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2020-09-20Northeastern University HIST 1219 Assignment Prompt
This assignment was given to students in Northeastern University's HIST 1219, History of Global Pandemics, taught by Dr. Streets-Salter in Fall 2020, and then taught by a graduate student in Fall 2021. -
2020-12-04Northeastern University HIST 1323 Optional Assignment Prompt
This is an optional assignment given to students in Northeastern University HIST 1323, History of Boston, taught by Dr. Rabinovitch in Fall 2020. -
2022
Experience of COVID-19 in China and USA
As an international student, I have witnessed the spread of covid-19 in both China and the United States. While the virus harms humans in the same way, each country does it differently to humans facing the pandemic. I was in high school in Boston when the covid first broke out (in December?). At that time, there were only two cases in Boston, so everyone didn't care much about the virus far across the ocean. As a Chinese, I know that coronavirus has caused countless pain in Wuhan, China. Therefore, I wrote a petition to the school to advocate wearing masks at school to avoid infection. However, the absurdity of things is far beyond my imagination. My high school principal sent an email to all international students (most of us are Asians) telling us that masks do not help people stay away from the virus. He also required us not to wear masks in school because it would cause panic among other local students. This implicit discrimination against Asians is a hurt. In March, I decided to return to China from the US to visit my family. It was a tough decision, not only in the sense of risking my life but in the process. I overcame the flight's cutting off and was cancelled by seven flights to get on the plane home. But when I finally returned to China and was quarantined for 14 days, I discovered the maliciousness toward international students on the Internet. Everyone was repeating the sentence, "you can't serve the motherland, but you can be the first to poison your country flying from thousands of miles away". This exclusion of outsiders is another harm. These hurt far more than covid did to me. -
05/26/2020Dr. Basil Darras Oral History, 2020/05/26
Associate Neurologist-in-Chief at Boston Children’s Hospital, Dr. Basil Darras, talks about the many changes that have come along with the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has affected healthcare workers. Dr. Darras talks about the difficulties surrounding telehealth visits and not being able to properly diagnose his patients experiencing neurological issues due to social distancing. -
08/14/2020Robert Shimp Oral History, 2020/08/04
In this interview, Robert Shimp discusses how the pandemic has affected the Paul Revere Memorial Association -
08/17/2020Ninia Zannieri Oral History, 2020/07/31
C19OH -
08/17/2020Carol Knauff and Catherine Allgor Oral History, 2020/07/31
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2020New England Student in COVID
It seems as though every winter all of the kids in schools get a cold. Classrooms have a chorus of sniffles and coughs until springtime and we all suffer sickness together. At least, that’s how it started. My college sent an email to all students, staff, and faculty, saying the school would be monitoring the COVID-19 situation in other countries on February 10th, 2020 and there was no threat to worry about. Everyone left for spring break on March 8th, 2020, expecting to be back in a week. Instead, we got an “extra week” of the break to make sure anyone who traveled could quarantine, just in case. That week turned into a handful more and started online classes ASAP. Students were given the opportunity to go back to the college in a 3-hour window to retrieve any materials necessary for a few weeks online until the surge dies down. Fortunately, I am studying computer science, so a majority of my professors had minimal difficulty making the change, but others were not as fortunate. Quickly, the handful of weeks became the remainder of the semester. All courses would be graded on the basis of pass/fail if the students elected for each individual course they were enrolled in, due to the nature of this huge and unprecedented turnaround. All exams were online, many professors canceled their midterms to alleviate stress from the students and fears of cheating. We would receive semi-weekly updates from the college, mostly fluff pieces about missing the student body with information that was important sprinkled in. Eventually, we were permitted to sign up for a window of time to go and move our belongings out of the dorms, once the state allowed outside travelers in. In the midst of all of the chaos, I transferred colleges and started the next academic year attending one that was much larger and had more resources at its disposal to deal with COVID-19. This school had planned to welcome students back to campus in fall 2020 with a few expectations in place. They had devised a “COVID-19 Compliance” system to keep the population safe and maintain records of who was following protocol. Students would have a “green badge” assigned to them in the morning if: they had completed a daily symptom check-in that was negative, they were up-to-date on their twice-weekly COVID tests and had not been marked as a close contact to someone who had tested positive. Had one of these not been completed, you would have a yellow badge to mark non-compliance, a red badge for isolation, or an orange badge if you were symptomatic. Students must show a green badge to enter ANY campus building. Some classes were online, others hybrid in-person/online at the discretion of the professors. Masks were to be worn at all times, students must get vaccinated once they were eligible, dining areas were to-go only, the campus was littered with signs to promote 6 feet of social distancing, and a student-run campaign called “F*ck It Won’t Cut It” was started to bring attention to the urgency of staying compliant to stay on campus. We would receive weekly updates about the status of the campus’s overall positivity rate. It felt like a shell of a college experience, as students could not visit other students’ residences, no clubs could have in-person meetings, attendance at sporting events was prohibited, and students reporting other students for non-compliance created an atmosphere of disdain. We are now in the second full academic year of the pandemic and there are a few deviations from what I described for fall 2020. Now, COVID tests are once weekly rather than twice, students can now visit other residences and attend sporting events, all of the dining spaces have opened up to sit-in dining, masks are still required at all times, all classes are in person, and the “F*ck It Won’t Cut It” campaign has been retired. It seems as though we are creeping towards the idea of a “typical” college experience, but it feels like this will have an everlasting impact on the next few incoming classes of students and change college as people know it. -
2021-12-08Tiffany Lam and Daniel Barry Oral History, 2021/12/08
It connects the COVID pandemic to past pandemics, and the future. -
2021-12-06Suhani Rathi and Lilly Daugherty Oral History, 2021/12/06
Northeastern University students, Suhani Rathi and Lilly Daughterty interview each other in this school assignment. In this interview they take turns comparing the COVID 19 pandemic to past pandemics. They discuss the similarities. -
2020-10-06Bernd Geels Oral History 2020/10/06
C19OH -
2020-10-06Bernd Geels Oral History, 2020/10/06
C19OH -
2020-09-18MO and LC Oral History, 2021/09/18
Basic interviews between two college students looking back on the start of the pandemic. -
2021-09-15Jack and Megan; Covid-19 Stories
This podcast tells the story of two individuals experiences through COVID-19. -
2020HIST 5241 Northeastern Prompt
Prompt given to partner class HIST 5241 of Northeastern University, Spring 2020, instructor Victoria Cain -
2021-05-09Boston Lockdown
The JFK Library and Museum closed during the shutdown and I lost the best job I ever had. I graduated Boston University without a ceremony. I spent my first year in grad school on zoom. I ended up living with my 2 adult siblings and my parents who were either working virtually or not at all. I decided that I would take the time at home to learn things that I had always intended to, mostly because I didn't want to lose my mind. I baked bread, lots of bread: challah, bagels, cinnamon rolls, babka and more. I knit a complicated sweater. I sewed masks for my friends and I played games with my family. I research and organized 7 generations of my family's pictures, documents, videos and newspaper clippings. I started growing vegetables and flowers and I watched hundreds of English Premier Soccer games. The most fun I had was hanging out with my dog. For Halloween I made he and I costumes from the movie Rear Window. I feel like I did my best to survive the Plague, I am proud of all I was able to accomplish and I have more good memories than I thought was possible. I appreciate the normal things I took for granted pre-pandemic and I look forward to the end. -
2021-02-26Black Boston COVID-19 Coalition's Message About the Importance of Masks in the Black Community
This twitter post by the Black Boston COVID-19 Coalition features a video explaining (interestingly with some subjectivity) the importance of wearing masks for the Black community in Boston Mass. It briefly explains the successful triumphs the U.S. African American community has had in fighting for their quote "civil rights" and "lives" and that they now cannot allow quote "the air" to kill their people and destroy their communities. A topic that came up in one of our weekly meetings a few weeks ago was the impact of "shame" on the behavior of people. This is exemplified by the elderly woman who stares disapprovingly at the young man who did not wear his mask. The subjective impression conveyed is that you should wear your mask because it is a shameful disregard for human life if you do not. This twitter post shows the efforts of the Black Community of Boston to raise awareness of the importance of mask use and shows the care and concern of the Black Boston community for its members. -
2020-09Socially Separated Sandwiches
During the fall of 2020, a local homeless shelter was unable to offer beds to people in need during the COVID pandemic due to space and resource restrictions. It was hard to witness these organizations meant to help people also need extra love and help during the pandemic whether it be for medical, physical, or financial reasons. In response to the need, my church was able to step up to make sandwiches that the shelter could hand out to the people living on the streets that they were unable to serve at the time. We wore masks, took extra safety precautions, and socially distanced in an assembly style line outside in the church parking lot where we made packages of chips and sandwiches. While working together to make the sandwiches for the homeless shelter, I was reminded that we are still a community even when we cannot be together in the same ways we were before the pandemic. Finding pockets of community in the turbulent pandemic has been a blessing and chance for me to truly appreciate those around me and think of different ways that I can reach out to the community and be a part of it despite the circumstances. Distance did not have to mean silence and stillness. People were able to help in any way possible. If they were unable to help make the sandwiches, they prayed for the mission or donated money for the supplies. People shared what they could and came together when it mattered the most. This story highlights how even in times where we stayed apart to remain safe, we were still able to come together in another way to support each other. Communities didn't have to disappear during the pandemic, and this is just one example of their power to persevere in dark times. -
2021-01-31
Freezing Masks
I live in Massachusetts, which certainly isn't the coldest area in the United States, but it is definitely not warm during January and February. Whenever I go out in public areas, like when I am walking my dog downtown or going to work in Boston, I always wear a mask. I personally feel that wearing a mask is a personal responsibility that we owe to everyone else around us. I work for hours wearing the mask, and have no problem doing so because it's the right thing to do. However, it has been particularly cold in Massachusetts the past week or so, which has meant that my mask freezes almost immediately when walking around. The condensation from my breathing quickly freezes from the inside which makes wearing the mask even more uncomfortable than usual. Then, when I get inside, the frozen condensation defrosts and the inside of my mask is soaking wet (not pleasant!!). But at the end of the day, we do what is necessary for the common good, and winter and the virus will soon be behind us! -
2021-01-24Vaccinating for Classes
Over the past year, many college classes have been held online with limited in-person attendance. The goal for Universities is that with enough students vaccinated by the Fall 2021 semester they will be able to restart in-person operations. According to the Boston Globe Universities in Massachusetts are focused on determining who under their umbrella is eligible for vaccination. When discussing the Vaccine Dr. Fauci stated that getting students back into in-person classes is a priority. For college students returning to in-person classes is a top priority as college is meant to be an experience and many students are feeling as though they’re missing out and receiving a lower quality of education. The vaccine seems to be the only way that students will be able to return to in-person classes. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/12/21/metro/with-vaccines-horizon-most-colleges-are-back-line-get-them/ https://edsource.org/2020/fauci-puts-priority-on-getting-teachers-vaccinated-and-a-return-to-in-person-classes/645499 -
2021-01-14
Vaccine Clinic and Personal Vaccine
I work at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA. My role is usually in education with a background in pre-hospital emergency medicine. Because of my background as a paramedic, I was asked to work in the vaccine clinic for the hospital staff as an observer. My position was to keep an eye on the hospital staff for 15 minutes after they received their Covid vaccine, just in case there were any reactions. Thankfully, my shifts have been very uneventful due to the safety of the vaccine. It was fascinating to talk with the staff when they came back for their second dose, as I was given insight into their experiences with the first dose. This meant that when I went in for my first dose in mid-January, I fully knew what to expect. I received the Moderna vaccine. About four hours after getting the shot, my arm felt quite sore. By the night of the vaccine, my shoulder was throbbing, but it was manageable. For the price of some shoulder pain, the opportunity to receive the shot during the first wave was well worth the discomfort. I get my second dose in early February, so I will see then if I feel as crummy as some of my friends and co-workers have after the second dose. -
2020-12-21
Fall Semester Admist a Global Pandemic
I am a student enrolled in Northeaster's first semester freshmen year study abroad program. As a member of the NU IN program I was originally going to be in Prague for this semester but due to the pandemic caused by Covid-19 that site was shut down. I ended up "studying abroad" 15 mins down the street from Northeastern at the Westin in Copley plaza. Living in a hotel for the first semester of college was a very different experience than what I was expecting; however, the nice hotel wasn't the only standout of the semester. As a result of the pandemic all of my classes, like almost every of student, were conducted over zoom. Some of my professors were not even in the United States, but were teaching me virtually from London. The social aspect of college also presented its own new challenges as students had to limit capacity in common spaces, social distance, and of course wear masks. While this new aspect of college was difficult to get used to, after a month or so I got the hang of it. I got into a rhythm of taking classes in the hotel but still going to campus and getting out to explore the city with new friends. As a matter of fact living of campus first semester was great because I was better able to explore more parts of the city. While i have no doubt studying abroad would have been a lot of fun, the whole NU IN community really came together to try and make this semester great, and despite all of the craziness of the pandemic and election season, this semester was one full of memories and a great start to my college experience. -
2020-11-06Joe Biden becomes president-elect
These photos represent my experience of the day that Biden was declared president-elect. I happened to be near a family member during the election, so I stayed with them, so it was easy to have access to watching the news, but after four days of being glued to the results, I needed to get back on the road for my own sanity. On the morning of the 6th, I felt confident enough in the numbers in Georgia and Pennsylvania that they were going to continue to be in Biden’s favor to leave service behind and go into Yosemite national park. I wanted to be able to listen to the news while I was in the park, so I screenshot the local radio stations while I still had service, but they all ended up being either conservative stations that weren’t reporting on the results, or Spanish speaking stations. The next day I woke up to the news that the associated press had called the election for Biden, and celebrated in Giant Sequoia National Park, while I was there, I wrote Biden in the snow as a way to celebrate and feel in community with other people also on the trails. This was an important day for American history, and while my experience was not something particularly significant, It could be an interesting story to a future historian researching how people responded to the election. -
2020-11-12A snarky mask reminder
Slab City California is a very unique place. I would describe it loosely as being part squatter and snowbird encampment, part artists’ colony, part homesteading community. The one description that is agreed upon, at least by its residents, is that it is the “last free place on earth”. Given this fact, I was a bit nervous to visit, but I was also really excited to check it out and figured that if nobody was wearing masks or social distancing and I wasn’t comfortable, I could just leave. I was very pleasantly surprised therefore when I arrived and found that residents were all taking the pandemic seriously. I stayed away from people as much as possible, as I did everywhere I went and was able to safely enjoy the art. I snapped this picture in East Jesus, an outdoor art museum/sculpture garden, and felt it was a good representation of the general attitude in the area. I think this item illustrates an interesting part of people’s response to covid which is that while there are many people who refuse to take the pandemic seriously, there are also a lot of people who are doing the right thing because they genuinely care about others. Slab City is an unincorporated community with no government and nobody to enforce state mandates. People might get fined if they threw a big party and word got out to someone who could do something about it, but it’s unlikely that there would be consequences. And yet, people were being responsible, Which to me says something significant about the fact that I would say that most people who are wearing masks and social distancing it are doing it not because they are required to, but because it is the right thing to do. -
2020-10-03“What are the risk factors for people with ADHD during the coronavirus pandemic?”
I am submitting this article because it speaks in a broader sense the sort of experiences people with ADHD have/will continue to have during the pandemic. It writes of the intersections of ADHD and the coronavirus, such as how remote learning and working can lead to decreased motivation and increased social isolation can be expected to increase other symptoms of ADHD along with feelings of depression and anxiety at levels that neurotypical people may not experience. Rather than collecting multiple small objects that speak to a single aspect of neurodiversity and the pandemic, and potentially overwhelming the archive with repetitive, kitschy documents that may in the future confuse the research process, I wanted to include a single document that spoke broadly of what life is like with ADHD during the pandemic. -
2020-11-19Hyperfixations through the past 9 months
I am submitting this object because a very common symptom of neurodiversity is hyperfixation, and with the increased amount of time spent in the house, many people, including my dad are more free to spend hours upon hours doing the tasks stimulating tasks. An aspect of hyperfixation is the way it can “turn on” and “off” at seemingly random times, so for my dad, over the past 9 months, he began writing a novel, which he has 80 thousand words in, but is as yet unfinished, he then moved on to creating card and board games, complete with art and promotional material. Throughout quarantine, he has fixated and his health, and took up running. His most recent fixation is music, writing lyrics and music on a modular synthesizer. This object could be helpful in providing an example of how people with ADHD kept themselves stimulated through quarantine, as well as how their minds often flit from one project to the next, depending on how interesting or rewarding it seems at the time. It was also important to me to contribute this item because much of the time ADHD is only focused on children, so adding this object to the collection works to give representation to the many adults with ADHD who are working as well as trying to adjust to life during the pandemic. Sean Bateman (Provided screenshots and pictures) and Megan Bateman (made collage) -
2020-12-13I found a Community.
Being in quarantine with a toddler can be isolating, They don’t understand you like other adults do, their vocabulary is growing, but mainly you hear, “mama” all day. So I found a community. I found other moms in my position. I wrote posts and engaged in conversation. I asked them about their experiences during this pandemic. I heard stories of despair, of growth, or isolation. I remember them now and always will. COVID-19 has caused a lot of distress for mothers across the world; losing those few hours out of the house, interacting with other adults, being able to forget the toys strewn about the house and the magic marker on the walls. So we found a community. We talk about our children, our families, the things we miss, the changes we’ve had to make, the things we can’t wait to do and we found solace in the comfort of each other. Even if we’ve never meet in real life; during the pandemic, we found a community. -
2020-12-02Trying to stay Organized and Self Motivated
I am submitting this object as an example of how some people with ADHD struggle with self-motivation and how they create workarounds for this. This is a photo from the wall next to my desk. Taped up are daily to-do lists for the next couple of days, a monthly calendar so I don’t get so caught up in the details of something I lose sight of larger projects and due dates, as well as random reminders. This method has been useful for me because it is not only repetitive, which helps me to remember goals and dates, which is important since memory issues are common with ADHD, but it also provides a form of motivation for me. Scratching tasks off of a to-do list, even if it is something simple like “eat lunch” helps me to stay engaged with my required tasks throughout the day. This object speaks to the ways that many college students and young adults are trying to learn how to live on their own, while also going without much of the support from professors, friends, and family they could have had due to the restrictions put in place to stop the spread of the virus. -
2020-12-09Missing Assignments List
“School is very difficult for me online, as I don't have access to the resources I would if I were attending school physically. I cannot get the extra help I need, and without someone supervising me I'm forgetful and less likely to get my assignments in.” -Mary Harrigan I am submitting this object, along with Mary’s reasoning behind sending me this screenshot because it shows the ways that the education system is overwhelmed in trying to transition to remote forms of learning, which is, in turn, leaving behind many neurodiverse students. While the environment at home may be a bit more comfortable for Mary due to better control of external stimuli, they still don’t have access to the accommodations they need as an autistic student in high school. This object also shows the overwhelming nature of online schooling, and how the technologies we use to help in remote learning oftentimes cause more stress to the student because the reminder of how much work they have is constant: it is on their phones which they carry with them everywhere. Additionally, Mary is Autistic and Nonbinary, Both of these identities are not typically represented within historical records. and I think it's important that their experiences be preserved within this archive. -
2020-12-09
covid vs homelessness
Unfortunately most to all homeless people do not have health care meaning if for some reason they got infected by covid, they would not be able to get tested nor treatment to due the lack of insure . Homeless people often use others peoples belongings for survival leading to many homeless people contracting the disease without the correct medical care which became fatal to their lives. -
2020-12-09
Shopping during covid
we've all been able to shop at our convince with no troubles until covid. Now shopping isn't as simple as It was before. Now we are urged to wear face protection, a certain number of customers are only allowed in at a certain time, creating long lines out side of the shopping establishments. The severity of covid was at an all time high closing most to all retail stores, leaving open the essential need stores, such as grocery, convenience and pharmacies. -
2020-12-08
Big Events Now Virtual
Whether it be a sports game, musical or concert, its not happening in person during covid. Covid has made social distancing a top priority, meaning that huge gatherings in confined spaces probably won't work. Sports events including the NBA & NHL took the route in keeping there players safe from the disease by implementing the "bubble" which ultimately isolated the players from all contact except for games and practices. No concerts are in session as well as musicals, they can be shown virtually on the other hand. -
2020-12-09
Covid Testing Zones
as April as covid was trending upwards becoming more of a concern I decided to get tested along with my father. Knowing the virus is such wide spread and many people would be getting testing they would have a fast functioning and safe testing center, this is not always the case. Typically you would find yourself in a Long line with many others waiting about 30-1hr to first get seen than tested. most people would not abide by the social distancing rules, get to close to each other in line. -
2020-12-16Suffolk Softball During The Pandemic
These photos were taken during the pandemic at our practices. As you can see, we are all wearing masks in the photo along with there only being a few of us in each of them. This really shows the differences between before and after Covid. There are no pictures of team events because we weren’t allowed to do anything with more than 10 people so we were on zoom a lot of the time for meetings and team things like study hall. This was a hard time for all of us and not being together through it all, a few people quit and stayed home so it was extremely different from times before everything happened. It was difficult to keep the mask on and breathing was quite hard as well, we took many socially distanced breaks to get a drink and pull our masks down for a minute or so. This is important to understand how different sports were throughout before the pandemic versus while we are in it and trying to figure out different solutions to problems. Every team had to go through the same thing we did with masks and social distancing and cleaning properly but it just adds to more about Suffolk Softball and how captured the moments throughout the pandemic which is important to archives. -
2020-12-08Covid Vs School
It was my senior year, school was seemingly fine until the virus hit. At first we were all out of school without a learning plan. As a week or so went by schools all over the US began to use Zoom. Zoom is a virtual classroom environment that allows teachers to easily share their screen as well as their assignment plans virtually from anywhere with an internet connection. -
2020-12-11Mother’s Journal Entries During Covid
Corona was definitely hard for many families with health problems. I feel as though it was also difficult for families with people on the frontlines of the virus. My mother is a nurse at a local hospital. Because of her job, none of my family members and/or friends wanted to be around me. She works in the ICU so she is dealing with Covid positive patients constantly. Her journal entries include how she felt while working her job as well as how it affected her family-wise. -
2020-12-16Suffolk Softball Before the Pandemic
These photos represent what softball at Suffolk was all about before the COVID pandemic started. As a team, we did everything together and that was normal and we did not have to wear masks and socially distance. We did Christmas events together and team Thanksgiving and it allowed us to really bond as a team and have that comradery every team looks for. We also went on the annual spring trip to Florida to play softball and our coach planned fun events throughout the two weeks we were there. But it all ended so fast because Covid hit and that made our trip end differently than ever imagined. These photos are good for future historians to look at to be able to compare to suffolk softball before the pandemic versus after. Photos make it more realistic and really give people a look as to what we did as a team. This is important to this archive because people can relate to it along with using this information to research further. -
2020-08-13Fires With Family
With social distancing measures out in place when having gatherings, it is difficult to spend time with family and friends. During the pandemic, my distant family members and I decided to light a fire in the firepit located in my backyard with 6 feet in between us. We talked about what each of us have been doing during quarantine and ate delicious food made by others. This fire pit was used multiple times during the pandemic but for the same reasons. The only downfall of using this firepit for visits is that it can only be used in the warmer weather. I feel as though this photo is a necessity for a covid-19 collection. It shows what families go through to be near each other in this part of the country/world. -
2020-06-17Final Time Seeing Family
During the beginning of the pandemic which was considered to be the worst of it, my grandfather had passed away after years of battling dementia. Only a select few could attend the wake and funeral. My aunts and uncles as well as the grandchildren attended. It was very difficult keeping the 6 foot distance between one another during such a sad moment in time. This photograph is my family and I after the funeral. You'll notice that none of us were wearing masks at this point. This photo captured the very last time I ever saw my family all together in person. This photo shows how bad the virus got over the last couple months in the South Shore of Massachusetts. -
2020-11-27Virtual Gaming With Family
The pandemic has been hard for all close families. Mine was not able to see each other much at all due to quarantine and most of my family members having major health problems. Due to the fact that my family was not able to spend time together in person, my cousins and I decided to play games over Zoom together. My laptop was very helpful with doing this and was a necessity to keep in touch with family members. -
2020-12-01Family Board Game Night
While in quarantine during this pandemic, my family and I were forced to spend much time together. We often wondered what we could do to make the time pass while most of us were out of work because of Covid-19. My family members and I, as well as my neighbors who we were quarantining with, decided that it would be a fun idea to start playing board games. These games consisted of Monopoly, What Do You Meme, and Cards Against Humanity. Playing these games brought my family closer together while fighting through a tough time in life. -
2020-12-15Pride 2020 Through Art: Handmade Garments
As many Pride celebrations were cancelled this year, many members of the LGBT community turned to social media to share how they were celebrating Pride in these strange times. This post displays a handmade crocheted shirt in the colors of the pride flag, made and shared by an individual seeking recognition for the work seeing as she had no celebration to wear it to. This just shows the dedication of the LGBT community to the celebration of Pride, which will be communicated to any future historians studying LGBT history. -
2020-09College During COVID-19
The first semester of college can be an extremely challenging time for incoming freshman students in a "normal year," nevertheless during a pandemic. The first semester of college holds so many changes- living on your own, financing money, attending more rigorous classes, making new friends, exploring a new city, and so much more. In a regular year, students can easily adapt to these changes, especially by making new friends and exploring a new city, as there are not usually many gathering restrictions. This year, freshman have had to determine new ways to meet people and how to have as normal of a freshman experience as one could. These adaptations can be seen in many shapes and forms. For me, I decided that I needed to be even more social than I normally would be in a year without a pandemic, leading me to foster resilience. I decided to start conversations with people who I rode the elevator with, people walking around campus and people in the hallways/lobby/common spaces of the Westin. These forms of communication led me to meeting many new people and finding a solid group of friends of whom I enjoy spending time with. After meeting people that I truly connected with and who the conversations flowed naturally with, I would make further plans with them to meet up again. At the beginning of the semester, this was a difficult task because Northeastern prohibited us from entering any room other than our own, so we needed to find new places to hang out. Oftentimes I found my friends and I exploring the city, watching TV in the common rooms, shopping on Newbury Street, and going out to dinner together. This proved to be quite expensive. The many challenges in which incoming freshmen faced this semester have led to many freshmen, including myself, fostering resilience. We have seamlessly adapted to the overwhelming hurdles in which we faced with positive mindsets and optimism. Overall, this unique semester has given me some of the best moments of my life, despite the ongoing pandemic! My story of my first semester of college proves that the one can make the most of their time throughout the pandemic if they respond with optimism and adaptability! The photo included in this archive pictures my new friends and me exploring the city on a warm fall night! -
2020
My NU.in Experience
Covid caused my NU.in experience to be different than it was supposed to be. I was supposed to go abroad and experience the world in a new way. I found out in February that I was accepted into the NU.in program. I was excited yet apprehensive because of the great opportunities that had just been placed in front of me. I decided to attend Northeastern in late April so I knew that I would not be going abroad. As September approached, I grew increasingly nervous, I moved into a hotel, twenty minutes from campus, and had to follow a bunch of safety precautions. I did not expect my first semester of college to go the way it did. I never expected to be wearing a mask or be so worried about what I touched. I never imagined that I would have to be tested for a disease once every three days. I quickly grew to find my new normal at the start of the semester after finishing my initial quarantine. I made socially distanced friends over zoom calls and we met up for lunch but stayed six feet away from each other. This was how I met many of my friends. I decided to keep a journal to document everything that was happening during these difficult times. At the end of the day once I had taken my mask off and washed my hands I would write about my day and how it was different from what I had once done. Dining was an interesting experience to navigate. Only a certain amount of people were allowed into the dining hall at a certain time so there were usually long lines to get into the dining hall to eat. At first, all the dining halls were takeout only. As the semester progressed, sit down options were allowed. To allow for social distancing, signs were posted on the tables to tell students how many people were allowed to sit at each table and there were people around to enforce these rules. While waiting in line to get food, everyone has to stand on a marker on the floor indicating six feet of distance to be safe and everyone is required to keep their masks on. These experiences have shaped my time in Boston. I have been able to have a safer experience during my first semester of college thanks to Northeastern’s guidelines. I have also been able to watch out for myself and others because I know that I am being tested and those that I am around are also being tested on a regular basis. Overall, being on a college campus that is so conscientious about Covid has helped shaped my understanding and has helped me be safer as well. -
2020-12-04A Mother’s Birthing Experience during COVID-19
I watched her go through the entire pregnancy from October-April and in these months, COVID-19 was introduced, declared as a pandemic, and was being researched while we all quarantined. Giving birth is never easy, and for Brittany (the mother) this was her third pregnancy, her first child being born prematurely with complications, her second a C-section, and was hoping for a more smooth experience for her third but then the pandemic happened. She feared getting sick in the hospital but also not being ready to be home and just take phone calls in case of emergencies or appointments. This is an Item of interest to future historians that helps illustrate something particularly significant about the year 2020, because it is a first-hand experience of what happened inside the hospital, before, during, and after giving birth. This will help historians better understand a mother's mindset and the regulations implemented in the hospital. This item holds a voice recorded experience that was lived in an important time in history. -
12/08/2020Gordie Croce Oral History, 2020/12/07
Gordie and I sat down almost three months ago to discuss the onset of Covid-19 and our introduction to college with the pandemic. Now, we look at we have learned throughout our courses about previous pandemics and relate it back to the one we are still dealing with today. -
12/03/2020Hannah Wolfenson Oral History, 12/03/2020
In this interview, I meet with Hannah again after several months, to ask questions surrounding her experiences with Covid-19, as well as how a course on the history of pandemics has shifted her mindset. -
2020-11-18Shutdown of history
One of the core aspects of Boston is the bustling night life offered on many streets. This is facilitated by the amazing restaurants and bars that are located throughout the city. However, it has been sad to see some of the oldest bars shutting down because of COVID with no plans to reopen even after the pandemic is over. Bars like Whiskey’s, the Pour House, Flat Top Johnny’s and The Field Pub all carry with them history of Boston life with the Pour House even being home to some incredibly famous people’s favorite foods. It saddens me that these places may never open again because I walked past them almost every day that I was living in Boston whether I was going to work or just going on a stroll of the city. These places will close and lose the history that they unknowingly carry, but they will be kept in the eye of history when future generations talk about the economic hardships brought by this pandemic. -
2020-11-16Wentworth Institute of Technology - Architecture Studios
Covid-19 has put a severe dent into the learning ability of those studying for a design major here at Wentworth Institute of Technology. We as a collective group loved having the interactions within our studio space and sharing the ideas and progress of our projects. Being able to have in-person critiques of our projects with people coming from all over Boston just to show us how our project works or does not work. With the pandemic, this all has been lost due to us having to prevent the spread of Covid through walled-off workspaces. Don’t get me wrong, I want it out of our lives as much as the next guy, but also I don’t want to be paying an arm and a leg to be getting a second-rate education. The experience that we all received from an in-person studio is something that cannot be found over a Zoom call. Getting to see everyone's reactions to your final project is one of the greatest parts of becoming an architect. The freshman architecture student cannot get to experience that for their first year on campus and it deeply saddens me. On top of that, with Covid still playing such a heavy role within our lives, I don’t foresee anyone being able to have those in-person experiences any time soon. -
2020-11-16Wentworth Institute of Technology - Beatty Cafe
What you are seeing in this picture is what a Beatty cafeteria attendant has to sit behind all day to be able to read people's IDs and sell them the “delicious” meals. It is a different situation compared to what we all used to know. The world is having to live behind plexiglass shields 24/7 just to be able to slow down the spread of this terrible virus. We are in such drastic times that our best option is to wall others off and create as little interaction as possible. Yes, the glass is clear but it is not the same as being able to walk up to them and just ask them how their day is going while they sell you an overpriced cheeseburger. Seeing this for the first time opened my eyes to what our lives may look like if this goes on for much longer. People will no longer have the in-person conversations that helped to turn their day from bad to good.