  I work as a director of a Boys & Girls Club in Cleveland, Tennessee. For anyone unfamiliar with the Boys & Girls Club, we are a Department of Education-certified after-school and summer program. Our organization is comprised of fourteen Clubs across four counties and, prior to COVID-19, we served over 1,000 Club members every day. Immediately following the outbreak of COVID-19, the hallways of our Clubs were empty. In a matter of hours, an invaluable local resource became inaccessible to hundreds of families who depended on our support. This was an extremely difficult time. Fortunately, our organization has an exceptional leadership team. From the moment our doors closed in March 2020, our administration began working around the clock to adapt our program into one that was both virtual and accessible. Clubs began having daily ZOOM calls with their members, calling families to just check in, making silly YouTube videos and connecting with teen members on safe and secure social media platforms. Even further, our administration ensured that no one was laid off and employees still had plenty of work to do. With our hallways emptied, we were divided into small teams that could easily work in a socially-distanced manner and were assigned to a number of facility maintenance projects. We knew that one day our Club members would return, and when they did, we wanted their Clubs to be fresh, clean, and updated. I was assigned to the floors team. This team was charged with stripping and waxing all of the floors in each of the fourteen Clubs. For about eight weeks straight, I became overly familiar with the burning, sterile scent of Zep Heavy Duty Floor Products. Even with an industrial mask, the sharp and bitter aroma of the cleaner was pungent. Now, anytime the floors need to be done in my own building, I am taken back to those 14 weeks there were no kids in the hallways. Fortunately, we re-opened our doors to our Club members on June 1st, 2020 with strict health and safety protocols, and only at half capacity. We remained at half capacity until June 1st, 2021 when we were finally able to fully re-open our sites. Our numbers have still not returned to what they were, but we are slowly getting there. The important thing to us is that we are able to safely provide much-needed services to our community.
• 
  2021-05-08

  The Difference that 473 Miles Makes

  My story is about the differences between two states; Illinois and Tennessee and their handling of the pandemic.
• 
  2020-07-15

  Wear a Damn Mask

  #WEARADAMNMASK   So excited to finally share the finished image for #GigiJournalPartII @vmagazine , which is officially on select newssstands! (Link in bio to order online) I couldn’t be more proud to be part of this very special publication, guest edited and creative directed by @gigihadid 💙    A month and a half ago while working on this, I never thought that at the time of the journal’s publication, cases in the US would be surging in 41 states and that hospitals would be swelling. For those who continue to resist precautionary measures and try to argue that the threat of this virus is false, I have family working in an ER full of COVID patients in Tennessee right now, and can promise you this is very real. So please, wear a fucking mask and wash your hands! It’s the absolute least we can do.     Thank you to all the essential workers, who now 4 months in, are continuing to risk their lives by going to work every day. This work is in honour if you 💙
• 
  02/21/2021

  June Massengill Oral History, 2021/02/21

  This is a recording I did my great aunt, June. It asks the question regarding whether or not there are any silver linings in the pandemic.
• 
  2021-01

  COVID-19 deaths soaring in Tennessee's more rural counties

  Over the past several weeks, Knox County and the rural counties surrounding Knox have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. Tennessee and its rural areas were not hit hard initially by the pandemic, but have become a major area for concern as of late.
• 2021-01

  An Old Gray Piece of Cloth

  Gabriel Rheaume’s Sensory history contribution to COVID-19 Archive I would like to submit my gray, cotton face mask to the COVID-19 Archive. It is perhaps not as the most important item, but certainly it is the most present item for me throughout this pandemic. At almost a full year into this adventure, everyone has a keen familiarity with and opinion of face masks. I got this one as a gift. It feels about the same as getting socks on Christmas, except more useful. I have used this thing every single day unless I forget it—which sends me into a chaotic panic. I am a teacher in a suburb of Nashville, TN. Our school district insists on teaching in person, despite having alarmingly high infection rates in our community. This mask is now part of my daily uniform, a non-negotiable. It serves as a role model for students. A sign that their health is of paramount concern to us. It is part of everything I do. I have dozens of paper replacements in my desk. Those aren’t as good. They straps hurt your ears. The cloth ones are better, more comfortable. I thought about getting one with my favorite band’s logo, but I am going to stick with this old reliable gray, cotton mask. The smell of this mask will haunt me the rest of my life. I wash it multiple times per week. It often smells like laundry detergent. That is a good thing. However, by the end of the day it often smells like whatever I had for lunch. The masks gets hot. It is blasted with my carbon dioxide for eight hours straight. It gets really bad when I have to lecture during the day. When you inhale sharply to talk, it sucks in the material. I’ve learned how to breathe differently when I have the mask on. Sometimes I just pinch the end and hold it with my fingers while I talk. I can rarely take it off. I panic if I forget to put it on when I leave my classroom to go anywhere. Who would have ever thought this little cloth mask would be so important? I often doubt that it is effective at preventing the spread or contraction of infection. I am certainly NOT an anti-masker. But it’s a piece of cloth. I guess that it’s better than nothing. This gray cotton face mask, sometimes imbued with the glorious smell of fresh linen in the breeze or Last night’s roast and mashed potatoes has become a source of loathing and resentment, but simultaneously an anti-viral security blanket (if only in my imagination). Yet, I can’t wait to get rid of this vile thing.
• 2021-01-15

  The old gray mask

  I would like to submit my gray, cotton face mask to the COVID-19 Archive. It is perhaps not as the most important item, but certainly it is the most present item for me throughout this pandemic. At almost a full year into this adventure, everyone has a keen familiarity with and opinion of face masks. I got this one as a gift. It feels about the same as getting socks on Christmas, except more useful. I have used this thing every single day unless I forget it—which sends me into a chaotic panic. I am a teacher in a suburb of Nashville, TN. Our school district insists on teaching in person, despite having alarmingly high infection rates in our community. This mask is now part of my daily uniform, a non-negotiable. It serves as a role model for students. A sign that their health is of paramount concern to us. It is part of everything I do. I have dozens of paper replacements in my desk. Those aren’t as good. They straps hurt your ears. The cloth ones are better, more comfortable. I thought about getting one with my favorite band’s logo, but I am going to stick with this old reliable gray, cotton mask. The smell of this mask will haunt me the rest of my life. I wash it multiple times per week. It often smells like laundry detergent. That is a good thing. However, by the end of the day it often smells like whatever I had for lunch. The masks gets hot. It is blasted with my carbon dioxide for eight hours straight. It gets really bad when I have to lecture during the day. When you inhale sharply to talk, it sucks in the material. I’ve learned how to breathe differently when I have the mask on. Sometimes I just pinch the end and hold it with my fingers while I talk. I can rarely take it off. I panic if I forget to put it on when I leave my classroom to go anywhere. Who would have ever thought this little cloth mask would be so important? I often doubt that it is effective at preventing the spread or contraction of infection. I am certainly NOT an anti-masker. But it’s a piece of cloth. I guess that it’s better than nothing. This gray cotton face mask, sometimes imbued with the glorious smell of fresh linen in the breeze or Last night’s roast and mashed potatoes has become a source of loathing and resentment, but simultaneously an anti-viral security blanket (if only in my imagination). Yet, I can’t wait to get rid of this vile thing.
• 
  2020-10-08

  Essential Worker

  The object that I have uploaded reflects several aspects regarding the pandemic as it presents an implication as to the spread of Covid-19 throughout the United States, methods regarding the prevention of the transmission of Covid-19, as well as the efforts of companies, in this case Dollar General, to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. On its own, as the mask of a Dollar General Employee from Sevierville, Tennessee, the object brings with it the implication that, in the event that evidence for Covid-19’s spread within East Tennessee is lost, there was at least a concern within the Dollar General corporation regarding the spread of Covid-19 into the East Tennessee area. The object, as a photograph of a mask, also provides information about the ideas circulating at this time to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, such as the donning of a mask to cover the mouth and nose. The object also informs regarding the efforts of retail corporations, in this instance Dollar General, to curb the spread of the pandemic through their establishments and across the nation, such as providing official masks for their employees to utilize. The uploaded object is important to me because it is a reminder of the various reactions, primarily from customers, to the spread of the pandemic within a retail-based environment. Among these reactions has been the bulk purchasing of certain products once they are restocked, specifically Lysol and alcohol but toilet paper and hand sanitizer were also frequently bought in the early months of the pandemic, as well as the influx of various hand sanitizer and face mask based products to be purchased. Aside from what items are frequently purchased, the customers of the store also react frequently to the implementation of face masks within the store as many comment on their lack of comfort while a minority speak positively about their benefit in preventing the spread of Covid-19, though the majority of customers make no comment at all regarding face masks.
• 2020-08-10

  Finding Out My Grandfather Has Terminal Cancer in the COVID-19 Pandemic

  In the midst of an already chaotic season, my family and I received news that my grandfather has colon cancer. It started with the doctors first finding multiple masses on his colon as well as his liver. As time passed, multiple tests, scans, etc. were done and the results came back as cancerous. When we got the phone call that it was incurable, all I wanted to do was drop everything and go see him but then I remembered.. We are in the middle of a pandemic. So then the anxious thoughts started to creep in of whether or not I would have a chance to see him before he dies. My grandfather lives in Texas, while my husband and I live just outside of Nashville, Tennessee. We had a trip scheduled toward the beginning of the summer and had already pushed back so I didn't want to reschedule this trip once more knowing it could be the last time I see him. Coming to a conclusion was very challenging. We changed our minds back and forth multiple times and almost didn't go. However, my husband and I were able to pack up a week's worth of clothing and technology (I am a full time student at the moment) and we drove down to Texas. We were given the opportunity to see my grandfather at my grandparents house while we wore masks. Overall, the trip was great. My husband and I were grateful for the chance to see my family, especially my grandfather. While the decision of if we should see him or not was a difficult one that took a lot of thought and guidance, I am glad we went in the end.
• 2020-04-01

  Front Lines: Reactions to the Pandemic Seen From a Health Care Professional's Perspective

  Working through this pandemic has been difficult to say the least. This video was taken during a spike of cases here in TN and was what I call a light in the darkness. It has been truly interesting to hear the different opinions and perspectives from my patients. Religion has been a major theme. Some patients see the good, and some see all the bad. I have heard theories on why this may be happening from "Punishments from God", " The end is coming", "We have been given this time to get closer to our family", etc. Regardless of the meaning behind it all, it is nice to know those working through the pandemic have a stong support group.
• 
  2020-04-09

  Conversation with my pharmacy friend

  My friend is a pharmacy student in Nashville and was shocked at how students were being treated by employers and professors. She was also shocked by the news and information being presented to clients. This exchange explains why so much disinformation spread as this started. This is Part 2 of our conversation. #NortheasternJOTPY
• 
  2020-04-09

  Conversation with my pharmacy friend

  My friend is a pharmacy student in Nashville and was shocked at how students were being treated by employers and professors. She was also shocked by the news and information being presented to clients. This exchange explains why so much disinformation spread as this started. This is Part 1 of our conversation. #NortheasternJOTPY
• 
  2020-04-27

  "REL Tennessee Restaurants Reopen As State Sees Biggest 1-Day Jump In COVID-19 Cases"

  Governor says it's time to get back to work and for businesses to start opening.
• 
  2020-04-20

  No More Visits

  My grandma recently moved into an independent living facility and now I am not allowed to go visit her. If she comes to visit me she will not be allowed to go back to the facility or she will be completely quarantined in her room for two weeks.
• 
  2020-03-21

  Drone Footage

  Drone Footage Nashville
• 
  2020-03-27

  Hand Sanitizer Scare - Rx Compound Centre

  After having dozens of families come into our pharmacy looking for hand sanitizer we finally decided to start making some to help people out. The first day we got a call from the Columbia school system for 800 oz of it. Also, almost every customer that came in added a bottle to their order.
• 
  2020-03-22

  The Director of Dickson County Schools in Tennessee responds to a tweet about a possible option on how seniors could graduate if graduation is canceled

  While many graduations across the world are being canceled, many parents and students are looking for other options of graduation. One parent shared a possible option of planning a parade of cars to go around Dickson County, Tennessee. This would help everyone stay safe, and make sure that seniors can still have a graduation ceremony.
• 
  March 13, 2020

  Military Changes

  During this time of social distancing and restraint of large gatherings, my brother was graduating from Army Basic Training. I, along with my parents and many other family members, made the trip from Dickson, Tennessee to Fort Benning Georgia. We went to watch his graduation ceremony and spend the few days he was allowed leave with him. However, the night before we were to leave we received word that the ceremony was cancelled and we wouldn’t be allowed to see our soldier as of that time. After hours of waiting to see what might change we finally were notified that the ceremony was still canceled but we were allowed to see our soldier and bring him off base. After traveling down to Fort Benning we got to watch his ceremony on our laptops and were then allowed to go pick up our soldier. We spent the remaining day catching up and doing as much as we could in as little as possible. Finally the end of the night came and we were headed back to our hotel when my brother got a a call that said he had to go back to base. Furious but helpless we had no choice but to bring him back. Once again because of the coronavirus precautions, and President Trump declaring the virus a pandemic that day, we had no clue when we might see him again. The next morning we got our final notification that we could go on base and spend the day with our soldier but he wasn’t allowed to leave and it would be his last chance to see us. We then went on base and spent what little time with him we could. That night we said our goodbyes and started home. My brother is now somewhere in the middle of the woods with the rest of his platoon in isolation. We have had little communication with him but he said that they will be spending five days in the woods, going back to the barracks for a shower, and right back into the woods for five more days. His base is now on lockdown and no civilians are allowed to enter. After this whole mess and scramble to see my brother I’m just happy we got to spend what little time with him we did.