Items

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  2022-05-04

  Erika Groudle Oral History, 2022/05/04

  Erika Groudle is a resident of Monroe, Washington. She lives in a tiny house with her partner on her mother’s property. In this oral history interview Erika discusses working with kids during the pandemic and her opinion on how they handle mask wearing. Additionally, Erika discusses her “pandemic garden,” caring for her grandfather, staying connected to friends and family during the pandemic, how she first realized the pandemic was close to home, and the realities of living in a state that not only had the first case and death of COVID-19 in the United States of America, but also highly publicized protests in Seattle. Interviewer: Jason Inskeep Interviewee: Erika Groudle
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  07/09/2021

  Joseph Giangreco-Marotta Oral History, 2021/07/09

  Wife interviews husband about COVID-19 experience.
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  2020-09-30

  The Sounds of What is Lost

  This story speaks to the ever-changing sounds of the pandemic. Sensory history allows us to engage with the past in ways the invite the senses of the past back into the story. As my partner and I were navigating all the trials and tribulations conjured into existence by the events of the past year and a half, we noticed how silent our home full of sadness and confusion had been. Gone were the overhead aerial shows, the chatty neighbors, the rattling railway tracks... Now there was nothing. Our sense of sound changed dramatically and began to represent how fractured our connection to the world was. We had to be plugged in to tune each other out. We had to stare at a screen to see a familiar face. While most things felt, looked, and smelled different, there was nothing that sounded the same.
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  2020-03-13

  The stolen year #REL101

  When covid-19 first arrived, I was a senior in high school getting ready to graduate. At the moment, I'm writing this; I am currently in college, finishing my freshman year. When I first heard about covid 19, i did not think it was going to affect me because, at the time, the government was telling us that it wasn't a big deal. But that later turned out to not be true when everything shut down on March 13th. Even after the virus proved to be much deadlier than previously thought the most of the government still pushed that covid 19 was not a risk or that it would just simply go away. At the time, I can remember being confused because people were clearly dying. Yet, the government was urging people to act like everything was normal. After that day, the world changed forever. Nothing was the same, not even school. After March 13th, my high school went entirely virtual, with the plan being to come back after two weeks. Still, eventually, those plans like prom or even a regular graduation were canceled. I remember this time of my life being kind of hard because everything was shut down, and the world seemed to fall into chaos. Around may is when I would say things reached the height of the chaos of 2020. In May of 2020, George Floyd died when it seemed like the world went up in smoke. There were protests and riots, a lot of which I think stemmed from both the death of George Floyd and tension resulting from decades of racial tensions. As a black person myself, at this time, I felt anger but seeing as though there was still a virus and violence on the streets, I did not go to any of the protests.
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  2021-04

  How Covid 19 Made Me Feel

  I created this image to visually represent my experience with covid-19. The goal is sharing my personal experience in hopes this reaches people who have felt the same. The coronavirus pandemic has affected people globally. Everything from anger to hopefulness, confusion to contentment can be used to describe experiences and feelings in regards to the pandemic as a whole. This foreign virus is historical, and will be in records as one of few other pandemics of this magnitude. This contribution to the archive is one of many attempting to provide an understanding for the future.
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  2020-03-13T15:10

  The Unexpected Closure of Saint Anselm College

  These were a sequence of emails I received as my college prepared to shut down on March 13th, 2020. This created an immense amount of stress and chaos for myself, my family, and my friends. We were concerned about being isolated on campus away from our families during such a scary, life changing time. The emails embody the idea that we would be able to remain in person, continuing our education in a normal way. This indicated that we truly did not understand the full complexity and severity of the issue. There was a lot of chaos and uncertainty during the weekend of the 3/13/2020-3/14/2020. Earlier in the week, a trusted professor indicated to us that it was only a 50% chance we would actually be sent home so we were absolutely shocked at the decisions.
• 2021-02-03

  Vaccinated.

  Last night I got my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine for COVID. I feel like it should have been easier than this. I got my first dose of the vaccine at Chandler-Gilbert Community College, which we found out later was a county-run rather than a state-run location. Cardinals Stadium in Glendale is a state site. So the difference amounted to not getting the email about my second appointment for an anxiety-inducing long time. So when a new block opened up at the stadium, I signed up to get my second shot on the 21st day after my first, at the earliest opportunity. My husband’s appointment for his first dose is two days later. We arrived at the stadium, got my appointment number chalked on the windshield, and wove through a maze of cones and banners toward the check-in tents. When we pulled up, the lady checked my number and couldn’t find me. She searched for my birthday and couldn’t find me. She searched by my name and couldn’t find me. She took my ID and walked off to find a supervisor. I stared at my appointment confirmation email on my phone while she did all of this. The supervisor returns and, after asking to look at my email, handed me a clipboard. “We are going to sign you in as a walk-in, which doesn’t even exist right now. We can’t take walk-in rights right now because it’s possible that people with appointments won’t get their short today because our daily inventory is low.” That’s why my husband was not one of the lucky ones that we have heard stories about who got to get their dose early by coming along with someone who had an appointment sooner than them. I filled out the form, the lady made me a new appointment on her tablet, and the confirmation email for an appointment slot one hour before appeared. We turned the truck back on and moved through the second maze to the next set of tents, where they covered the same questions before sending us under the second tent where a younger man gloved up, came around to the passenger door, and quickly injected me. He must have seen that we were younger as we pulled up, even with our masks on, because he said to me, “Alright, I will give you this if when I do you scream, FUCK COVID,” which of course I agreed to. But if you have had the vaccine yet, you know it goes by so quickly that I barely got out the FU.. before he said, “okay, you’re good to go.” A third maze brought us to the line of cars waiting their 15 minutes to see if they have a bad reaction before pulling out and heading back home. I now had my second dose, and my husband has yet to get his first, so we didn’t need the help of the people milling between cars signing up people for second doses who had just gotten their first. We got to the front of the escape line and then were released, maybe a few minutes before the 15 were really up, but we were off. My COVID card is complete. When I got my first dose, the guidance was that 30 days after your second dose is your true “good to go” date because it has had time to take effect, but in the last three weeks, that has been shortened to two weeks. I don’t know if that is smart or accurate, or if, like everything, people want this to hurry along so things can go back to “normal” after we have been at this for a year. But vaccines are still hard to get, kids can’t get it, and we don’t know how long it will be effective, so maybe we shouldn’t get too excited.
• 2021-01-28

  Invisible Enemy

  Living during the time of a pandemic has inevitably changed my own surroundings, but what I find most striking is the fact that many of these changes are almost invisible to me, considering I stay home as much as possible. Sure, I hear the fire engines and ambulances working around the clock every day, their sirens blaring, but since I am inside, I never see them. Even more concerning is the fact that people in my area have almost certainly been infected, but again, I have never seen any. Similarly, chances are if you have not caught COVID yet, all the knowledge you have about how to combat it does not com from ones own personal experience, but from instruction from a third party. As a result, I feel like I both have some sort of an idea of whats going on around me and how to deal with it, and also no idea. For me the silence that I hear is just as alarming, if not more so, than the sound of an ambulance tearing down the street.
• 
  2020-06

  A College Student Surviving the Pandemic

  I chose my Target employee card from when I worked there over the past summer in my hometown, Venice, FL. I chose this object because it represents to me the pandemic when everyone was at their worst, during all the main lockdowns. I keep it in my wallet because I still somehow have an employee discount. But every time I pull it out, I am reminded of that scary summer of when no one knew what was going on or what was going to happen.
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  2021-01-24

  Anxiety, confusion remain over COVID-19 vaccine rollout at mass vaccination site at CCSF

  This article discusses the confusion over how vaccines are being rolled out to eligible individuals in San Francisco. A vaccination site is allowing individuals to get vaccinated without an appointment if there are extra doses at the end of the day. However, while texts are being sent out to let people know they are eligible, without an appointment there is no guarantee they will receive a vaccine if they go to the site; this is leading to people arriving, hoping to receive one of the leftover doses, only to be turned away. This is just one example of how confusion and misinformation about the vaccine is leading to anxiety and disappointment, and a desperate sense of hope that the kinks will be worked out soon so that the vaccination process will improve.
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  2021-01-21

  The Clock App

  In a time where life went from full speed to a sudden pause, I felt like I was just standing in the middle of chaos and confusion. Prior to Covid, TikTok was seen as just an app for adolescence. However, to me it was bigger than that it was a communicate freely your comments, concerns, escape from reality. In a world full of darkness, this brought laughter to many faces. It is an outlet that felt like you were hanging out with your best friends. TikTok was the light in my life, being able to connect with so many people when that was stripped from us.
• 2021-01-19

  rules and procedures

  For COVID-19, there are many rules to follow. Some are wearing a mask and being socially distanced. I have had a struggle following these in my everyday life. I think that some don't make sense because of others. For example, having to wear a mask outside, even though the government says that outside is wear you can take your mask off. They totally cancel each other. One of my teachers got COVID-19 and I had to stay home for 1 week to make sure that I am ok. I personally don't understand this because I have no symptoms and feel fine. Over all, it is a lot of work to go anywhere because of all of the rules.
• 2021-01-28

  the beginning

  The day before quarantine, I was with my friend and we had both just gone to a birthday. we knew about the virus but not about social distancing and masks. my dad had called me and told me to stay away from anyone. I was confused on why but when I went to Northern California, I realized that the cases in LA started to spike rapidly. from that moment forward, I wouldn't be seeing anybody for the next five months. when I went up there in November, there were few cases. Maybe 50. so when we went out to get food, groceries, or anything like that, I realized nobody really bothered to wear a mask. of course my family still did but we ended up getting weird looks from other people for wearing one. it was really strange.
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  2020-11-03

  Life for a toddler during a pandemic

  A mother shares how coronavirus has impacted the life of her toddler. Her daughter's routine has drastically changed, and there is a lot of confusion when trying to explain what is actually going on in the world right now.
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  10/10/2020

  Angelica S Ramos Oral History, 2020/10/10

  Angelica Ramos is a full time mother and student living in Gilbert, Arizona. She is studying history at Arizona State University. She is an Arizona transplant, having moved from her hometown of Los Angeles, California when she was 23 years old. She keeps busy caring for her two small children; balancing school and activities for her children, her own schoolwork and managing her household, all in the time of COVID-19. In this interview, she discusses her thoughts, challenges and feelings on the pandemic year, and what she hopes is on the horizon for next year.
• 2020-07-10

  Fear of the Unknown

  Although I have been fortunate enough to say that no one in my family has contracted the virus thus far, that's not to say that it hasn't had an impact. Since the discovery of the virus, there has been an abundance of mixed information, terrifying rumors, and confusing data. There have been times when one could think there was nothing to worry about, and other times when one could feel uncomfortable leaving his/her home. Overall, the most terrifying part for me is all the things we don't know about what's going on. Along with that, is not knowing when you or a family member might have it. I'm sure we have all had our scares during this crisis, but one in particular really frightened me. My dad has been in and out of hospitals for over 5 years now, and it has been a rollercoaster of emotions for me and my twin sister. The most recent time he was in the hospital, he was transferred from my small hometown to a hospital here in Phoenix. In his condition, and after everything he has lived through, we knew that he would not survive if he contracted the virus. It sounds pessimistic, but if I were to go in-depth about his medical history, anyone would agree. With that being said, we were terrified about him being in a major phoenix hospital at the peak of the pandemic. Not to mention the medical facilities he would have to regularly go to after the fact. So far, he has not contracted the virus, but the stress remains present even more so than it has been in the past. Sometimes the stress and concerns that these types of disasters cause are just as impactful as the disaster itself, and COVID-19 has proved that to be true more than ever.
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  2020-08-01

  The Importance of Understanding

  My experience with Covid-19 and quarantine has consisted of me being anxious and confused most days. It has been a stressful, heavy burden on my mind due to the many ongoing, worldly events. This is especially true because I am an American citizen. To me, this post speaks very heavily about the message that needs to be heard by all Americans. Many people are not taking Covid-19 seriously enough and are only thinking about how Covid could affect their health and not others’ wellbeing. This screenshotted post is important to me because I believe the reason America is having such a hard time fighting this virus is because people are only thinking about themselves and how the virus affects them versus how it could affect others with different immune responses to Covid.
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  2020-07-03

  My Battle Call

  Reminders such as these have been circulating. Trying to help hearing people understand some challenges those in the Deaf world are facing right now. One of them being our inability to read lips and facial expressions. Many Deaf, deaf, HoH people have been shamed in public recently because we can not understand people wearing masks. Hearing people can be very rude shouting at us, "What are you deaf or something?!?" Well, yes sir I am!
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  2020-04-21

  Here's What We All Should Be Doing Right Now! Humorous "Press Conference"

  Adley describes herself as a Grammy-awarded entertainer, comedic influencer, self-proclaimed wine connoisseur, and country singer. She seems to be surviving the quarantine and the COVID time with pranks recorded on her daily videos on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. This particular video perfectly sums up how confusing all of our instructions and medical directives were during this period.
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  2020-05-31

  A Tale of Three Responses

  There seems to be three separate stories occurring in the world right now. America is currently trying to reopen across the various states, while also confronting its' systemic racial issues. This has generally created chaos across the board both locally and nationally. Europe, and large parts of the world, are trying to handle their own coronavirus issues and wondering what is happening in America. China is trying to alter the narrative on its handling of the coronavirus and probably grateful that the U.S. has provided a distraction.
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  2020-06-01

  Covid Disorientation

  This meme describes the disorientation of having the daily routine suddenly gone because of quarantine.
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  2020-05-31

  A Letter to 2021 Me

  I want to share my personal experience and how I'm dealing with COVID-19 quarantine.
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  2020-04-23

  Faith Over Fear

  The coronavirus has taught me something important. It can be difficult to see God in a world that is fraught with confusion, despair, hopelessness, and uncertainty. When I first found out that the second half of my freshman year of college was taken from me, my world was rocked. My faith was rocked. Before COVID-19, I felt like my faith was on a firm foundation, and more importantly, I felt close to God. All of that changed as soon as I arrived home. That firm foundation was now one of uncertainty and disappointment. The closeness I felt like I had with God was now gone. In reality, I never felt farther from God in that moment. I was overwhelmed by disappointment and confusion after realizing that I wasn’t going to get the dream ending of my first year in college. I wasn’t going to see my closest friends for a while. All I could see and focus on was everything that I lost. As the days passed, I started to see glimmers of hope and joy. I started to work on being intentional about looking for God in my day-to-day. Now, I see God working in me with the unexplainable peace I now carry that everything will eventually work out. I see God in the encouragement and intentionality shown by my friends during a time where it’s easy to hide. I see God in the joy I feel as I write hand-written letters to my friends, even though they aren’t with me anymore. I see God in the laughs that my family shares as we enjoy the most heavenly chocolate chip cookies that I make for dessert. These examples may seem insignificant, but I have found rest in these moments because I have faith that God is working in and through them. The coronavirus taught me that it can be difficult to see God in our world right now. But God taught me that He is right in the middle of all the pain, uncertainty, and loneliness I am feeling. He has taught me to be gentle with myself. That it’s okay to feel sad. That it’s okay to feel lonely. That it’s okay to not be okay sometimes. And that it’s okay to not be productive all the time. But even in the midst of all of those feelings, He is right there with me, and I trust that He is going to redeem all of the pain I am experiencing and turn it into something beautiful. I may not be able to see it right now, but I have faith that I will see it, and I’ll be so thankful for it. As a result, my faith will come out stronger than it ever has been before.
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  2020-03-13

  Living Life under COVID-19

  This is an artwork that seeks to capture the prevailing sense of confusion and distrust in the institutions responsible for handling a global health crisis. This is a satirical piece and has no affiliation to presented organization or group.
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  2020-03-26

  Giving up on a test

  The husband cannot get a COVID-19 test