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2021-09-16Escaping Melbourne - HIST30060
This is a picture of Melbourne Airport (Tullamarine)’s Terminal 4. I flew out of Melbourne to get home to Tasmania just days before rising cases of the Delta variant forced state governments to shut borders once again. I remember the surreal feeling of passing through the airport then. Without the rush of people, the place felt gigantic. My eyes, typically drawn towards the way I needed to go, were able to refocus towards the ceilings, pillars and billboards. It felt like standing in a cathedral. As I was dwarfed by the sheer size of the terminal, I reflected on how COVID was reshaping billions of lives and world history as a whole too. -
2020-03-19T09:06-05:00When the Airport Becomes a Library
In the middle of March in 2020, flight prices dropped dramatically. I took advantage out of this circumstance by purchasing a $75 non-stop round trip ticket on United from Phoenix to Chicago. My flight to Chicago on Monday, March 16 was somewhat full, and O'Hare Airport in Chicago was less crowded than usual. However, the Coronavirus situation quickly worsened each day. I returned to the airport on Thursday, March 19 for a 10:00 AM flight to go back to Phoenix. O'hare, normally packed with people during this aviation morning rush hour, was almost like a ghost town. It had only taken a couple of days to make the big drop in passanger traffic. It was earily quiet. The colorful walkway to the satellite concourse in Terminal 1 had just a few people, making it quite easy to hear Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." When I got to the satellite concourse, it felt like a library. You could walk on the concourse with barely anyone around surrounded by little to no noise. It was if you owned the place. I went to Starbucks, a favorite among travelers in the morning, where there was no line. The workers enjoyed conversating among themselves. Walking past each of the gates, I could hear near silence as most were empty or near empty, with very few gate agents working in the terminal. As someone who had taken flights out of this airport since I was little, this felt very bizzare. I knew this was historic and I took a couple of photographs along the way. One of the things I've realized about the history of the pandemic, and major historical events in general, is that it isn't necessarily about what's added, but what is removed. The sensory details do not necessarily involve jolts to your senses, but perhaps the opposite. Like Lower Manhatten after the collapse of the World Trade Center, sometimes what you may sense during major historical events is near silence. No one on my flight that day needed to point out the sheer gravity of the situation; the silence spoke a thousand words. -
2020-09-25Avoiding Sickness while Traveling
I’m sitting in the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport waiting for my flight to go to Chicago Midway airport while I’m geared up like doctor. I have my goggles on I purchased for my biology labs in college and my black face mask. I’m going to be seeing family, and much of my family is very old. I feel guilty being roped into going but I have to go. I’ve seen many people take off their masks for no apparent reason and I’m essentially blind because my goggles keep fogging. If there’s any obvious errors in this, that’s why. -
2020-04-02Cancer doesn't press pause during a pandemic
This article is a timely reminder that while there is a pandemic that has seemingly put our lives on hold, for others, that is not the case. Cancer isn't put on hold during a pandemic. People will continue to be diagnosed with cancer, they will continue to get treatments despite the risks of COVID-19 and sadly, people will pass away from cancer. This article is a really moving piece that highlights the experience of COVID-19 from the perspective of someone living with terminal cancer and the likelihood that they may not see the other side of isolation. -
2020-03-13Empty Terminals
The terminal at JFK in New York was largely empty on a Friday night at rush hour.