Items

• 2021-10-05

  The Road Rager

  It was late October 2021. The quiet and muted reactions to my provocative liberal bumper stickers on my Toyota Prius became louder and louder as the pandemic restrictions concluded. I was drinking my kale smoothie when I heard loud shoutings while waiting for the light to turn green. I immediately felt fear as I thought a violent incident was happening outside. I looked to my right and left and noticed an angry truck driver. As I pulled my window down, I thought about how much life had changed during these last two years. Folks crippled with COVID anxiety and forced inside had returned to the jungle that is car traffic. The result? Anger at the other side. Anger at those they deemed responsible for their restricted life. Anger at those who they believed were trying to muzzle and isolate society. The noises subsided, and I noticed I had just thrown my medium Burger King Drink at the car. Was I the angry road rager? Yes.
• 
  2020-05-30

  The Two Sides of COVID

  COVID has a double-edged coin valuation for me. 2020 was one of the best years of my life. While that was true for me, the exact opposite was true for so many others around the world. The photograph that is contributed to this archive is one of me and my fiancé, who got engaged in March of 2020, with our two pets and our brand-new vehicle getting ready to drive cross country in May of 2020. I had been let go from my job due to the pandemic, but my fiancé received a promotion, but that promotion required us to move across the country from Los Angeles to Camden, Arkansas. We had been talking about getting out of LA for years and this seemed like a calling from a higher power that it was the right time. This picture symbolizes the pandemic from my personal perspective because this move was the easier move I’ve ever done because everyone was at home, rather than at the hotels, restaurants, and rest stops that we needed to travel to in order to reach our new home. However, it also gave us a unique perspective to see the country without all of the people in it. When we were driving across Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas it was shocking how little traffic there was and how there seemed to be no one around. When we took a flight to check out prospective homes, there was no one on it! It was very strange to experience the isolation of COVID-19 right at the beginning because when we moved to a new town, no restaurants or events were taking place to try and meet people. It became one of the loneliest years of my life. When 2021 came around, things got back to normal in Arkansas and life seemed to begin again. I look back at this photo and remember the excitement of something new, but also the loneliness and isolation it brought.
• 2020-05-03

  Quiet Lockdown

  In the part of Maryland I live in, there is a lot of noise pollution caused by cars and planes. On one side there is a large international airport, a busy road on the other and a large highway on the third side. Almost every day, the sound of cars, planes and the occasional helicopter can be heard. However when the COVID19 pandemic began to pick up pace, lockdowns were set up in an attempt to slow its advance. While the affect of this was seen in large empty parking lots at the airport, it could also be heard. The roads were quiet, as less people went out to shop, see family or go out to eat. In addition with very few people traveling, the daily noise of airplanes declined significantly. Everything became far quieter and a reminder of the lockdown, a constant reminder that we were going through a major event in world history. However while the quiet brought about by the lockdowns was a reminder of the pandemic, the return of noise was just as much a reminder. When planes and particularly cars started to create more noise pollution, it showed that even with a global pandemic and lockdowns, it wasn't going to stop people from going out.
• 
  2021-07-19

  Wildfires and COVID

  This article from the Associated Press discusses a study done by Nevada-based scientists, that have found a correlation between wildfire smoke and positive COVID cases. The study showed that "for every 10 micrograms per cubic meter of small particulate matter known as PM2.5 in the air, the positivity rate increased about 6.3% two to six days later". The study acknowledges, however, that the uptick in cases may be from other factors, such as a second surge, or students going back to school. Although further studies are required, the study done by the Nevada scientists may suggest that higher pollution levels can make people more prone to viruses.
• 
  2020-07-23

  Photos from March for Summer Taylor

  Summer Taylor was 24 years old and lived in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. They died in the early hours of July 4th after marching and dancing with the nightly Black Femme March for Black Lives Matter. As it had for weeks, the protest entered the freeway and brought traffic to a stop. A driver in a white car sped toward the crowd, running into Summer and another activist, Diaz Love. Summer should be remembered as a hero who put their life on the line to make a difference, to stand with BLM, show solidarity with their community, and to disrupt an unjust system.⁣ ⁣ When Summer's mother, Dalia, was asked about being concerned about children's safety attending protests, she responded, "I knew no matter how much I might want to ask them to stay safe during protests they would just say mom, if you are Black in this country it isn't even safe to be alive, and they were right."⁣ ⁣ Photos from March for Summer Taylor, July 9, 2020
• 
  02/21/2021

  George Carter Oral History, 2021/02/21

  This is a mini oral history that I did with George Carter, my dad, about silver linings
• 
  2021-01-16

  Fewer people are crossing back to the United States, and less noise.

  The story I uploaded is about people crossing the United States Calexico CA port of entry before and after the pandemic.
• 2021-01-15

  Learning Virtually

  When COVID 19 started I was a little excited to try out online school because I didn't have to get up early and put on my uniform. My routine while doing school via zoom was to wake up 10 minutes before class to brush my teeth, wash my face, and change which I really enjoyed because I love to sleep in. Since I live so far away it was very convenient to wake up at 7:50 instead of 6:30 and not having to drive for an hour. There is always traffic on the freeway or some kind of accident so I enjoyed being able to do things from home. Fast forward a couple of months the first semester of my 8th-grade year is already over. I am a new kid this year and wasn't really able to socialize with anyone or make many friends. Because of this, I felt that it was going to be harder to make new friends once we get back to in-person school. The days started to feel longer and I started to forget what it felt like to be back on campus and get to hang out and talk with my friends. The breaks we had felt shorter and during class, I was barely able to sit still. August 2020-December 2020 were some of the hardest months I have ever had to go through especially with school. Although we now have to wear masks, I am thrilled that we get to be back on campus and learn in person.
• 
  2020-07-03

  Traffic heavy as Atlantic Canadian provinces lift travel restrictions within region

  This new article details how the formation of the Atlantic bubble by the Council of Atlantic Premiers led to increased travel within the Atlantic provinces during the pandemic.
• 
  2020-11-21

  Food Bank Lines

  During the COVID-19 pandemic there were food lines in many metro cities. One city in particular that had long lines was Dallas, Texas.
• 2020-10-26

  Sensory Memory Changes During COVID-19

  The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected our sensory memory. All of the 5 senses have experienced a lot of change during this pandemic. Personally, I found the streets and stores to not be as packed as they used to be. When I go outside, I see most people are wearing masks and staying 6 feet apart from each other. During the pandemic, it has been a lot quieter as well. There is barely any traffic on the freeways or even the sound of cheering from football games and gatherings. The sense of taste also experienced a lot of change. Due to social distancing regulation, restaurants and cafes have been closed or only allowed takeout. Personally, it's been almost 8 months since the last time I went out to eat at a restaurant or get coffee pastries at a local cafe. For smell, California was struggling with fires so for a few weeks and all I was able to smell was smoke. Finally, the sense of touch has been experiencing change. I'm not able to see my relatives and friends. Since I can’t really go outside or visit people during these times, I haven't experienced a hug, high-five, or shaking someone’s hands in a while.
• 
  2020-10-14

  Driving to Apartment

  The audio recording are the sounds of my car and the cars around me as I drive home after another day at work on Dover AFB. I could explain and explore all the things that COVID impacted on the base as well as in regards to deployments, missions, and military/civilian personnel, but that will have to be a separate COVID story for another time. As for my car ride, the audio highlights one of the most confusing things about human behavior for me during the pandemic. Where was everyone going? Majority of businesses were closed. Visitation to family and friends were greatly discouraged. The beaches were closed. All the states around us were closing their borders. Yet, people were driving all about the roads like the COVID wasn’t going to stop them from being somewhere. Don’t get me wrong, the base was still open and I was still going to work. Also, a good portion of the people living in or around Dover were military or military families. Still, traffic around me didn’t ever seem to really slow down or make sense connection to the pandemic. In fact, the closer you got to the base, the worse the traffic became because the base had closed all their gates but one. This meant that everyone who needed to be on base to work or go to medical (not much was open at the start of COVID and things are slowly working their ways back to somewhat “normal” hours) had to go through a singular gate. I would sit in my car for almost an hour, listening to my music and the music of the cars around me as I waited impatiently for my wheels to a spin a few more inches forward. In some ways, this audio clip reveals something special about the history of the pandemic. The audio and my story attached to it showcases not only the human nature to adapt, but also humanity’s resiliency to sustain a way of life. At the same time, pandemic unveils our values and driving force. For instance, were those driving around the pandemic going to work for monetary value? Were they driving to see loved ones through a window? Maybe they were driving just to have a purpose? Or they just trying to escape the confines of the sanctuary of their home? Was it about politics? This also brings about the question of fear. Fear of being alone. Fear of confinement. Fear of death. Fear of boredom. Fear of lost freedom.
• 
  2020-08-05

  Stuck on the Highway

  This picture is significant to my COVID-19 experience in 2020 because it caused me to stay on the highway for approximately 3hrs. Due to new Covid laws usually when a high-tension wire hits the ground, they can find ways to get everyone away from the wire. However, since we have to stay 6 feet apart the cops and fire department couldn’t speak directly to everyone. We had to remain in our vehicles and just assume everything was going to be alright. This was my first time experiencing something like this. A lot of people couldn’t handle just sitting in their vehicles not having answers and so they turned around on the highway and tried to drive backwards to get off the road.
• 
  2020-03-18

  An Empty Bridge

  This is a picture of the Oakland Bridge in the Bay Area, California, while completely empty due to the initial Covid-19 lockdown. This bridge normally has thousands and thousands of people crossing it on any given day, and at any given moment it will typically be packed with commuters. In the photo, it's almost completely empty. This uncanny image was the first thing that made me, living in a city on the opposite side of the country, realize just how serious the virus would be. At this point in time, most of my friends and family still believed we would be going back to school within the month of March. It was unimaginable that we would still be dealing with the pandemic in August, when I am writing this, and that we probably will be dealing with this for the foreseeable future. The response to this pandemic was quite obviously botched by the US and its institutions that are supposed to protect us, and by the end of this hundreds of thousands of people will be dead as a result. I fear a lot of people in the future will blame this tragedy on everyday people's failure to lockdown, and I think this image serves as an essential reminder that when we were first told to lock down, the American people locked down.
• 
  2020-04-17

  Life In Isolation: The Coronavirus... Judy Hannon

  A virtual exhibition by the Evansville Museum of Art, History and Science
• 
  2020-05-24

  Nearly Empty San Francisco Street

  A friend visited San Francisco with her family as shelter-in-place order begin to reverse. This photograph shows the very light traffic on San Francisco streets during this time. Most cars in the photograph are parked along the street. The skyline of downtown San Francisco is seen in the distance.
• 
  2020-05-14

  Police see a spike in speeding and stunt driving during COVID-19 pandemic

  An article discussing the rise in incidents of extreme speeding while roads are empty due to individuals staying home to avoid the virus. This includes a widely publicized case in which an 18 year old student driver was caught going 308 km/hr on the QEW highway near Hamilton, Ontario in his parents' expensive car.
• 
  05/17/2020

  Onset of a car lined road due to heavy congestion and the overwhelmed parking lots.

  Only a few minutes drive into the park the line of cars parked on the edge of the road begins as overflow for the overwhelmed lots.
• 
  05/17/2020

  Harriman State Park Congestion

  A sign has been added to the entrance informing people that they must reduce their speed due to the level of congestion within the park.
• 
  04/10/2020

  Clear Skies

  These are two examples of a type of photograph that began appearing all over social media during April 2020. At that point, isolation and quarantine measures had been in place in many parts of the world for weeks or even months. The sudden reduction in traffic had a notable effect on the clarity of the atmosphere in these places. The Los Angeles photo is striking because LA is known for being under a yellow haze of smog to the point where a yellow tinge is associated with the city. The Himalayan Ranges image is striking because it reveals something that was previously invisible. There haven't been many upsides to COVID-19, but the demonstration of how it is within our power to drastically reduce air pollution is a powerful message. (Posted for class HUM 404) Creator: (Possibly) Bill Goss and Unknown
• 
  2020-03-14

  Moving out of College Dorms Early

  Suffolk University police directing traffic on West St in Boston, MA in order for students to move out of their dorms due to the pandemic.
• 
  2020-03-25

  Empty streets in Barrie Ontario

  Normally, this street is very busy and consistently filled with traffic. However, it is not in this nearly minute long sample. Unheard of.
• 
  03/31/2020

  Empty Uptown Charlotte

  Image shows College Street in Uptown Charlotte completely empty around 5:00 on Tuesday, March 31st. The street lacks any of the usual traffic and the sidewalks hold no people walking from destination to destination, besides the city’s transient population.
• 
  2020-03-31

  Coronavirus: Stay-at-home order drastically reduces traffic volume in Fort Collins

  Article from the Colorado on the effect COVID has had on traffic congestion in Fort Collins and Colorado.