Items

• 
  2021-01-16

  In Grey

  It's an expression of my pain fro. Losing my daddy and it helps me to heal to tell the story thru music and video like this.
• 2020-08-10

  Saying Goodbye during the pandemic

  During the pandemic my grandmother acquired the virus and desperately needed medical attention but the Healthcare system in a third world country such as Peru was saturated. she had to wait outside the hospital in a temporary medical tent. my grandmother passed away two weeks from her diagnosis. many other families experienced the same situation. this story is very important to me in order to spread awareness of what can happen if a country's health system is not equipped with the necessary tools to handle such terrible events like the pandemic.
• 2020-03-31

  Covid: My Experience in the Pandemic

  Covid: My Experience in the Pandemic The pandemic was an unforgettable experience for my family, as well as countless others. During a time of struggle, we faced many unforeseen challenges that were somewhat difficult for our developing minds to comprehend. Not to mention, the greater the understanding, the greater our issue seemed to be. However, in a time of dread, it became a blessing eventually. In the beginning, it was more of an adjusting period. The idea of quarantine rocked our worlds as we could no longer be out and about. Attempting to find creative solutions seemed challenging, which led us to free meals from different businesses attempting to be of service. Not to mention, on Sundays, we were unable to go to church. However, this soon became a blessing as we began doing “church at home”, which quickly led to a strong family bond. Around the middle of covid, things became slightly easier. We were beginning to adapt to the challenges presented to us. We began working with our neighbors’ family to complete online school, which formed an unbreakable bond with them as well. The grandmother of the house made everything go smoothly, and she supported us over the years. Moreover, in previous years, she would work with my siblings and I to ensure our success in academics. Finally, the end of covid felt like the worst. The transition back to school was not without its tribulations. Others like me had lost their sense of self, acting irrationally. In the midst of it all, the grandmother of our neighbor's family caught covid. Unfortunately, she didn't make it. It took a long time, but we came to terms with it and we were truly blessed to have met her and blessed because she was a chapter in our lives. In conclusion, my family as well as my neighbors’ felt the challenges of covid. However, instead of separating us, covid (ironically) brought us closer together than ever before. From bad to blessed, from terrible to terrific, a great tragedy ended up being a valuable experience. In the end, I'm thankful for covid shaping my character and strengthening my loved ones.
• 
  2021-07-30

  Covid Was Over

  In 2021 my Mom and I planned a trip to Mexico to visit her side of the Family. We had been putting off the trip because of a lack of money and then Covid hit. It had been seven years since my mom had been able to visit her mother and her siblings. At this point in time, travel restrictions and quarantines were largely a thing of the past. People in my area no longer considered Covid to be a threat in the way it was viewed in the early part of 2020. Masks weren’t in common use and people went about as they pleased. Deaths were still rising. By June of 2021 our trip took place. Most of the big travel restrictions had been lifted, but oddly enough America still had testing restrictions for reentry. Mexico, a nation that still cared about limiting the spread of the virus, had no testing or vaccination requirements for entry. We went on our trip and had a great time visiting our family in Mexico City. While staying we decided to visit the Museum of Anthropology in the city center. To enter, we had to go one at a time and be sprayed with some sort of sanitization chemicals by guards in the front. Being a poor Spanish speaker I was afraid I would do something wrong and that they wouldn’t let me enter. Thankfully everything went well at that time. When the time came to leave we had to locate a pharmacy that would do rapid testing for our return trip. America had very specific instructions that only allowed for certain pharmacies to do the testing. This made it very difficult to find one that would work. When we got to the testing site it reminded me of zombie movies. The pharmacy was surrounded by tall iron fences with razor wire at the top. People wanting to be tested were funneled one by one to a testing kiosk. The kiosk itself was a glass paneled box complete with attached glove arms and a ventilation system. The test itself was a simple swab test that was much more painful than I thought it would be. My nose hurt for an hour afterward. On the day of our departure I was nervous that something would not be correct with our records and we would be stopped from leaving Mexico. The person who officially went over our records was in the baggage check in area. She took our documents and didn’t even look at them for one second before handing them back. I was confused but this, since our American travel sites made such a big deal about it. Honestly, we could have easily faked the records to get back into America. Ultimately we got home safe and sound. A little over a month later everything went to hell. My cousin, Aunt, and Abuelita all contracted Covid and were hospitalized. My Aunt and Abuelita passed away from the virus, only my cousin survived. My mom had to deal with the loss of two close family members less than two weeks apart. It felt so wrong, how could they have both died when Covid was over?
• 2021-03-18

  A Burial Post Pandemic

  I did not travel during the entirety of the strict lockdown period of the COVID-19 Pandemic. My wife and I worked in retail and were deemed essential so we worked through it from April 2020 until the restrictions were broadly lifted. In March 2021 my mother died of an unrelated illness, the first trip I took after the travel restrictions were lifted was to bury her in Carlsbad, New Mexico. We did not hold a funeral service and we did not hold a memorial, she was cremated and buried quietly. I remember this very vividly because even at that time it felt wrong to travel and to be interacting with people in a way that wasn't required by work. We wore masks the entire time. Due to our proximity to El Paso, TX I remember vividly when they were storing bodies in buses in the streets there and this made us fearful and cautious. Even had we not been still in the throes of the pandemic, I don't think I would have done anything differently but I do believe that the added stress of travel would not have been present thus making the trip more manageable. Due to our need to isolate, and resist getting sick, what I remember most of all is the loneliness of the matter, and the quiet car rides, and wondering 'How might things have been different?'
• 
  2021-03-09

  Long Live My Mama

  I feel like my mama story needs to be heard. We loss millions of people to it .
• 
  2021-02-17

  It took my world

  This is a photograph of my best friend, my mother. In December of 2020, we went to Disneyworld and came back with Covid-19. I was barely pregnant at the time, but my Covid symptom was only a cough. This cough would only hurt my uterus, so when I started to miscarry, I wasn’t too surprised. My mom, on the other hand, thought that her muscles were sore from walking around the parks for a few days. She had a cough and a bit of a fever, but was still walking around the house as we quarantined together. She was cold, which only ever happened when she was sick. One day, she didn’t leave her room because she was struggling to catch her breath if she did too much. She had me turn the heater on for her because of how cold she was under her blankets and comforter. She had been keeping her C-PAP machine on to give her the extra air support, but when we checked her oximeter, it was only at 70. So I called the paramedics like she asked me to, they came, we met them at the door, her vitals were taken, and they said that I could take her to the hospital or they could. I told her that I would drive. I had to take her to the emergency room that was not in our normal network because that’s what was open. I took her there with the expectation of getting her transferred the next day. When we called, the other hospital couldn’t take her because all of their beds were filled. So, she stayed there, and I couldn’t be with her because they were trying to keep the spread down. She was texting and FaceTiming me for the first 4 days that she was in the emergency room. On the 5th day though, she stopped responding. I called the hospital and they told me that she had spoken to her doctor and they had decided to put her on the ventilator to give her body a break for a few days. It was not a few days. On day 39 of her being on the ventilator, they lowered her sedation medication and she had no eye movement. So, I told them to let my brother go in and say his second final goodbye and to call me when they had ended her fight the next day. They called and said that she took a few seconds off of the ventilator before they called the time of her passing. I was alone now. My dad passed away in 2006 and my brother was a technical part of my family, but it was just me and my mom in the house still. Now, it was just me. A year later, I lost my home because I couldn’t get a loan approval to buy out my brother’s half of the equity. At that time, I was pregnant again with the baby girl that my mom dreamt of me having. This child that she had planned to be overly involved with, to play with, to snuggle, to kiss, and to have memories and adventures with. But now, the nursery would be someone else’s room. A stranger. Covid-19 took my baby, my mom, my house, my stability, and my will to love. I have been able to love my baby girl, but I am always comparing myself to my mother and thinking about how she could’ve been the best grandma. How she would’ve helped me. How we would’ve traveled to so many places together. And now, I struggle to pay rent on a single room. I leave my child at daycare 5 days a week and try to keep her there for each meal in case I don’t have enough to feed her. And I hide away from a lot of socializing because my mom was my favorite person to hang out with.
• 
  2020

  Life of a Trini during the Covid 19 Pandemic

  My story talks about difficulty I experienced during the pandemic
• 2020-06-22

  Milestone Year

  To get to this story, I have to go back a few years first. I'm an immigrant from El Salvador. I came to the U.S. as a teenager in 1994, and never went back. I was in my 30s when I decided it was finally time to visit the grandmother I'd been missing for so long. I started to save and plan. Then she died. It took several years before I finally took my first trip back in November of 2019. I spent the time vacationing on the coast. I avoided my grandmother's house, my friends, and my family. I wasn't ready. But I decided that for my 40th birthday, in 2020, I'd return for a longer stay and visit my childhood home and all the friends and family left behind. Then there was a pandemic. The trip was cancelled, but it was the least of that year's problems. I lost my job and went back to school to start a new career. Our dog got cancer and died. My partner had a friend in El Salvador who died of COVID. I can never reschedule that same trip. Too much has changed. I'm planning to return this summer. This time with a firmer grasp on life's impermanence. I want to visit the white sand beaches at Playa Mango before it gets turned into a "surf city" tourist trap. I want to visit all the important cultural landmarks, especially those from which I can learn about my ancestors. More importantly, I will not avoid friends and family. On the contrary, I want to cherish the time I will have with them as if the next day isn't guaranteed. I plan to take dozens of photographs, portraits of everyone I see, I want to write down their stories in my journal, I want to record every visit, every meal, every experience possible in my journal. I plan to say "see you later," but not leave anything unsaid. Just in case.
• 
  2022-07-01

  Delay to The Bay

  My plans to visit San Francisco in 2020 came to a halt with the outbreak of the Coronavirus. As a high school teacher, I was looking forward to my long awaited-spring break. It had been quite some years since my last visit to the San Francisco, and I knew a trip to ‘The Bay’ was long overdue. I booked a flight, hotel, and waited patiently as the weeks went by. Spring was coming up and there were heavy concerns about COVID 19 spreading into North America. I was slightly concerned but figured I would be safe to make this trip. As news broke out about cases emerging in San Francisco, the nation went into hysteria. I was not skeptic about the hazard of Coronavirus, but selfishly planned to proceed with the trip. Then my father called me. My parents, both in their seventies were definitely at risk, especially my mother who struggled with health since my childhood. My father asked me kindly not to go to San Francisco. Without hesitation, I canceled my flight and hotel. I had booked everything online through a third party and was unable to receive any refund. Bummed out, I knew it was the right thing to do. Coronavirus spread, schools shut down and my spring break prolonged. At first I was spending time kayaking, but the weather in Phoenix got so hot I had to stay inside. The Phoenix summer of 2020 had record breaking heat with 55 consecutive days of 115 degrees plus Fahrenheit temperatures. I was miserable. With concerns of my mom’s health, social distancing, living alone and bored, I was very unhappy. The unjustifiable killing of George Floyd caused anger, and rightfully so, across the nation which contributed to more hysteria. The only positive that came from that hot summer were my experiments in the kitchen. I would then deliver tasty meals for my parents. This was the one thing that made me happy. Unfortunately, my mother did not survive past the summer of 2020. She passed away in her sleep peacefully due to an unrelated COVID cause. I was on an all time low. Sad, empty, missing my students, and missing normal daily life. We had no idea how many people would die and when things would normalize. It was truly scary. Fast forward to 2022 and things were much better. I figured surviving 2020 made me stronger and much happier. Vaccinated and boosted, I decided to pursue my trip to San Francisco. I made the best of this short trip. I went to a party outside the Chase Center for the NBA Finals, in which the Golden State Warriors played against the Boston Celtics. For the first time, I took a ferry to Alcatraz. In China Town, I saw locals dance with dragons, in which one bopped me in the face while I was taking photos! Caught by surprise, I did not take offense to this. Observing how the dragons behaved with mischief, I knew it was all for fun. This made me laugh. This was a much-needed trip indeed. 2020 affected everyone around the world. With global hysteria, people getting sick, people dying, racial injustice, everyone except pandemic deniers and those oblivious to political issues resonated with fear. Passing through time, my 2022 trip to San Francisco was a rebirth. A rebirth to normalization. A rebirth to my passion of exploring culture. A rebirth of sanity, and a rebirth of controlling fear. A rebirth to laughter. With dragons, noodles, basketball, and Ghirardelli, the delay to ‘The Bay’ will forever be a golden memory.
• 2020-09-02

  The Shaman in Francesco

  When I went to work at Ernst and Young, I thought partners were going to figure out in a New York minute that I didn’t belong there because I lacked the intellectual curiosity, problem-solving talent, communication ability, or any of these characteristics of a professional consultant. I was extremely anxious on my first day. When I entered the Orange County office with its oil paintings hanging in the entryway and its staircase connecting the floor on which consulting Partners had offices to the floor on which audit Partners resided, I knew I didn’t belong there. Then I met Francesco; he was a shaman bearing wise council. I felt at ease instantly. Francesco’s friendship and advice were just what the doctor ordered. On the first project I managed, Francesco worked for me as a member of the consulting team. The Partner we reported to did not like Francesco. He didn’t like his style of communication, his style of dress, nor his accent–Francesco was Chinese-Indonesian. I gave up my integrity by sharing in the Partner’s dislike of Francesco. But my opinion was dishonest. He had been my savior, after all. Role forward six years, and Francesco now works for a small consulting firm I own. Francesco is a loyal consultant in which I confide my innermost emotions. Unfortunately, my consulting firm went through a period of contraction that meant Francesco had to find employment elsewhere. Still, we met regularly to explore opportunities to grow my company so that Francesco and I could work on the same team again. As always, Francesco was a source of limitless ideas and friendship. Francesco passed away on September 2nd, 2020. He was taken from humanity at much too young of an age. He did not succumb to COVID. I don’t even remember how COVID affected me at the time because I was so distraught over Francesco’s passing. I didn’t lose a colleague. I lost a friend.
• 
  -0022-06-11

  lossing loved ones during a pandemic

  During this pandemic I was just getting adjusted to becoming a student again. I invested into some music equipment to provide my son and my nephew an outlet and something that could keep them occupied. The pandemic forced me to not be around my nephew and other family members. During September 2020 my nephew’s life was taken due to violence. This crushed my spirit and I felt like a failure. I lost two people I love ❤️during this pandemic my mother in January 2022 and my nephew. We were forced in isolation and could not spend quality time with each other.
• 2020-07-08

  Motherless Immigrante Through Covid-19

  Before the covid-19 pandemic, I immigrated with my father to the U.S. after my mom's death. It was a fresh beginning, I was living like in a dream, exploring, and being mesmerized by how beautiful and advanced LA is. However, one day everything changed and a lockdown that was supposed to last for 2 weeks, ended up lasting more than a year. At first, it was fun. I was looking at the positive side, doing times I haven't done in a while, watching movies and shows with my dad was incredible fun. However, with time my dad started to worry because he lost his job and did not receive any type of help. He eventually find a job for the summer, but I had too much time by myself that everything I could do was miss my mom. There were days that I didn't see my dad for the entire day because he needed two jobs to be able to pay our expenses and his dad's expenses outside the country. I started to get depressed. School started again but my cheerful character and interest in school never came back. Now, I feel like I am in airplane mode all the time.
• 
  2022-04-29

  2 Years in a Pandemic

  This is my personal experience living in the time of the COVID-19 Pandemic
• 
  2021-08-05

  How COVID Affected My Family

  COVID took a huge tole on my family. We were unable to have getting togethers for almost a year since my grandparents are older. This was hard for us because we have multiple get togethers in a year. Last August, both of my great grandparents tested positive with COVID. They both have many underlying health conditions that made their fight hard. My great grandma pulled through but my great grandpa did not. This was a very hard loss for my family because his passing was the first in our close family. The worst part about all of it was that they would not let any of us in the hospital to say goodbye. We had his funeral outside so all of my older relatives could attend and stay safe. COVID years were hard for my family and I am very glad we are finally on the other side of it.
• 
  2020-03-15

  COVID-19 Impact

  COVID-19 took so much from me. It took people, friendships, experiences, and so much more. I have pictured a high school diploma. This represents the years I lost in high school but still pushed through and finished. I’ve lacked education from being online. I lost opportunities and experiences. I lost friends. And had scares of losing my father. Covid took so much from me and many others.
• 
  2022-04-13

  The College Years: Pandemic Edition

  When I was a sophomore in college, I had just gotten my dream job of being a community mentor when the campus heard the rumors that we might be getting an extra long spring break because of the virus. Originally, I thought everyone was blowing it out of proportion but then I quickly learned I was wrong. The extended break quickly turned into two years later. Most of my friends had graduated and I was now a senior becoming a supervisor over the community mentors. The pandemic was a major period of growth for me, but I learned something important in the process: you never know when the last time you see someone or experience something will be. So many people I know lost someone to this virus, including me. I wish I could go back and cherish more time with those individuals before the pandemic.
• 
  2022-03-23

  First Covid Related Death in American Samoa

  On March 23, 2022, American Samoa reported its first Covid Death. This article was released on Talanei News with the Governor sending his sincere condolences to the man's family. With the surging number of cases in American Samoa from 555 last month to 2000 plus recently, the Governor went live on the local news when the first covid related death was reported to express his sympathies and to the public never to lose hope and to keep fighting against the disease. After two years, American Samoa had just experienced its first covid related death, making everyone worried that more deaths would come. And sadly, I think there will be. I have seen how COVID deaths have increased globally for the past two years, and as much as I do not want to think about it, I know it will be bound to happen. And just like me, the American Samoa public worries that since it is a tiny island, COVID-related deaths will spread quickly. When I saw this article on Talanei News, I immediately began to worry. I felt like I also lost a family member thinking about my parents. Experiencing death is never easy, and COVID has brought a lot of sadness. This article gave me fear, worries, and sadness altogether. This is why this article is essential to me as it informed important information about home during the drastic times of COVID and death.
• 
  2021-04-21

  Grieving a non-covid death

  My grandfather on my dad’s side passed in April 2021. It’s coming close to a year mark at my time of writing this. I think that being in a time surrounded by so much death and loss that we have forgotten about those who have died during this time unrelated to Covid. He had suffered kidney failure in late 2013/early 2014, that part of my life is blurry in memory so I don’t recall exactly, but he had been on dialysis ever since. It’s been hard to talk about his passing, everyone assumes that death in the last two years always has to do with Covid. Death is never easy to talk about, but it is inevitable for every living creature. My grandfather was old and had been sick for a long time, he lived a long and happy life. I don’t mean that in some cheesy way, he truly did. I carry a tremendous amount of guilt surrounding his death. Due to Covid restrictions, I didn’t get to see him for a year leading up to the week that I spent with him while he was in the hospital, then hospice. I still think about him all the time and the last days that I got to spend with him. I don't think I'll ever get to have that closure I want due to this. It’s almost as if we had expected death due to illness, accident, age, anything else, expected to stop. Yet, death of all causes never stops.
• 
  2021-02-09

  A loss within a loss

  My grandma, a 95-year-old woman, had a decline in her health. She had to go to the hospital multiple times, and we were all told that her muscles were deteriorating. The first time she was in the hospital for a couple of weeks this past year she wasn’t able to walk so she was recommended to go to a nursing home to receive rehab. She was in the nursing home where my mom worked, she was the only one actually able to visit her. I went and visited through the window so that I could at least see her and talk to her as I didn’t know how many more times, we would be able to talk. I would call her every other day just to talk and see how she was feeling. She then went to the hospital again because she was having issues breathing on her own. We found out that she had fluid in her lungs which caused her breathing problems. We were then told that she wouldn’t make it through the night, so we went and visited her to make sure we said our goodbyes without actually saying the word goodbye. She said “I’m not ready to leave” to my mom which she proved to be true. She ended up feeling a lot better after the oxygen started working. She still needed a lot of care to help her survive. We then found out that she had covid and that she wouldn’t make it through because of the already preexisting circumstances. Her old age and her body falling apart really didn’t help her to fight off something so bad. She lost her ability to eat anything. She couldn’t swallow at all, so she lost a bunch of weight. We were then told again that she wouldn’t make it through the night, so we rushed there to see her because we believed this to be true this time. We went into the hospital with a priest and some family members with only three people allowed in the room we had to alternate. We also had masks on and then told we had to put on gloves, and an isolation gown. I left after an hour because it hurt too bad to see her suffering with two forms of oxygen on and barely being able to talk. My mom and uncle stayed till they told them visiting hours were over. The next morning my mom gets a call saying that she had passed, and she came into my brother and I’s rooms in tears to tell us. On February 9th, 2021, at 8:03, my grandma passed away.
• 
  2020-09-14

  Virtual Pow Wows - A result of Covid -19

  Every year as a tradition Tribes of Native Americans gather to celebrate through song and dance at events known as Pow Wows. These events reinforce long-honored traditions, the most important being unification. The Pow wows allow for the togetherness of the people and the connectedness of the tribes. Covid -19 brought an abrupt halt to that for hundreds of indigenous tribes across the U.S and Canada. As a result, the only way to share some of these meaningful traditions was to offer a virtual option. While not the same it did allow for some of the singing and dancing competitions to take place. The long-term after effect though is that not having the in-person Pow Wow resulted in a significant loss of revenue for those tribes that were hosting the event. Pow Wows bring in significant revenue from vendors and non-indigenous spectators. This loss has had a trickle-down effect on the indigenous communities making it more difficult to endure the pandemic. As a parent of a Northeastern student, not having the ability to have my daughter physically share in the in-person powwows is disappointing. Pow wows are more than just celebrations they are an opportunity to connect with your identity and heritage-which is vital for the younger generations.
• 
  2021-10-09

  The loss of an Aunt

  Recently, I have lost a beloved aunt due to Covid-19. The loss has greatly impacted my family and I during the pandemic.
• 
  2020-08-06

  Native American / Navajo Elders

  I live relatively close to the Navajo reservation and my elderly father lived with me during the pandemic. The experiences of suffering of Navajo elders so close by is heartbreaking but tells the story of deep divides in resources and experiences.
• 
  2021-10-03

  Losing is not losing

  I believe we have all lost a lot during this last year. Loss of normalcy. Loss of community. Loss of family and friends. At the beginning I'm sure a lot of people thought the world was gonna end. And in a way it did. Our old world died as we are currently creating a new one. New babies are entering this world with a new chance. another chance to make the world a better place. Another chance to create a new world. They are seeing people for the first time. Yes we loss last year. But we also gained. As the poem states, the art of loosing isn't hard to master.
• 2020-03-28

  Five years took for granted

  Five. This was the number of years that I was able to spend with one of the most important people in my life, my uncle. From the moment I moved here in Brooklyn, he was one of the few that made me feel welcomed. He loved me, took care of me and supported me as if we'd know each other our entire lives. He stood as a second father figure to me, and he truly always managed to put a smile on everyone's face. But, on March 28th, 2020 COVID-19 got the best of him and unfortunately passed away. I was devastated and so heartbroken. Despite how painful his death was, it taught me many valuable lessons. But, I believe the most important one is to not take each day we get to spend with our families for granted.
• 
  2020-04-01

  COVID-19 Through My Eyes

  This story is about my experience with Covid-19 and how my family and I endured the hardships we faced and everything we have gone through in the past years. This is important to me because it shares about the struggles we went through and shows what we experienced through what i consider to be the worst moments of my life.
• 
  2021-08-16

  from the eyes of a teacher

  A friend of mine is a teacher for the Los Angeles School District. She shared on social media how Covid has impacted her school and its students.
• 
  2021-08-07

  Food Is Not Always Comforting

  This is a story of my family's experience with food and the pandemic. For us, it was a reflection of another difficult time in our lives.
• 
  2020-04-09

  Grieving Rituals Lost to COVID-19

  Rituals are an important way to celebrate special occasions and victories as well as to deal with the stresses of life. This article discusses the grieving process people have gone through because of the loss of rituals (graduations, funerals, weddings) during the pandemic and the importance of creating new rituals.
• 
  2020-11-03

  Election Night 2020

  This poem sits at the nexus of pandemic life and political desperation. My wife lost multiple elderly family members to COVID because her parents believed the rhetoric spread by Donald Trump and those like him. Five years of dealing with racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic bigotry being the political norm, and eight months of a pandemic in the heart of one of the largest science denying states in the country led to this moment of desperation, where all I could do was blindly bake and write to get the nervous energy out.
• 
  2021-01-25

  As Long As I'm Living My Mommy You'll Be

  Depicts someone who passed away as well as religion. The photo shows blue flowers in the background. On the table, an urn is shown with an angelic figure on top pointing to a necklace on the right-hand side that says mom in a heart with a red stone. On the left-hand side shows a remembrance of life card with a woman named Doreen DeCoursey shown on it in a blue shirt. In writing on the card it says: "In loving memory of Doreen DeCoursey December 14th, 1958- January 7th 2021. God saw she was getting tired and a cure was not to be. So he put his arms around her and whispered come with me. With tearful eyes, we saw her fade away. Although we loved her dearly, We could not make her stay. A golden heart stopped beating Hard working hands to rest. God broke our hearts to prove to us he only takes the best."
• 
  2021-05-18

  Changes during the pandemic

  I chose this photo because of the differences between a before and after the pandemic. I took the first photo from Google, from an article titled "What Keeps People Coming Back to a Restaurant?" (Carol Lin Vieira) because I do not have an old one where access to eat was allowed, since for me it was common. The second photo was taken at my current job, it is located at 2065 Jerome Ave, Bronx, NY 10453. Before the pandemic started, we could go out and share with our families and friends, we could order food and eat in the restaurant, hang out, have fun and laugh, no need to be making reservations all the time. The pandemic changed our lives in a whole new way. Before we could be in groups and go to the park without the need to worry about whether other people could infect us. We had so much more fun because we didn't have to worry about whether restaurants would be open or not, whether we could go out and eat quietly away from home. During the pandemic, we can no longer do these kinds of things because we are separated. This is something sad, not being able to see your friends or family for fear of infecting us or infecting the people we love. Not being able to shake hands, give hugs, kisses on the face or share our food with other people. It makes me nostalgic to see how in my work the tables are empty and it is forbidden to eat, to remember how the restaurant was full with many people who laughed and told how their day, shared stories or dated someone. It is hard to listen to the sad voices of the customers when they ask when they can go eat. As I mentioned earlier, COVID-19 left many losses and many broken hearts along the way, it is a disease in which it showed us the value that each person has. Sometimes as teenagers we do not realize what we have, I chose this photo as an example of how little we valued the little things before and now we really need it. A single walk without a mask, sitting in large groups with your family in a restaurant, being next to someone who has already died due to this disease, among many other details. I think everything happens for a reason and from something so negative we learned something positive, we learned to appreciate the little things in life, to be more united with the family and to love more every day.
• 
  2020-07-04

  First time traveling in Covid 19 Pandemic

  For my primary sources I chose pictures that I took with my friend and family through covid pandemic and my first trip to my country which is Dominican Republic at July 4, 2020, and it did not feel the same because some people were afraid of hug me, talk to me and even I could see them put their mask on when they saw me coming to their way and I do not really blame them because even i was afraid to hug my significant ones because I know that the time we were going through it was a lot for them, I am not going to lie, I was scared to go out because everytime that I watched the news just I heard that millions people died from Covid and that did not give comfort to go out because I did not want to get my family and friends sick. At july 20th I traveled for first time in the pandemic and it did not feel great because the looks that people used to give me when I cough or sneeze it was like if I came from another place, I did not enjoy this vacation the wanted because I could not see the people i wanted to see and the people I saw were scared of me because of Covid. I selected this source because I want to show the historians in the future the struggles and the loss that many people had in 2020 because of Covid, for example the students had to take classes from their home which is basically teaching ourselves, people lost their jobs because the economic went down and there was not enough budget to pay the employers because the Country was not prepared for this situation, and that many people lost members of their family, this was a difficult time for all of us.
• 
  2021-05-08

  The Difference that 473 Miles Makes

  My story is about the differences between two states; Illinois and Tennessee and their handling of the pandemic.
• 
  2021-05-06T03:04:26

  17 year old's life during the pandemic.

  At the start of this whole pandemic i was hanging out with friends and doing all of my usual stuff. But then people i cared about caught the virus and died from it. So i have lost a lot. And the online classes is the worst thing i could ever do, because i feel like i haven't learned a single thing except for the fact that i hate online class. Due to this i think i may fail a lot of my classes which puts me way behind then where i'm supposed to be.
• 
  2021-04-22

  The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

  I am submitting this for my Rel 101: Religion, Culture, and Public Life course.
• 
  2021-02-27

  #JOTPYLesson from Brandon Kyle Presley

  I have learned over the course of the pandemic to be thankful for those around me. As I have seen many lose loved ones over the past year, it has reminded me how important family and friends are in life and that one cannot overcome difficult times alone. Apart from those friends and family, we as individuals can do very little. Jacob Lute Joshua Colson Dakota Presley Whitney Lute Thomas Lovett #JOTPYLesson
• 
  2021-04-11

  A year of my life...

  A year of my life… I tour ASU and decide it will be my college. Coronavirus arrives. My high school senior year abruptly ends. My twelfth and final season of high school baseball is cancelled. Our state goes on lockdown and we all stay home. Easter. No family get together. Church is closed. People around the world start to die by the thousands. Fear and anger spreads around social media. My grandfather falls and breaks his jaw and is in the hospital for a month. My older brothers and sisters keep their jobs but work from home. My nephew’s schools and daycares close. George Floyd dies at the hands of the police in Minnesota. All hell breaks loose in Portland…protests, riots, looting everywhere. Everyone takes sides. Blacks vs the police, the establishment, the government. Politician vs politician. Family member vs family member. Violence, tear gas, extremists. Whites stand with blacks. Moms join in protest. Black Lives Matter. All Lives Matter. No don’t say that. That is racist. Churches protest. They want to stay open. Freedom to worship, they say. Over 230 people get Covid at a Pentecostal church in Oregon. Pastors downplay the risks of the coronavirus, then die of coronavirus. They lose their battle in the courts. A wedding in Maine…55 guests…177 get sick with Covid…7 die – none of whom were at the wedding. A superspreader event. Superspreader. Our new vocabulary. Wear your mask. Our new normal. Another suicide in my school district. I turn 18. I am registered for classes at ASU but attending is up in the air. I work as a GrubHub deliverer because everyone is ordering food from home. We get together with family outdoors. I have a graduation party…in July. Graduated seniors get to play a couple of baseball games at the local minor league field. I am undefeated for my senior season. I pitch, hit, and field well. What might have been… August comes. August 15…I move into Hassayampa…115 degrees…new roommate…I start college…I get Covid…so does my roommate…so does our suitemate…and many others…September 8…I move out of Hassayampa…my roommate and I move into an apartment. Life gets better. Fires sweep through Oregon. And California. And Arizona. ASU cancels finals week. Election. All hell breaks loose. Again. I move home before Thanksgiving. My brother-in-law gets sick with Covid 19. My brother and sister-in-law get sick with Covid 19. My first term of college ends. Christmas. Politics. I won. No, I won. Sounds like kindergarten. These people run our government? I delete most of my social media. I am sick of it. I am sick of everybody. Sick of this year. January. ASU cancels spring break. Back to school. Things are different. The newness has worn off. Covid is a drag. School is a drag. I lose my best friend. I go home. I go back. Ice storm in Portland…power out…broken trees. I go home. I go back. Trying to keep going. Trying to survive. Class is a blur. I stare at the screen. The information goes through me. I am not there. I do my homework. I bomb my exams. My grades are ok…but am I learning anything? Who knows? Who cares? School will be over soon. Virtual work. Virtual school. Virtual life. I will finish the year with over 40 credits. I will never have stepped foot in a college classroom. I will never have talked to a college professor. I will have met very few people. Fall will come. I will be starting over. We all will be. I hope. #REL101
• 
  2021-01-21

  While holding hands husband, wife die from COVID-19 days after 70th wedding anniversary

  The increasing death toll from COVID-19 has devastated many families on a personal level. One instance illustrates that like no other. An Ohio couple that had recently celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary both passed away minutes apart, leaving behind seven decades of memories, five children, 13 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren. Dick and Shirley Meek celebrated their anniversary on Dec. 22. It was then when they innocuously told their children they were feeling a little under the weather. "They said to all us kids, 'we think we're getting colds,'" said Kelly Meek. But suddenly, things got bad and it was evident this was no mere cold. On Jan. 8, they both tested positive for COVID-19. When things started to worsen for both of them, the family asked for them to be together for their final moments. Hospital staff found a room for two beds and the necessary equipment. Dick and Shirley died in each other's arms on Jan. 16. They were due to get the COVID-19 vaccine on Jan. 19.
• 
  2021-03-27

  Snapshots of some of the lives lost...

  The coronavirus has taken the lives of more than 546,000 Americans and counting. Those we've lost come from all backgrounds and include the very people -- first responders and medical staff -- who have been working so diligently and selflessly to stem the tide of the infection and care for the sick. But the virus has also highlighted the disparities in the U.S. -- taking a disproportionate toll on communities of color, the elderly and the poor. Here's a look at some of the lives lost:
• 
  2020-02

  Goodbye my friend

  They say losses come in threes but thank god mine came in two as for I wouldn't know how to live with another grueling loss. Everyone is okay everyone is having fun and out of nowhere I receive a text "Gisela died last night." I was stunned I was beside myself how can this happen? It surely couldn't be real I just talked to her yesterday, surely as the day went on the more the news started becoming real, people started posting their goodbyes and the tears started rolling, this was it I would never talk to my friend again. I would do anything just to bring her back and hear her laugh one more time.
• 
  2021-03-16

  Local support group helps grieving families who lost loved ones to COVID-19

  With COVID-19 restrictions, handling grief is difficult. The normal ways of showing support for a family, or person, that has suffered a death are not currently possible. People are isolated and are unable to receive the emotional support they need to handle the loss. Those who have lost loved ones to COVID-19 seem particularly hard hit by the grief and isolation. In response, a grief center in Cincinnati has started a special online support group for people who have lost loved ones to COVID-19.
• 
  2020-03-13

  my covid experience

  My covid experience this year is probably a lot like others. I've lost family members to this pandemic my close friends lost loved ones as well. There are a plethora of people I know who have lost their jobs, gained severe diagnosis of anxiety and also depression. Being stuck in the house for all those months with family was a very strenuous task and it was also very debilitating as well. While the covid outbreak started my family and I were sent into a frenzy mentally and physically. My mother lost her job due to the pandemic and I had to pick up more hours at work and do other side jobs to somewhat help with the expenses as well also during this pandemic i was also in school. Attending Brooklyn College during the pandemic was a very difficult thing to do especially due to the fact that we had transitioned to online learning, something I or my teachers haven't really done in some time. The social distance learning that was implemented was a very difficult concept to grasp because one day we go from attending class everyday to the bombardment of information being thrown at us and us as students expected to keep up and also the teachers having to make sure they kept up with the requirements. School, going to work and worrying about the well being of others and myself put me into a state of worry at all times sort've giving me mild ptsd. I hope that this time next year this covid situation will be gone and we can go back to living the way we were.
• 
  2020-04-09T13

  Adapting to New Life Style

  I was one of those people that when the warnings of a virus was coming I did not think much of it, and me being an only child, my parents were always concerned about my safety. They made me wake up early in hopes to catch a bus with less people to go to school, made sure I washed my hands for 20 seconds every time I came back home. I still always went out with my girlfriend and hanged out with friends. Luna Park was also reopening and I got an invite to work there again. I was really excited and then we hear the news that quarantine has begun. I decided to not take the offer even when they send the email that they promised great care for the staff. Most of friends and their parents got sick and I started to take it seriously when my best friend's father died. It was a big group of friends that knew each other for a long time so it was a very sad time for all of us. Later however my mother did get sick but she did recover quickly and me and my dad were lucky not to get sick. We were not able to return to work however our church did help us when it came to food and our landlord was very understanding and allowed everyone in the apartment to pay rent until 3 months. It was difficult to make that money. Things have progressively gotten better and I've always been much more careful outside especially with me having asthma effects of the virus could be much deadlier to me. These experiences made me learn to take the pandemic more seriously and take care of myself and my family
• 
  2021-01-20

  By Any Means

  I lost a father figure during the pandemic who also happened to be undocumented. I connected his life and experience to the overall struggle that undocumented people have been facing due to the pandemic. I also emphasized on their perseverance to survive the COVID-19's financial catastrophe by using one of the few options that they have available: street vending. In general, it reveals the systemic denial of the resources that are essential to surviving the pandemic to undocumented workers, even if they are tax-paying individuals.
• 
  2021-02-14

  My Story: I Got COVID-19 Because of ICE

  I am sending a diary style writing where I share my experience during the pandemic. I focus on the issue of ICE during the pandemic. Before the lockdowns, my uncle was detained by ICE and was deported during the pandemic. My uncle has been living in the US for 25+ years and Mexico, my uncle's home country, has changed a lot since he last lived there. For that reason, I went to Mexico to take him home. This made me get COVID.
• 
  2020-09-01

  Essential Workers

  When I think about this past year, what first comes to mind is my food service job. Then, I think of my coworker Alex. For almost a year we worked together and she ended up being a great friend. At the end of the summer, she quit to find a better-paying job. In this picture, we were goofing off at the end of our shift, cleaning the bathroom and listening to music. It was our last day together and we wanted to end on a good note. Food service has definitely been a challenge during this pandemic, but I’m grateful I got to work with a friend through most of it. I definitely miss her :)
• 
  2020-07-22

  Funerals of Family Abroad: Losing a Grandfather in the Heat of the Pandemic

  Covid-19 has taken many things from me over the almost year that it has been running rampant around the United States, however, the biggest thing that Covid-19 has taken away from me was the opportunity for me to attend my Opa's funeral this summer. He, unfortunately, passed away from complications related to a stroke and my grandmother was able to see him in the hospital, but it was heartbreaking to not be able to attend his funeral in person. His death was rather sudden and so my family had not really been expecting it. When I first heard of his death I immediately thought about the fact that I would not be able to go to his funeral and that the last time I had seen him the year before would be the last time that I would be able to see him.
• 
  2021-02-04

  My Grandma's Passing

  Travel restrictions and emotional impact.
• 2021-01-31

  Suffering and Loss

  I work as an investigations contractor assigned to assist my county health department with interviewing positive covid-19 patients. I recently spoke with an 85-year-old C19 patient who was hospitalized and awaiting surgery for a brain bleed at the time of our conversation. She explained that she had fallen in her backyard trying to retrieve her feral cat's bed from a rainstorm, tripped, and laid in the rain for almost two hours before anyone found her. Both she and her late husband contracted covid-19 around Christmas, and he died soon thereafter. The hospital where he received his final treatments allowed her to visit him just before he passed, which is an unusual and gracious blessing at this time. The medical interview that normally takes 30 minutes required almost two hours and tears from both of us. When we finished, I wished her well, offered that I looked forward to speaking with her soon, and asked God to bless her. I called her hospital gift shop and ordered a carved wooden angel to be delivered to her room, as she’s a woman of faith. I had the card signed from me and the Health Dept, so I suppose I’ll find out this week if anyone complained about it. More than anything else, I’m hoping her file shows a successful discharge and recovery by now. She told me she looked forward to trading in the cafeteria food for her son's gourmet cooking, and I pray she's already done that.