Items

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  2020-03

  A thank you, and a few questions

  I attached a letter I wrote to my senior year English teacher and forwarded to the administration after my high school canceled the rest of my in-person school year in March 2020. When reading it, the reader should specifically acknowledge the timeline and therefore lack of information surrounding the pandemic, as well as the personal memories incorporated. This letter houses pent-up frustration, unfiltered emotion, and a lack of education surrounding the pandemic. As an 18-year-old who just lost the remainder of her senior year, I cater to selfish and emotional tendencies. The reader should recognize that I composed this letter before the CDC, scientists, and government disseminated lots of information and education about the virus, so it embodies the unawareness and confusion that surrounded the pandemic. Aside from that context, the reader should acknowledge the remembrances incorporated into the letter – through imagery and specific quotes, my memories and mourning become more internalized. Clearly, these images and memories can only be understood by members of the high school class or close peers. However, these details such as “alter ego outfit”, “alpha omega day”, and “mudslide” speak to personal experience during the pandemic and allow for my specific outlook. The letter I wrote bears lots of significance on my experience during the pandemic by allowing me closure and unleashed emotion. As a senior in high school when the pandemic hit, I never received closure with teachers, classmates, sports teams, etc. This letter gave some semblance of finality with my school’s administration and allowed me to express my concerns in an unfiltered fashion. Although reading the letter itself a year and a half later allows me to reflect on my emotions, the experience of actually writing the letter will never leave me either. I sat at my laptop, brainstorming what to write for an English busy-work assignment. I found it difficult to care about school anymore, after I had committed to Vanderbilt, and school moved to zoom. But, quickly, putting my feelings to paper resulted in an outpouring of passion, both positive and negative, and I cried, not sure why. Rereading the letter, as embarrassed as I am about my trivial concerns, I still return to the place of uncertainty, anger, and volatility. Even though I expressed lots of shallow ideas, the letter still bears relevance to me, as I’m proud of my honesty and vulnerability during that time.
• 2020-01-28

  Forced Quarantine

  Earlier this year, during my winter break, my brother was sent home two days before his high school finals. Someone in his class that he sat next/near to had contracted COVID, so as a precaution, he was sent home to quarantine. My brother was less worried about possibly having COVID himself, and more angry about having to make up his finals the next quarter (speaks a lot about our education system). I asked him who was the person that got COVID, and he said it was probably the girl behind him, but she said she didn't have it, and her friend that sat next to her backed it up. We drew out the seating chart and concluded that it HAD to be that girl, because everyone who was sent to quarantine was sitting around her. I told him that she probably just lied about not having COVID, because people would probably get mad at her. I personally would get angry myself if I was prevented from taking my finals, but I understand the girl's reasoning. No want wants to be bullied for getting sick, or called "COVID-girl," or whatever.
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  2020-03-17

  Video - Toilet paper fight erupts at Coles in Melbourne

  HIST30060 I have chosen to upload this article because I distinctly remember when the public fights about toilet paper begun to surface on social media. Initially, I found it hilarious. And then scary. And then kinda sad. And then eventually some combination of all three, alongside a healthy dose of embarassment at the fact Australians would behave in such a way. While I personally never felt the panic that led to hoarding goods, I know many people who did, and I also remember my housemates and I resorting to using paper towels as toilet paper for a short while because it was impossible to find in the shops near our house.
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  2020-03-12

  Microphone Touching

  The NBA was considering a stoppage of games due to the outbreaks of COVID-19. During one of the press conferences a player named Rudy Gobert decided to touch all the microphones in the press room after speaking with reporters, within days the world learned that he had contracted Covid-19 and the sports world began shutting down all sports, including NCAA tournament and all sports around the world. Gobert was one of the first celebrities to contract COVID-19.
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  2020-04-20

  A Conflicting Agenda

  This image portrays two women in downtown Sacramento in protest of the shelter-in-place lockdown that Governor Gavin Newsom implemented. One women is seen holding a sign that portrays Governor Gavin Newsom as part of the Nazi regime or compared with Adolf Hitler. Another woman is seen in the foreground carrying a child on her back with another sign declaring that “All Businesses Are Essential”. Both women are protesting against business closures, unemployment, and being unable to return to the workforce. While with some jobs work is almost guaranteed like those who work for the state, other private and small businesses are suffering. On the other hand, while having the freedom to assemble and speak openly comes with its benefits, the sign depicting Gavin Newsom as a Nazi is quite extreme. The level of ignorance present in this photograph equates its offensive demeanor and deeply undermines the experiences of Holocaust survivors and the other millions of lives lost. For me fellow Sacramentans, seeing signs and descriptions such as these make me feel less proud of the town I live in. I thought the pandemic would help us realize our insensitive words and unnecessary slurs but it’s only reminded many people of a troubled past. The pandemic has truly brought a side of the American people that I have never seen and as a young student seeing adults act with rational thought makes me wonder where our world will be in the next few decades. If the world changes, so do we. Some people have a hard time overcoming adversity and the pandemic has exposed triggers amongst the American people. One of them being economic downfall. The image clearly represents what some individuals believe to be most important and valued in life. It seems that we have reached a point through this pandemic that we no longer prioritize the lives of each other but rather how much money is in the bank. In many ways, this is a reflection of what America was built off of.