Items

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  2020-05-23T09

  Sampling a dystopian world

  We lived in a very town in western Illinois as the pandemic arrived in America. Covid-19 seemed abstract until circumstances caused us to travel to a major international airport. The eerie quiet, in place of what should have been a noisy, madcap atmosphere, elevated sounds I normally would not have heard. It was as if a scene from a science fiction film had jumped off the screen and into my life. The experience had a nightmarish quality that has stayed with me two years later.
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  2022-05-03

  Haley Thomas Oral History, 2022/05/03

  In this interview, Haley Thomas discusses the difficulties she faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and how they affected her.
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  2020-09-11

  Teaching during the Pandemic in Rural Kansas

  As a history teacher in rural Kansas, I thought I would bring a little humor to my hallway as I monitored the temperature scanners. My world history students were currently studying the Middle Ages and in our small school, I had taught every single sophomore, junior, and senior the same lessons, so I knew they would understand my outfit and think it was funny. This was a nice way to bring humor to a new situation during the first few weeks of an uncertain school year.
• 2021-01-20

  Plague Year

  The Plague Year outbreak started in September 1665. The plague killed 7,165 people in one week. The Great Plague lasted for 18 months. At its worst, in September of 1665, the plague killed 7,165 people in one week. Around September of 1666, the great outbreak ended. The Great Fire of London, which happened on 2-6 September 1666, may have helped end the outbreak by killing many of the rats and fleas who were spreading the plague. The Plague killed an estimated 25 million people, almost a third of the continent's population. The Black Death lingered on for centuries, particularly in cities. Outbreaks included the Great Plague of London (1665-66), in which 70,000 residents died.
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  2020-09-16

  The Daily Commute

  I composed this piece for my Painting I class around the start of the pandemic when everything was still surreal. If I did a piece on COVID now, it would be entirely different. Nevertheless, I think the general tone of this piece shows how I and most likely many others have experienced the pandemic. I decided to place this scene on the Subway since New York City was the epicenter of COVID-19, and like COVID, the Subway is known as "the great equalizer". The tightness of space on a subway also gives the feeling of being trapped, which has been a pretty universal feeling during this time, not to mention the acute awareness of germs that one has both on the subway and during COVID. I was also inspired by the art that came from the Black Plague depicting 'witch' doctors and skeletons and wanted the figures I painted to mimic that sense of doom. Each figure represents a different feeling or character that has solidified itself in our COVID centered lives. I am sure many people can relate to the shag of hair bent over a computer as we navigate online classes and jobs, or to the sympathetic limp glove that essential workers wear everyday, or to the three characters that both warn and frighten us. I hope that at the end of this pandemic we can look back to what has come out of peoples' restlessness and suffering, and resolve to live in care of others to prevent future tragedies. #ForhamUniveristy