Items

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  2020-05

  Silence in the Morning

  At the beginning of the pandemic, I was working at a hotel on a US Military base in Stuttgart Germany where I typically worked the overnight shift. As such, my commute home in the mornings was usually the noisiest part of my day. I would often pass by the local bakery on my way home, one of the busiest places in town in the morning. I would hear the sounds of the shuffling of feet of the people in line, the clink of coins on the counter, the crinkle of paper bags filled with the daily bread the Germans would buy or the pastries they would eat for lunch, and the whine of the coffee machine for their morning coffee. In the background was the constant droning of the morning rush hour traffic. After the lockdown, when the German government shut down businesses, I had to continue working as the military converted the hotel I worked at into a quarantine facility. I continued with my overnight shifts and my commute home in the mornings while everyone else stayed home. What struck me the most about my new commute home was the silence. The utter lack of noise was practically oppressive. I could close my eyes and the only difference with the dead of night was the warmth of the sun beating on my skin. What was once the noisiest part of my day was now the quietest.
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  2020-03-21

  Bakery queue March 2020 HIST30060

  In March 2020 during the first covid-19 lockdown, we heard a lot about toilet paper shortages, queues and fights for it at supermarkets. What surprised me to see on a walk around Brunswick was a substantial queue at a local bakery. It was also one of the first social distanced queues I had seen and certainly the first I had taken a photo of. It summed up the new state of affairs to me, while reminding me of the importance that bread holds in our diets. In some ways I was relieved to see a queue for it rather than something more trivial such as toilet paper. The fact it was a local bakery highlighted to me the importance that people in Brunswick place on locally made produce. This also reminded me of the historical importance of bread, for instance the riots that occurred when bread and flour prices increased in France in the late 1780s or Lenin's promise to the Russian people of 'Peace, Bread, Land' in 1917. To me this photo captured how despite circumstances changing immensely, the importance of accessing staple foods remains more or less constant.
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  2021-08-14

  F$%K COVID cookie

  I bought two of these cookies to take to my friend's house when I went to visit her under the 'single bubble' program during Melbourne's lockdown 6. They're from a store called Mad About Cake in Caulfield South.
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  2021-01-18

  Filling the Void with Food...and Failing

  Food is the centerpiece of all of our family gatherings, even the informal ones. Before quarantine, my in-laws would drop by regularly, and always with enough food for an army. In the almost twenty years I have known my mother in law, I have never seen her without being given food - even if it’s a fresh bao she pulls out of her purse (true story - this happened at my kids’ student of first trimester awards last year (pre-Covid). I saw her for a total of 20 minutes, just enough time to watch my son and daughter get their awards and dash back to work, and that saint of a woman gave me three warm bao she had picked up on the way from a local bakery. “Pretty good” she said, which is her seal of approval.) It is hard to admit as I type this that I have not physically seen my in-laws beyond waving through the front window when they drop off homemade jook (rice porridge) since March. We Facetime with them and text, but it is not the same. That is a long time to be away from people that have a house less than five miles from ours. My in-laws are over 70 and a huge part of our lives, to lose this year with them hurts in ways I can’t describe. And culturally, food is their “I love you” - they don’t say the words, they show it through sharing food. And we haven’t had a meal together in almost a year. My husband still cooks Chinese dishes. On Monday, we had 蔥 油 餅 (green onion pancake), dumplings, Hong Kong waffle, shrimp with peas and lumpia (yes, I know, that’s really Filipino, but it’s sort of a staple in our family), and it was delicious. But there is this odd shadow that sort of hangs over our meal, knowing how much his parents would have loved to share it with us. And yes, we Facetimed them so the kids could show them how well the waffle turned and my mother-in-law said she couldn’t wait to come over and try it. The feeling is very, very mutual.
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  2020-04-11

  Social Distancing for Food

  This is a sign at a CT bakery reminding everyone to practice social distancing.
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  2020-04-16

  Humans of Covid-19 AU: Haikal

  “It’s very different. We’re not used to being this slow-paced. It feels really strange compared to the mayhem and craziness we usually work in. We’re still trying to stay busy with deliveries and stuff like that. We’re adapting as best we can, but sadly we did have to lose a few employees. We’re very grateful to still be open and getting customers, so I’m not complaining. Somehow there’s still that community feel, with regular customers continuing to come, but we aren’t seeing as many of the older faces. The staff are happy to be working and there’s lots of support going on. If all shops are forced to close, it would affect our family heaps - it's what we do. We’ve been doing it since 1992.” Instagram post on Haikal,, manager A1 bakery, and their experience during the pandemic, which was created by a psychology student living in Melbourne who was interested to hear about how COVID-19 was impacting on different peoples’ lives.
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  2020-04-30

  Maïs Arepas Perseveres Through the Pandemic, New Orleans, LA

  The Facebook post reads exactly, "Perseverance 🔪🌽 #toosmalltofail #determined #nola #neworleans #positivity #dreamteam."
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  2020-04-04

  Maïs Arepas Teams Up With Mayhew Bakery to Provide Meals to Workers on the Frontlines, New Orleans, LA

  Maïs Arepas of New Orleans works with Mayhew Bakery to provide meals to workers on the frontline.
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  2020-04-07

  Social Distancing Markers Outside Bakery, New Orleans, LA

  Red hearts spray-painted on the sidewalk outside of a bakery to encourage guests to stand 6 feet apart when waiting in line.
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  2020-04-27

  Grandma's Cookies (from a safe distance)

  My grandmother still makes sure to give us the cookies she makes when we visit, but from a safe distance. We put them in the "no man's land" on a table between us, and take from the table one at a time. Of course it's not the same, but it's the best she can do.
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  03/17/2020

  Changes at bakery

  Bakery shifting to delivery or order pick-up; reminds public they can also order from ATM outside.