Items

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  2022-02-23

  Sinking into a Deep Sleep

  I illustrated a CNA drowning in a molecule of sars-coV-19, also known as COVID19, to show the extreme conditions healthcare workers have been trying to push through during this pandemic. We have been working countless hours of overtime, sometimes for 24 or 48 hours straight due to understaffing, healthcare workers quitting, and others getting fired from refusing the vaccine. Our jobs have become very overwhelming, with the amount of cares we must provide for our patients, and with the thought of this pandemic having no end in sight, it's as if we're drowning in this pandemic. Healthcare workers are drowning in all the cares they must provide their patients, that they're unable to take care of themselves, and soon we won't have many healthcare and medical professionals left. That is why I chose to portray this CNA the way I did, and I hope others can agree with my experiences.
• 
  2020-09

  Feeling Exhausted from COVID

  When COVID-19 first came to America I was employed as an assistant manager at a warehouse in northeast Wisconsin. Generally speaking, the city I live in is somewhat conservative and reserved. On a day-to-day basis, it is typically tolerable (despite my liberal and progressive philosophies) and the people are, on average, kind and helpful. However, as COVID infections increased and much of the proposed solutions to help curtail the spread were politicized, it became increasingly exhausting to exist around others with less-than-helpful and uncooperative attitudes. This was mentally draining, to say the least. On top of that, I was starting to work more and more as members of the staff were on a quarantine carousel. In a short amount of time, I began to routinely work 16 hours (or more) a day. Not only was I spent on an emotional and mental level, the nature of the work I was expected to do was leaving me physically beaten. As hard as I tried not to be too upset with those that had to stay home, I couldn't help but feel anger at those that weren't taking the pandemic seriously. I felt I was doing double-duty: I was not only working in place of multiple employees but I was doing my part to help stop the spread of a virus that was causing serious harm. To top it all off, I was feeling guilty for having those feelings while still being employed, having a healthy family (and not suffering any losses), and being able to continue my way of life pretty much unaffected in a major way. This was certainly a time of mixed feelings and emotions. Although this may not be exactly what is meant by 'sensory history', it is hard to pick other sensations of a greater degree I had felt.
• 
  2020-09-08

  Growth is optional

  This essay was produced as a part of the American Studies program at California High School in San Ramon, California. The essay is in response to the prompt "Is America currently living up to its core values?" This essay argues how Americans in their current state aren't living up to the values of Equality and Time/control. It also includes a reference to the March of equality.