Items

• 
  March 13, 2020

  unbeknownst emptiness

  I worked/attended CUNY Hunter College during the start of the pandemic. On March 13, 2020, we were informed that we would not be returning to work until further notice, and I believe that a majority of late-night classes/activities were cancelled. As a result, my friend/coworker and I walked around the near-empty campus. We ended up sneaking into an empty lecture hall, ate some snacks, and chatted about the future. I took a photo of our feet up on the seats as a sort of fun memento, to show how crazy it looked to see ourselves amongst the empty hall, and when a coworker asked where we are, we sent them that. The photo meant almost nothing at the time and was just a casual photo I took amongst many in my every day. Looking back now, it holds nostalgia as well as dread. I think the emptiness shows what was to come, and how terrifying it would be, and just how impactful the pandemic was on our lives. I have not stepped foot in Hunter since then, so that was truly my last time being in that school. It makes me sad and makes me think what the future would have held had these events not happened.
• 
  2020-07-09

  Back in combat boots

  I retired from the Army in September 2019 after serving for 26 years. My wife and I moved to South Texas to finally settle down, and in January of 2020 we bought our forever home out in the country near Lake Corpus Christi. Clearing the land and unpacking boxes that had been sealed for what seems like an eternity took about three months. Around late March/early April I started applying for jobs at colleges in the area, just as the pandemic was gaining national attention. As a result, no one was conducting interviews or hiring. I did not need to work, I just wanted something to keep me busy. Out of the blue, I was contacted by the U.S. Army Human Resources command to ask if I would volunteer to return to Active Duty for a year to help with the pandemic. After discussing it with my wife, I replied back that I would volunteer and provide whatever assistance I could. In June I received orders to report to Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston in early July. The orders also stated that I was to report in my uniform. I had kept my old uniform from when I retired, but it took a bit of digging around to find everything. Putting my uniform and boots on after almost two years of retirement felt strange yet familiar. I had to get to used to the feeling of wearing combat boots again instead of regular shoes. For the next year I was assigned to U.S. Army North at Fort Sam Houston, where we coordinated Department of Defense civil support operations all over America. I also helped with the planning, organization, and execution for a large vaccination site on the installation. I was not the only veteran that returned to active duty. Like me, others volunteered to do what we could to help get through this pandemic. I enjoyed the time I spent back in the Army, and felt like I made a positive contribution to the country. The only thing that took time to get used to was the feeling of combat boots on my feet again.
• 
  2020-03-17

  The Boots I Did Not Wear

  I had planned to enter a boot camp, non-military, for personal growth. This specific boot camp was run by a religious organization and one of my older brothers had gone through it. I had previously prepared to go through it and had been postponed by a serious leg injury. After the injury I had decided to wait to try to do the training, and instead start my college journey. After my completion of an Associates Degree, I had planned to enter the boot camp and was preparing for it in early 2020, all registered and was staying at a nearby relative's house in the last days before the opening day of the boot camp. Less than a week until training was to commence, the program heads made a decision to cancel the upcoming Basic Training Unit as precautions for COVID 19 began to spike. Instead of spending months in basic training, I spent months with family as a sort of stay in vacation with them. As enjoyable as the time was, much of that time felt like a standstill in my personal growth and development. Work was unavailable, going out of the house was extremely limited, and I could not begin to further my education until a suitable way upon which to learn in the midst of a pandemic was decided. The pandemic shifted my plans for the immediate and the moderately near future as well as convince me that two denials of the chance to attend the Basic Training were a clear sign to dissuade me from a third attempt. Instead, I made plans to attend college at FGCU to continue past an AA toward a BA. The pandemic changed life plans to an extent and also changed how my young adulthood was affected by society and the government. The boots in the picture are the boots I was to wear during the boot camp, and now they sit in storage waiting for use and destined for nothing more than a photograph for archivists to use in 100 years when writing their homework about plagues and pandemics.