Items

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  2021-10-18

  Looking Back to Look Forward and Adapting to Overcome

  This screenshot shows an Instagram post from St. Mary's University. The screenshot is in regards to the University's annual marathon for the neighborhood, depicting an in-person event with evidence of masks and other restrictions/changes due to COVID-19. Seeing as the event is back to being held in person, it has both clear similarities and clear differences in respect to the years before, further proving the fact that the pandemic is ongoing and continued adaptation is necessary before we will be able to overcome.
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  2020-10-15

  Looking Back to Look Forward and Adapting to Overcome

  This screenshot shows an Instagram post from St. Mary's University. The screenshot is in regards to the University's annual marathon for the neighborhood, announcing a virtual marathon this year, that participants can do from anywhere. This is different from the years past, as well as from the years to come, further proving the fact that the pandemic is ongoing and continued adaptation is necessary before we will be able to overcome.
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  2020-06-30

  Living on COVID

  It is Summer 2020 and students nationally, and even internationally, are preparing themselves to live on campus. For some, it is their first time, and for others, they are returning to their home away from home. However, it is a new experience for both as they adjust to the new rules and regulations of living on campus. This email from the President of St. Mary's University was sent to all Rattlers and is symbolic of the changes students had to adapt to in order to live on campus.
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  2020-04-17

  “Can You Teach Art Online?”

  “Can You Teach Art Online?”, published on Art in America online, examines the questions artists-instructors are asking amidst a transfer to online learning. Different instructors who teach in various mediums are interviewed and expose difficulties of teaching art virtually as well as the positives and new innovations that have come out of necessity. I found the argument by Carissa Rodriguez, a Harvard professor in the arts, very interesting. She discussed the limitations of platforms like Zoom and how it is difficult to engage others in an artistic subject behind a screen. Rodriguez teaches a screen-based artistic medium and she explains that for her subject matter “the platform seems a notch too self-reflexive, collapsing screenings, critiques, and discussions onto the equalizing plane of her students’ monitors, the same site where they browse social media and binge-watch TV shows”. The article highlights how instructors are using lockdown to explore ways to make art and complete projects without institutional resources. Therefore, questions of shifting models in academia arise.
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  2021-08-17

  Last Minute Changes in Teaching

  For Fall 2021, some teachers gave the option to zoom into class for students who were not comfortable being present in person. Out of my five classes, only two had this option specifically stated. I planned to attend all classes in person but the day before class was due to start one teacher switched to remote only. Initially, I was okay with it. It was the first class of the day so maybe I wouldn't have to get up so early. Then I realized I would have to wake up early anyway. The class after the remote one was ten minutes after. I would of had to rush even if the class was on campus. Situations like these showed that things were even unexpectedly changing for teachers. While the situation may have slightly inconvenienced me, I'm sure it wasn't ideal for the teacher either.
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  2021-09-09

  Looking Back to Look Forward and Adapting to Overcome

  These text stories are from St. Mary University's Rattler Newspaper. These articles relate to the pandemic and my theme because they are discussing how students are adapting from the previous year(s), whether it be dealing with changes to online vs. in-person lectures, new policies to promote safety, or anything else. This theme is important to me because I was still in high school during the start of the pandemic, so I had to go through lots of adaptations, not only because of my transition into college but also because of the ongoing pandemic. When I decided to attend St. Mary's, lots of things were still uncertain, for example, whether or not class will be held in person or virtually, mask and vaccination mandates, etc. Chloe Presley is the contributing writer, and Adrianna Mirabal is responsible for the graphics.
• 
  2020

  Social Media Interactions

  I thought this interaction represented a common argument nowadays between people who are not as sympathetic to how the world has changed, and someone else who is trying to counter those negative ideas.
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  -2021-01-02

  Changing traditions

  Covid has changed family traditions, including the way we celebrate kids' birthdays. This picture is of my youngest niece on her birthday. We had a 'drive-by' birthday celebration where friends and family drive past the house and honk to acknowledge her special day. This development of the Covid age has been a difficult transition for all of my family members as social distancing has changed the way we handle even the most ordinary of events. How has Covid changed your family's traditions?
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  2021-10-08

  Lone Star Covid Archive

  My name is Cardin Madera I go to Lone Star Middle School, and I enjoy school. I would describe the start of this school year weird because it has been a long time when I last went to a full year of school and I am not into the routine yet, so it makes it weird. Last year is similar because we still must sanitize our hands to keep us safe. Also, the staff are still not messing around about Covid-19. If you were to tell a joke about Covid, “saying this kid has Covid” and it is a lie you would get in trouble. It is different than last year because we do not have to sanitize our hands as much. Then we get to have our masks off the entire day if you want and it is not like we have half of the school students at school and the other half at home. There are somethings that changed between 4th and 7th grade because during 5th grade we were almost done with the school year but then covid hit and we had to do online for the rest of the school year. Then in 6th grade at the beginning of the school year we were doing online for a long time, and it was not helping a lot because I really could not ask questions about the assignment we are doing and about the lesson.
• 2021-03-30

  Teachers Share Their Experiences Working During The Pandemic | Covid Confessions | Episode #6

  Video Interview with teachers giving their experiences during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
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  2020-07-13

  Voices from Quarantine: Kids Share Their Experiences During the Pandemic

  Scholastic’s SuperScience magazine asked kids to share their insights and experiences during the coronavirus pandemic. Hear how their lives have changed, how they’ve coped with school closures and being away from friends and family, and what they’ve learned about themselves.
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  2021-10-04

  How Covid-19 Has Changed My Life

  The reflection that I have uploaded is a short summary of the biggest impacts Covid-19 has had on my life. This was the first time I've had the opportunity to share how Covid-19 has affected my life and I hope my experience helps others understand what life was like during these times. This submission is important to me because I want people 50 years from now to be able to read this and know how this pandemic has changed the world and how adaptable humans can become.
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  2020-05

  Playing with a Bad Hand

  Alexander Krusec May 2020 Pittsburgh, PA. I’ve always liked using gambling terms to describe my life. Things like “I got dealt a bad hand” or “quite while you’re ahead” always rolled off the tongue well, and more than that they were effective at describing the situation. Unfortunately, there wasn’t exactly a good poker term for a global pandemic. The pandemic was bad timing on my part. I won’t get into the details, but my life in high school wasn’t the best, especially during my junior and senior years. To say I was severely depressed during those years would be an understatement, and I spent a good chunk of my free time crawling out of a hole of self-hate. And just as I was starting to not only feel better, but be better, my school let the student body know that we were going home for two weeks. Then a month. Then the rest of the year. I’ve always considered myself to have extremely bad luck. Given my track record, I always guessed something bad was going to happen, and often it did. That was my life, and I had always just accepted things for how they were. For the pandemic, that was the plan. I was just going to accept the hand I was dealt and try my best to play it. Luckily for me, things changed. I don’t know what it was, but one day in May I jwoke up one day and I had stopped worrying about things, stopped obsessing about my own bad luck. I went to my grocery store job that day and for whatever reason I just did better. I did a good job that day despite the fact that the store’s shipment came in about two hours late. It was as I was driving home when I realized that my life did not have to be define by what happened to me, but rather what I did in response. I could name off a dozen different books and movies that have the exact same message of “persevering through adversity no matter what”, but the movies don’t hit as hard as a real-life epiphany. Of course, I wasn’t expecting my life to change in a used Honda Civic, but the fact of the matter was that the message finally hit me. Despite all that had happened to me, from my own depression to a pandemic, the thing that mattered was that I was still standing. There’s a great quote from the video game Destiny 2 that describes the type of resolve and will I now strive to have. It’s message is simple: don’t let the darkness in our lives break us, and as the pandemic still rages on a year later, it's a message everyone can use in these times. “I am a wall. And walls don’t move. Because walls don’t care.”
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  2020-04-06

  The City That Slept

  When you look at this picture, you notice something right off the bat. Most likely the fact that the streets of New York City are completely empty. On April 6th, 2020, New York City was as quiet as it’s ever been. The streets were empty and there was a ghostly feeling to it. If you were downtown that day, something had to feel wrong. I chose this picture to submit to the archive because these streets represent how the majority of people felt during lockdown; empty and alone. When people are cooped up and confined to the safety of their home, they start to realize the things that they took advantage of when things were normal. This picture also represents the odd nature in which the pandemic brought upon the world. We’ve never experienced anything like this before, and didn’t really have any idea how to prepare. It kind of just happened, and whether we liked it or not our way of life was going to have to change for the time being. While sitting in our homes, time was never an issue and, for me personally, I kind of just expected that one day this was just going to be all over.
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  2020-08-24

  Adventures in Virtual learning

  I’m in grad school now for the second time. I got my B.A. in 2009, and since it was right after the recession and collapse of the loan market, I panicked about jobs and went straight to an M.A. program. It wasn’t the best fit for me professionally or academically, but I didn’t have the life experience to identify that at the time. However, it was still valuable, and I met some of my best friends and professional connections I maintain to this day. Starting in 2012, I left academia and worked in a variety of jobs and fields before realizing I wanted to engage with archives and public history academically again. I found out I got into my dream grad program in late January 2020, and I was elated! Almost a decade after leaving my first graduate program, I was ready to start the next step of my educational and professional career. The excitement of a new city, new colleagues and friends, and fresh intellectual challenges awaited. More than anything, I was thrilled that my program wasn’t online, as that is not my preferred mode of learning. I don’t remember the precise dates, but COVID-19 came onto my radar around then. I know I tracked its progression through Washington state and then its spread to the rest of the country. Finally, it came to my town, and everything shut down. I ended up moving cross-country during the pandemic (another story entirely). Then, horror of horrors, classes began—online. The classes I’d been so excited for were moved to Zoom, my new classmates and colleagues nothing more than little squares. Some of them had pets, which was exciting, but in many ways, it felt like a waste of a year in terms of networking and developing camaraderie. Shifting to what is essentially a virtual, full-time job was a unique challenge. I wore pajamas most days, which was fun. I read all the advice telling me to put on clothes that I’d wear to the office or to campus, but I struggled to summon the motivation to do so when I knew I wouldn’t be going outside. My schedule was interesting, at least until I got a teaching assistantship gig that required more set hours. (The sleep inversion that occurs when the only things you’re required to be at are evening classes is incredible.) However, the lack of oversight meant some really great things! For the first time in my life, I was able to develop a reading/writing schedule that worked well for me. I had to, so I did. I was also able to put Netflix on in the background or play podcasts while I worked. Most importantly, I conquered my unease with online education. While asynchronous courses are still not my preference, over a year of remote learning means that Zoom is old hat. I, an introvert, also have a much easier time reaching out to strangers or new acquaintances. As we’ve met in person over the last month, some of those people have become great friends! While virtual learning and teleworking still aren’t my ideal, I love the new possibilities they offer for more accessible work and educational opportunities. [cat pictures] My coworkers were pretty great, and they miss me a lot now that I’m back working and studying in person. I still see them, but it’s just not the same.
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  2021-07-24

  Pandemic Response and Religion in the USA: Ritual

  This digital archive consists of online materials related to the COVID-19 pandemic and religious practices during this time.
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  2020-03-24

  Disabled People React to Coronavirus Work From Home Accommodations

  Individuals with disabilities have fought for accommodations to work from home for years. The pandemic has seen the development of widespread teleworking, with employers now providing accommodations for their workers to work at home. This situation is bittersweet for disabled individuals, who have experienced job loss and job frustration because of the lack of accommodations they faced in pre-pandemic times. It is hoped that now that employers are providing alternative work options including working at home they will continue this trend post-pandemic and provide more job opportunities and job growth for disabled individuals who require work-at-home options.
• 
  2020-12-04

  Henshin! The nostalgia wanes and reality sets in.

  Overcrowded movie theaters, expensive popcorn, and escapism entertainment made for the best days as a child of the 20th century. Surrounded by an ever growing crisis of climate change, the rising political tensions domestic and foreign; nearly every issue fades away as the lights dim in a theater, directing all attention to the action set pieces of the latest blockbuster hit. Unfortunately now, there are no lights to dim, no popcorn to smell, the once intense reverberating sound and art of audio mixing, is now forced to protrude from broken TV sound bars. The magnificent subtle nuances of orchestral scores, become muffled by the yelling of neighbors. As basic and selfish as it may seem, Covid-19 served as a reminder of the unobtainable nostalgia and senses that surround my past, the art of escapism through film. In 2020 I witnessed the passing of loved ones, relationships dwindle, and ironically the comfort of escapism...has now escaped me. Movie theaters were closed, the discomfort of the slightly course and rough woven stitched seats, became a desperate dream, a return to normalcy. The artificial smell of buttered popcorn, along with the overpriced snacks, became memories of an easier past. I wrote Henshin, as a manifestation of the changes of Covid-19. It isn't necessarily that films can never be enjoyed again, but the ability to truly escape, is gone. We view, smell, feel and see things differently now. The bombastic sensation within a theater, sharing the laughs, cries and emotions with other children, is now replaced with a constant checking of watches to return again to the world. The smell of artificial flavoring may be gone forever. Loved ones will never carry us out of a theater again. The inconvenient sounds of crowds, machines, and other viewers, are now replaced with conventional house noises. Undoubtedly film will return, theaters will open up again, but the once wholesome experience from the past has changed. The families laughs have now turned to cries, quoting movies with one another has turned to editing eulogies, smells are now memories instead of new experiences.
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  2021-06-02

  'A Journal of the Plague Year' relevant 300 years after publication

  During the pandemic, I took a graduate history course in which we read Daniel Defoe's 'A Journal of a Plague Year.' I had read the piece about 5 years before, but I missed so many of its nuances because it all seemed so foreign. It was striking to me both how much and how little has changed from 1665 to 2020/21. Quarantine, death tolls, travel bans, hoarding had all suddenly become commonplace occurrences that I could relate to. The centuries may have changed our technology drastically, but nothing seems to have changed about the human condition nor the human spirit.
• 
  2020

  A Photo Journal (2020-2021)

  This is a short photo journal of my life through the Covid-19 pandemic. It includes birthdays, quarantine life, graduation, protests, nature, and photoshoots. These are all important to me because these are the things that changed the most for me during this time. Birthdays changed from big parties to small gathering of friends or zoom meetings. Graduation turned from a big, movie-like event, to a closed-off, exclusive gathering. I began to explore myself more through photoshoots and Instagram. I became more informed on social injustice while I, a mixed woman, was able to help others understand my family's story. I got out into nature as inside became increasingly dangerous. Everything changed for me. For the better but it changed so much. I wanted to share my experience because it was such an important time for me.
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  2021-03-10

  Nursing schools response to Covid

  Covid-19 and the pandemic has had a significant impact on the healthcare industry. Healthcare providers that were nearing retirment had a good reason to retire early, and many others that felt the job became too dangerous or mentally taxing left the medical field forever due to Covid-19. The numbers of nurses have suffered as a result, and that means that during the worst healthcare crisis in recent history, the nurses that were working had even more burden placed on them by staffing problems. This article explains the ways in which nursing schools have responded to try and get more people into the field.
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  2021-04-23

  The Dorbin Journey

  This past year has brought many challenges with it for almost everybody. For me, and my family, this past year has brought equal challenges and blessings (although they usually appeared as blessings in disguise initially). Throughout the pandemic, I achieved great things at work, ended up quitting that job, started helping my family's business, experienced deep trauma after my wife was assaulted by a friend, navigated the legal system amid Covid-19 to seek justice, experienced justice being denied first-hand, worked through the grief caused by the denial, and then came out the other side of the trauma with an even stronger relationship, and I experienced a continued strain on all of my relationships caused by the distance required by quarantine. For me, this pandemic didn't greatly affect my work-life - I still had to physically work the entire time - but it changed the way all of the people around me lived. This was difficult, of course, because change is scary, but the change also became a catalyst for myself and others to change ourselves for the better. Personally, work got harder as tensions rose throughout the pandemic, and while dealing with the backlash of these tensions was difficult, this opened my eyes to the fact that I truly wasn't happy at work. I enjoyed the people I worked with, but I didn't enjoy the work or the product of my work. So, while I was grateful for the opportunity, the stress brought on by the quarantine woke me up to the realization that it was time for me to move on. There are many things that this pandemic brought, and while I wish I could elaborate on all of them, the short version of the long story, is that it was a traumatic event for everyone, but after working through the trauma, many of us found blessings in disguise or used the stress to give us the courage to change.
• 
  2020-03-18

  All We Have Is Each Other

  From the start of Covid-19 schools begin to get cancelled and change their way of teaching the students. Children, teens, adults, and seniors had to change everything involving their lifestyle. What we knew as a normal life could no longer be the same. Everyone had to be cautious of their surroundings and use protection gear. Before everything changed our lives my family and I would always get together every sunday. After the CDC recommended that there should be an approximate of 8 people per house in gatherings we decided to not get together as often since a family member worked in a senior home and we had learned that at that time seniors were more likely to get the virus. As the number of cases grew in Arizona and the border closed we didn't get time to see some family. It has been over a year since I haven't seen my grandparents. We call each other to see how we are doing. In my household it is only my mom and I along with my 3 dogs. What we took out of this was better bonding time, school ended early and jobs started to lay off employees because there weren't enough jobs. I had time to train my dogs and learn more commands, which was fun. I learned to do new things. My mom is a cosmetologist so she taught me how to cut hair, and how to apply gel polish. As things started to calm down families around my neighborhood would come out their front yard together and play with their kids and pets more. Families would eat outside and have a good time. But now everything is going back to normal. Sporting events are getting open to the public, and schools are going back to in person. I had learned that many families around my neighborhood shared the same experience.
• 
  2020-05-27

  Community Solidarity Creates Resiliency

  Community solidarity creates resiliency. Fed up and want to get involved? Follow these local orgs for updates and latest actions: @blackvisionscollective, @reclaimtheblock, @mpd_150, @mnfreedomfund
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  2021-03-21

  Don’t Give Me COVID

  For the past year, my husband has been the only one to do errands to keep the risk low. Anytime he went out, he showered and put his clothes in the laundry. No one has stepped foot inside our house in over a year. It may see extreme, but more than once during COVID, Southern CA was the country’s hotspot. We have been extremely cautious, and with both the death rates and people within our own circle who weren’t cautious getting infected during the winter spike, I do not regret our decision. Now numbers are thankfully declining and, even more significant, my mom (who lives with us) has received both doses of the vaccine and my husband and I should receive our second doses next week. Slowly, our lives will hopefully be able to open up a bit. But the moment captured here reminds me that the shift may not be as easy for our kids. My son, who hasn’t had a play date or left this street in months, flattened himself against the wall and refused to move when my mom came back from a Target curbside pick up. She didn’t even get out of the car but my son was terrified that she’d give him COVID. It’s going to be a long process to make them feel safe again.
• 
  2021-01-26

  The 2021 Social Justice Outlook

  NEW YEAR. NEW SOCIAL JUSTICE OUTLOOK. 2020 will be remembered for the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide civil unrest spurred by killings of unarmed Black men and women by police officers. With a new president in office, what will social justice look like in 2021? Get your questions ready and join the conversation tonight at 7:30 p.m. on NBC 6 Voices with Jawan Strader on the NBC 6 Facebook and YouTube pages.
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  2021-03-14

  Oral Interview with a healthcare provider

  Layne Williams is a Physical Therapist Assistant who was working in a hospital during the pandemic. Her role shifted during the early months of the pandemic and she found herself doing any job that was needed to help with the increased numbers of patients coming into the hospital. She recalled the surreal feeling of walking into her first Covid positive patient’s room and how the mentality of healthcare providers shifted as more information came out about Covid. She also discussed the challenges of being a healthcare provider while living with her husband who is not in healthcare. Her job certainly exposed her to increased risks and those risks spilled over to impact her home life. However, her overall impression from the pandemic is that it showed what the healthcare field is capable of achieving when challenged.
• 
  2021-01-21

  You Got This

  There were many moments that took my breath away during yesterday’s Inauguration ceremony. When @michelleobama and @kamalaharris fist-bumped was definitely one of them. These two women are bonafide American royalty. The sisterhood, the beauty, the style, the grace, the elegance, the brilliance, the charisma, the ground-breaking careers, the determination, the dedication to creating change. I felt like this was a moment where Michelle was passing the torch to Kamala and saying “Take it away, you got this”. What were some of your favourite moments? [Image description: Title: Michelle and Kamala, on yellow bubble, Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2021, on dark purple bubble. Michelle is on the left, Kamala is on the right. They are both wearing crowns. Michelle is saying “You got this”.] #inauguration2021 #michelleandkamala #kamalaandmichelle #americanroyalty #bidenharris2020 #sisterhood #feminism #celebrateblackwomen #inaugurationday #bidenharrisinauguration #bidenharrisinauguration2021 #thankblackwomen
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  2021-03-03

  ‘Just a beginning’: Black Lives Matter sign to be installed in Sacramento’s Oak Park

  From the Article: It’s a simple sign for a clear message, backed by the city of Sacramento: Black lives matter. A wooden structure spelling the words “Black Lives Matter,” the movement and global rallying cry for racial justice, will be installed at McClatchy Park, located in one of Sacramento’s historically Black neighborhoods. Unanimously approved by the City Council during its Tuesday meeting, the sign is covered in hundreds of names memorializing unarmed Black people killed by law enforcement. Community advocates say they hope the sign will be a symbol of a commitment from city officials to improve the lives of Black residents in Sacramento.
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  2020-03-11

  just as you thought things will continue the way you want it to be for your entire life comes a new disease that could change everything within our daily lives especially students who are doing all that they can to reach that Goal for it to be accomplished. with covid 19 being the forefront of not only this country but around the world it can our sense of normal can be in danger.

  my experience when dealing with the pandemic is something new that i didn't think it can occur within a lifetime based on how it's being portrayed by not only in the media but how it's describe from doctors and experts within the health field in which in thend makes it confusing for the majority of individuals. because when covid 19 first hit the U.S last year that is when everything change especially with schools because instead of going to school in person which this is the place where we go to meet people face to face including professors and others in different departments we transitioned online. my experience with being transitioned to online was a bit challenging because this is something that i feel would take time to adjust to the new form of learning regardless of the circumstance that is not in my control especially since i'm a returning student at brooklyn college who is very used to doing it the old school way which is in person learning
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  2021-01-25

  A Year of COVID-19 in Canada

  This is a collection of photographs for the anniversary of the first COVID-19 case in Canada. The photographs depict the changes the country underwent in the last 12 months.
• 2021-02-07

  Gas and New Covid

  When I was pumping gas I realized how much has life has changed from about a year ago. This time last year I did not have to wear a mask, glove, and wipe down everything just to get gas. It is crazy to think that a simple task like getting gas requires people who are responsible to put on their mask, put on gloves, get their hand sanitizer/ hand sanitizer wipes and wipe down the card machine and the gas handle. Then finally, after that is all done you can insert your card push the buttons, choose your fuel grade, then pump, and finally, you can place the pump back on the machine. Then you have to strategically take off the gloves like I was trained when dealing with blood and then I have to use my hand sanitizer then I can get in my car and leave. This new task and very detail-oriented "dance" was foreign to most of us this time one year ago and now it has become a way of life. This is important to note this change because there was a time before that it was not like this and maybe one day we may get close back to that but if not we need to document the change.
• 2021-01-26

  Statistics of Covid-19

  Currently there are about 25,152,433 confirmed cases of Covid-19. And sadly 419,827 have died due to Covid-19. In California alone there are 3,136,158 cases with 7,937 cases per 100 thousand. There are also a couple new strains of Covid-19 that either spread faster or are more serious. Luckily, there are a few vaccines that are being distributed now. Covid-19 has caused a lot of trouble to many people, and lifestyles have and will change due to Covid-19.
• 2021-01-25

  COVID-19

  I haven’t personally been affected that much by COVID-19. My brother had it in January, before everyone knew what it was, but other than that no one in my family has had it. The way it has affected me the most is with school and sports being canceled. I wasn’t able to see my friends very often and I couldn’t get as much activity. Even with all the bad things that happened because of COVID, there was still some good things. Many people learned new things or got a new hobby. For me it was skateboarding. The COVID quarantine is definitely not fun but there is some good that has come out of it.
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  2021-01-22

  Fish Out of Water

  Since March 2020, my life has taken a complete turn. For my past high school years, I’ve constantly been in the pool playing water polo or swimming. In an odd way, I have built a connection with the water. It’s become a part of my day, a part of my life, and I took it for granted. I thought I would get to feel the adrenaline and the nervous wreak on game days when our season came, but it never did. As someone who was always in the water and active throughout the week, it was a change of scenery when we had to stay home because of the severity of the pandemic in California. Not being able to play my sports represents my high school experience as a junior because everything feels out of place. Most of my days used to revolve around practices and games, and not being able to attend these felt strange. This might be a minor inconvenience, but this little change threw me off guard. I had to find other ways to adapt to the situation and learn how to organize my days so that they could resemble one similar to before everything happened. I’m sure there are also many others who feel very unmotivated during this time of unrest. I, too, fell into a hole where I lost motivation because there was nothing to look forward to and I feared that things would never go back to normal, but I eventually adapted to this new reality because I realized that I could not predict the future. In a way, the lockdown was an opportunity for me to improve myself and take on new hobbies I have always been interested in. I started to cook more and even tried baking!
• 2021-01-21

  Signs of Covid

  When I first learned about the symptoms of COVID, I didn't really understand what the concern was about. People with COVID would experience fever, aches, chills, loss of taste, soar throat, and sometimes nausea. I just sounded like a flu to me. We don't wear lock everything down for the flu every year, so why should we do all this for COVID? Some time later, I learned that COVID has additional effects on the elderly and people with underlying health conditions. People in those categories would often develop a respiratory tract infection, which can be deadly. On the opposite side of things, most young and healthy people experience little to no symptoms at all. We've been living with COVID for almost a year now, and I've only known a few people who have gotten it. I can't be sure that I've gotten it, but what I do know is that the changes that came with COVID have impacted my life greatly. Hopefully it will all be over soon.
• 2021-01-19

  Covid Restrictions

  Throughout the Covid 19 Pandemic there have been many changes in my life. The main one and the hardest one for me was not bring able to see friends that much. I still get to see them but not as frequently as I used to. The second restriction was having to wear masks. I personally believe that masks help, but they are a pain to wear especially during sports and other physical activity.
• 2021-01-01

  New year, new goals

  For this new year I have many goals and aspirations. One of them being that COVID goes away (I know that is not how it works). I want to go back to regular life and be able to see everyone’s smiles. I do not want to be shamed for going out to get food instead of staying home 24/7. I do not want to have to take my temperature three times before going to work. Something else I want to change, is that I want to stop living through historical events. I am a history major and I prefer to read history books, not live through them. It seems that in 2020, if it wasn't something that was going wrong, it was another. I will be graduating in May and one of my biggest goals, although I do not have control over it, is to have a ceremony. I am a first generation graduate and I know my family and friends have been waiting for this day. I also want to get into graduate school and continue my education journey and continue to grow. This year I seem to have a lot more goals and resolutions than I have in the years past.
• 2021-01-14

  Virtual learning

  During the crazy year of 2020, we weren't allowed to have school in person. Instead, we had to learn remotely. There was both benifits and obstacles in this time. Some of the benifits were that we didn't have to wake up early, or go to different periods, because everything was one click away. Although there were some benifits, there were also difficulties. Some of them included no socializing, technology could sometimes fail, and we didn't have the same tools that we had in the classroom. Overall, this year has been a great change, and I think that we haver to start getting used to a different life.
• 2020-02-01

  A Description of my Experiences While Learning Virtually

  Things started out O.K., but band was a mess, and classes seemed very boring. I usually got up around my usual 6:00 a.m., but I didn't make my lunch as I used to, because I didn't need to. I then would practice piano, and then I would have an hour to do nothing, unless I had Jazz Lab, then it would be more like 30 minutes. School itself wasn't all that different, sine the only thing that changed was that it was a block schedule and that almost everything was online. The homework load decreased significantly, there were almost no group projects. They changed the Wednesday schedule a few times, but I got used to those pretty quickly. After a while, I kind of felt like there was no schedule at all. Once we got to go to campus to do remote learning, things felt more normal which was really nice.
• 2021-01-14T12:07

  Remote learning

  My first day of online school was March 18th 2020. It was the second semester of my 7th grade year. Using zoom was not as difficult as I expected and it helped that we used axis instead of google classroom. WIFI was not a very common issue for me but other student had constant problems. The first few months took a lot of learning but towards the end I got the hang of it. I started my 8th grade year on zoom. I was already used to online because of the pervious year so I was okay with it. First period began at 8 AM and most days I woke up at 7:45. It was nice getting done with class before the actual period ended because I could do my own thing off zoom. It gave me a longer break between periods. To be honest it was hard to stay on task and motivated because it a completely different environment that in person school. When my microphone or camera didn't work it was frustrating but not the biggest deal. It was slightly disappointing to have so many projects changed. I had seen the 8th graders years before do it so it was a bummer to have it altered.
• 2021-01-14

  Remote learning

  Learning virtually was definitely a change. It was hard to get used to at first. There are sone benefits of learning online. All your classes are right infront of you and with a click of a button your are in your class. Also, all of your supplies are on your desk, so you dont have to carry any books or anything to class. But, there were also some downsides. Not being able to see my teachers and friends was hard. Teaching a class online is also definitely harder and there are many distractions when it comes to online school. Changing to the block schedule was also difficult. We used to have all 7 periods in 1 day, but now we have 3-4 classes a day and they are twice as longer. It is hard sitting on a chair for an hour and a half for each period.
• 2020-01-01

  Cause of COVID 19

  I think that the cause of the COVID-19 outbreak is caused by Bats. I think that someone in Wuhon China ate a bat that carried a virus which was COVID 19. SARS-CoV-2, is a virus that causes COVID-19, is similar to MERS and SARS. They all came from bats. COVID 19 has changed everyones lives hugely. There is no way to prove this but I think this is the cause of the COVID 19 outbreak.
• 2021-01-07

  Covid Christmas

  This Christmas was kinda different than any other christmas for me. Covid did not really effect my family but what happened was that my cousins got covid on Christmas Eve Eve. So that effected a lot of our Christmas plans. We were supposed to go to my Nana and Papas but we could not because of our cousins and we did not want to risk giving covid to my papa. Then Christmas morning was normal because my Nana came over and we opened up gifts and i got a new gaming microphone. They my sister had her friend over at night and we played What Do you Meme and watched Christmas Vacation. That is what my Christmas looked like.
• 2021-01-07

  A diffrent Christmas

  For many people Christmas in 2020 was a little different than in the years past. The Carona Virus on Covid 19 struck America and changed everything. In previous years we were able to go Christmas shopping with our friends in crowded malls and with no mask. But this year it was different and we would not know how long this difference would be. Having to stay in the environment of your home with not many family members to celebrate the holiday with. Having to Facetime friends instead of meeting up in person. It was different and we had to get used to it.
• 2021-01-07

  What was Christmas like this year? How was it different?

  Christmas this year was definitely different. For the most part, it didn't even feel like winter, and I was surprised that it has almost already been a year since everything became different from Covid. This year for Christmas it almost felt like there was no excitement for it or no build up to get us excited. We didn't get to spend Christmas with my grandparents and cousins as we usually do, but I still got to be with my family. We were able to have a good meal and still enjoy Christmas ourselves, but it definitely didn't feel real.
• 2020-12-25

  Christmas 2020

  The Christmas of 2020 was not too different from past years for me. On Christmas Day, my family opens presents and eats meals together, we did that again this year with little change. Christmas Eve, however, changed a lot. Normally, my family and friends would gather at my Grandmother's house to eat and talk. But, we could not do that in 2020. Instead, we only saw my Grandmother. Overall, Christmas didn't change much, the only thing different was the lack of people.
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  2020-12-14

  Interview with a Local Restaurant Owner

  I interviewed my boss, Ted, who is the owner of Loretta in Newburyport. I asked him a few questions of what he had to change since the pandemic began. Before I started asking him questions, I made sure he was okay with me recording and then posting this on the Covid-19 archive. Ted was given guidelines from the CDC and the government for what he had to change, and he was the one who had to implement them, which was challenging. This will benefit people looking back at 2020 because they will hear how we had to change from the perspective of a small business owner, which doesn’t happen very often. Small businesses are often silenced by larger chain companies since they are more well known. From this interview though, people will see how Ted really cares about the restaurant and keeping it open for the guests.
• 2020-12-10

  The Last Normal Month

  In February, life was as normal as ever. I had no idea how much my entire world would change in just a few weeks. I was hugging my friends and sharing food, taking the bus to school and spending my weekends at the mall, not a care or fear in my mind. Then, in early March, that all changed as my city went into lockdown. I was terrified that there were 26 cases of Coronavirus in my county, which is nothing compared to the almost 8,000 cases a day we are facing now. I don't know if this is the halfway point, or just the beginning, but I sure hope life can be like it was in February again soon.
• 2020-02

  Life Before the Pandemic

  Before the pandemic, I had a typical life. I had to wake up at around 6-6:30am to be able to get to school, which was 40 or so minutes away from our house. I drove in our new Tesla with my dad who worked at Joni and Friends. I also had begun carpooling with my friend Carly. We would sit in the back seats together as we talked about a fandom that we're both in and met through. Sometimes I would draw on ibisPaintX with my iPad mini with a stylus and a glove I crocheted that goes around my wrist and only extends over my pinkie finger so that when I rest my hand on the screen it doesn't interfere with the program. Sometimes I would crochet little dolls. After school, I would either have volleyball practice, go to Carly's house, or go to my father's work and do homework, play games, or read fanfictions while he finished his work day. If I had volleyball, I would sit at the pickup place while I waited for my dad and he would come pick me up and take me home. At home, I would eat, shower, read a bit possibly, and go to bed. The fist clue I got about my life changing was the news of the quarantined ship from China. At the time, it was just another 'oh look at them, that must suck, oh well' news report but it soon escalated into 'everyone is quarantined now'