Items

• 
  2022-04-25

  Double masks and signs

  We are in Peru where it is winter. Most homes do not have central heat, so my partner bought an electric heater. Unfortunately, it did not work. I went with him to return it to Sodimac, and despite having one mask on- the man at the door checking IDs and vaccine cards told me to double mask. Inside, I took some photos of the signs regarding sanitized carts, checkout stations, and bathrooms.
• 
  2020-11-01

  Informal Graduation Congratulations – HIST30060

  With the cancellation of mass gatherings during the lockdown periods, many university students completing their final semester were sadly unable to attend their formal graduation ceremonies. This photograph, taken in November 2020, shows a congratulatory card and gift which were given to a friend after completing her Bachelor of Agriculture degree. University is a difficult time, and was made even more difficult by the unprecedented pandemic regulations. While very different from the traditional formalities, we still wanted to add a bit of excitement with this token of our appreciation. Small gestures such as this are an example of the innovation and creativity which many had to utilise, once denied access to many regular systems. Furthermore, it represents the importance of reaching out to friends and family whilst in isolation. Something as simple as a card acts as a reminder that there are people who support, care about and are proud of them. HIST30060.
• 
  2020-05

  Roses are red

  My grandmother's birthday is in May, so last year, during the beginning of the pandemic, we were unable to visit her and celebrate her birthday or Mother's Day. So, we sent her a nice card, and in it, my brother and boyfriend made up the poem. It reads "roses are red, violets are blue, when coronavirus is over, we'll come see you! xoxo Owen + Andrew"
• 
  2021-07-14

  California woman first to face federal charges over fake COVID immunizations, vaccination cards

  A homeopathic doctor in California became the first person in the United States to face federal charges over fake COVID-19 immunizations and falsified coronavirus vaccine cards. Juli A. Mazi, 41, of Napa was arrested Wednesday and charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of false statements related to health care matters, the Department of Justice said in a press release. "This defendant allegedly defrauded and endangered the public by preying on fears and spreading misinformation about FDA-authorized vaccinations, while also peddling fake treatments that put people’s lives at risk. Even worse, the defendant allegedly created counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards and instructed her customers to falsely mark that they had received a vaccine, allowing them to circumvent efforts to contain the spread of the disease," said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco.
• 
  2021-05-15

  Getting My Vaccine!

  I got my Pfizer vaccine! It's actually surreal to me to think that I got a vaccine because I was quite pessimistic about Covid in 2020. I think there was a voice in my head telling me that we're going to be in “this” for so long, and that it's going to be so bad but when I wrote my second Coronavirus journal entry, I said “I think we might get a vaccine by 2021 but I don't think it will be distributed to the public quickly until mid 2021” and I hit it right on the nail with that. I guess my prediction was pretty lucky. The progress that the United States has made with vaccines has been outstanding to be honest. I think it might be regarded as one of the most successful events in modern US history. A couple months back it was crazy for me to see that juniors in my French class we're being taken out to get the vaccine. At the time I was hearing about how Canada was lagging behind in vaccines. Even more crazy to me is that this Friday, my school opened up the gym for students 12-15 years old to get vaccinated so students in my grade got vaccinated at PE. Interestingly enough a classmate of mine was in the trial for under 15 year old kids. I'm sure that he documented his experience, but my experience with him being in the trial was that we teased him in Science class after he got his first dose. We said “oh you got the microchip” and “I bet your cellular connectivity got better”. He of course laughed it off. A lot of my humor is sarcasm, irony, and pretending to be dumb so when I said “oh you got the microchip” and “I bet your cellular connectivity got better”, it was meant (and taken) as a joke. But of course in humor, lies some truth. There are people that believe those things. There are people that are believing this misinformation from the internet. There are “Karen's” on the internet saying stupid things. There have been campaigns to fight misinformation about the vaccine and I think they've been successful, but there will always be dumb people. I think there are some famous people that are not using their influence for good, which is terrible as I think they have an obligation to support the vaccine. Someone I think that embodies this is LeBron James. I don't think he's gotten enough blow back for his comments. He is one of the most influential people in the world and his comments are damaging. His comments could indirectly be killing people. There is also some irony in his actions and his comments. It's well-known that he spends over 1.5 million dollars a year to keep his body in Tip-Top shape but he won't take a free vaccine. Anyways my experience getting the vaccine was pretty standard. I went into the hospital at 10:30, got my vaccine card (and an extra to archive), got pricked (it didn’t even hurt), waited 15 minutes and went home. Now 2 hours after I'm writing this, I haven't had any side effects other than some pain in the arm that I got it in. My dad got some bad side effects after his first dose, but not after his second, which seems to be odd because most people get worse side effects after the second dose. I’ll have to see if I get bad side effects from the first or second dose. Also if you’re reading this 50 years from now, check out if they have my vaccine card.
• 2020-12-24

  My Christmas

  This Christmas, everything was normal we all meet up and had our normal feast. I'm happy to say that there's nothing wrong with having a small Christmas party, but we just have a huge family. I also made our made Christmas card.
• 
  2020-11-23

  Covid Cat Birthday Card

  This is a photograph created by my brother, Domenic Ciampa. Like many others during the time of Covid-19, he has been able to continue his passion for drawing due to the lockdown restrictions. This was a card he made for our mother's birthday during the quarantine. There are three abstractly drawn cats with a funny blurb of text to the right. The text on the card reads, “I washed my hands before creating this... Happy Birthday” I thought this would be a good addition to my mini archive because it is a personal item to me. It also responds to the needs and considerations of my ethical archival collection. This object withstands all of the ethical practices and guidelines which I am following.
• 
  2020-05-09

  My Story with Coronavirus

  The story I wrote is about my perception of the beginning of the pandemic and what I learned after going to CVS to buy a card for mother's day.
• 
  2020-10-13

  Possibly Fake Cards To Get Out of Wearing a Mask

  Both my mother and my brother suffer from asthma. Before mask-wearing became mandatory by law, they attempted to use a card they had found on the Internet. The card looked legitimate, but we've since found out it may have been fake. Both of them printed it out and had it laminated so they could keep it in their wallets and bags. It stated they did not have to wear a mask due to health issues. Over time, my mother kept having experiences where people in public places such as grocery stores would get upset with her and “call her out” for not wearing a mask. She still stayed six feet away from people, but this was apparently not enough to reassure some. They would become angry and verbally abusive even after she showed them the card and explained that she had asthma. Because of these incidents, she looked for alternatives to masks, including a clear plastic screen which she tied around her forehead and it covered her entire face. But this was very inconvenient and difficult to wear. At the height of the quarantine, stores would not accept the card (as I mentioned earlier, it may have even been fake). As the quarantine began winding down (right around the time restaurants started opening), she was able to wear masks for short periods of time, as long as she could take it off soon after. *My parents got it through a third party, hence why I think it may have been fake.
• 
  2020-10-09

  Japanese Pokémon Cards Keep Me Sane.

  I chose to write about how Japanese Pokémon cards have helped to keep me sane. While it might seem silly at first, I am serious about this topic. I’ve been diagnosed with severe anxiety, and at one point went outside in a thunderstorm holding an umbrella because my mom wasn’t home when she said she would be. Being only 6 at the time, I didn’t really understand that her job doesn’t always end at the same time everyday since she is a professor at UWSP. Going back to the anxiety and Covid, I’ve gotten much better at handling my anxiety since then, but I cannot help but worry about my family. Due to my anxiety, I need to get confirmation that they are ok before I can fully relax. I am currently in my 3rd semester of Japanese. I’m also a huge nerd, so I really like Pokémon. I saw a video on youtube of a guy opening Japanese Pokemon cards, and it clicked in my head that I could distract myself by using Pokemon cards. Since I didn’t take any classes over the summer, I used that time to practice my Japanese by translating the cards to English and comparing them to the English versions of the cards from pictures I found online. Because I was able to do that , I was able to make it through my summer mostly anxiety free. It did cost a bit, roughly $50 US dollars for 20 packs of 7 cards, but it really did help keep me sane while the world went to hell and back.
• 
  2020-05-26

  COVID-19 Birthday

  No one loves birthdays more than my son. When it became clear that he wouldn’t be having a birthday party, or taking his traditional birthday trip to Disneyland, we planned a surprise birthday parade for him, and invited guests to try to break a Coronavirus piñata (from their car window). We were overwhelmed by the amount of people who came - we do not live close to our friends/family, and we had people drive over an hour (in Southern CA!) for a five minute parade where they had to stay in their car. We were most touched that even his Kindergarten teacher (who lives 30 minutes away) came by. The birthday boy wore a special homemade Mickey Mouse with a mask shirt that said “turning 6 in quarantine, still celebrating with Mickey.”
• 
  05/19/2020

  No more Mother's Day Cards

  The Saturday before Mother's Day, Family Dollar sold out all of its Mother's Day Cards. *Lystria Hurley, Fordham University
• 
  2020-05-10

  Mother’s Day 2020, in a Covid-19 Pandemic

  My daughter wrote this note expressing the fears around the virus, why she didn’t send flowers, and even a note is scary now, fear of contagion. My grandsons made the card.