Items

• 
  2020-12-08

  Nutcracker

  A comic strip about Covid-19
• 
  2020-10-25

  Halloween signs

  A comic strip about Covid-19
• 
  2022-04-23

  #rel101 covid reflection story

  this is a short reflection about the changes that happened during the covid-19 pandemic and the divide that occurred amongst American people
• 
  2022-04-22

  Drawing What I See in NYC

  This is an Instagram post by themeatofit. This is an illustration of someone wearing a mask. The person wearing the mask looks miserable. In the tags the artist uses, he wants the mandates to end. One person, jake._.robertss, suggests that if the person is wearing a properly fitted KN95 or N95 mask that the person will be more protected.
• 
  2022-03-15

  Passionate and (mostly) respectful recent debate in the waning pandemic

  While the all-encompassing strength of the COVID-19 Pandemic is waning, it still persists and lingers. This is a critical time where countries can either dreamily and abruptly attempt to return to idealized pre-pandemic existence or continue to return to their visions of normalcy through steps found in scientific methodology. Debates that focused on safety, health, and personal freedoms (especially about masks and vaccines) were constantly in the news the last two years, with some deteriorating into disheartening and embarrassing public displays. Surely, these debates will continue indefinitely, and all perspectives will be important to history. While browsing this archive, many of the stories are of those who subscribe to the reality of the pandemic, who trust and listen to science, and who have highlighted the way their lives have changed during the pandemic. I am from Arizona, born and raised. I often find myself to be the lone liberal or democrat, particularly at work, in a state formerly known as a red state, now perhaps purple. While Arizona is well represented in this archive regarding life during a pandemic, it has many people living in it who dispute the pandemic's origin, virulence, and the government's attempt to control personal freedoms, as much as I personally disagree. The attached YouTube video shows a meeting of the Kyrene School District Governing Board from January 25th, 2022. The relevant background is that before the 2021 Winter Holiday break this district emailed parents that masks would no longer be mandatory after the new year. By the end of the break, Omicron infections had increased, and the district regressed back to mandatory masks after the holidays. Please watch, specifically from minutes 20:35 through 38:28. To me, a person who reads a diverse group of news sites daily, this clip has brought me hope. Of all the ugly comments I have read on far right or left news sites, debate like the one in this video is instead mostly constructive, passionate, and respectful. I may not agree with everything discussed in this sample, but I respect people's right to debate their beliefs. I believe studying other perspectives is useful for future generations. Historians one hundred years from now may wonder why certain people thought masks were useless in schools. Hopefully, between this J.O.T.P.Y. archive and the articles that exist on the internet, a thoughtful sample of diverse perspectives can be researched. Additionally, I hope this video adds to material in this archive that demonstrates the anti-mask perspective to historians who could research and educate future generations on state and federal authority during health crises to hopefully prevent conflicts as we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic. This video is owned and uploaded by the Kyrene School District to YouTube.
• 
  11/20/2020

  Joanne Jahkne-Wegner Oral History, 2020/11/20

  C19OH
• 
  2021-12-07

  Marc Carolla and Niccola Lutri Oral History, 2021/12/07

  Marc & Niccola discuss their experiences with COVID-19 and relate it to past pandemics that they learned about in class
• 
  2021-08-16

  Truth

  a nurse friend of mine posted this on her Instagram story. It's hard to understand the logic of the anti-mask, anti-vax community.
• 
  2021-07-29

  Restaurant That Probably Spits in People’s Food Says It’ll Only Serve Unvaccinated Customers

  This colorful article by Vanity Fair explores the anti-vax, anti-government Huntington Beach restaurant Basilico’s Pasta e Vino. The writer urges its readers to avoid this restaurant and its "anti science" owner.
• 
  2021-02-14

  Essential vs. Expendable Workers

  When the pandemic broke out, I was caught in the whirlwind of being an essential worker. I was a manager at my local McDonalds, so I've seen just how cruel people can be, and how corporations have continued to neglected their workers. Many people are minimum wage workers, and its frightening to know that such a large population is suffering so much, only to receive little appreciation and change. Through my personal story, I hope to have readers step in the shoes of a minimum wage worker than a pandemic, so when they step out, they'll raise awareness on the issue of lack of support and care for minimum wage workers.
• 
  2021-01-29

  Keeping Alberta Rat Free

  Alberta has been historically known for two things, number one being the oil and gas industry, the second being Alberta’s lack of rats. Alberta historically prides itself on being a ‘rat free’ province through extermination campaigns throughout the whole province in order to maintain the mantle; and to protect Alberta’s agricultural sectors. Because of this legacy, Albertan pandemic skeptics on my home town’s Facebook page posted this meme in reference to people reporting large gatherings, and businesses which violate quarantine restrictions. Underneath this photo, many people who thought alike had a good chuckle and patted themselves on the back for keeping Alberta ‘rat free.’ However, these pandemic skeptics forget that Alberta became ‘rat free’ by people reporting sightings of rats, using the local 310-RATS hotline which alerted exterminators to the presence of rats throughout the province. This item matters to me in that it is how pandemic skeptics impose falsified history, and possibly Albertan nationalism to justify their own behaviour as somehow patriotic. I know I’m reading into this too deeply, but I find it somewhat funny how ignorant these people are to the true reality of our ‘rat free’ title, that we achieved it by reporting sightings of rats which posed a danger to our entire province; just how these people are posing a threat to the health of our entire province by opening businesses and getting together in large groups. This is mainly supposed to serve as a window into the Albertan experience of the Pandemic, with specific interest to the anti-masker’s opinions and thoughts on social media. I want to similarly point out, that I wasn’t the only person who noticed that Alberta was made ‘rat free’ by ratting on rats in this photo’s comment section.
• 
  2020-12-12

  Anti-mask protesters take to the streets in Calgary to fight COVID-19 restrictions

  This article details one of the numerous ‘freedom marches’ which took place in Calgary Alberta, Canada. These people were protesting in response to the government lockdowns, mask mandates and regulations to help limit the spread of Covid-19. However, what is interesting in this particular article is the reference to the multiplicity of causes behind each protestor; that protestors had different causes, and reasons for showing up. People marched for the obvious ‘anti-mask’ causes, yet others would protest for the ‘Wexit’ movement, which is the desire to establish either an independent Albertan ‘republic’ or join the U.S. as the 51st state. This item is important as it demonstrates how the pandemic sceptic movements of Calgary Alberta were viewed in a negative light; more importantly how these movements often co-opted other fringe movements such as the Albertan separatist movement. Similarly, the vitriol of these protestors is on display, as the Calgary freedom marchers have been notable for their behaviour of spitting, coughing and screaming at passersby, police and local businesses as evident in this particular story. Similarly, many believe these mask-less movements are super spreader events which are contributing to the spread of the virus in several urban centers throughout the province of Alberta, such as Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer. This article provides substance to the pandemic sceptics of Alberta, Canada as no different to the anti-maskers of the United States; as uploading this, many of the organizations who attended and organized these events are currently organizing a massive march throughout the province which has been marketed to appear alike the tiki-torch rally of the far right in Charlottesville in 2017. I believe this article would fit best in the social justice collection to demonstrate the public/media response to the pandemic sceptics marching in the streets of Albertan cities.
• 
  2020-07-27

  Anti-masking groups draw from anti-vaccination playbook to spread misinformation

  This article expounds on how anti-maskers are taking research out of context in arguing against COVID-19 restrictions. In addition, this story compares the similarities between anti-maskers and anti-vaccination protestors.
• 
  2020-07-10

  ""Covid barely kills anyone," says man who would probably be pretty annoyed if we killed him"

  This photo shows protesters with a flag in the foreground.
• 
  2020-11-28

  Anti-mask protests show need for better public health messaging

  This article describes how anti-mask protests, such as in Alberta, show the need for Canada's public health to promote the message of empathy and ask citizens to re-define their definition of freedom.
• 
  2020-10-11

  Mask Required For Service.

  “Do not pout. Do not whine. Do not argue.” A sign inside a restaurant explaining the requirement to wear a mask while inside the location. Whether or not to wear a mask has been a surprisingly contentious issue during the pandemic, and this sign explains, humorously, the problems with the anti-mask arguments.
• 
  2020-10-06

  Fed up with anti-maskers, mask advocates are demanding mandates, fines — and common courtesy

  There are a lot of stores that aren’t letting people who don’t wear masks into their stores and there are a lot of anti-maskers in America. A main reason why someone might not want to wear a mask is because they believe that they are losing their freedom by having a government forcing them to wear a mask, even though it’s for the safety of others and themself. Also, a lot of these people tend to be republican, and generally democrats are the ones who are pushing for mask mandates to try to slow the spread of the virus. The main point of the news article is to tell people that wearing masks has become a political thing, and that many people (mostly democrats) want the government to have mask mandates. I chose this article because I couldn’t believe that people didn’t want to wear a mask in the middle of a pandemic. It was a little hard to believe because I never really saw a lot of anti-maskers in the media from other countries so I thought it might just be an American thing, or a republican thing. I also think that people who don’t wear masks are a huge reason why we still have so many cases. The article shows that life during a pandemic is a lot different than normal life in many different aspects. Wearing masks is a new normal, but a lot of people don’t want to sacrifice their comfort by wearing one. It also has shown that the government is still very divided, between the democrats who generally want to have mask mandates and the republicans who generally don’t. This article is important because it shows how much things have changed since before the pandemic came to America. It shows the political and social differences between people who want to or don’t want to wear a mask. The article is overall pretty neutral, it isn’t attacking any of the sides. However, most of the situations that it gives show the bad sides of anti-maskers, for example, an anti-masker assaulting a worker who asked them to wear a mask. It also took quotes and opinions from a former Trump supporter and other mask advocates. The responsibility of the media during the pandemic is to inform people as much as possible about any new information concerning COVID-19. For example, the media should tell people if there are any mask mandates or if the government has any new plans regarding the pandemic.
• 
  2020-09-29

  The Reveal of True Colors Through Chaos

  This image represents the disruption that COVID-19 brought upon the daily lives of members in American society. Additionally, it could be used to symbolize the calm before the storm. The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 and almost immediate initiation of mandatory quarantine was chaotic enough. However, extended seclusion and cruel cops triggered a violent uproar within the hearts and actions of civilians. Within the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, American society has endured an almost complete shut down of businesses, initiation of new safety procedures, protests for black lives matter, protests for blue lives matter, anti-mask protestors, virtual school, the daily life of wearing a mask constantly while in public, toilet paper crises, the loss of loved ones, earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires, and much more. *A photograph, from architecturaldigest.com
• 
  2020-09-24

  It was not the mask

  This says that not everyone believes they should wear a mask even if they are more likely to die from the coronavirus, this is important to me because many people believed that the school and officer were wrong for enforcing their policies and even one of the governors started to talk about how the men were useless because they did not intervene in the arrest. *It is a screenshot based on some recent news justified
• 
  2020-09-29

  The Face Mask Dilemma

  Since the pandemic went into full swing in March 2020, the use of face masks has been the center of debate all across the United States. Americans perceive the policing of face masks as an infringement on their First Amendment rights despite the overall safety of the public's health being the major concern. As someone who worked in restaurants their whole life, I understand that working customer service isn't for the faint-hearted. However, anti-maskers were prominent despite multiple signs in the windows mandating masks upon entry/exit, COVID safety procedures displayed everywhere, and every employee wearing a mask and enforcing the guidelines issued by the CDC. Some even went as far as creating forged exemption cards that forced the Federal Trade Commission to issue a statement against them. I have been verbally assaulted, had stuff thrown at me, and even had individuals take off their mask and cough towards me just to entice some sort of violence or display their "dominance" over those who are fearful of catching the virus. Right before I resigned, multiple coworkers caught the virus simply from interacting with customers in the restaurant. Our managers at the time refused to tell anyone for weeks or notify anyone who had come into contact with them to get tested – including me. This attributed to why I left the customer service industry a couple months after the pandemic began: the threat to my personal health and that of my high-risk family members did not exceed the monetary value of a job in that industry when managers are more concerned about profit than the safety of their employees. Instead of removing these individuals from the restaurant, managers would cater towards them to ensure they didn't lose a customer, effectively displaying their concerns: money, money, and money. Americans seem to value the economic standpoint of their nation and their freedom to do whatever they desire, even if it means potentially killing someone, just to maintain that status of "freedom" that they pride themselves so much in. In fact, President Trump refused to extend quarantine or even fully enforce it due to the economic instability it proposed by shutting down the government and his reluctance to pay citizens more than a one-time stimulus check of $1200. The economy did slightly waiver, but as of September of 2020, more than 200,000 Americans have died from the virus - higher than any other country in the world. I would think that the survival of your constituents would be more of a pressing matter than handing out "free money" (as many Americans called it), but obviously our subpar leader thinks otherwise. I will not return to the restaurant business for quite sometime to maintain my health, my roommate’s health, and my parents/grandmother’s health. We’ve been forced to do our best to keep ourselves safe because the federal government reopened the entire country after partial lockdowns that proved ineffective.
• 
  2020-09-17

  Parent Defies School Mask Mandate in School Board Meeting

  The video depicts a man being forcibly removed by police from a school board meeting for violating the school's mask mandate. anti-mask, school board meeting, mask mandate, police officer
• 2020-08-23

  Strained Relationships

  This pandemic has strained multiple relationships in my life. When the stay at home order was first issued, it seemed like everyone moderately close to me took it pretty seriously. In retrospect, this may be because of the lack of answers we had about covid-19. The increase of fearmongering yet informational warnings in the media affected people to staying in their home for days at a time. Eventually, people’s fear were wearing off. Only a couple months into a quarantine and people around me began participating in nonregulated social events. Not only did I witness the increase in parties again, but an overall lack of awareness. Putting on a mask in public is not a very hard task, but even at this time, people I knew fought it relentlessly. People in my own family would continue to physically greet people in public and would come back home carelessly spreading germs from the outside. I did understand that this was a very different transition from normal life just months ago, so I understood the initial ignorance. After many conversations and pleas of mindfulness, it was easy to see that it was no longer ignorance, but selfishness. With people in my life living with underlying diseases that gives them a lesser possibility of surviving, I made sure to be well aware during this time. This was not met with reciprocating energy from some of my friends and family. The negligence around me began to offend me. I made sure to continuously live in a cautious manner for the safety of others around me, yet I was surrounded with others that just cared about themselves. After this realization, I did not care to contact these people as much. Pairing this with the stay at home order, I basically cut these people off. With the people in my family that treated the pandemic differently from me, I chose the same to not reach out as much even though I could truly never cut them out of my life. After observing these various irresponsible acts, I realized some important people in your life will disagree with you at times. Unfortunately, because of the state of the world right now, those disagreements can truly damage a relationship.
• 
  2020-06-02

  The Mask Wars

  This article discusses the mixed ideas surrounding the wearing of masks. Some people see it as a show of “scientific authority” and respect for the safety of others, but another portion of the public thinks it is a sign of weakness, submission, and cowardice. Masks in America are an extremely political point of conflict. And although the majority of people protesting against the killing of George Floyd wore masks to protect their community from transmission of the virus, the rest of the nation is still in turmoil over the issue. I have experienced my own difficulty with this as well; we have had to avoid unmasked neighbors several times, and when relatives come, we have to be the enforcers of distancing when they visit and remain outside. Mask wearing should not be politicized; it should just be something everyone wears with the safety and health of themselves and others in mind.
• 
  2020-07-14

  "I told him" comic

  A single panel comic in which three men are stranding around a man-made beehive in bee keeping suits. Two are wearing bee-keeper's hats with face shields while a third is not and is being swarmed. The caption reads "I told him as an expert in the field I strongly recommend wearing it, but he just kept bringing up his 'rights.'" A commentary on those who do not believe in wearing masks
• 
  2020-06-26

  Republican City Councilman Guy Phillips Says 'I Can't Breathe' At Anti-Mask Rally

  Republican City Councilman Guy Phillips Says 'I Can't Breathe' At Anti-Mask Rally in a mocking way as people in the crown encourage and chant, "Freedom". "I can't breathe" has become the cry for police reforms and justice across our nations. Known as the last words of several victims of police brutality.
• 
  2020-06-24

  Tweet on Anti Mask Rally in Scottsdale, Arizona

  On Tuesday, June 24th. Following cities across Maricopa County enacting mandatory mask ordinances. Scottsdale is one such city.