Items

• 2020-03-20

  The Start of a Shutdown

  The date was March 20th, 2020. It was my best friend's birthday. Our friend group was preparing to throw a big party for her with lots of guests and food. We were all so excited for her to turn 18, finally able to vote. We were all also happy to be seniors and were looking forward to graduation and prom. March 20th will be forever cemented in my mind as the day it all went wrong. We found out that "Covid-19" was truly something very serious and our classes became virtual, no more seeing our friends in school. We couldn't have an in person birthday party for our friend, we couldn't hang out either. That day was so pivotal in all of our lives. We didn't know we would be stuck in quarantine for the next six months, we didn't know our graduation and prom would be canceled. We didn't know how much our daily lives would change. Sometimes, I wish I could go back to the pre-covid days. Everything seemed so simple then. No major pandemic, no masks, no overfull hospitals. But at the same time, as I reflect, quarantine has changed who I am as a person and has caused a lot of internal reflection and introspection. I feel like having to only see your family for six months makes you a better problem solver because you have to stay in the house and figure the issues out instead of going out and trying to brush it off. Overall, Covid is horrible and has caused so much loss. However, we need to also see the somehow positives that have come from this awful situation.
• 2020-08-22

  The Difficulties of a College Student During a Pandemic

  During the start of the school semester of spring 2020, talks of a very contagious illness stated to spread. Most students on campus believed COVID-19 to be a threat nut one month later, all colleges across the world shut down. While moving out, my friend's dad said we would be back that same semester. I believed him until infection rates increased across the United States. States started to shut down including the one I lived in. Restrictions, isolation, and guidelines were enforced to ensure public safety. Instead, thousands of people went into depression including me. Not being able to leave my house during the pandemic was difficult. Not only was I hundreds of miles away from my friends at school, but I couldn't see my friends at home too. My experience with online class didn't make interacting with people any easier. Most of my classes didn't require the camera to be on, while the other class didn't even meet online. This was very difficult for me because I was used to being around friends everyday. I started to become depressed as I spent 2 months without interacting with anyone but my family and my teacher. Fortunately, restrictions eased up as the spring semester came to a close. I was able to get a job at a donation center for the summer. I still wasn't allowed to see my friends which made for a disappointing summer but working helped the time go by. When it was time to go back to college, I was relieved. My college was fortunate enough to have students on campus for the fall 2020 semester. I was overly excited to see any friends after months. I counted down the days until we moved in. But I knew the semester would be different. When arriving on campus, I learned that several rules and regulations were implemented to "keep the community safe." Some of these included no visiting anyones dorm room, scheduling when to eat, certain doors were entrances while others were exits, no guests from off campus, must wear a green bracelet at all times, must get randomly tested, etc. I made sure to read the rules and regulations but unfortunately, my roommates didn't. The very first night on campus, my roommates decided to have friends over. I told my roommates that it wasn't allowed but it did not matter. The guests stayed until there was banging at the door. The Resident Assistant working that night wrote us up, and we had to meet with the Dean. While meeting with the Dean, I explained how it was not my fault and I was against having guests over, but I was charged with a $200 fine. Completely upset, I change all my classes to online classes and moved back home. I did not trust my roommates enough to stay. The last thing I wanted was several fines that weren't my fault. When I got home, I was really depressed. I was the only one home out of all my friends and I was back to remote learning. I couldn't see anyone while home and I felt betrayed by my roommates. I felt like my life was crumbling as another semester of my college experience was being wasted. This caused me to have a mental breakdown, and lose all motivation to do work. Four months passed by slowly and I escaped the semester with mediocre grades and a crippling mind. Fortunately, my parents noticed I was not in the best shape of mind. They had me see a therapist and find new activities to do during the pandemic. This got me back on my feet and my friends from home started returning from school. The gap between semesters when well and I was joyful again. However, it was time to decide if I wanted to return to campus for the 2021 Spring Semester. I was torn because some of my friends were staying home that semester and I still did not trust my roommates. I thought rationally and contacted them to see our their semester went. To my surprise, they received 4 fines and one of them had to quarantine. This gave me reassurance that I made the right choice on leaving campus during the fall semester. Currently I am taking the 2021 Spring Semester all remotely and I am happy. I am seeing friends and have synchronous classes. I am confident that I will keep seeing my friends at home and keep a good mindset throughout the semester. I wish for everyone to stay strong during the pandemic and seek help if you're depressed.
• 2021-02-18

  The Immorality of Being Happy in a Pandemic

  As a student who goes to a very tight knit Catholic College, nothing has split the community on campus quite like this. The issue comes with balancing the benefits of an in person education with maintaining a healthy social life compounded by inconsistent rule enforcement. From my perspective, there is a scale for how seriously people follow the COVID protocols, on one end there are people who religiously follow every rule, and on the other, people who go at great lengths to break them and think nothing of going to a packed club. The student body sits everywhere in between these two poles. The difference in opinion causes the people who follow the rules to resent the people who break the rules. They see it as reckless and selfish that some students hold their interests in a higher regard than the well being of their classmates. The people who break the school’s quarantine were tired of never leaving their dorm and argue that college is meant to be fun and if you have to bend the rules to see friends that's acceptable. I’ve seen these disagreements split dorm rooms, best friends, sports teams and classmates. Without a common area to communicate our differences we are only left to passive aggressively hate through social media. Very often people's views on following the “Community Care Covenant” depends on how convenient it is to them. It is very easy to condemn off campus partiers when it is a Thursday night with no plans to go out and a lot of homework to do. It becomes just as easy to mock the frivolity of the rules when your friends are going out and leave you with the option of being lonely or finding enjoyment. I have been both amused and exasperated to see some of my acquaintances with strong liberal views condemn Trump and anti-maskers on all platforms for refusing to accept the sound science of social distancing and covering one's mouth. Then not even an hour later they will post from the same account a picture of them at a two-hundred person house party, drink in hand, and not a mask in sight. As if them claiming their intentions are pure makes their actions irrelevant. I have seen this every weekend and am dumbfounded with the lack of self awareness some people show. In the name of honesty I will admit that I feel this contradiction personally. I scroll through my phone and get jealous and annoyed by posts of my college peers in large groups, without masks, clustered together. Unfortunately, even though I agree with all the social distancing precautions things change when I have the opportunity for fun. One year into having almost every single conversation being with the same eight people, I long for the college experience. As much as I dislike going against rules that I personally agree with there is no end in sight to this pandemic. Besides, I rationalize, my friends and I are all healthy and would not purposefully endanger elders. So despite people like me self-righteously shaking our fists and quarantine breakers, I do feel strong temptations to do so. For example, I had not seen my girlfriend in weeks and the new relationship we had started was dying due to long distance. Do I break protocol by taking her on a date and spending time with her? Yes, I did. When friends I had not seen since first semester freshman year asked me my second semester sophomore year to join them for drinks. Do I follow the rules and stay in my dorm watching television, or do I go into junior year with more than two friends? There is a huge culture of hypocrisy at all levels, whether it be the students or the school itself. The school, sadly, is not innocent of responsibility for some of these divisions. The school refuses to allow men and women to visit each other in their dorms, but as the saying goes “out of sight out of mind” as the athletic teams and others have off-campus parties just a mile away the school would have to be fools not to notice. My friends and I are not allowed to play basketball in the gym. But if we are out of the public eye in a secluded part of campus, fifty people can play pick up sports. Sure the campus police will not break up bonfires in the woods and won’t bat an eye when several packed cars leave campus at the same time but four people can not eat lunch together. Most people seem to be concerned about covering their own behinds rather than any sort of actual safety. To conclude, this is not an easy time for anybody. There have been plenty of tough decisions to make and things are not so black and white as campus rules would like to believe. Having fun is hard work in COVID America. The social pressures at this school continue to weigh heavily on those who do their best to do the ‘right thing’. Like I said earlier, there is a large scale of where people's beliefs over COVID policy lands, but I think I can speak for college students everywhere when I say, I cannot wait for this to return to normal.
• 
  2021-02-17

  The Life of a College Student during the Pandemic

  I am submitting my experience during the pandemic because it is important to share with others who may be feeling the same way that I am. We all are learning first hand how to succeed during this pandemic and it is important we share with each other what our experiences are so we can grow together
• 2021-02-07

  Tampa Bay Buccaneers

  Growing up in Tampa seeing the Bucs win is a good thing. The first time in history a team played in their home city for a Super Bowl.... but COVID. It will be interesting to see if they do the parade and if they do what will happen. Undoubtebly people in Tampa are partying. I expect to see a 15% increase of COVID cases in Tampa at the very least. The 7-day average is currently 420 for cases reported. I have to recheck in 7-10 days. It will be interesting to see how big of an impact America's game will have.
• 2021-01-13

  Covid Holidays

  My family normally meets at my parent's house for Christmas every year with my Dad's infamous filet minion dinner. However, I have not been there in-person for the past decade or so because I always work on Christmas. Unfortunately (or I suppose fortunately), paramedics are needed to staff ambulances on holidays. Though I did not work on Christmas this year, I was still unable to go to the family party due to Covid. The biggest difference this year for me was that for the first time, I was not the only family member who participated in the holiday party remotely. This is not to say that I was happy that my family could not get together like normal, but there was something oddly comforting to not being the only person on zoom/whats app/etc. during the holidays. Everyone prepared their own dinners at home, we jumped on zoom and did a family toast and showed each other our respective meals. We all logged off to eat and then jumped back on to continue to celebrate the holiday and do the annual secret Santa exchange. Overall, it was a more normal holiday for me than for the rest of my family, but it was overall a great Christmas.
• 2020-12-25

  My Covid Christmas

  During Christmas break, cases in corona have been higher than they have ever been in the United States. I was only allowed to hang out with my cousins, (who live coincidently down the street) mostly the entire break. During Christmas my mom has to get creative and plan new things for Christmas Eve. She came up with a little holiday party and had so many fun games! We had secret santa and then went to bed! Even though no other holidays, this one felt real. The happiness and joy inside of me was really there to spread along to my family and I had a very little joyful covid Christmas with my family.
• 2020-12-24

  My Christmas

  This Christmas, everything was normal we all meet up and had our normal feast. I'm happy to say that there's nothing wrong with having a small Christmas party, but we just have a huge family. I also made our made Christmas card.
• 
  2020-12-02

  Social negative response: Family seeking COVID-19 is 'playing with a loaded gun' in B.C. city discouraging visitors: mayor

  This article discusses one family seeking COVID-19 exposure to improve their immunity to the virus.
• 
  2020-11-29

  Social negative gatherings: ‘Learn from our story’: How a B.C. birthday became a COVID-19 superspreader event

  This article includes a video on how a birthday became a COVID-19 superspreader event.
• 
  2020-12-08

  Julie's Paint Party

  This photo illustrates how one Canadian business is hosting paint parties for those who are either beginner or experienced painters. These Zoom meetings connect people not only across Canada, but beyond where a community partakes in one of the most popular hobbies during COVID-19.
• 
  2020-11-16

  Having a Negative COVID-19 Test Still Requires Social Distancing

  Some people have started to get tests for the coronavirus as a way to clear themselves to attend dinner parties without needing to wear masks or keep their distance. That’s absolutely the wrong thing to do.
• 
  2020-10-06

  Jewish Melbourne: Sukkot Party

  Organised by a range of Jewish organisations, including Project High Holy Day, a virtual Sukkot party was held online.
• 
  2020-05

  Lake of the Ozarks Summer

  While many places were shut down, tourism to the Lake of the Ozarks rose during the pandemic. There was even a visitor who attended a party at a crowded lake bar later test positive for the virus.
• 
  2020-10-27

  Kim Kardashian Receives Backlash over COVID-19 Vacation Tweet

  Celebrity Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) posts a tone-deaf tweet about vacationing for her 40th birthday. This was not well received by the public, as it was viewed as overly privileged and offensive to the many people out there struggling to make ends meet during this pandemic. This tweet has sparked many parody memes mocking Kim's tweet.
• 2020-04-08

  Birthdays During Covid19

  When the stay at home order was first put in place back in March many events, gatherings, and plans had to be cancelled. One special day that many people didn’t want to go unnoticed were birthdays. My friends and I saw multiple stories and videos of people doing drive by birthdays in order to celebrate the special day of their friends and family. One of my best friend's birthday was in April. Before we went on lockdown we were planning on doing a surprise birthday party at his house. Unfortunately this was cancelled because of the lockdown. I’m sure you can imagine the disappointment that we all felt because we couldn’t celebrate with our friends. We decided to do a birthday drive by. All of our friends gathered at the park around the corner from his house in our cars in order to drive by. I looked around as I sat there. This was our new normal that we were going to have to accept. I saw a row of cars behind mine waiting to wish our friend happy birthday through our car windows. I heard all my friends yelling from car to car in order to talk to each other. We drove by his house multiple times and eventually stopped in front to talk to him individually and do the best we could to give him a good day. Instead of swimming in his backyard and eating pizza together, we sat out front yelling and honking. We realized things had changed but thankfully we were able to make the best of the situation were in.
• 
  2020-10-04

  Lucas Hynes Oral History, 2020/10/04

  In this Oral history, I interviewed my brother Lucas about his experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is a freshman at the University of Cincinnati, and the interview focuses on that part of his identity. It begins with us talking about campus life in general. We also discussed his perceptions of COVID-19 both at the beginning of the pandemic and now. His perceptions have not changed much, although he believes that it’s important to listen to scientists as new information is released. We then talked about government response to COVID-19, as well as the response at the University of Cincinnati. Finally, he discussed things he felt he has missed out on because of the pandemic, and what he thinks school will look like going forward.
• 
  2020-10-08

  SNL Drops Guest Due to COVID Safety Protocol Violations

  @etalkCTV on twitter shares an article on how musical guest Morgan Wallen's guest appearance on SNL is canceled due to videos seen of him partying maskless. I am glad that people are being held accountable for not following the correct social distancing and sanitary procedures.
• 2020-03-15

  A very COVID year.

  My nightmare began in March when the government announced that most businesses would be closed due to the pandemic. The day before, I went to a party and I enjoyed myself. Little did I know that things would begin to change drastically. I heard very few things about COVID-19 before the lockdown, all I knew was that it was a respiratory illness and that the first case was found in China. I never thought that it would’ve made its way to America so quickly. As time went on, the days got even more scary. Schools, malls, stores and even supermarkets were closed. Reality hit when I saw how the cases were spiking in NYC. My job was temporarily closed so I was at home whilst doing my remote learning studies for nearly 3 months. I was so overwhelmed and exhausted mentally. Even though I did not leave my house, my mother and sister did everyday because they were essential workers. Every morning they left, I would panic, I was scared that they would catch the virus in the hospital and bring it home to me. My thoughts began to consume me, especially being home alone all day and watching the news. Hundreds of people were dying and the hospitals were full. Nurses and doctors were also dying. I remember watching the news and hearing about how many bodies there were. The morgues were full and they had to use freezer trucks to temporarily store the bodies. Watching the news every day made me anxious and sick to my stomach. Every night I would pray that the cases would decrease so that we could return to normal life. This pandemic is simply the most mind-racking experience of my life. I learned to appreciate life. Even though we are technically still in a pandemic, the cases are dropping and businesses are slowly opening. I just hope that we can soon resume life without masks and worry.
• 
  2020-08-26

  Travelers are flocking to Airbnb, Vrbo more than hotels during COVID-19 pandemic. But why?

  This article claims that people are so desperate to go on summer vacations that they are flocking to AirBnBs and Vrbo spaces. I see importance in this article because it shines light to the ways people are finding loopholes to social distancing and closed boarders. Many people need to get away for their mental health, and some use these opportunities to throw parties and blatenly break the rules. What ever their reasons may be this article highlights the surge in AirBnB and Vrbo usage.
• 
  2020-06-10

  What Did I Do?

  I BOUGHT ANOTHER KITTEN! I don't know why but I wanted a third little kitty and now I have a hamster and 3 kitties. Clea, Pebbles, Ivan and Bananas are there names. Next on the list is a Pit Bull. I also moved to a townhome in symmes township and played lots of golf.
• 
  April 29, 2020

  Plague Journal, Day 48: Zoom party, Zoom shiva

  I'm keeping a Covid-19 journal. In the latest entry, The Girlfriend and I describe two events we attend by videoconference: a birthday party and a shiva.
• 
  2020-07-22

  Party held on Vancouver beach despite social distancing pleas from health officials

  Article and attached video showing a large crowd on a beach in Vancouver's Stanley Park, mostly without masks and not physical distancing. The man taking the video states that this gathering is allowed as cases are on the wane however that is not accurate; groups of 50 or more are still not permitted. "The Ministry of Health is aware of the incident and has announced it will hold a special news conference today at 3 p.m., likely to address a spike in cases and a lack of social distancing. It could mean that stricter measures are coming, after B.C.’s health officials hinted earlier this week they may be necessary if people don’t follow the guidelines. Christine Ulmer, a spokeswoman for the Vancouver park board, said the drum circle held Tuesday at Third Beach was an unsanctioned and unpermitted event that is organized regularly by community members without consultation with the board. The park board doesn’t have an ability to enforce any physical-distancing recommendations, as that falls under the purview of the province, she said."
• 
  2020-06-16

  How to Get to Heaven Faster

  This is a cartoon by The Onion, a news outlet that satires our society. It is showing that people who go to bars, sporting events, and parties get to heaven on the fast track. in other words, they are the ones who die or will die from COVID-19. Those "lucky" souls get into the VIP line, while the old folks who pass away from natural causes have to wait and show "two forms of ID." Those revelers sure look happy though, don't they? Was all the partying worth it?
• 
  2020-07-01

  Alabama students throwing 'COVID parties' to see who gets infected: Officials

  As covid cases explode across the U.S., especially in the southern and western portions of the country, young people in Tuscaloosa, Alabama are doing something unthinkable. They are hosting covid parties. While authorities thought this was a rumor upon first being notified, further investigation showed it was really happening. Unlike previous generations who held "chicken pox parties" in an effort to expose their children to the disease while they were young and less likely to suffer complications (prior to a vaccine being available) the covid parties do not appear to have any purpose other than entertainment. People are hosting parties and inviting people known to have the disease. Everyone then puts money in a pot and the first person to come down with covid gets the pot.
• 
  2020-05-31

  Graduation during Quarantine

  My friend graduated college during the Corona Virus quarantine. My other friends and I threw a surprise graduation celebration in her backyard, wearing masks and staying 6 feet apart as precautions.
• 
  2020-05-07

  Birthday Signage, New Orleans, LA

  A Cinco de Mayo sign is rewritten to say "Happy Cinco de Lindsay," presumably celebrating Lindsay's birthday. During the Covid-19 stay-at-home order,people are prohibited from hosting parties. This sign is a creative way to recognize the birthday.
• 
  2020-03-09

  Corona Party

  I cannot believe how badly this picture aged. This was taken the day that Fordham cancelled classes due to COVID-19. We all gathered on the green and threw a party to celebrate being out of school. Now all we do it sit at home and be sad about it. In a way it was a nice happy way to say goodbye, but in another way it was very ignorant to the reality of the situation.
• 
  2020-04-25

  Party Pup

  During the quarantine we all need to have something to keep us sane. We decided to have a small party for my dog because it was his birthday. It's just something to make the situation seem a little less grim
• 
  2020-03-06

  Social Nights in Las Vegas, Nevada

  The image was taken nearside the busy streets of late-night Las Vegas, the Friday when ASU’s spring break initially started. However, to describe this image would be to pinpoint a moment in time where a large group of people have gathered together to enjoy a night in Vegas with no fear of keeping their distance. When I took this photo the majority of people and community seemed to flourish both economically and socially. This image reflects a distinct contrast of how people are socializing under the current circumstances as of now. Nevertheless, this picture was taken because a few friends and I planned on going to Vegas as a spring break trip, as a result this image embodies a typical social and eventful night in Las Vegas, where many people gathered in their own activities while still at a close distance. Thus, what this image tells us about the pandemic is how quickly social and societal norms could abruptly change in a few months of time. What this image also says about the pandemic is how even though social fear is heavily sensed, there were and will be more moments when we will all come together and enjoy each other’s company once again. As a result, this image serves as a reminder that we will all overcome this predicament together and come back as a collective community to not only live, but thrive. Essentially, what this image tells us about this pandemic as well is that even though under strict social distancing we should all still take part in the views and activities that make us happy, even if we have to be a little more creative in how we take part in such functions. *This item is a self-taken photograph that was enhanced with camera settings to make the image appear lighter and the colors to stand out more vibrantly.
• 2020-04-18

  A Day in the Life

  Entry about 4/17/20: It's sad to think about how different things were only a month ago. On a Friday only a month ago I would have been out with friends, going to clubs at night and partying until I dropped. And now, I just sit in my apartment, sleeping all day and sitting up all night. My friends have all gone home, and I am the only one left that I know in this town. Yep, can't wait for all of this to be over.
• 2020-03-23

  Different People with Different Beliefs- COVID 19

  Short text written by Justin Smith