Items

• 
  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.
• 
  2021-10-14

  Alone

  When travel restrictions were lifted, did you take a trip? If so, where did you go and why? What are your memories of this trip? Were there any continuing COVID-19 restrictions in place? Once the Pandemic restrictions were eased, not necessarily lifted, my family and I traveled to northern Arizona, southern Nevada, southern California, and Korea. During the Pandemic, life continued on as normal for me, not so much for my spouse. I was a social worker who continued to do home visits. My spouse was an elementary educator who was able to work from home. Life during the early-, and mid-stages of the Pandemic was busy, and it felt like we were going full-speed ahead - faster than before the Pandemic. Traveling has always been my family's go-to experience; however, the Pandemic halted travel as the areas we usually go to, road trips to California, or flying to Korea, were off-limits. Once restrictions were eased, we immediately traveled to those areas to get away. Restrictions were still present, mask mandates required us to wear masks in California, and Korea. One of the memorable moments was wearing a mask for a lift, a 14-hour flight, to Korea with a one-year-old who constantly wanted to pull the mask off. Lastly, the most memorable moment throughout the whole trip to California and then off to Korea was the feeling that we were always alone, during the day or night, everything felt like a ghost town.
• 2021-09-24

  How COVID-19 affected me and my family

  September 24th 2021. It was just another normal day in the new pandemic experience, most of my day was spent on Zoom doing online classes for about four hours of the day. Today was different because I had an orthodontist appointment to finally have my braces removed after about 2.5 years of them on. As almost everyone else, I was finally excited to have my braces taken off and actually see my new smile. So after my 2 classes my mom drove me to the orthodontist and left me in the office to go run other errands. After leaving to do so, I had gotten my braces remove in what was really fast time compared to what I had envisioned. So when I had finished up and scheduled a future appointment for my retainer fitting I called my mom to see when she was going to pick me up and no response. I left a message and then called my dad. Again no response. I texted him and he said, “(Name) come home by bus. Mom had to go” I didn’t think much of it so I took the bus home. After I got home I called out in the house and had no response so I walked in normally, taking off my shoes and sweater. I walked into my parents bedroom and seen my parents on the bed. My mom almost curled up teary eyed and tissues next to her. My dad sitting on the edge of the bed next to her holding the tissue box. Obviously with the circumstances of that time, my heart sunk thinking someone died. COVID-19 is known to be fairly hard on the geriatric population so when my grandma from my mothers side had gotten it the night before, we were all on edge. My mom didn’t say a word, so my dad took me outside the room and said something. I still to this day can’t recall what he was saying and I just walked away. To this day I’ve been afraid to ask of the specifics, all I know was that she was alone in the hospital because of the country she was in had strict hospital visitation policies. I still don’t know how to deal with these emotions because honestly she was the person I loved the most second to my mother. She helped raise me and made me into the man I am today. Thank You وداد
• 2023-01-22

  COVID Restrictions and Visiting Mom.

  My mother has special needs and since 2014, lived in a townhome with three roommates, facilitated by Penn Foundation, a behavioral healthcare provider. I lived only 10 minutes away, and once a week I would visit her on my days off. I would bring fast food or pizza and we would watch movies together in her room. When the pandemic began, Penn Foundation - like most other healthcare facilities - imposed tight restrictions for the safety of those under their care. As a result, I was unable to visit my mother for half a year, and after restrictions were loosened, our visits were relegated to sitting on her front porch eating and talking. Due to a deterioration in her condition, she was moved to a nursing facility. We never got to have another movie day. The pandemic had changed the way I visit my mother forever.
• 
  2022-07-24

  Fear for My Mother's Saefty

  I've written a short story centered around my experience with fear of this virus, particularly focusing on how my fear is heighten with an immuno-compromised mother. I wrote about how the media the people around me consumed affected their behavior and played a role within my fear and the impact it had on my mother. This story says two things about this pandemic I think: it shows the impact that information had/has on how people approach the virus and the emotional toll the pandemic had on people living their daily lives. What I've submitted is important because it validates what Americans have experienced. Many Americans
• 
  2020

  Daily Entries

  The three index card entries represent our emotions and actions at the start of the pandemic. I came back home from school to live with my mom so we relied on one another for emotional support. The shared journal helped us record our daily activities, take note of our current state of minds, and allowed us to 'take it one day at a time.' The act of writing down our movements (or lack thereof) and accomplishments (ranging from submitting my thesis to making sweet potato fries) helped us recognize that time was passing and that good days were approaching. We continued to write in our shared spiral journal for about 6 months. The entries are important to me because they reflect how my mom and I were feeling at a very uncertain and unique time in history. While I don't feel comfortable reading through them all just yet, I'm excited for the day when enough time has passed and I can reflect on the months in isolation in an objective manner.
• 
  2022-06-25

  Learn how the government works

  This is a tweet by StabbyandSpicy. This person is expressing their frustrations over their mom getting COVID, and the Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade being overturned.
• 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.
• 
  2022-04-28

  COVID in my Life

  I was a senior in high school when the pandemic hit. I remember right after spring break we got notice that school was over for the year. I remember that I had just gotten into my dream University and was not sure what the first year was going to look like for me at the time. Later in August, I was on my way to my new school, classes were a hybrid mix and I was able to stay in a dorm. II remember just how proud I was to be able to experience college even though it looked much different. But that meat that I would see my mom and dog a lot less. My mom is considered high risk so I didn't want to visit too often and risk her getting sick. I remember thinking that I missed them both so much and I had a big fear of losing my dog because he was getting older and I was unable to bring him with me to college. But I had a plan I was going to have my mom and dog move to my new city so we can all be close again. It was now my sophomore year of college and it was the first semester, the classes were amazing much better than the year before and I was actually for the first time getting to experience college and being in-person full time. By the second semester however I had much harder classes that I did not enjoy very much but I, of course, did my best with them. A couple of weeks later on January 19th, 2022 I got word that my childhood dog whom I have had since I was in Elementary school was not doing good and he needed to be put down. I took the first bus out and was there about three hours later. Seeing him was so hard, I remembered how he was so much smaller when I got him and now he was old and had many lumps on his body. His face still looked like a puppy because you couldn't see his white hair because he is a white dog. That was one of the hardest days of my life. I think of, Tyson every day but I know he is in a better place now not suffering, and is incredibly happy. I know we will see one another again one day. After Tyson's death I found out I had COVID and had also given it to my mom and she ended up in the hospital for a week which was incredibly hard on her. I had gotten behind in school and fell into a deep depression. It seemed like everything fell apart in my life during that time and to be honest I’ve never fully recovered from it. I know I will one day I just need to take it one day at a time. Thanks for reading.
• 
  2022-04-28

  My Covid-19 Story

  reflection paper on how covid impacted life, religion, gender, power through my eyes and point of view.
• 
  2022-04-26

  An Unaffected Life

  I submitted my story above and I think its important to see, that yes, there were many lives affected in dramatic ways with the loss of loved ones. but some peoples lives were unaffected.
• 
  2020-04-08

  The Covid Birthday

  Back in April 2020, just after the whole Covid-19 outbreak began, it was probably one of the worst days of my life. For starters, I'm the son of one of the greatest mothers on this talent, I love my mother so much and would put anything aside for her every need. My mother's birthday is April 8th, so it's actually coming up this Friday, which is why I share this story with you. During the covid outbreak and til this moment, I have never had a positive covid test, not saying I may or might've not had it is beyond me. Unfortunately during the start of the outbreak in the Houston area, my mother was one of those unlucky people who caught covid early on and what made it worse was, it was about 2 days before her birthday. She was miserable from several illnesses attacking her body all at once, and there was nothing we could do for her except pray and wait. My mother laid in bed on her bday the entire day, she was running a fever, shivering from chills, and throwing up nearly every hour. She lost a lot of weight from this incident too and I was appalled by it all. On her birthday, I sat right outside her bedroom door the entire day and just talked with her while each of us wore a mask to try and prevent the spread within our own house. I would do anything for my mom, and I could tell that me staying with her all day to keep her company was something she most definitely enjoyed!
• 2020-06-19

  The bracelet my mother made

  During the peak of the pandemic, my mother learned to make intricate bracelets. She made me one, and I have not taken it off since. In a way, it symbolizes my relationships with my family during this hard time.
• 
  05/07/2021

  Aleah Anderson Oral History, 2021/05/06

  C19OH
• 
  2020-05-29

  Alina Rios Oral History, 2020/05/26

  C19OH
• 
  2021-08-10

  Lockdown Library - HIST30060

  During the 6th Victorian lockdown in August 2021, my family decided to do some cleaning of our old children’s books to pass the time. My mum decided to set up this little ‘lockdown library’ to give the books out for free to good homes, in hopes of helping kids who are stuck at home stay busy during the lockdown and online schooling. As they cleaned, they also found some adult books to give away as well, in hopes that it would help provide not only entertainment, but a reminder of human kindness and the fact that we are all in this together.
• 
  2021-10-11

  HIST30060: A Secondary Teacher's Chronicle

  This is an image of a week from my mother's chronicle. She is a secondary teacher in regional Victoria who primarily teaches Theatre Studies, Drama and English. During the time that the photograph was taken (October 2021), the school she is working at decided to stagger teaching different year levels to reduce the threat of a Covid-19 outbreak in the lead up to VCE exams. As highlighted in the chronicle in different colours, some classes would be taught in-person and others online in one day. As my family does not live in the same town that my mother teaches in, she would often have to stay at school the entire day regardless. Due to the nature of rapid changes in health information and additional directions from the school itself, every week in the chronicle looks very different to the next. The image shows an element of the chaos that is present in the everyday lives of individuals during covid and the ability for plans to rapidly change from day to day.
• 
  2021-10-15

  A muffled voice

  My six-year-old son often forgets he’s wearing a mask. We’ll leave his school, the grocery store, anywhere really, and he’ll spend the entire car ride home with his mask still on. He’s even tried to eat with it on a few times! I can always hear when he’s forgotten to take it off because it muffles his voice. He talks constantly, I like to say that he actually voices his internal monologue, so I can tell exactly when he takes his mask off even if I can’t see him. When I hear that he’s still wearing his mask, I often think about the instability of being a child (and raising a child) during a global pandemic. His life and his routines have changed so frequently in the past year and a half, but he has been incredibly adaptive and understanding the entire time. Hearing his muffled little voice always makes me appreciate this awesome kid of mine while also making me really consider these chaotic times we’re living in.
• 
  2020-04-16

  Covid Consolation Puppy

  A week after the first shutdown began in March of 2020, schools were shut down and I was no longer able to complete my student teaching. I was furloughed from my job and locked inside for what we originally thought would be two weeks. With no end to the lockdown in sight and nothing to do, it became stressful and quite boring. Living with my parents at the time, the entire family was locked inside and tensions were high. One day, my mom got a call from a former coworker whose dog had just had puppies a month prior. She offered us a puppy and my mom, knowing how sad I was at not having a job or an internship, accepted and I was able to pick any puppy I wanted. Freyja, my dog, was my Covid-consolation-puppy. She was very young and I was up all night and all day with her, potty training and playing with her. My time was entirely consumed by this puppy and I was never bored or alone again. We joke that she was a consolation puppy because I never got to complete the typical training any teacher before received. A few months after the first shut down ASU canceled graduation and went virtual, it was another blow, and knowing I would not be able to walk the stage to get my degree was tough to handle. However, Freyja made things easier and took my mind off things. She grew with me and she became my best friend and protector. When I moved out, she kept me safe. When I separated from a long-term partner, she was what I found joy in. I love my dog very much because she came into my life when I needed her most.
• 
  2020-12-25

  Covid Family Holidays

  This picture was taken on Christmas Day of 2020. Due to my cancer diagnosis, a weak immune system, and the need or me to socially isolate Christmas gifts were delivered by the matriarch of my family, my mother. Adjusting family holiday traditions has been another consequence of Covid.
• 
  2021-10-08

  My covied-19 experience: Ella McMullen

  My name is Ella McMullen, I live in Nampa Idaho. I go to Lone Star middle school. When Covied-19 started I was 11 years old, Covied has affected millions of people. My family is one of them. When my mom and dad got covied my brother, sister, and I all went to live with my grandparents. We lived with my grandparents for about 3 weeks. While we were living with my grandparents, my mom got the bad side of Covied. She ended up having to go to the hospital, she had to go because of her breathing. She had to have around 14 litters of air while she was in the hospital. Thankfully, she was only there for about a week. When she got out, she had to still be on air. So, it was difficult when we had to go out because we had to make sure we had the air tank full, and we had an extra one with us just in case. My mother was on air for about 6 months. After my mom got better, she was really stressed. My dad was still sick, but he thankfully did not go to the hospital. My dad was only sick for about 2 weeks. He got the safer side of covied. That is how covied affected my life.
• 
  2020-03

  How Covid-19 Crafted My Entrepreneurship

  It shows how I turned my negative into a positive.
• 
  2021-10-06

  COVID-19 and the Family Divide

  My submission details the drastic shift in the lives of the family unit after the emergence of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. It is important for me to discuss the pandemic's effects within the household as they pertain to internal religio-political affairs.
• 
  2021-10-03T14:23

  Brianna Biagini Oral History, 2021/10/03

• 
  2021-05-30

  Remembering Society's Humanity

  This is a story about being a pregnant person during the pandemic
• 
  2020-03-28

  Life During A Pandemic

  Personal experience during the Covid-19
• 2020-01-01

  The real pandemic

  during the covid 19 pandemic everybody was panicking and worrying about getting a vaccine. i just moved here from another state and i left my mom and brother back home. they lived in a bad neighborhood so during the pandemic they was not only afraid of the covid pandemic but the violent pandemic that plagued the streets where they lived. during the pandemic i lost both my mom and brother to gun violence.
• 2020-12-09

  Life in the Pandemic

  My life in the pandemic was tough. I couldn't work so I was not able to pay my bills, I like the rest of the world during lockdown had to sit at home bored out of my mind because nobody could leave. I was very scared for my mom when she got covid because she had oxygen issues and also heart issues. Going to school during the pandemic really bothered me because I lost a lot of focus and became very lazy when it came to handing in assignments. I would rather physically go onto campus because when I am actually listening to the professors' talk, it makes it so much easier to understand and to focus.
• 2020-03

  Recollections from an Oncology Nurse

  My mom is an oncology nurse and has worked in the field of nursing for the past 30 years. I recently asked her to talk to me about her experience this past year as a healthcare worker. She recalled the first week in March when things were becoming intense. People were asked to wear face shields and gowns as they were working in an immune-compromised area where the patients had cancer. At the time there was no vaccine. “It was incredibly intense and scary” my mother said. “People were worried about getting Covid from other staff at the hospital and also worried about contracting Covid from the patients.” “I walked into the hospital and there was an incredible underlying anxiety, the feeling of unease was palpable. People did not talk to each other like they normally did - everyone was consumed with the thought of not using each other’s pens, putting gloves on when receiving things from the pharmacy. Things we would never have even thought of before.” 
 She continued, “It was a feeling of both being unsettled and a blind trust you put in your coworkers to be as clean, as responsible and in isolation outside of work as you. The intensity of that feeling was there the moment you walked in. The environment had changed. People were not as happy, communicative, relaxed.” 
 She explained how working in Covid - there was an incredible newness to it - a fear and apprehension.
• 
  2020-04-02

  False Rumors

  In Alexis Akwagyiram’s Reuters article named “African governments team up with tech giants to fights coronavirus lies”, she details how African countries are partnering with tech companies like Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp to ensure citizens are up to date with news on the coronavirus and prevent false rumors from spreading through these channels and eventually causing a spike in cases. In the article, Akwagyiram mentions how “false claims that garlic, beetroot, and lemons are an effective alternative to antiretroviral drugs' ' continued to spread in most African countries. However, those claims reached the African community here in the United States. My mom, a Ghanaian woman, trying to find ways to prevent herself from catching the virus, especially since she had to work during the height of the pandemic, found herself believing these said rumors. I remember entering the kitchen every morning to see her making a mixture of garlic, hibiscus herb, and ginger boiling on the stove and pouring them in cups for the family to drink. This daily routine took a toll on her health as she began to experience symptoms such as trouble swallowing, difficulty sleeping, and irritability after eating which her doctor later diagnosed as acid reflux. With my mom already having an underlying disease and being immuno-compromised, she had to start taking new medications to prevent the reflux from affecting her blood pressure. What was supposed to alleviate stress and prevent us from catching the virus, just brought more trouble to my family with us now having to worry about the effect of this new diagnosis on my mom’s well-being.
• 
  2020-04-10

  A prayer for my mom

  My mom had been sick for more than 2 weeks at my house at the end of March-early April. One morning she woke up and could barely catch her breath or breathe. My dad took both her and my brother who has similar symptoms to the emergency room. They transferred my mom to St. Joseph's for low oxygen levels and an elevated heart rate. My brother was sent home as his symptoms and current levels weren't enough to get him admitted due to the over crowding in the hospitals at this time.
• 
  2021-08-28

  Visiting Grandma

  This photograph is from when my mom, dad, brother, brother's fiancé, and I flew to Georgia to visit my declining grandmother. For my entire life, my grandma, my mom's mom, lived in the next town over, only about seven miles away. However, as she aged and as the isolation from the pandemic set in, my family decided that it would be best for her to move to Georgia to live with my aunt, my mom's sister. Although we tried to take care of my grandma from the start of the pandemic through when she left in October of 2020, we lived in perpetual uncertainty and fear of exposing her to the virus. Every time we had her come over for dinner, we were afraid that we were taking a gamble, especially when the pandemic was just starting. My grandma moved to a care facility in Georgia in April. Since my grandma, my family, and I were all vaccinated, we planned a short trip to make sure we got to see her one more time. Although we were masked and only had a limited amount of time, getting to see us again meant a tremendous amount to my grandma.
• 
  2021-08-03

  Quarantine Hair

  Christmas 2019 we gifted my kids (and mom) a Disney cruise for August 2020. Our plan was for my daughter and I to chop our hair right before the cruise. The cruise never happened, and neither did our haircuts. Fast forward to a year later. My hair dresser now works from out of her home, having lost her shop. Knowing that she is vaccinated and only sees one household at a time, I decided to finally get our hair cut. My baby’s first haircut only took (almost) 11 years! It was refreshing to say good bye to our quarantine hair, if only we could say goodbye to COVID, too.
• 
  2021-08-11

  First day of school

  While many on my social media feed are in arms about tighter vaccine regulations, some realize that the pandemic is not over. As the new school year starts there are many mothers who share in my fear. Covid is still alive and well, new strains continue to form breeding in the bodies of the unvaccinated. The worse part is that this time the elderly seem much safer than our children. Our children are being sent back to school, life has returned to "normal" as the number of hospitalized children continues to rise. I share my fears with this friend who popped up on my feed this morning. Will our kids be safe? Will my daughter get infected? Will there be another lockdown? I too feel like it's become too much to ask for my kids to simply be happy and healthy because both now depend on the actions (or misactions) of others.
• 
  2020-05-05

  New app gives moms-to-be flexibility in receiving care

  A press release from Banner Health announcing a new digital tool used by Banner Health physicians allows pregnant women to monitor their prenatal health at home and make fewer trips to the doctor’s office.
• 2021-08-04

  Working From Home

  Every morning I would wake up at home smelling the coffee my mom just made and it felt strange having her there when I woke up, normally she would already be at work. We were all told we weren't allowed to go anywhere unless it was an emergency and it was scary at first. You kept hearing on facebook and the news about schools being shut down and everyone getting sent home because they came into contact with someone who had Covid. Then came summer and no body could do anything then, they couldn't go to the beach and feel the hot sun. We were like caged animals because we couldn't go anywhere. I remember begging my mom to let me just go to walmart with her because I wanted so badly just to get out of the house. Then the boarders started to shut down and the news started only reporting on how high the death toll was. Then were educing this fear into people, which eventually made some people go crazy. For example my grandmother never left the house, ever, she ordered all of her groceries online and would immediately sanitize everything. During all of this we weren't allowed to see her or my grandfather because of how scared they were. With me finishing my freshman year from home and my whole sophomore year from home i rarely got socialization. There was a point where the only escape I got from everything was going to work. Just being around my work family never fails to brighten up my day. They always have a new wax melt scent and you can always smell it when you first walk in, well that and BBQ. But overall covid affected everyone differently for me it wasn't as bad. But for all the people who lost friends and family they are the ones we all need to bring attention to.
• 
  2021-07-27

  The years of struggle!

  In 2018 I suffered from many personal traumas that led me to be a single mother of three littles ones. I found it very challenging to now be the only one who provided for my children and the only person they could rely on. With this new huge adjustment I made the decision to finally go back to school. I have never been very good at school or interested in furthering my education. With a little help from my family I was able to overcome my fear of college. I felt like I was finally thriving in school and I was coming to term with being the only role model in my children's lives. Then suddenly my classes shifted to online courses due to covid-19. I now had a whole new set of fears and distractions to go along with my new life as a single parent of 3. These terrible times have taught me that I can accomplish anything and I will keep pushing forward no matter what the universe throws at me.
• 
  2021-07-07

  Hosts break down after quarantined man’s mother passes away | Today Show Australia

  This is a heartbreaking story from Australia about a man who flew around the world to try to get to his dying mother, only to have the Queensland government block his way. So many people across the globe had to die alone without their loved ones because of this pandemic. Hospitals and governments need to come up with a safe system to allow for visitation of dying relatives during pandemics because, sadly, this will likely happen again in the future.
• 
  2021-07-16

  And No You

  My mom died of COVID-19 last July when her nursing home in Atlanta was overrun with the virus. Before that, she lived with me, my dog, and cat. The way she lived in the house made it truly a home for us. I am a workaholic, often using the house for a fast supper and some sleep before starting all over the next day, sprinting back to work. The poem is our way of telling her how much she is missed.
• 
  2021-07-15

  Dr. Marissa Rhodes, Oral History, July 15, 2021

  Curator for the JOPTY program, Angelica S Ramos interviews mother of three, Dr. Marissa Rhodes. In this interview she discusses her role as a professor and how COVID-19 halted all the plans she had for her classes. She also discusses her pregnancy with her third baby and the struggles that came with prenatal care and birth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Rhodes also relates her birthing experience and how different the pandemic made it from her first two pregnancies; she discusses the complications that she faced and the stresses she dealt with. Dr. Rhodes also discusses how her social life was impacted and the struggle to find a balance between work, children, virtual-learning and a new baby. Lastly, she reflects on her personal silver lining and the lessons that she hopes will be learned from this experience.
• 
  2021-07-09

  Charlotte Tibollo Oral History, 2021/07/09

  Mother interviewing 5 year old daughter about the pandemic.
• 
  07/08/2021

  Collett Hall Oral History, 2021/07/08

  Collett Hall talks about her fears about her daughter getting the virus, her system for obtaining groceries, and her experiences working as a special education teacher.
• 
  2021-01-06

  When lungs fail

  I wish I had a sound of the oxygen concentrator my mom was on for a full month, but at the same time I'm glad that I don't. After spending 8 days in the ICU due to COVID, my mom was finally sent home only because the hospitals were full in the Fort Worth area, and there were other people much more sick than her. In a normal year, she would have been in there at least another week or two, but they got her a concentrator and sent her home to be taken care of by my Dad, sister, and me. The sound the small motor made, producing the oxygen my mom's lungs weren't capable of getting. The high-pitched beeps that sounded when the battery was low, or if the cannula in her nose wasn't properly placed on her face--all of it is probably permanently etched in my memory. The sound that I've submitted here is an excerpt of what a nebulizer sounds like when it's turned on. In addition to the sound of the oxygen concentrator, we'd hear this sound at least twice daily as my mom inhaled her lung medications with the nebulizer, accompanied by a lot of coughing as she recovered fully. I'm grateful that she recovered and is still doing well, but I don't think I'll ever be able to hear a sound like this without remembering what the month of January was like this year for our family.
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  2021-05-27

  Teachers Rock

  Right before COVID-19 hit my husband made the transition from active duty military to reservist. After eight years we were finally given the gift to settle down and live a "normal" life. January of 202 we moved into our home and three months later we were facing a quarantine. That same in the midst of that my daughter started kindergarten. It was a moment I had thought of for quite some time. In my mind, I would take lots of pictures, walk her to her class and tearfully walk back to my car and having a pity party about my growing girl. Instead, my daughter spent her first day at home in front of a computer while I fought to get into her virtual classroom. For months we dealt with virtual than in class then back to virtual learning as COVID cases peaked. My daughters Kindergarten teacher was the only constant bright light throughout the school year. Through it all she worked tirelessly to make sure the kids had a positive school experience. She went out of her way to make sure the school brought them joy in the midst of the chaotic year, having her in my daughter's life became personal to my family. At the end of the school year she sent out her last newsletter thanking parents but the reality of it is- she was a complete rockstar and we will forever be grateful. I wanted to share her last newsletter in hopes that it reflects an ounce of how difficult this school year was for teachers and how resilient children were.
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  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."
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  2021-05-21

  Personal Pandemic History Project Of Jaisey Rindlisbacher

  This is about the COVID-19 pandemic. It shares my moms personal experience, and it is important to me because I spent a ton of time on it. Also because this was one of our final projects in school.
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  2020-12-31

  I could not hug my mother

  For my primary source, I selected a screenshot of me and my mom while we talked through Facetime. In this facetime we were in the same house but unable to see each other in person since she was infected with the covid-19 virus. Apparently, my mother became ill with covid-19 while celebrating the end of 2020 with close relatives, they were around 6 members of my family and they decided to go celebrate that day since they had not seen each other for a long time. That day I was working at night and cannot go to the party. Well, on the first of January I couldn't go to my house either since my co-workers called out and I had to do a double shift. I left the first of January around 3:00 pm from my work, before arriving at my house my mother called me and told me that she was not feeling well and that she believed that she was infected with covid because she had all the symptoms related to this virus. She went to do the test so I went to my girlfriend's house to wait for my mother to call me to confirm what we already suspected, around 5:00 pm she called me to tell me that she, my aunt and my cousin were positive . We could not leave our house for 16 days and only seeing each other through Facetime. I remember we took turns using the kitchen or leaving our rooms. To use the bathroom, we each entered with a Lysol to disinfect before and after using it. We used gloves and a mask when we left our rooms, so that I would not get infected. Today, 5 months later, my mother is still suffering the consequences of being infected, she gets tired when she walks for a long time and is in training since she has bacteria in the lungs as a result of covid-19. I decided to select this screenshot as my source because it represents what many people went through during the pandemic. Family that lasted months without seeing each other when before the pandemic they saw each other every day and grandparents without knowing their newborn grandchildren were some of the scenes that we could see during the pandemic. I am the only son of my mother and we have a remarkably close relationship. Never in our lives would we have lasted so long without seeing each other in person and without having hugged each other, it was very painful.
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  2021-04-21T18

  Dinner and Hearts

  As of yesterday, my two weeks was up and I am now "fully vaccinated" per the CDC guidelines. My wife got there Friday, and my mother has been fully vaccinated since February. Per the CDC, since we are all fully vaccinated, we can visit each other and not have to wear masks. We had Mom over for dinner for the first time since before the pandemic. After dinner we played a few rounds of hearts. I had to reacquaint myself with something that used to be "normal" before COVID-19. I was a bit rusty at playing cards, but I soon got back into it. It does not seem like that big a deal, but it was good for Mom to get out of her house for a while. It was good for all of us, and I am looking forward to more such evenings.
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  2021-04-15

  Daunte Wright's mom says she 'wants 100% accountability' in wake of officer's arrest

  The mother of Daunte Wright, the 20-year-old Black man shot dead by a Minnesota police officer at a traffic stop, said she "wants 100% accountability" in the wake of the officer's arrest. "If that even happens, we're still going to bury our son," Wright's mother, Katie Wright, said at a Thursday news conference. "We're still never going to be able to see our baby boy."