Items

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  2020-07-27

  Empty Rockefeller Center

  During the height of Covid, when New York City first went into lockdown, it was surreal to say the least. I think the last time the city was so empty and void of life was 9/11, so to see it again in 2020 really highlighted just how severe the situation was. Two of my sisters, who are a nurse and hospital manager, talked about being in the city for work, and practically being the only ones working in person, and it feeling like some kind of post apocalyptic movie. I remember around May of 2020, I helped my other sister move out of her dorms at #NYU, and it took about 15-20 mins to get to the bottom of Manhattan (Union Square) from The Bronx, due to the lack of fellow cars on the road. To see such a highly populated and lively city such as NYC turn into a ghost town almost overnight was something of a shock. It was one thing to see photos, and speak on how insane the situation was, but to actually be in the heart of Manhattan at this time was… well scary. So, seeing such a busy area such as Rockefeller center be completely empty is insane to say the least, and brings up a sad reminder of just how bad things were in the initial stages of the pandemic.
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  2020-06

  Shuttered storefront in Chelsea, June 2020

  A shuttered storefront in the predominant art gallery section of Chelsea that has paper signs some which say, "Nowhere to Go", "Nothing to see". During this time, the stores in the Chelsea area were closed - either temporarily or indefinitely. Simultaneously, many were boarded up in fear of looting or protest which added to the eerie apocalyptic atmosphere.
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  2020-08-23

  Plane Phobia

  COVID-19 is something that will forever be engrained in our minds. It has impacted the world in ways only imaginable in apocalyptic movies. We as a society are differential in our cultures and ideas, but COVID-19 has brought us together. COVID-19 spread throughout the world at an alarming rate due to 21st century modes of rapid transportation (specifically airplanes). Normally, walking through an airport brings excitement and happiness, but tensions felt high travelling during this time. Excitement was replaced with anxiety, and happiness with cautiousness. For my addition to the Moakley Archive, I decided to include a photograph taken on a recent flight from Miami to Boston. More than half the seats were empty and I couldn’t help but notice how desolate the flight felt. 2020 has been an economic recession, and a social depression. Travelling will never be the same at least in this lifetime, and for many, flying will be a last resort. Nobody knows when COVID-19 will end, we are fighting a war with an invisible enemy taking one day at a time blindly.
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  2020-06-25

  US coronavirus: 'Apocalyptic' surges feared in some cities

  While New York City, state, and surrounding areas were hit hardest initially, five months into the pandemic it is Texas, Florida, and California that appear to be the next hardest hit areas. These states also happen to be the most populous in the nation. All three are concerned about the record breaking number of new cases each day and are putting various amounts of legislation into practice to help slow the spread of the virus but they are mainly relying on people using good judgement, which as a resident of central Texas I can tell you has been lacking. Governor Greg Abbott of Texas has rolled back some of the states reopening plans but is mainly telling people to wash their hands, wear a mask, and maintain social distance.
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  2020-06-04

  Graduation

  The global pandemic has been hard on so many people and has forced everyone in the world to adjust their lives to what is going around in the air. It has been especially hard to assimilate to the new way of college. Luckily I just finished my sophomore year at DePaul, but for many of my close friends their times at DePaul have come to an end. It has been a sudden and abrupt end to their college years. They went from working and hanging with friends to stuck at home and not being able to live up the last year of college with friends they have spent college with. This has been tough for everyone to see close friends have to leave a place they have been accustomed to for 4 years and to leave the ones who have built some of the deepest and closest friendships people can experience. COVID 19 has robbed the seniors of the pinnacle of their college life.