Items

• 
  05/03/2021

  Kyle Sauley Oral History, 2021/05/03

• 
  2021-02-08

  #JOTPYSilver submission from Morgan Keena

  Silver lining - I got to spend far more time with my husband over the last year than I ever imagined. He’s a busy 3rd year med student but this pandemic really slowed things down for both of us. @covid19archive1 #JOTPYSilver
• 
  2021-02-10

  #JOTPYSilver submission from Steven Mooradian

  Slower pace of life while getting accepted to my choice grad school for public history and an opportunity to continue doing what I love. @covid19archive1, #JOTPYSilver @claireperritano @HurstHistory26 @GavinMooradian @AbbateTrent @TyPassmore10
• 
  2020-12-11

  Mental Health Interview with a College Student

  I interviewed my friend Lindsey Neri who is about to graduate from University of Connecticut this winter. I wanted to hear more about a student’s mental health one-on-one verbally, especially from the perspective of someone who is preparing for graduate school next Fall. As of now we are in an awkward spot with Covid-19 unsure as to whether or not life will be nearly back to normal a year from now. And by normal I mean no more mask mandates or mandatory online classes and work from home. Neri recognizes that she is one of the more fortunate ones in terms of being able to obtain her job but is feeling as though she may end up missing out on some potentially great opportunities when she starts grad school. Like most of us, her mental health has been very affected by this pandemic but she remains grateful for what she has in life and for the most part, keeps a positive attitude even in these troubling times.
• 
  March 8 2020 - May 4, 2020

  M.A. in Zoom pt. 1: Initial Anxieties & Adaptation

  This entry is part one of two entries that capture the first six months of my graduate school experience. I’m a graduate student in the public history program at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. I, like many students throughout all levels of education, felt a dramatic shift during or following spring break 2020. Most institutions, like mine, extended our spring break by a week to brace campus for transitioning fully online. At this time, I was enrolled in a course called “Conceptualizing your Capstone.” As the world began to catch on fire, I was just starting to piece together my final project which will enable me to graduate with my M.A. degree. Perfect timing. These are images of what my first semester of graduate school kind of boiled down to: completing the initial, most crucial, stages of my capstone virtually and completing my fellowship with what I felt were limited resources. What is not pictured was my constant fear of the unknown. Initial Anxieties For my capstone project I’ll be looking at the development of ballet folklórico in San Antonio and its influence throughout the state of Texas. I was looking forward to digging in our university and local archives; Fiesta was around the corner and I would’ve used that as an opportunity to document the different folklórico groups set to perform; and most importantly I had planned on meeting with the community members I’m working with face-to-face. The last point there was particularly concerning for me. I’d have to reach out remotely to a community who seldom opens their vaults to outsiders. How was I going to establish credibility and convince these groups that they could trust me via an email or Facebook message? The whole concept of my capstone project also might’ve had to change. I was originally looking to create a narrative history of Ballet Folklórico in San Antonio by drawing on the experience of my community partners–they are the earliest 501(c)(3) groups established in the city. In regard to my schoolwork, how was I going to produce legitimate work from the confines of my house? Was I even in the right place mentally and emotionally to perform at graduate level amidst social, political, and medical disarray that was being broadcasted? I was starting to get cabin fever; I could’ve ignored the commotion outside so I could focus, but that felt selfish. How could my mind be everywhere at once, yet my body needed to remain indoors? (These are actually a bunch of large questions I’ve had swirling in my head throughout the rest of March.) In late March, one of my brothers who’s a Texas State Trooper was ordered to quarantine for two weeks after someone in his unit contracted the virus. Then in mid-April, my other brother came down with something that gave him body aches, chills, fever, and made him sleep all day. No respiratory issues, however, we had no idea what was going on. He got tested for COVID and his results took four days to come back. Both my brothers tested negative, but these two events made it seem like the virus was everywhere and inhibited my ability to think and produce sound work. Adaptation After a couple of dramatic weeks, I got to a point where I could realize the amount of privilege my family and I managed to hold on to regardless of the dystopian-like transitions we were going through as a society. My dad and brothers could still commute to work (that has never been compromised throughout the past nine months), and my mom and I have been able to work from home; neither of us experienced a cut to our pay nor hours; I could get back to a regular sleep schedule because I no longer had to commute from campus, which is on the other side of town, late at night; we have stable WiFi; we have insurance; we’ve been able to pay our bills on time. In terms of academics, contrary to my initial anxieties, my experience in graduate school wasn’t really compromised. I had already established relationships with my peers and professors so Zoom classes and weekly meetings for my fellowship didn’t feel so awkward. Even if I didn’t have the first half of the semester to acquaint myself with my classmates, my generation is very much accustomed to digital communication. We literally grew up on it; we witnessed the evolution from wall phones to smart phones. Making digital connections isn’t a foreign concept to me. The pace of graduate school also didn’t change much. Yes, not having to commute to campus really alleviated a lot of my stress. However, the sense of urgency in graduate school did not fade one bit. I also underestimated the digital literacy of older generations. Specifically of the ballet folklórico community throughout Texas. Through the power of Twitter, Facebook, JSTOR, online university archives, and Zoom, I was able to build upon my research for my capstone. The individuals and groups I reached out to for help were surprisingly eager and generous. Maybe we were all craving some new faces or voices to interact with, or maybe I underestimated the power of engagement. I was able to build upon my capstone, and was probably more productive with it given that I had to stay in one place and work. Optimism was in the air. The first photo is a screenshot of our final presentations where we pitched our capstone idea to the St. Mary’s history department. We were originally set to present our capstone idea to the public history department (staff and students). Initially, I thought this experience would be compromised. I thought I’d miss out on forming connections with other professors in the program. However, there was a collective understanding these young academics (my peers and I) are in the midst of creating one of the most important pieces of our careers under unimaginable outside challenges. All hands were on deck in making sure we received the most help and access to whatever resources. It reinforced that I belonged to a community grounded in the belief that regardless of the circumstances, our duty is to assist each other in our pursuit to public history. I hope other graduate students across the city, state, country, and world experienced this same empathy.
• 
  2020-09-03

  St. Mary’s Mask

  I was really excited for my first semester at St. Mary’s as a graduate student. After several months of social-distancing and canceling plans due to the pandemic, I was ready to be busy again. I felt like I had a really long, boring summer. St. Mary’s sent me this mask and my friend took grad school pictures for me. It was a really nice gesture from the university since I am learning remotely in Utah. To some degree, I’ve felt a little disconnected from everyone else in San Antonio. But also, all the other students in my program are also learning remotely too. So, it kinda feels like we’re in the same boat together.
• March 25, 2020

  COVID Share Your Story #RITtigers #3, Electrical Engineering Major's Point of view

  Honestly it has been roughly mentally. Throughout my college years I have been dealing with identity crisis and deep rooted trauma from past experience that I have been ignoring until recently. I hated my major and other things were not going my way. This semester felt like the first semester where I was beginning to open to people and started to seriously seek help and face my problems. I started pursing the major that I wanted to and even applied to grad school for it and got accepted for it. I even met new friends who I didn’t need to pretend to act a certain way to be accepted. It is unfortunate that the current events happened as I felt that I wasn’t able to really build up those friendships as much as I could. I had to change my therapist sessions to online rather than in person and with the virus, I had to avoid people not only because I don’t want to spread the disease but also I have breathing issues that makes the disease even deadlier. It has been isolating and depressing. However, I am looking at the situation as a way to really focus on myself. I used people to distract myself from my problems so now I have to face them. I know I will become a stronger and happier person as I slowly face all my issues and I know I have people that care about me that I call on if I need help. Also I get to focus on my guitar and music hobbies more so that is also another plus. If I could give a message to myself at the start of this semester, what would I say? “You know that decision that you were second guessing yourself that night, just go for it because you don’t if you will have chance again later in the semester”
• 
  2020-04-27

  Finished my first semester of grad school amid a global pandemic

  Juggling grad school and a full time job hasn't been easy. The outbreak of Covid-19 made this a more difficult task, as I work at a school and teaching was shifted to an online format within a matter of days notice. It often feels that things have been moving so quickly that I haven't had time to fully comprehend them. Nonetheless, I must take note of some of the accomplishments along the way, such as finishing my first semester of grad school at Arizona State University. 10 monographs, some dozen scholarly papers, and two major papers I feel both relief and a sense of accomplishment.