Items

• 
  2021-10-31

  (HIST30060) Chess!

  HIST30060. How do you pass the time during a 5km radius lockdown with only four reasons to leave? Chess. After watching the Queens Gambit, my housemates and I spend a few hours a day playing multiple games of chess in person, or on Chess.com. Chess is a great way to pass the time because each game is unique. Every game has thousands of variables that allow alternative moves to ‘one-up’ your opponent. We started off with little no knowledge of the game but built our fundamentals through Youtube tutorials. This has increased a skills rapidly and allowed us to challenge people across the world using Chess.com. Online chess, in fact, is the most used online game in the world and continues to rapidly grow during the pandemic. I like this image because it captures the way my housemates and I have been living whilst full-time students with limited time to earn income. Note the piece of ply we use as an outdoor table, sitting on chairs we found on the side of the road. We managed to furnish our whole house like this, which I think is impressive but really dingy.
• 
  2020-05-21T22:21

  Lockdown Jigsaw Puzzles 2020

  One of the ways that my family and I relaxed in the evenings during the first COVID-19 lockdown was by doing jigsaw puzzles. Here are just two examples of the many we completed throughout 2020. We set up in the living room using a board of sorts (cardboard from the box our television had been in) to do it on so that all the pieces would stay within one area and the whole thing would be portable if we needed the table back. The map one (left) had 1500 pieces and was the first one we completed in May. The second puzzle pictured here (right) was a particular struggle because it did not come with a picture of what the finished puzzle looked like. We all worked on our own little sections before figuring out how they all came together. It was an incredibly satisfying moment to see the puzzle completed finally knowing how each of our little parts fit together to create it. Jigsaw puzzles have been something that have helped me relax for years. There was often one at my high school library that I would do to have a break from my studies in order to take my mind off things. As it was in the library multiple people would join in making it very much a collective effort. Thus, doing jigsaws with other people, in this case my family, during these hard times was one of the things which helped keep me relatively sane during 2020. It was a very rewarding activity that allowed for greater engagement with one another than simply watching television for hours on end.
• 2020-02-14

  COVID-19: From Italy To New York

  In February of 2020, from the 14th to the 22nd, I was on a school trip in Italy. It's safe to say I was having the best time of my life, until I became ill towards the end of the trip. I felt extremely lethargic and fatigued, my nose and throat were as stuffed as could be, my voice was gone, and my body was consistently hot. It wasn't until I got home from my trip that I suspected my illness was COVID-19, because I was informed that the exact day I returned home from Italy, Venice went on lockdown. I had been in Venice at the beginning of my trip. My suspicions heightened once my mother, father, and sister all got COVID-19 several days later, yet I was healthy as a horse again. In the weeks I had been quarantined with them, I hadn't gotten sick again. Now, this is my earliest memory from quarantine, and quite frankly one of the only memories since the days began to mesh together. I remember time no longer felt real, and I tried to pass it with as many activities as possible. The family began solving puzzles and playing more board games. I was playing more of my instruments, including piano and ukulele. I listened to countless albums and new artists. But, in all of the good, there still remained some low points such as overeating and inactiveness. I'm sure everybody can find pros and cons in their quarantine experience, definitely more cons for some. But, I just wanted to share what I remembered from my own experience. It's the story we always told people when they asked if we ever got infected; I'd say I'm pretty sure I came home from the best trip in the world only to infect my family and almost immediately go into lockdown.
• 
  2020-03

  March 2020: A Life-changing Month

  The year 2020 was looking to be much like other years that I spent in college. I was going to be going to classes, meeting up with friends, and working out most days. As March approached, my excitement grew. Spring break was coming, and I had a scheduled trip to Cancun, Mexico. There was talk of a virus spreading through China, but it was very unknown to us. Prior to our trip, we joked about contracting the virus. Little did we know, that would be the week living in the world the way we knew it. My trip to Mexico was everything I wanted it to be and more, but I was ready to come home and finish the semester. We came back from Mexico, and I returned to Duquesne. Within one week of my return, everything changed. Universities around the country started to close for, what we thought at the time, two weeks. Duquesne followed suit. School did not return that semester and the entire country began to shut down. There was a lot of fear and unknown. One minute I was having the trip of a lifetime, and the next minute I was at home with my family only leaving to get groceries. We began using masks everywhere we went, using hand sanitizer many times a day, and staying as far away from others as possible. Although life felt like it completely stopping, the pandemic allowed my family and I to experience something that we might never get to experience again: over a month of quality time together. I was now doing school via zoom and my father, brother, and uncle were home from work. During this time, my family spent a lot of time together. My father and I would find interesting ways to work out every day since our gym had been shut down (see artifact image for a picture of my watch after completing a weighted vest walk. We began these weighted vest walks during the pandemic.). We would watch Netflix series as a family, do puzzles, and even play board games together. I will never forget these memories, even though they were accompanied by fear of the Coronavirus.
• 
  2020-05

  Masked Visitors

  How has Covid-19 changed your daily life? My husband and I moved here in 2014 so I could volunteer with the city archaeologist, Carl Halbirt, and I have been doing that most every day since then. We have two new archaeologists now, but volunteers aren’t allowed until the virus social distancing is lifted. In November my husband died and after a short hiatus from volunteering I started again. Now, I am in my house with my dog every day. I miss being with people. Even our church is doing online services now. On Easter the priest printed large photos of many of our congregation and taped them to the pews, so it looks like we were in church. I saw myself, and right where I usually sit! How is your neighborhood and/or social circle responding to the crisis? My neighbors are all staying home like I am except for a few Flagler students who went to their parents homes. Some are furloughed, others are working from home. Since I’m retired, I’m just missing my volunteer work. Several of my friends and I have a group text several times a week so we can keep up with each other. My Community Hospice social worker is staying in touch with each of our grief support group members by phone, and several of us have exchanged phone numbers so we talk occasionally. The Tolomato Cemetery group is planning a Zoom visit on the third Saturday, which is the day we have the cemetery open for visitors. It will be my first Zoom conversation. I’m looking forward to that. My church, St. Cyprian’s is open each day for individual prayer and the commons and labyrinth are open as well for anyone who wants to pray or just sit in a peaceful place. How has Covid impacted your perspective of St. Augustine? I am happy that our city leaders have been proactive in closing so many businesses. I feel so sorry for the small business owners and workers who have lost their jobs, and I hope when the danger has passed we can get to a new normal. I don’t thing everything will be the same. I am hopeful the city will be able to help the businesses and workers with tax relief or some other means. I am proud of the way the police and firefighters are connecting with us by social media. How has Covid-19 impacted your use of social media? I’ve used it much more to keep up with friends near and far. I have also been using FaceTime with my daughter and son who live in other cities. I’ve been using Shipt to order my groceries for delivery to my house. What practices have you implemented to mitigate the impact of social distancing on your mental health? I’ve tried to make a small list of things I want to accomplish each day, but if I don’t finish it, I don’t beat myself up about it. It helps to keep me from sitting around watching mind numbing Hallmark movies. I’ve tried to walk most evenings around my neighborhood, just to be outside. I am reading books and doing jigsaw puzzles as well. I’ve cleaned/organized several cedar chests and drawers and I am working on bookshelves now. I am also writing a Corona Virus Journal describing my feelings (and there have so many emotional times during this quarantine) and making note of things I’m doing and friends I am talking with. It’s on my computer and I have no idea what I will do with it, but maybe my children will read it someday and maybe I will too.
• 
  02/21/2021

  Joyce Lee Oral History, 2021/02/11

  Mini Oral history interview with Joyce Lee
• 
  2020-11

  Puzzling Times

  To me puzzles were nothing more than the stack of boxes collecting dust in the top shelf of the coat closet. Maybe I took them out once or twice when I was in grade school while I was looking for something to do after using up all of my TV time and refusing to pick up a book. I don’t recall every shopping for my puzzles, receiving them as gifts, and now that I think about it, I don’t recall ever finishing one besides, of course, the twenty-four-piece pink Hello Kitty puzzle, of her walking her dogs in the park. Now I look back upon the entire month of March spent working on multiple thousand-piece puzzles, finishing every puzzle I could find in my household. I remember sitting in AP Econ first period of some random Wednesday in February asking my teacher “what if this student does test positive? Why are we here? Isn’t this dangerous? Isn’t this putting us at risk of exposure?” He quickly assured me that classes on Tuesday were cancelled solely for the purpose of disinfecting the entire building. I questioned this response as I looked down at my stained covered desk that clearly hasn’t been cleaned in weeks. However, I wasn’t too worried about the situation as this almost comical idea of a virus was ripping its way through China and Italy, and not a single case was discovered in North America. I go home that evening to discover that a case was in fact discovered in North America, and of course it was in Washington. Completely awestruck, I try to convince myself there is no possible way out of all the schools in the nation this virus found its way to Hazen High School. I forget about the whole thing and go back to cramming for my Stats test. Thursday morning I’m awoken to the news that my school will be closed for the rest of the week. Not understanding the seriousness of the situation, all I’m thinking is “thank God I have more time to study for this Stats test.” That Sunday we receive more news stating school will be closed for the next two weeks and then an addition for that preplanned Spring Break. Still receiving messages from my Stats teacher to keep studying and practicing as we’ll pick up where we left off when we return, I stop studying because at this rate who knows if we’ll be going back. Sure enough, the weekend before our expected return we receive the email stating that all classes will be online for the rest of the term. Around this time my sister and mom were sent home from their work as cases around Washington continued to forcing many places to close and moving everyone online. This was the first time in years that we were all under the same roof again, and this was the first time ever we were forced to spend 24/7 with one another for who knew how long. And this was when the intense puzzling escapades began. For my parents it was a quite easy transition as they were doing the exact same things just in the comfort of their own home, but for my sister and I we had many weeks of nothing as school and work were figuring out what to do in this unprecedented time. There’s only so much TV to watch, so we landed on this brilliant idea of starting our puzzle collection, starting from the sixteen-piece slowly making our way up to two-thousand pieces. The smaller puzzles were obviously quick and mainly worked on between my sister and I, with the occasional visit from my parents forcing pieces to fit together that my sister and I would later discover and have to move. As the size of the puzzles began to grow, so did the time we spent working on them. From completing one in an hour to working on one for days. What started between my sister and I, soon turned into an entire family affair. Staying updated with the number of cases and deaths around the world and in Washington, the time spent working on these puzzles became very soothing to me as my mind was completely focused on sorting the different shades of pink that would eventually become a sunset. This little family project of ours created this sense of unity, collaboration, and overall fun in such a sensitive time and atmosphere. I felt that first month really allowed my family and I to bond in a different way, just because we all had the time to sit and work on puzzles together. Then of course the inevitable happened, no not quarantine ending, but we finished all the puzzles. I still remember asking my sister, half-jokingly, if she thought we would be able to finish all the puzzles before quarantine ended, of course at the time I thought there was no way it would las till August. I was clearly wrong, and we did indeed finish all the puzzles. We quickly looked online for more thousand-piece puzzles to buy, which to our surprise were incredibly expensive, but looking back we probably weren’t the only family doing puzzles so it would make sense the price skyrocketed. With the abrupt ending to our puzzling journey, I was disappointed with the little family activities we would do together, but we had months to go so we eventually did find something. Though puzzles are such a simple object, often associated with children or elders, it’s going to be something I remember from my teen years for the rest of my life. Whenever I see a puzzle, I will think about the strong family bond my family created the summer of 2020.
• 
  2020-06-09

  The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles Create Puzzles for the People

  At the beginning of June, MOCA updated its online store to include items relevant to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. I have several screenshots of different puzzles, masks, books, etc. but I thought this one was particularly interesting. In the articles I’ve read about museums creating an effective online presence, the main idea is providing the user an opportunity to engage in a transaction. Here MOCA is giving the user an opportunity to buy a puzzle from them and also engage with their focus on contemporary art. While doing the puzzle, the purchaser will be thinking about MOCA, even on some kind of subconscious level. In a sense this helps to build community and, in the future, will serve as a token of the time spent in quarantine. One day the puzzle will serve as an artifact. To state the obvious, selling puzzles is relevant because at the beginning of quarantine this was an activity a lot of people did. I think for a small time was difficult to get your hands on a puzzle. MOCA is not only providing an online user with the opportunity to engage in a transaction, but it is a relevant transaction. This demonstrates MOCA’s ability to effectively adapt to the changing social landscape. My submission is important to me because in pre-COVID times I loved going to the museum and I think it's great to see how they're still trying to build community.
• 
  2020-12-08T16:36

  COVID-19: Behind the Lens of a University Student

  Each photograph was taken at random and coincidentally during different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in California.
• 
  2020-08

  Puzzles at home

  I was very fortunate to have been able to stay at home in Sydney this year, remotely attending my university in Melbourne via zoom classes and pre-recorded lectures. While I was grateful for this form of continuity I desperately missed Melbourne and the friends I’d made there. Spending days slowly working on this puzzle was both a way to pass the increasing amount of time I spent at home as well as way to feel a little more connected to the city I was missing.
• 
  09/18/2020

  Isabelle Cincera Oral History, 2020/09/18

  This interview is about Isabelle Cincera and the affects the pandemic had on her life as a high school senior. The interview discusses the impacts such as online school and her social life. Isabelle demonstrates a great example of how Covid-19 directly affected the life of a student.
• 
  09/17/2020

  [REDACTED] Han Oral History, 2020/09/17

  This is an audio interview with a classmate who is based in Korea. She is a freshman who is studying Pharmacy. She expresses her thoughts and experience on the current pandemic, Covid-19.
• 
  07/01/2020

  Emma Garcia Oral History, 2020/07/01

  Emma Garcia [pseudonym] is a native of California and is attending a graduate program at Arizona State University online, seeking a master’s degree in history. As part of her studies she is working on the Journal of the Plague Year digital archive. The very archive this oral history interview was conducted for and included within. Living with her boyfriend, five months into the pandemic, she explains how life with coronavirus changed her daily routines, relationships with family and friends, where she gets her news, and what she worries and fears the most.
• 
  07/11/2020

  Alex Hinely Oral History, 2020/07/11

  Alex Hinely was born and raised in Northern California. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology. Following graduation, Alex lived in various parts of the United States, including Florida and Rhode Island, before returning to his hometown of Colusa in Northern California. He now works as an information manager for a Princeton Joint Unified School District. In the fall of 2019, he began his studies at Arizona State University (ASU), where he is currently working on a Master of Arts in history. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, he split his hours working from home and campus and began an internship with “A Journal of the Plague Year” COVID-19 archive initiated by ASU. Alex shares a unique perspective as a school district employee, a student, and a curatorial intern. In this interview, he tackles the challenges of living in rural Northern California, where many seem to be disagreeing with California Governor Gavin Newsom, the challenges of social isolation, and how he believes the COVID-19 pandemic is progressing.
• 
  2020-07-03

  Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 112

  With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times. Another puzzle complete on Day 2 of our get away. A puzzle to match his shirt!
• 
  2020-07-02

  Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 111

  With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times. A family member that lives nearby was out of town so we decided to pack up for a little get away. The change of scenery was incredible on so many levels. We also scored access to a new collection of puzzles. We started with a small 200 piece puzzle within 30 minutes of arriving!
• 
  2020-06-23

  Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 102

  With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times. We've officially crossed over the 100 day mark! And still no hair cut for our son. We did venture out to a local toy store as we had officially ran out of puzzles. It was our first outing and we actually went into the toy store as a family. We all wore masks and did not touch anything during our time there. We were the only family in the store. It was definitely eerie but felt wonderful to be out and doing something normal. It also felt nice to support a local business owner that has undoubtedly struggled during this pandemic due to loss of business. We picked out two dinosaur puzzles. I'm certain we will be back for more puzzles soon.
• 
  2020-06-20

  Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 99

  With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times. It was dad's turn for a photo with the completed puzzle! These two had a lot of fun completing this puzzle together and did this in just one afternoon. Dad recently got his "summer cut" from his sister, a former hair stylist, that we live with. Our son continues to refuse to allow us to cut his hair. It is getting so long! Tomorrow we will have sheltered-in-place for 100 days. 100 DAYS. This was supposed to last 14 days. How much longer will this be our reality?
• 
  2020-06-05

  Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 84

  With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times. We had a major puzzle mishap! Our daughter spilled an entire cup of water on the puzzle. We tried to dry the pieces but it did not work. The pieces completely disintegrated! While we were disappointed that we could not finish the puzzle, we did learn to keep liquids away from puzzles. Also, check out his hair! Although he has easy access to a hair cut as we live with his aunt who used to be a hair stylist, he refuses to get his hair cut. There are so many people out there wanting a hair cut that they cannot get. And here he is refusing a hair cut he can get! Note the presence of a mask on our table. We ordered a few different styles for the kids to try on to make sure they are successfully able to wear them as our county begins to open back up.
• 
  2020-05-28

  Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 76

  With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times. We chose a collection of puzzles to complete together today. My son's hair is starting to grow again. I wonder if he'll be open to another hair cut soon. 2 hair cuts in quarantine? It's hard to believe that so much time has passed. This image also clearly captures "Gary the Octopus" a special project that we completed as part of my son's remote learning curriculum.
• 
  2020-05-23

  Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 71

  With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times. Immediately after he finished his first ever 1000 piece puzzle, he asked to do another one! He took a much more active role in sorting the pieces for this puzzle. It is so fun to lose ourselves in puzzling. It takes our minds off of the gravity of the world in which we live. Just looking at this photo, it is hard to believe that we are living in the middle of a pandemic.
• 
  2020-05-19

  Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 67

  With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times. After completing a number of 300 piece puzzles on his own, our son decided he was ready to move up and asked to do a 1000 piece puzzle! He let mom and dad help a lot more with this puzzle but primarily only to sort pieces. He never gave up and I am very impressed by his ability to work on a puzzle over multiple days without ever getting frustrated.
• 
  2020-04-22

  Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 40

  With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times. In this image, a glimpse of our family remote learning schedule and some school work are seen in the background. The presence of his "lovey" in hand is also a reminder to remember how young he is to be living during something as big as a pandemic.
• 
  2020-04-19

  Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 37

  With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times. He is easily completing 300 piece puzzles on his own! It's quite the feat for a child his age.
• 
  2020-04-11

  Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 29

  With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times. I love how this photo marks the passage of time for our son. We are sheltering-in-place with his aunt, who happens to cut hair. While all of the hair salons in our area are currently closed, he scored a fresh cut thanks to her!
• 
  2020-04-07

  Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 25

  With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times.
• 
  2020-05-04

  New York Times Mini Crossword Puzzle May 4, 2020

  Since self-isolation began for my household, my husband and I have started doing crosswords from the NYT (New York Times) with friends via Zoom. We can share our screens and complete the puzzles together. It has been good way to exercise our brains and connect with others. I'd be curious to see if subscriptions for the NYT Crossword, which has its own separate subscription option, have increased in the last few weeks.
• 
  04/01/2020

  Good use of the gaming table

  Our gaming table, usually used for weekly role-playing games, the vault of our new gaming table has been neglected of late. Last night we decided to make good use of it. Traditionally, my work has a puzzle out to help us clear our heads and step away from the computer for a little while. We're using this puzzle in the same way.