Items

• 
  2020-08-05

  Social Justice and Public Health in 2020

  From the article: The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus, has created an unexpected and unprecedented lifestyle shift for many people across the globe. Several months into the pandemic, the public has been exposed to a number of issues they might not have previously considered or thought possible, from hospitals rapidly reaching capacity and the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) to the mental and social challenges of physical distancing and being quarantined.
• 
  2020-10-29

  Video Games to Pass Time

  2020 was a good time for video games, particularly those that I am interested in. Releasing in the middle of the year, games such as the highly anticipated Mount and Blade: Bannerlord and Crusader Kings III managed to provide time-wasting opportunities to many people. The latter, abbreviated CK3, is pictured here. CK3 is essentially a feudalism-simulator with role playing game mechanics, famous in the PC gaming sphere for both its complexity but also its ability to organically allow stories to form in the most Game of Thrones way possible. This was one of my earlier games, after I was more familiar with how the game differed from CK2. Starting as the Raja of the real-life Northern Indian dynasty of the Imperial Gurjara-Pratihara in 867 CE, through many generations of rulers I managed to consolidate the entire subcontinent through diplomacy, intrigue, and warfare. Around 1000 CE one of my rulers who had a more intellectual education rather than the usual military one, consolidated all imperially sanctioned Hindu beliefs into the Charvaka school, a real-life ancient Hindu belief based on materialism and empiricism. As this new consolidated Hinduism united the subcontinent at a more local level, regional governors along the Indus River took advantage of political fragmentation around the Indian Ocean and pushed west, taking over not just Persia and Central Asia but also establishing Hindu-Somali outposts in Africa and Yemen. By the 1300s the empire spread from Burma in the east all the way to modern day Libya and Greece, with Rome itself falling to a Pratihara expedition. Peace was maintained within the empire's vassals by a robust series of alliances, as well as the use of the "dread" mechanic to scare any more unruly subjects into submission via planned executions and threats. The most serious threats the Pratihara Empire faced was a series of crusades launched from Western Europe, and the Mongol Conquests which were ended by assassinating a few generations of Mongol Khans leading to political infighting and collapse. Beyond the fake history being made in game, this single play through gave me enjoyment for dozens of hours. While psychical entertainment was shut down, travel impossible, and the shadow of the pandemic hung over everything, games like CK3 allow people like me to immerse ourselves in what begins as real history and ends with an alternate history that we ourselves designed. Many people who don't usually play video games became engrossed in them, particularly early on in the likewise open-ended game Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The need to develop new hobbies as a way to cope with isolation was a boon for the video game industry, which despite its massive market was seen by many people as quaint at best, or worthless at worst. There is value in video games, especially during the pandemic.
• 
  2021-02-12

  After Vaccines, Joy, Relief and Game Night

  As the COVID-19 vaccine rolls-out, nursing and retirement homes across the United States are starting to open up again. In many places, this means dinner, game night, and a select few visitors.
• 2021-02-17

  Living Like An Immunocompromised Person

  I have been living in fear of getting others sick rather than what will happen if I were to be the one to get sick. My brother is immunocompromised, so I have spent most of 2020 in my house. I have not been scared of coming back positive because I have had cousins who have been sick but have had no real issues. The reason I have lived a full year with fear and anxiety is the idea of giving the disease to my Diabetic brother. Part of the reason I came back to campus when the semester started was to get away from my brother and the fear that I could be the one to kill him. Coronavirus has made this past year one full of fear, but the main character of my fear, meaning my brother, has talked me into feeling comfortable enough to return to college. I knew people who had impaired immune systems had to watch what they did even before Covid-19 came into the picture. These days, immunocompromised individuals can barely leave their houses so I have followed the actions of my brother. If he has felt comfortable enough to return to teaching for middle schoolers and working at a camp with young children who were just learning to wear masks during the summer then I can go live on campus. I actually have a close friend in my dorm family unit who keeps me in check. My brother and my friend do a great job but sometimes, I think I stay home and away from people more than some individuals I know with compromised immune systems or pre-existing conditions that put them at risk of dying from the disease. That thought will not dissuade me from continuing with my partially-quarantined lifestyle. I am confused and hurt by those who have not even tried to protect others or change anything in their daily life. With the numbers that are currently being released in the United States and at my college, I will keep living in a way that will not increase my anxiety or the chance of my fears coming true. If my college continues to see rising positive cases, I hope we get put into a full campus lockdown or I have a little warning of being sent home so I can be tested and have a place to quarantine away from my brother. Everyone has Covid-fatigue but I will push through and stay as safe as I can. This year has taught me that when this pandemic is over, I need to live my life protecting immunocompromised people even if I do not know them. If I get a cold, I will wear a mask. I never want to be the one to blame for someone else falling sick or dying.
• 2020-12-23T18:05:10

  Quarantine Taco bell time

  My quarantine was much like everyone elses experiences, staying inside, self quarantining, not seeing friends as often as I would have liked. Except one day just before Christmas I got a text from my friend that him and his brother wanted me to come and do Christmas shopping with them and then stop at Taco Bell and get food. I had not seen anyone since we moved back home from campus for winter break so I was excited to see my friends. My friends came to my house and picked me up and we headed to the closest target for them to do their late Christmas shopping. Whenever we arrived and parked we went to the entrance and they were limiting the amount of people that were allowed to enter the store and made sure everyone had their masks on. Then we made it into the store and had to walk in certain directions because of the markers telling which way people can go. We ended up not finding what we were looking for and decided to go to the Petco next door to look around for fun. We saw these giant shrimp in the aquarium section and thought they were really cool. After this we went to the Taco Bell drive through to get food since we could no longer eat inside during the pandemic. We ordered our food and got it through the drive through window in a plastic container. One benefit about the pandemic is that fast food service is much more sanitary than before. After we ate our food and sat in the car and talked for a while we decided to go home for the night. Even during the pandemic we could still have fun together going to stores although it was different than before.
• 
  2021-01-24

  Almost a Year of Virtual Girl Scout Meetings

  When our Girl Scout troop transitioned online in the spring, we never foresaw the entire year being online. When my best friend/co-leader and I made the calendar in the summer, we originally made it through the end of 2020, thinking that by January we’d be back in person. I guess that shows how short sighted humans can be, a virus doesn’t run on a calendar, so it was silly to think things would be dramatically different without widespread access to a vaccine. So here we are in 2021, pushing through every other week. It has been really great to maintain the normalcy of meeting together, though. All the girls are either going to school on a hybrid (half the week in person, half at home) schedule or a full distance learning schedule, so it’s just nice to have the regular interaction with each other just like they did before quarantine. This also was a perfect opportunity to give the girls increased ownership of the troop. Now that they’re in fourth grade, we have made leadership roles, so the girls are responsible for different parts of the meeting. This takes the pressure off me for having to fill two hours on Zoom in a way that is fun and meaningful and doesn’t feel like school! I absolutely love seeing their creativity in making up games, activities, snacks, and issues/problems in our community they want to help fix. There also are some girls who used to be passive who have really loved this platform and have really stepped into being leaders. I am, however, running low on badges they want to earn that are easy to do over Zoom. The one shared here ended up pretty fun. To earn the “Simple Meals” badge, the girls worked in virtual groups to make different breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals. Then they basically did their own cooking show by walking the other girls through making whatever the dish was. Bonus - everyone was nice and full by the end! I miss my girls terribly, but we are so fortunate to be able to have the girls continue to meet, share, and support each other while we patiently wait for the cases to decrease.
• 2020-03-20

  Journal of the Plague Year

  The Corona Virus aka COVID-19 has drastically affected my life as well as the entire world. COVID-19 first affected my life during my second semester sophomore year of college. The beginning of sophomore year was when we first started hearing about COVID-19. At that time, it wasn’t really a big deal. It was more like a myth in a sense; it was happening everywhere else but here. And then, March came. More and more reports of COVID-19 in the United States were being presented. It was starting to become a serious threat. The day after Saint Patrick’s Day, I was with some friends and we were all hanging out and getting lunch. During our lunch, we received an email saying that we had to move off campus within the next week due to the threat and seriousness of COVID-19. We were all so shocked and upset that our sophomore year was cut short. In the blink of an eye, we had to pack up our entire college lives and leave to go home. All of the memories we were supposed to make were gone. For me, all of my friends were at school so going home was very hard for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family but, I also want to be able to see my friends. Once I got home, I had to do the rest of school online and had to be quarantined in my house. Online school was such a new and difficult experience. I had never done online school and neither had the professors, so it was a very difficult transition. Something else that was difficult was being trapped in a house from March until May. I am not the type of person to just stay cooped up in a house. I like to be out doing things and socializing with others but, I couldn’t do that. I was confined to my house with only my family. It was hard finding things to keep us all entertained every day while also trying not to kill each other. We tried puzzles, games, family walks and hikes, movie night, and everything in between. These things worked but only for a short period of time. Being quarantined really does affect your mental health. I also had to celebrate my twentieth birthday in quarantine which was not fun at all, but at least I was with my family which made it better. Then came July. July first was when I was moving into my first house in Pittsburgh for college. I thought that it was going to be such a fun and exciting time. But it was difficult with the whole pandemic going on. It was hard to see my friends, go out to eat, and go to the bars. I was still able to have fun, but it was still difficult to adjust to a new lifestyle. Online school full time was also hard, but I got through it and figured out how to do school efficiently. Come end of October, I got COVID-19. I didn’t realize of shitty COVID-19 was and that I could even get it because I was so young. I had all of the symptoms except loss of taste and smell. I was bed ridden for two weeks; it was awful. After that things were as good as they can be during this time. A week before New Year’s Eve, my entire family tested positive for COVID-19 except me since I had already gotten it. They got really sick and I had to take care of them and grocery shop and run errands for them. That was hard for me to watch them all be so sick. But they got better and became healthy. Yes, I haven’t had this extreme story due to COVID-19 but it did affect my life in ways that I didn’t think it could. I had to change my entire way of living because of this virus.
• 
  2020-10-26

  Who are you?

  It has been weird. A time where the words “pandemic” and “quarantine” are not just being used in a book or video game. Isolation is a weird thing too. It is good in moderation, but what now draws the line between too much and too little? An hour can seem like days and a day can seem to be the same over and over again. I have been delving further into art and music as the days pass. It seems strange that sometimes exploring art and music has the same effect as isolation such that time does not seem to exist in the expected way. I sometimes forget that we are in a pandemic when drawing or alone as if it were already in the past. Art and music have always been in my life, so I expanded on them by trying new genres and mediums. It is not always easy to try new things or to be forced into new things. Often times, I did not appreciate or even like what I attempted in art. It would be quite hard to count the number of drawings I have thrown away or canvases I’ve painted over. Somehow, over the course of quarantine, I have found myself to be more critical of the things that I create. Perhaps it is from being isolated which gives me more opportunities to overthink. Perhaps it is the constant comparison to other people on social media. Perhaps my disgust is not a new development at all, but it seems more pertinent since it is difficult to focus on other things. Of course, this disappointment is crawling into other aspects of my life. The drawing is one that I used to think was decent, but I find myself only critiquing it. It depicts a human floating and wrapped partially in fabric. In October of 2020, I erased most of it and tried it again, but the results stayed the same. Art is interpreted on an individual basis, but I personally found it to be about identity. Everyone wearing a mask made me think about who we really are. I have certainly run into people where I did not recognize them at all with a mask. Part of the identification process is how people look and how they act. If we don’t know who they are, do they act differently? Does this make an individual, a different person?
• 
  2020-04-19

  Covid-19 and its Impact on my Routine

  When the Covid-19 Pandemic hit, it was very hard for myself and many other. Having to stay quarantined and not being able to see my friends and even family members was hard. On April 19th, 2020, it was my birthday and my parents knew all i wanted was to see my friends. They planned a drive by and one of my closest friends stayed the night at my house. 4 days I had learned that my friend tested positive for Covid-19, which ultimately led to myself getting the virus. This totally through my body out of balance. I sat around all day, barely ate, and constantly felt tired, but I knew I needed to do something about this. My older brother, who was at our house during quarantine, was an athletic trainer. He began to train me, even while I still had the virus. He set me up with workouts and I began to train in the basement of our house where we had dumbbells, bands, and a pullup/dip bar. I began working out 6 days a week and really noticed a change in my diet and mental state. It got me into a routine of getting good sleep, eating a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and kept me active and in better health. I went from being constantly tired, lazy, and not eating enough nor getting any sleep to always wanting to work hard, stay happy, and physically and mentally healthy. Although the pandemic has had many downsides, i learned to stay active in working out and staying in the best shape i possibly can be in.
• 2020-06

  My time during Covid

  2020 was a year like none other that included different events that will go down forever in history. One major event was Covid-19 which ended up affecting everyone all across the world. Some were hit harder by it than others as it directly effected our families and our lives. Like many, I was also affected by covid and all of the restrictions and regulations that came along with it. Most of my story took place in Greensburg, Pennsylvania from March 2020 when it all started all the way until we went back to school in August. This summer was different than any other as it started with restaurants being closed and not being able to see any friends since everyone was supposed to be in quarantine. Eventually places began to open back up slowly with mostly take-out food or outdoor dining and masks everywhere. During this, I was able to get a job at UPS in the warehouse pre-loading the trucks in the mornings. This changed my schedule as I went to work at 3 in the morning and got off work at around 8. My days mostly consisted of working early in the mornings and then going golfing with a couple of friends and then going to bed at 5. Even though I did this most days, I was still not able to get any better at golf. One thing that Covid really affected was being able to see my Nana as I would usually get lunch with her every Monday. Because of Covid, it was best if I didn’t see her for reasons of health as she is at a much higher risk of being negatively affected by it than I would be. Covid kept my days the same for the most part until I eventually moved back into school which consisted of getting used to a new schedule and more on campus rules. Covid really just increased the amount of time I spent on my phone and xbox and decreased the amount of in person interactions that I had with people. This also happened when I went back home for Thanksgiving as I only had it with my family and not my grandparents. While I was still affected by Covid and all of the things that came with it, I was still very lucky as it did not affect me much. I was lucky as no one in my family or myself got Covid. I would say that my experience during Covid was a lot easier than other people’s experiences as it may have affected their families greatly.
• 
  2021-02-04

  My mom's quarantine crochet

  These two photos are of a recent crochet project my mom just completed, I just think they’re absolutely adorable – they remind me so much of my first teddy bear from when I was a baby. I’ve been telling her that kids would love if she made more of these, we could donate them or sell some on Etsy I keep telling her – but she doesn’t believe me when I tell her that her work is amazing. I just wanted to upload this to the archive to show how my mom has coped with quarantine life, and how her creativity has exploded over these last few weeks. In a weird way it’s very sentimental to me, because it reminds me of my own childhood and the amount of love my mom gave me throughout my upbringing when she could, I just want other people to be able to feel the love that’s been poured into this object during these unloving times.
• 
  2021-02-04

  My daily view

  This is a photo from my bedroom, and has been what I wake up to every day, and have been waking up to for the last 22 years of my life. I haven’t left my house in weeks aside from running to get groceries or a coffee. I haven’t gone out for a hike, a walk, almost nothing for these months. I’m mainly sharing this photograph to illustrate just how monotonous my life has become, and while this sounds depressing, because it is, I feel like I’m doing my part by not going out – it’s probably the only thing that’s making this bearable. All I do every day, is wake up and begin working on classwork and my internship, and then finish off with some games online with my friends, but I’ve even stopped doing that recently. I don’t really have a drive to do much anymore aside from school work. I feel even worse with the fact that I can’t find any work which would fit with my class work. So largely, I just feel incredibly useless, I take so long to get my school work done, and have little time to just do what I’d like – and on top of that I don’t even know what I’d like to do. Needless to say, this pandemic has really, really put a funk on me; class work is the only thing keeping me going at the moment, or I’d just be a potato in bed.
• 
  2020-06-26

  My new hobby

  During the summer of 2020, not a lot was going on in my life. I had just recently finished my undergraduate degree and had little to do on a daily basis, there were no jobs, no friends, not even family. Gradually, I got sick of just playing video games day in and out; however I wasn’t getting sick of the music of these games, many of which used the banjo. Some of these songs seemed pretty simple, and with my previous experience rudimentary experience with the guitar I figured I’d be able to some of these tunes. I started picking up my dad’s banjo, which is in the photo I provided on a daily basis; using YouTube tutorials I started to pick up the basics. In all honesty it was pretty easy to pick up, and just a relaxing experience, I even grew to like the feeling of developing callouses on my fingers? That’s a little weird but it felt like they were physical reminders of how much work I was putting into learning this new instrument. Recently I’ve kind of stopped playing, but I still love just plucking at it every now and then. My friends online similarly liked hearing me play every now and then, so in a sense it was a great coping mechanism to boredom and loneliness. However, I’ve really stopped even plucking at it, I don’t feel a drive to do much anymore; so I just kind of stare at it now every now and again, which is incredibly weird. This item maters to me as it helped me through the initial stages of the pandemic, and helped me stay mentally active during quarantine. However, as the pandemic has dragged on I kind of have lost the desire to play it, or do much of anything else really. I’d like to add this item to the collection of performing arts as it is a musical instrument, and I would perform for my friends on Discord every now and then (but then again I’m not a professional artist or performer so I don’t think it’d be appropriate for me to be in that collection) Mental health on the other hand is a way more accurate collection for this item, as it really helped me stay mentally active during the pandemic.
• 2021-02-01

  Statistics

  The statistics of Covid 19 are rather astonishing. Over 3.12 million people across the world have died of the virus. Roughly 10% of the world has had Covid 19 at one time. It is crazy to me that that many people have been affected by it. I don't know anyone that has been affected by it. I don't know how. Everyone I knows life changed through Covid whether it was being trapped at home for months on end, or maybe not being able to go to school, or losing a job. I have gone through some of these personally, but overall nothing bad has happened to me.
• 2021-02-01

  Covid-19 in One Word VI: Exhausting

  This word comes from a peer, an over-worker overthinker, someone who lost much in the pandemic. Exhausting: extremely tiring Too much of anything is tiring. Too much of a bad thing is exhausting. It’s like never being able to shut your eyes and take a rest. There is no break from living in a pandemic. Leave the house for a break? Mask. Relax with friends? Social distance. Go out for a fun time? Entertainment closed. We are not living in a pandemic; we are living the pandemic. This means there are no breaks. There are no pauses. There are no escapes. Even when you get tired of living this way, you still have to do it. That makes things exhausting almost daily for some people. So where can people go for relief? When it all gets too much, how do you find rest? This is something many people have had to find the answer to during this time of isolation. Without a determined end in sight, it is crucial that people learn how to live in a world permanently changed. For some, this has taken a mental form in meditation, yoga, writing, art expression. For others, physical outlets such as running, lifting, creative ways to stay active, new sports, and more have helped give breaks from a crazy world. Most have tried many new hobbies with various successes and failures. On the other hand, for some, this has been the break. Without corporate ties and office hostages, people are finding themselves more relaxed now than they have been for years. Being home has opened families to more time together and opportunities to grow closer. Still, even these people, at times, find this new life exhausting. In all cases, too much of this pandemic is exhausting.
• 
  2021-01-31

  COVID-19 Gardening in 2021

  The gardening industry saw a jump in the number of home gardeners in 2020 unlike ever seen before. People, with time on their hands and nowhere to go, jumped into the home gardening world. As a home gardener myself, I think that this is a great thing. I have been trying to convince friends of mine for many years now how easy and enjoyable growing some of your own food is. During Covid, many people picked up the hobby. I hope that people stick with it as there are so many benefits. However, I saw last year what panic buying and the uptick in home gardeners did to the industry. At times, it was nearly impossible to find seeds or gardening supplies. For this reason, I have already purchased all of the seeds that I will be using in my garden (a full 2 months before I would have normally even thought about buying them). The photograph is of a couple of the new seeds and varieties that I can't wait to start in the Spring.
• 2020-03-27

  Social Distancing and Quarantine Were Used in Medieval Times to Fight the Black Death

  A medieval Italian legislation document, dating from 1377, reveals that social distancing and quarantine measures were practiced during the bubonic plague. The article describes what measures seaport towns took to screen and isolate ships before their goods and crews could enter these populations Also, it discusses the advent of plague hospitals, how the word quarantine came to be, and 14th century public health structure. As far as medicine and technology has advanced over the centuries, we are still using some of the same practices that were used seven centuries ago. It illustrates how much we can still learn from the past.
• 
  2021-01-30

  High School Reflections on a Semester of Online Learning

  This is the assignment given to my high school juniors at GGHS in Southern California to reflect on their semester of quarantine. Assignments with the #gghsapush and #GGHS hashtags should be related to this assignment. GGHS serves approximately 2400 students, and has an approximate demographic breakdown of: 50% Latino, 39% Asian, 7% White, and 4% other. 66% of the student body is identified as socio-economically disadvantaged, and 23% are identified as English Learners. The school has been on Distance Learning since March 16, 2020.
• 
  2021-01-29

  Self Portrait

  I made a self portrait of myself with a mask on. I gave myself no facial features because I feel that when I have a mask on I feel invisible. During quarantine I have had lots of time to think and reflect on everything and that has helped me grow as a person. I have also had time to think about all the things that are happening externally like I have grown taller and have moved up 3 shoe sizes. I think in this isolation it has helped me grow, inside and out.
• 
  2021-01-29

  My House Cage

  I made this clay sculpture This represents my house the people stuck in the cage is me and my family I have been stuck at my house and cant go out but I get to be with my family all day because we are all stuck together
• 
  2021-01-29

  Letter to future generations - Pandemic experience

  I submitted a letter or my experience of this pandemic. The reason why it’s important is because it tells my experience of the pandemic and describes what affect it had on me. It relates to the pandemic because it tells a story of how I feel during it.
• 
  2021-01-27

  2020 pandemic playlist

  I made this for a school assignment about the pandemic. I really like music especially musicals even though I couldn't add that many. The descriptions are about how the songs connect to the pandemic and my experience of the pandemic.
• 
  2021-01-29

  Dear Future Generations

  This story tells about the experience of one young person during the pandemic, and their perspective on the future. I wanted to include this to highlight the perspective of young people, and especially to highlight how I am not satisfied with just going back to normal.
• 2021-01-28

  The New Utopia

  This Vox article by Sarah Khan is about the phenomenon of "pandemic tourism" to tropical places such as Tulum, Mexico; and Honolulu, Hawaii. According to Khan, these tourists, usually Western, seek to escape quarantine restrictions in their home countries and risk the health of foreigners by bringing COVID-19 with them.
• 2021-01-23

  Friends and Family Dealing with Covid

  Many of my friends contracted the virus and were perfectly fine, no symptoms or even pains. My siblings got it and even I got it. We felt sick for a tiny bit but it eventually wore off. We had to quarantine in our rooms for a week or so but nothing too extreme.
• 2021-01-28

  Invisible Enemy

  Living during the time of a pandemic has inevitably changed my own surroundings, but what I find most striking is the fact that many of these changes are almost invisible to me, considering I stay home as much as possible. Sure, I hear the fire engines and ambulances working around the clock every day, their sirens blaring, but since I am inside, I never see them. Even more concerning is the fact that people in my area have almost certainly been infected, but again, I have never seen any. Similarly, chances are if you have not caught COVID yet, all the knowledge you have about how to combat it does not com from ones own personal experience, but from instruction from a third party. As a result, I feel like I both have some sort of an idea of whats going on around me and how to deal with it, and also no idea. For me the silence that I hear is just as alarming, if not more so, than the sound of an ambulance tearing down the street.
• 2021-01-26

  Statistics of Covid-19

  Worldwide there is 100M cases and about 25% of those cases are from the US. Of the 25.4M cases in the US 3.2M are from California and about 66,000 of those cases comes from Ventura County. In the world right now there are about 2.15M deaths. In the US there are 423K deaths. In California there are 37,500 deaths, and in Ventura County there are about 500. I have been affected by these statistics because my cousin got the virus a couple of months ago and he was pretty sick. He and his entire school had to quarantine for two weeks and someone had to go to the hospital because the school forgot to feed them for two weeks. My final thoughts on Covid-19 are that the virus has changed are daily live for probably forever. It is a terrible virus and I cannot wait for it to finally be gone.
• 
  2021-01-26

  Pandemic Kindness

  The pandemic has caused so much death, destruction, and sadness. I wanted to share something positive that has happened to me during this difficult event. While this begins in tragedy, I promise it turns around... My service dog passed away suddenly from cancer one month after his first birthday. It was April and the virus was spreading rapidly so there were new restrictions being imposed everywhere. I had to go through the process of my dog passing away all on my own and my dog had to spend a lot of the time alone in a cage in the vet's office while I was forced to wait in my car. My mind was plagued with thoughts of my dog long after he had passed. I could no longer ride in my car that I had spent so much of my dog's last hours in. Everything was closed because of the pandemic so I was forced to stay at home and everything in my house reminded me of my dog. I became very depressed and barely came out of my room. I forced myself to get up and get a blanket from the living room and I saw a rock on the table near my daughter's crafts. I don't know what it was, but I just decided to paint one. One had a triangular shape and I turned it into a shark head because it reminded me of a shark tooth. I had never drawn or painted prior to this but I was proud of my work and, at the end of it all, I realized that I had spent hours in my living room! I decided to get up the next day and paint another rock. I did this for a week and once I gathered a small pile, I put a few in my pocket and went for a walk, dropping painted rocks in random places along the way. The rocks had made me so happy at one of the darkest moments of my life and I wanted to spread that feeling to others. The whole thing really taught me how something really small can make a big difference. Painting rocks has helped keep me connected with others during the pandemic. I've found communities of rock artists and we share ideas with one another. I've also discovered I have a talent for drawing and painting and have recently begun taking commissioned art requests. I still make sure to paint plenty of "freebies" and I leave them everywhere from gas pumps to hidden in trees. I am so grateful to be able to spread even a little bit of kindness during this difficult time.
• 2021-01-26

  Eva story screen time.

  something that sums up quarantine for me is a TV. i have been watching TV pretty much every night in quarantine. in my picture, i have a TV on the left, and a remote on the right. i put a google form for my classmates to write on. they told me that they watch some TV but not a lot this is imprortant to me because i think people can relate to this story.
• 2021-01-26

  Final Thoughts and Statistics of COVID

  Corona Virus statistics show that up until we had the vaccine the number of people who had it increased day to day and once the vaccine was released the amount of people affected has gone down. I have not personally been affected by corona virus except by having a couple friends and a teacher who had it. I was near those people and had to stay home for ten days due to the exposure. Some things I have enjoyed in this Covid season are being able to have tons of free time to do whatever I want, such as redecorating my bedroom and invest and watch the stocks from day to day, but also having too much free time is not fun when you have nothing to do. I have also experienced having to stay overly clean washing my hands every twenty minutes and wearing a mask out in public which are definitely things that I have not enjoyed. This has been a very eventful year with Corona Virus.
• 2021-01-26

  COVID 19

  It is January 2021 and Covid 19 has now infected almost 100 million people around the world. Although I have not experienced Covid first hand it still effects everyones day to day life, simple things like going to the grocery store or even school put us at risk. Covid 19 was difficult for everybody and my biggest struggle was making sure to keep in touch. I found it was easy with all the time at home to just hide in your bubble. Do online school, finish homework, go outside, watch some television and repeat. It started out like this but as time went on I realized the importance of getting out of routines and trying new things which significantly made my quarantine better. I facetimed friends, did zoom call secret Santa gift exchanges, walked the dogs, reached out to family. Although it was rough, This whole experience truly made me appreciate the small things and learn that going through times like these are really when everyone needs to come together and support one another.
• 2021-01-25

  COVID-19

  I haven’t personally been affected that much by COVID-19. My brother had it in January, before everyone knew what it was, but other than that no one in my family has had it. The way it has affected me the most is with school and sports being canceled. I wasn’t able to see my friends very often and I couldn’t get as much activity. Even with all the bad things that happened because of COVID, there was still some good things. Many people learned new things or got a new hobby. For me it was skateboarding. The COVID quarantine is definitely not fun but there is some good that has come out of it.
• 0021-01-26

  Covid Affects

  At the start of Covid, I wasn't worried about the numbers. But after a few weeks, I saw the death toll and how this will result in a lockdown. My area which is in Ventura County didn't mind this virus and we all just carried on. But a huge outbreak started. We were not allowed to go to the beach and other places. This affected me a lot because I was already staying home for school, but when I wasn't allowed to go anywhere else, it really hit me hard. The outbreak died down but it was still pretty bad. I was worried about my grandparents. To me, Covid was a key that is locking me into a room that I can't leave. Living through this pandemic made me think about all the things I took for granted.
• 2021-01-26

  Covid-19 Statistics

  When Corona Virus started, there wasn't many or even any cases in America. The first case was on January 19th, 2020, a man from Washington State was traveling back from Wuhan, China. He experienced symptoms and tested positive only 4 days after he got back. Now in January of 2021, we have had 25,000 new cases in the past 5 days. The cases have been going down since the holidays are over, and I hope that it will be over for good soon. It's been a lot going through a global pandemic, and having to wear masks and stay at home. It affects a lot of people and their mental health as well as their personal health. Being back at school has helped me not repeat the same day over and over again, and get back to the new 'normal'.
• 
  2020-12-31

  They Never Saw the Sun

  For every birthday and Christmas, I get new running shoes. I tell my mom and husband to buy them when they’re on sale, save them, and wrap them up for me. I run A LOT. When quarantine started in March, I took one run outside. Two days later, the CDC confirmed everyone’s worst fears - the virus was airborne. Although running is a low risk activity, where I run, the trails are very narrow. Unfortunately, the people who walk/bike/run there are apparently pretty narrow minded and refuse to wear masks. Could I run outside and not catch COVID? Probably. But with both my husband and I working from home, my +65 mom living with, and a perfectly fine treadmill, that risk just didn’t seem worth it. Man, I miss those trails. But I am lucky to have my treadmill. In July, I pulled out a new pair of running shoes. I honestly didn’t think about how long they’d been tied to the treadmill, I just laced them and put them on like I had done so many times before. One virtual marathon, three virtual 10Ks, and 600+ for fun miles (all on a treadmill) later, it was time to retire my trusty running shoes. On December 31, I announced their retirement with a snarky picture on my Instagram. But what a bizarre pair of shoes to retire. Perfectly clean on the outside, completely destroyed on the inside. The poor things never left the house, they never saw the sun. As a trail runner, my running shoes are always filthy by the time I’m ready to retire them. How strange to retire a pair of shoes that look brand new. How tired they are inside. A symbol of the bizarre year that was 2020.
• 
  2021-01-22

  Life Goes On

  This image is what the city looks like at about 350 in elevation at around 2AM. The city lights are clear, the air is cool, and you catch your breath as you reach the top. There are rocks you lean on just as you begin to realize how peaceful it is, and more importantly, how much you needed this. This was me, one spontaneous night during quarantine. Because we were aware there wouldn’t be any people there at this viewpoint at 2AM, it was an open area, and because our sleep schedule was beyond our ability to control, going here was the best idea yet. We have been unintentionally forced to become part of a system we are simply not accustomed to: online school. Being a junior high school student during this, for obvious reasons, has not made this adjustment easy. Being bombarded with homework assignments, quizzes, tests, due dates, etc. my stress levels have been at an all time high. My mind is constantly running in circles and I had felt as though I would never get a break. But, this specific night, sitting there in silence made me realize, “This is my escape.” There is so much peace in the world if we choose to acknowledge and it is most important to know that life moves on. We struggle in school, we live in a coronavirus prone town, we feel drained from the repetitive days. But life goes on. And the most crucial part about that is that it goes on to so many more better things that we are not ready for.
• 2021-01-22

  Covid-19 Symptoms

  Though I have not encountered a close relative or really anyone with Covid-19, symptoms such as a fever, coughing, shortness of breath or fatigue are the most common symptoms of someone who has Covid, and those people should be stayed away from for up to fourteen days.
• 
  2021-01-22T18:15:30-10:00

  Quarantine with my Best Friend

  The day that school announced that quarantine was to happen, my friends and I were pretty much in shock and after that day we would stay in until everything would run “smoother”. I choose to talk about my best friend, her name is Julie and she is currently a senior. During the whole quarantine we were unable to see each other for the safety of our family but always remained close as ever. Despite not texting or calling every day, we made a promise to each other that we would always reach out whenever we needed anything. The whole 2020 year we had only seen each other about 3 times. It’s not a lot, but we both made those days the best. The reason I chose the picture of her is because of the time that we had lost during quarantine and the things we could’ve been doing together before she is off to college. Of course, both she and I learned a lot of self-reflection this year and grew from the many things we lost this year, we most definitely do not want to lose each other. We had plans with each other such as volleyball. I wanted to work my hardest to be able to reach varsity by the time she is a senior so that I could play against her and to show how much I’ve improved. She is and always will be a special bean in my heart and no matter what happens after high school, she will always be my best friend. I dedicate my number 18 to her which stands for her birthday where the number 1 is the first month of the year and the 8th day of her birth. No one can replace my best friend/sister from another mother.
• 
  2020-05-20

  Gia's Soft Fur

  I will always remember the feeling of my dog Gia's soft fur and the tickle and wetness of her silky tongue licking my hand during this pandemic. These sensory experiences soothed me during a stressful and anxiety-ridden time during the COVID pandemic. When the pandemic worsened in March 2020 and the state of Utah went into a full lockdown, my family's life changed suddenly. My son's birthday party was canceled. My children began school online. My husband no longer found himself flying to New York or Los Angeles, and I found myself filled with worry and anxiety. How will my elderly parents weather this pandemic? Will I get them sick? Will I be responsible for their deaths? Will my 9-year-old son become depressed because he can no longer play hockey or football? How will my 13-year-old handle feeling emotionally isolated because she can no longer hang out with her friends? All of these worries plagued my mind and made my body stiff, my neck sore, my mood heavy with stress. My family soon found ourselves in a new routine. We spent more quality time together since we were no longer rushing to get to activities. There was more time for dinner and meaningful conversation. However, there was still a heaviness, and everything seemed to be wrapped in a layer of anxiety. An unexpected text from my sister-in-law (who is an animal control officer) changed our lives. A darling 3-year-old black and white miniature poodle had just been dropped off at the shelter. Her elderly owner had died of COVID-19, and this sweet dog needed a home. After a quick family meeting, it was unanimous; we wanted the dog! Gia immediately became more than a pet; she became a source of comfort and calm to me. With a sweet temperament, she always seemed to know when I was full of anxiety. Each night I would sit on the couch watching the nightly news, my body tight and sore, the rigidness seeping into my muscles that comes with prolonged stress. Unaware at first that I was even doing it, I would reach for Gia, who would lay close to me, and begin stroking her fur. Often, her silky pink tongue would lick my hand, and the combination soothed and relaxed my body. Even as worry began to swirl in my mind, the questions continuing: when will it be our turn to catch this virus? Will I have lasting effects from it? Gia was there, her warm body lying beside mine, her soft fur between my fingers relaxing my body and easing my mind. During this COVID-19 pandemic, I had read that almost all the rescue dogs had been adopted across the nation. I guess I was not the only person in need of emotional comfort during this isolating time. This pandemic has taken an emotional toll on everyone I know. I feel so grateful that Gia came into our lives during this pandemic. This sweet dog has become more than a pet. She has become an emotional support dog for my daughter when she is lonely and a physical companion for my son when he needs to run crazy through the house. Gia is there when my nerves are frazzled from worry about the pandemic. She gently lays her warm body next to mine, as if knowing I need her near me to ease my anxiety. I stroke her soft fur, close my eyes, and remind myself to BREATHE.
• 2020-10-29

  Testing Positive

  I remember the day I tested positive quite well. Two days before that, though, I drove to the local community college to get a test, because we got the news that my sister was exposed. I had experienced no symptoms, so the test was little more than a formality to me. But, on that night, my mom came into my room, telling me that I had tested positive. I was in the car with them getting my test and no one else that I had been in contact with tested positive or had any symptoms. Though it was likely a false positive, my plans for that weekend were canceled along with any that I had for the next two weeks. I was confined to my room wearing a medical N95 mask for 15 days.
• 2020-01-22

  Share a personal story of how you have been affected by someone testing positive. Likewise, if you have had Covid, share what that was like.

  My mom tested positive for covid in July. We were very upset because we had been careful. Me and my brother later got tested but tested negative, but because I’d been exposed to it I could not see my friends for at least 2 weeks. It was very lonely and boring. It felt like when we were in lockdown again, except it was just me and my family. I later developed covid symptoms that lasted a while which was very unpleasant. However when all of that was over my life resumed back to normal, which I was very grateful for.
• 2021-01-22

  Personal story about how someone you know got covid and has effected you.

  Covid is annoying cause it causes everything to go off and on and kind of pauses the world at times. I was sort of effected by covid in a way that my sister was hanging out with her friend that got covid. Before we knew that her friend tested positive, I was hanging out with her. She after that was in her room for about 9-10 days in quarantine. So I haven't been effected by covid much at all.
• 2021-01-22

  Covid Positives that Effected Me

  One Covid positive that effected me was my nanny. She lives with us and one day she visited her mom. When she came back, she had covid. She had to go stay with her mom while she quarantined, and my whole family had to get tested. Although we were negative, we still had to quarantine for a week. I didn't get to do any sports or hang out with any friends.
• 2021-01-22

  Covid Exposure

  We have a night nurse (NCS) come over to take care of my 3 month old sister. One night we were eating food when the night nurse came down and said that she had bad news. She said that she tested positive for Covid but still decided not to wear a mask when telling us and came really close to us. We had to tell her to put on a mask and go because she asked if she should stay regardless of having Covid. This was a week before Christmas so of course it ruined all of our plans and didn't have anyone over. A couple days later after she confirmed she had Covid, we went to get a rapid test, and a normal test in both of my nostrils with a total of 4 swabs and i was very much against it. They all tested negative. We then got tested again a week later with again another 4 swabs. We had a total of 9 swabs so far because i also got one in early quarantine. They felt like they were stabbing at my brain and one time gave me a gushing bloody nose. Luckily we still tested negative but Christmas wasn't as good all because our night nurse didn't tell us that she had an exposure (which she new about for days before telling us). After a couple weeks she tested negative and came back.
• 2021-01-22

  Symptoms of COVID

  In Quarantine I have had numerous friends who have had or experienced symptoms related to COVID-19. I myself have also had my fair share of symptoms. The weekend before quarantine, me and my family went on a long awaited trip to Disneyland. COVID-19 had made it's way to the USA but it had not yet become an international crisis. When I came home from Disneyland, I felt fine and went to school. On the third day of the week I felt very sick and stayed home. It was the day that it was announced school would shut down so I didn't have a chance to retrieve any of my things from my locker. My entire family got sick and my friend brought my stuff that I would need from school. We all experienced a bad cough and other symptoms related to the coronavirus. Sadly however, due to there being no testing for COVID available, we never knew if we really had COVID or not.
• 
  2021-01-22

  More Espresso, Less Depresso

  The item that I have chosen that connects to the pandemic was a Starbucks Coffee. The reason why I decided to choose this item is that there are days that learning over zoom is quite a challenge and that it gives so much pressure on me to be able to adapt to this kind of style of learning. With coffee on my hand, I can focus on class more and it makes me more energetic. When I drink coffee during my zoom classes, I tend to be able to participate more. I love caffeine, it encourages me to also be a positive person during these times because, without any coffee, I wouldn’t be able to learn anything from a monitor screen. Coffee best represents my current experience as a junior in high school because there are days that are sad and depressing, and there are days that are happy and bright. Online learning is a cycle, wake up and learn, after that you rest. I have been doing this since MARCH. Again, this is me with coffee because without any coffee, I am really tired and not energetic. When I have my coffee, I am always feeling refreshed and active! Online learning is something that I am not used to and I fear how with the difficulty of learning online, I am not able to understand the lesson which can lead me to bad grades. Hopefully, I will be able to accomplish my goals by staying determined and dedicated to online learning, resulting in a better grade for my classes, (with coffee of course). One word to describe my 2020 year is a challenge. It’s a challenge because there are things I have been through, like losing my grandpa who sadly passed away due to a heart attack and not being able to visit him because of COVID. COVID was mainly the reason why my 2020 was a challenge because I have to figure out new ways to keep myself happy and motivating. Online classes have made me less motivated because it didn’t feel the same and that everything was quite last minute last year. I wasn’t able to keep up with lessons, which discouraged me to continue and of course my grandpa’s sudden death. As from my experiences, the various holidays looked the same for me this year. Christmas and Thanksgiving were the same because I usually hang out with my family. When I do my online classes, I usually have a workspace. Since I know for a fact I am going to sit in one place for the next 9 hours, I have my coffee next to me to keep me up, I have my water, some chapstick, a big monitor screen, my textbooks, and my journals. I also have an office chair with a pad seat cushion for me to be comfortable! Even though those were the basic items on my quarantine workspace, I like to keep things simplistic. I only have things that are essential for me to use for working online, so I am not bothered by that. The three things that I would include in my quarantine survival kit would be some energy drinks, chapstick, and a pen with a journal. The reason why I chose these items is that for the first two, I cannot do anything without them! It’s great to have a lot of energy to do tasks, and some chapstick to have my lips not chapped. I also wanted to bring a pen and journal to describe my experiences in quarantine. I would also use that journal to write down things that bother me and things that I am appreciative of. Words do mean a lot, so I love to express my feelings in a journal to remind me that overall in time, things can get better.
• 
  2021-01-22

  Reliving my Life as a 6 Year Old

  You know, I don’t see much difference between the lifestyle I’m living right now and to the one I was living 10 years ago. 6 year old Me’s daily routine: Wake up: check Do school work at my desk: check Mope around the house: check Annoy my siblings: check Attempt and fail at anything in the kitchen: check Look outside my bedroom window and daydream: check Draw and doodle endlessly: check Want to see my friends: check Think about what I want to be in the future: check Sleep without expecting much the next day: check This year was horrible. There is, of course, covid happening and political events and natural disasters and death. The world and society is constantly changing and shaping due to the actions of people, possibly in the worst way possible, while all I’m doing is sitting in my room, looking out to the vast blue sky. And I have a confession: I feel like I’m missing out on everything. I KNOW I SHOULDN’T BE SAYING I’M MISSING OUT ON CONTRIBUTING TO THE WORST YEAR POSSIBLE, but I just miss the other not-so-horrible things in life such as experiencing highschool (debatable though), meeting new people (also very debatable), going out for the day, traveling to see family and friends; you know, making memories, having fun, the things that make life worth living. For the past few years of my life, like any teen going through adolescence, I’ve met hardships, failures, tears, but during this lockdown, I’ve haven’t felt any of those things in a while. The same goes for the successes, the excitement, and the joy-- it’s been a while since I’ve felt those too. My life at the moment has reached a straight. Life is supposed to have its bumps - its highs and lows-- a road with unprecedented surprises, but I’ve been going through life as if I’ve pressed autopilot, set to one direction. Time is passing all around me and I’ve been on this one way road, destined to who knows where, and I haven’t done much to enjoy life for what it truly is. However, my situation hasn’t been nearly as bad as others though and I’m truly grateful for that. One thing I won’t ever regret doing is resisting the urge to go out. I’ve been tempted a few times, but I’ve stayed quarantined from others-- you know the one thing that we all should be doing. I’m glad to say that I haven’t put my family, my friends, my neighbors, heck, random strangers’ lives at danger and I’m going to keep doing this until things finally boil down. The last thing I want to do is change someone’s life for the worst. Though it sounds like I’m all gloomy and what not, I don’t think quarantine was a complete waste of time. I’ve been able to sit and reflect in my own thoughts-- the one thing I’ve been trying to avoid. Like I said in the beginning, the life I’m living now is nostalgic of my 6 year old self. Not like the goldfish crackers and PBS kids TV shows kind of way, but the experiences I’m reliving. The last years of my life have been hectic and I’ve been striving for self improvement. I haven’t really sat down and let those experiences marinate. I’ve been doing, doing, doing, but I haven’t asked myself the true reasons for my actions. Self improvement, development of my character, blah, blah, blah, everyone says that stuff, but I’ve asked myself what DO I truly aim for: an end goal? A life goal? Why did I do the things I did back then, and how would they affect me now and later. Thus I revert back to my 6 year old self-- curious about what I want to be in the future and learning what it is to be a good person. I’ve come to realize my many flaws and rethink my mistakes and actions I’ve acted in the past. I’ve come to realize some of the things I did back then and the things I do now aren’t very nice-- for others and myself. Sometimes I’m too judgemental, I overthink things, I’m brash, I take things for granted, I do things for my own benefit-- heck, I can keep listing. To say the least, I’ve become more self-aware. Things aren’t all rosey posey and sunshine and rainbows-- quarantine helped me back down to earth and analyze my own character. I’ve also begun to realize the small things. Not my patience, but the things that give me joy. The nature in my backyard, windy days, my favorite nail polish, hot meals. I’ve been on this 1 track mind for so long that quarantine has made me stop and find joy, even the slightest bit of it, in things I would normally overlook-- the things my 6 year old self would smile for the brim for. I guess it hasn’t been all that bad. Could be better since I miss seeing people THAT aren’t constantly nagging my name to do the dishes, but hey, at least I’ve got my family to entertain me. I don’t know if we’re going out of quarantine anytime soon, but we did just get out of 2020. Cheers to 2021- maybe it’ll get better, maybe it’ll get worse, but hey it’s going to be quite a ride. Hope you enjoyed reading my brain dump and wish me luck as I try to tackle my kitchen; I am very determined to make both something at least edible and some new memories I can look back on.
• 
  2021-01-22

  The Sprouting of a New Hobby

  This past year, as many of us know, has been quite complicated. I’ve had my ups and down during quarantine. Everyday feels the same, and time flies by too quickly. However, something positive that came out of my quarantine was learning how to crochet. Before quarantine, I had attempted to crochet. Each attempt was a fail; I was more than ready to give up. Then came the pandemic. Initially, I only focused on completing my last semester of school. Once school was over, Summer arrived, yet it felt like a continuation of the ongoing long break. I had nothing to do, other than sleeping all day. Finally, I decided to try crocheting once again. I pulled out my green hook and yarn, and clicked a youtube tutorial. It was so long ago that I vaguely remember what happened, but somehow I succeeded in crocheting a small whale. Full of excitement, I showed my family my first creation. I enjoyed receiving their compliments. It was a nice change from the same old endless days of sleep. Moreover, just the process of crocheting was relaxing, though time consuming as well. I began my next project and crocheted a squid for my dad’s birthday. It had several flaws, but I was still proud once again. From then on, I began to crochet every single day. It was therapeutic and seeing my family’s reaction to the finished product always made me overjoyed. I would sometimes crochet animals for my other family members’ birthdays, but I mainly crocheted for the fun of it. However, the crocheting came to a halt when school began in August. With school and the abundance of homework, I couldn’t spare any time for crocheting. It wasn’t until around Christmas that I crocheted. I wanted to make something for my family, so I spent many hours crocheting several animals. I did my best to hide what I was making as I was looking forward to my family’s reaction. On Christmas, my family opened the presents and their surprised faces convinced me that the time spent was well worth it. I haven’t made anything since then- again, because of school. Nevertheless, looking back, I crocheted many things.. It’s unbelievable to think that I created all of it in the past year. The picture I have chosen represents one of my favorite creations: a giraffe! If you were to ask the me before quarantine whether or not I would ever learn how to crochet, I would have definitely said “no” while laughing in disbelief. Honestly, I’m glad to have gained this new hobby, and I look forward to crocheting more in the future.
• 2021-01-21

  How I have been affected by someone I know testing positive for COVID-19.

  I haven't had Corona yet, or I don't think I have, but i certainly know people who have gotten it. In the beginning around April of 2020, everything had just shut down. My family had some friends who were exposed, and they all tested positive for COVID-19 right after we saw them. My family was in shock and we were scared. They began to quarantine, and then we had to quarantine as well because we were then exposed. They all got very sick and luckily no body in my family tested positive, but it was a very scary experience.
• 2021-01-01

  My friend got Covid

  I have not been greatly affected by my friend testing positive for Covid 19. My friend had no symptoms of Covid 19 and said it felt like nothing. Nothing really changed because my parents didn't want me really over at my friends house since some of my family are high risk. He said he couldn't taste anything but said the only problem was he couldn't really see us. I still called him once in a while to see how he's doing but right now he doesn't have Covid.