Items

• 
  2023-07-13

  Post-Pandemic Trip to Seattle

  Like it did for many people, the start of the Covid-19 pandemic canceled multiple travel plans for me. I applied for my passport in 2018 with the intention of going on a study-abroad trip my junior year of undergrad. Instead of travel memories, I have a memory of sitting in my PoliSci class and discussing the news with my classmates that the university might shut down for a few days. We didn’t go back, and I still haven’t used the passport. Once travel restrictions were lifted it still took me a while to get back out into the world. The first trip I took was in July of 2023. I traveled from Minnesota to Seattle, Washington with some of my friends from high school for a week of sightseeing. We chose it because most of us had never been to the Pacific Northwest. It was my first time in an airport since December of 2018. I remember having quite a few lingering anxieties related to Covid, to the point where I was actually dreading the trip before we left (even though I ended up having a wonderful time). I had some struggles with health anxiety during the pandemic. Before tests were widely available I remember frequently being so paranoid I had Covid that I would convince myself I did and actually make myself feel sick with anxiety. Since restrictions have been lifted this has stuck around, and now takes the form of me getting excessively anxious about getting Covid before important events (like the trip, and my wedding just a few weeks before it). I also was nervous about going to the airport because I didn’t know what to expect in regards to how many restrictions would still be in place. It turned out there were no restrictions remaining in the MSP or SeaTac airports beyond some signs reminding people to not enter if they felt unwell (I am certain most people who make it far enough to see the sign still enter). Once the actual boarding of the plane went fine, I entertained myself with anxieties about the odds of someone on the plane having Covid and all of us breathing circulated air. I actually had Covid once in the fall before the trip, and got the highest fever of my life but was ultimately okay. Interestingly, this didn’t really ease my fears during the flight. Nobody got Covid from the Seattle trip (though we were probably just lucky) and instead I got some of the most precious memories of my life so far. I also had a surprising lack of anxiety once we got there. We visited a long list of places including most notably the Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum, Seattle Aquarium, Pike Place Market, and the National Nordic Museum. There were no Covid-19 restrictions remaining in any of these places. I had packed one reusable mask in my backpack in case I needed it, and it turned out the one time on the whole trip that I entered a space where masks were required (a small independent bookstore) I didn’t have it with me and had to borrow one. I still thought about Covid every time we pushed through a packed crowd in Pike Place Market, but more so than being afraid I thought about how during the peak of the pandemic I was convinced it was something I would never do again. I don't believe the pandemic is truly over even now, but I drastically felt how much things had changed in that moment. The picture I included to tell my story is of my friend Carlie and I on the top of the Space Needle (I am sitting on the right). We went back twice, and spent literally hours sitting on the glass floor and watching the city go by as it slowly rotated. It's one of my fondest memories of the trip. I’ve heard some people say the Space Needle is overrated, but as small-town Midwesterners we were pretty fascinated. I’m grateful to those who spent the pandemic under harsher restrictions in bigger cities like Seattle so that I can visit these places now. It was nice to feel so small looking down on Seattle after the world felt so small during restrictions just a few years earlier.
• 0023-10-12

  Happy Mother's Day 2021

  In May of 2021, after nearly eighteen months of being apart, I was finally able to visit my mom and dad in Spokane, Washington. After driving five hours across Washington state, I finally arrived at my parents house. To say the least it was a very emotional greeting. When I arrived we greeted each other with many hugs and tears. Throughout the day we would just give each other random hugs, happy to be together again. My parents live in a retirement community that was very careful and followed the Covid recommendations to keep the residents safe. I was considered an essential worker as a grocery store worker. I didn't want to take the chance of exposing them to the virus since I worked closely with the public until I received the first vaccine. I also have two sisters that live in Spokane and were able to see them too. We still had to wear masks in most areas but that did not matter. Getting the family together, after such a long time, was all my mom could ask for on her special day. Happy Mother's Day.
• 
  2020-09

  Tourism story for the COVID-19 Archive

  I am submitting a short antidote regarding an individual being upset by being asked to wear a mask on a ferry. This could be important to show how some people resisted COVID-19 restrictions, but this event's importance to me is nonexistent.
• 
  2020-05-29

  The Unseen Harm of Western Spirituality

  My friends and I had agreed that 2019 was one of the worst years we had experienced. As 2020 rolled in, we made the resolution that this year was going to make up for the last. I devoted myself to spiritual study, enrolled in college to study clinical psychology and went to every concert, show and party that I could get myself to. I intended to live as hard and as fast as I possibly could. That all changed in March of that year when lockdown went into effect. In late 2019 I had already lost much in my life. I was on my second failed marriage, homeless for the third time and was separated from my child, with no idea if or when I'd see her again. I took consolation in spirituality. I dug into Hindu mantras, Wiccan spellwork and Buddhist mindfulness practices without much concern of where they came from or their cultural contexts. I gave up on my spirituality because it didn't give any answers as to why life was becoming so difficult and didn't reconnect with my spirituality until the Black Lives Matter protests overtook Seattle. I initially joined the protests because I wanted to be part of something bigger and meaningful. After several days of getting tear gassed and almost getting arrested, I was determined to figure out what the movement was really about. Being in lockdown gave me the time to research. I learned about the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and just how far reaching the consequences of it were. I learned how nearly every industry in the Western world has its roots in the slave trade, how racism is still alive and powerful today, how there are no easy solutions to this problem that was started hundreds of years ago. The hardest lessons were the ones I learned about myself. My deep dive into spirituality didn't exist without some damage of its own. Much of the spellwork I had practiced had its own roots in various African traditions, many of which had been compiled and processed into a warped Westernized version of themselves. The vaguely Pagan practices I followed picked apart deities from various cultures to suit the needs of White people who couldn't care less what the actual practices were intended for. I had chanted those Hindu mantras without knowing their cultural context. I found it difficult to talk about my practices, not because I couldn't find a community that shared my values, but because I didn't understand what I was practicing or the harm I was doing by following a stripped down version of them. By failing to understand the cultural context of these practices, I wasn't honoring them and in turn, I wasn't honoring the people and cultures that they came from. The Trans-Atlantic slave trade took more than just people from their homelands. It took and often destroyed entire cultures. That which didn't disappear became watered down to suit white tastes as entertainment or a fad. It removed all of the context from many spiritual practices, leaving the cultures they belonged to stripped of autonomy and history. In the modern day, this continues to be a problem. White people continue to consume other cultures for their own gain, often by adopting and reshaping them in a strange attempt at virtue signaling. We are nowhere near finding justice for all of the people that colonialism damaged. A large majority of nations are still considered developing, primarily due to colonialism and capitalism determining that these nations and their people only have value if they can provide something to first world nations. The road to reparation is a long one but it has to start by no longer centering white people and the developed nations and listening to those that have been hurt.
• 
  2020-08-29

  Socially distanced and socially safe summer camp

  The attached article is something that is probably not well known. In Seattle, Washington there is the Pacific Science Museum, a fun educational museum for all ages, but focused on kids. Every summer they run educational camps for K-8 graders. It was unclear if after months of distance learning (early pandemic, 2020) students would be physically or emotionally ready to do a group activity in person. PacSci’s camps were able to run while students were socially distanced and masked. This matters because there has been a lot of rhetoric about kids not being able to wear masks for a variety of reasons, but this article proves that kids were able to understand social distancing and mask-wearing so they could have a safe and fun thing to do. With these practices in place, combined with low group sizes, and the use of a lot of outdoor time, they didn’t have any transmission cases for the whole summer. Not included in the article but they had the same success the next summer, 2021, and are on track to continue again the summer of 2022. The significance is not just to a collection focused on children, but also to the service industry since this is a less formal education setting that leans more toward front-facing customer service.
• 
  2020-07-03

  Bad science, bad business practices

  The attached article is about a plant nursery in Snohomish, Washington that banned its employees from wearing face masks on June 3, 2020. This business did not take safety precautions for its employees seriously, and actively encouraged and promoted unsafe practices. This is something that is worth being documented in the JOPTY due to the fact that the stereotype of Western Washington state is that it is very liberal, very progressive. But there are still many pockets of areas that still are not. It’s important to remember that this stereotype isn’t true. I think this is also something that is another example of the general public not taking the lives and significance that service industry/customer service workers seriously.
• 
  2021-01-28

  Freezer Failure

  January 28, 2021, around 11 PM one of my friends called me, we normally don’t talk on the phone so I assumed something was wrong. I could tell that she was driving and her voice was shaky. She told me that a freezer had failed at her mom’s work and that around 1,300 vaccines would be expired by 5 or 6 AM. She was told to try to get anyone she knew to get to the hospital in order to reduce the chance of wasting such a hard to get thing. This was prior to my state lifting restrictions on who was eligible for the vaccine yet. Not everyone could get it, just certain people due to age, pre-existing conditions, and career. The clinic did a good job at still trying to make sure that people who were eligible got to the front of the line, but they knew that they needed to make sure every vaccine was used. My girlfriend and I would not have made it there in time since we were over 3 hours away, but her family all lived within a 30-minute drive. We started calling her parents and brothers to wake them up and get moving. Her mother, oldest brother, and soon to be sister-in-law were all teachers and were going to have to start teaching in person again. None of them would have been eligible until a month or more after going back in person, and they were all decently nervous about being in person unvaccinated. Her family got lucky and was able to get vaccinated that night. I cannot thank my friend enough for calling me to keep the people who have become my family safe.
• 
  2021-09-30

  Mobile Morgue

  Eastern Washington and other small towns in Washington are having so many extra deaths from Covid, they are having to bring in refrigerator trucks to store the bodies before they can be buried. This information is still not enough for some people to get vaccinated and try to stop the spread of Covid. Many areas, like in Wenatchee where this article originated, are struggling to keep up with the influx of unvaccinated sick people and are having an even harder time trying to find a place to put their bodies.
• 
  2021-10-07

  Covid Vaccine Reminiscence

  This is a recording I did of myself where I reminisce on my Covid Vaccine experience and the feelings it brought
• 
  2021-08-13

  Covid Safe Activities

  My dog, Via, was born the year before the Pandemic began. Almost two-thirds of her life has been spent with both her people home all the time and she enjoys it. One of our favorite Covid safe activities is driving out to the beach early on a Friday or rainy weekend when we know nobody will be out on the beach. Via can run for hours and the beach is her favorite place to do it. She loves to dig and find crabs or look for birds on the horizon. I don't feel comfortable taking her out in public because of Covid and I don't want strangers coming up and asking to pet her so she mainly lives a solitary life now with her family. I don't know if that is good for her or not, but I constantly worry that Covid is messing up her life and her socialization.
• 
  2021-08-17

  Vaccine Rates and Covid in Gray's Harbor County

  Grays Harbor County is having a Covid spike that is mainly affecting the unvaccinated population. This is adding stress to the testing facilities in the county and causing issues with hospitalizations.
• 
  2021-10-03

  The First Game Back and the Last Game of the Season

  This was a photo from my seat at my first mariners game back since the beginning of Covid and the last game of a great season. IT was an emotional game because they lost their wildcard spot, it was probably Kyle Seager's last game as a mariner after 10 years, and it was my first time in the ballpark since 2019. It feels like we are getting back to normal even though I am still hesitant to jumping back in.
• 
  2021-10-06

  The Fifth Wave and it's Strain on a Small Costal Town

  The coastal town of Elma, Washington has been hit hard by Covid. The smaller-sized hospitals are overrun with Covid patients and the burden being put on healthcare infrastructure in the area is massive. People are having to wait hours for care at local hospitals and chances are if you call an ambulance, it will not be able to take you to a local hospital. The extra driving is eating up the EMS system's time and causing issues with getting care from emergency services.
• 
  0017-01-17

  A new idea of delicates

  Finding humor during the pandemic has been hard, but we still find our way. Washing delicates turned into washing masks during the pandemic.
• 
  2020-09-08

  A Covid-19 road trip

  I have submit a photograph of the cable car below me surrounded by fog in the Redwood Forest in California. This is fond memory of mine in the midst of Covid-19.
• 
  2021-03-29

  Street art during the pandemic

  Malcolm Dole is a Seattle photographer who is capturing photographs of street art during the pandemic.
• 
  2020-03-22

  ASL Covid-19 Video Series

  The Washington State Department of Health releases a ASL Covid-19 Series.
• 
  2021

  We Stand In Solidarity With Our Asian Family

  #streetart #seattlestreetart #pandemicstreetart #streetartsculpture #graffiti #gorillaart #seattlepandemicstyle #pandemicstreetartofseattle #graffiti #graffitiporn
• 
  2021-03-01

  Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, Vaccinations

  When we say end violence against our elders, this means demanding accessible, equitable and culturally responsive healthcare services for them. Here are some community-based resources who have been doing this work: @pacificislandercovid19 @picawashington @empoweredpi Thank you Seattle Times for amplifying how COVID and inequitable health care services impact our communities in Washington. The impacts are detrimental and NHPI communities are impacted at disproportionate rates. Check out the entire article @seattletimes. Some things this article highlights - vaccine services provided need to be inclusive of different cultural lifestyles and practices, lumping Asian and NHPI data together invisiblizes NHPI needs, there is a great need to bring community-based groups to the table to build accessible systems and solutions. (Image description: a carousel of 9 slides from an article by Seattle Times. 1. A front page article that reads to fight covid-19 with vaccines, native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in Washington first need to be seen. 2. A quote in simple black text that reads "that is one of the things that we continue to think about How do we honor those that have passed during the pandemic? Our elders have so many stories, so much knowledge and they're essentially the wisdom keepers of our culture" seia Said. 3. The numbers tell the devastating story. Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders make up about 1% of Washington state's population but account for 2% of cases in the state according to the State department of health native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders have the highest average rate of any race and ethnicity in the state at $7,132 per 100,000 people and also lead in deaths per 100,000 with an average of 151 as of February 21st, according to the UCLA Center for health policy research" Captions continues in comments. #InSolidarity #AAPIWomenLead #COVID19
• 
  2021-03-19

  Large Mural Project

  Verified Just a block away from the Storm’s home at Climate Pledge Arena, artists Mari Shibuya and Zahyr Lauren, also known as L. Haz, put the finishing touches on a massive, 50 feet by 20 feet, mural dedicated to the four-time WNBA champions. The final pops of yellow are added around future Hall of Famer Sue Bird, who is months away from her 20th year as a WNBA player. Faces of former league MVP and reigning Finals MVP Breanna Stewart and up-and-coming All-Star guard Jewell Loyd accompany Bird, with the Seattle skyline pictured behind them. “It’s a message of solidarity, a message for social change,” said Shibuya. The Storm worked in collaboration with Muros, a global art activation agency, for the project. The art can be seen on the Toulouse Petit building on Mercer and Queen Anne Avenue. (by Alan Berner/ The Seattle Times)
• 
  2020-11-05

  DC activists and community hosted a day of artistic expression demanding every vote is counted

  With the Presidental election looming over the city, DC activists and community hosted a day of artistic expression demanding every vote is counted. Towards the event's conclusion at Black Lives Matter plaza, DC police and Health Department warned the organizers that they were in violation of a local health code that does not allow for food and aerosol spray cans to be within a specific distance from each other. After a tense standoff, the police retreated after the activists started to assemble for a potential escalation.
• 
  2020-04-04

  Mural by Navajo graffiti artist, Ivan Lee

  This photo is included as part of an article about the Navajo Nation's fight against COVID-19.
• 2021-01-19

  rules

  when covid first hit the first rule was to slow down international travel. this didn't work when there was an out break in Washington that spread fast. I didn't really mind this rule I just couldn't travel over summer but then they told people to stay six feet away from each other. this wasn't too bad either just I couldn't hang out with friends indoors and we couldn't go to a public place so we mostly surfed skated and built bike jumps. then they told us to wear masks. to avoid all these rules I never really left my naborhood unless go to my friends house and then we wouldn't go out side there naborhood. the masks where the worst it would make it hard to breath and stuff.
• 
  2020-12-10

  New Hampshire's House speaker dies from Covid-19

  New Hampshire House Speaker dies. Politicians are not immune to COVID-19.
• 
  2020-12-09

  Covid-19 Statistics for Western Washington Counties (Olympic Peninsula)

  I live in a rural part western Washington about one hundred miles from the initial outbreak of the Covid-19 in Seattle. Even though I live in a county that voted Republican in 2016 and 2020 (the first time Grays Harbor County voted Republican for the first time since 1928 when Herbert Hoover was elected) people took the restrictions seriously. As we hear about the supposed difference in Covid-19 outbreaks between Red and Blue parts of the country I thought it would be interesting to show the county-by-county numbers for Covid-19. The file attached shows the health department web pages for each county. This shows how serious this region took the outbreak. The file is static, so anyone interested should follow the web addresses to see current numbers for active contact tracing, active Covid-19 cases and Covid-19 deaths.
• 2020-03-11

  My COVID Pandemic Experience

  I have experienced a rollercoaster of emotions and many new situations during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Washington State, there were many people cases of COVID reported before mid-March. For weeks, there was a buzz around my high school about the possibility of us doing online school. As a senior in high school, I was excited to have an extra week of spring break because the senior-itis was starting to kick in. On March 11, 2020, my school announced that we were going to be sent home and get an extra week or two of spring break. Even though they said it was just going to be an extra-long spring break, we brought all of our school work and supplies home in case we were online for a longer time. In the beginning, I remember my friends and I talked about how we would hang out every day and do online school together. We had many ideas of how we would spend the time together by going to coffee shops, and we even considered figuring out a way to all be together in Hawaii. Little did we know that this pandemic was going to be a much larger problem than we had expected. About a week or two into quarantine, we stopped believing that COVID would only affect the elderly, and we learned more about how we could spread the virus. Naturally, my family went into lockdown mode, and we did not see anyone else except for our "germ circle" for months. When Washington went into lockdown, my senior-year activities got canceled. Unlike other high schools, we did not have a traditional homecoming ceremony or football game because we were an all-girls high school. Because we did not have a big homecoming celebration, all of our senior-year traditions were towards the end of the year. The weekend we went into lockdown, we were supposed to have our senior-skip day. I was also supposed to help host a retreat for my school that weekend after preparing for it for months. At the beginning of the pandemic, there was a lot of hope that by May, we would have our Senior Class Day assembly, prom, and graduation. As cases, deaths, and hospitalizations grew, these events ended up being virtual. While it was not enjoyable to be missing these events I had been looking forward to, I still managed to find ways to make the most of quarantine. I went to school every day from eight in the morning to two in the afternoon. It was nice having school online because I could do most of my work in class or between classes, so then I could have my afternoons free to talk to my friends or hang out with my family and my dogs. My family got to spend cherished time together during quarantine before I went to college. My family went on a lot of hikes and bathed our dogs a lot. It was easy to stay in touch with my close friends over FaceTime. We spent a lot of time on Netflix Party, and we Face Timed almost every lunch period. We spent many days learning TikTok dances, baking bread, muffins, and pizza, and trying to get our old Nintendo DS to work. As quarantine went on, it became more evident that I would probably not be going abroad for my first semester of college. I was going to go to Dublin, Ireland, but in June, I switched to going to London. Unfortunately, these locations closed, so I ended up going to Boston. I am very grateful that my university opened a program in Boston, so I did not have to do my first semester of college from home. Throughout the summer, I worked on picking classes, trying to meet people online, and packing up my things for college. The idea of going to college gave me something to be excited about, and I was more confident about the chances of my university remaining open. My university put many systems in place, such as getting tested every three days, not allowing indoor dining at first, and having more places to study for social distancing. Besides getting ready for college, during the summer, I spent more time with my friends as restrictions started to be less strict. I self-quarantined for two weeks, and then three of my closest friends and I went to Oregon for the weekend to stay in my friend's family cabin. It was very nice to spend time alone with my friends and still be isolated because we did not go out very much and we only spent time together. I also spent most of my time making cloth masks for my family, friends, and elderly neighbors. It was nice to have a project that made me feel like I was making a difference. During the pandemic, I kept seeing photos and videos of healthcare workers struggling with the lack of PPE and the immense amount of COVID hospitalizations. As a student who is studying to be a nurse, I felt so helpless staying home and not being in a hospital being able to help people. Eventually, the back-to-school season came around, and I got ready to make the cross-country move to Boston. My mom and I packed up all of my things, got our COVID tests, and headed to the east coast. Surprisingly, it felt somewhat safe to travel, and the hotel we stayed in had a lot of safety precautions. When I arrived, I got my COVID test, picked up my ID, and moved into my dorm. Due to all of the restrictions, my mom and I had to say goodbyes outside of my dorm. Then, I was alone in a new city, and it was the start of a strange first semester of college. First, I was living in a hotel in the middle of the city. It was so nice to have such a big room and not share a bathroom with 20 other people, but surprisingly, living in a hotel is not like "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody." Without a way to be able to make food, I always had to go to campus to get food, even if I did not have any in-person classes. I spent a lot of time studying in the library to try and get out of my room, but it was often tiring because I always had to wear a mask and couldn't collaborate with others. I spent a lot of time adjusting to my new life and college classes. While I only took general education courses, it was still an adjustment to taking some fully asynchronous classes and taking rigorous courses after having easier, online high school courses. Despite these challenges, I eventually fell into a routine, and I spent a lot of time exploring Boston. My program put on a lot of socially distanced activities to help us to get to know the city. I went to the aquarium, some museums, and I went on a trip to Cape Cod. All of these activities were experiences I would not have usually considered doing. I also explored the city by myself. I walked the Freedom Trail, went to Cambridge, and went on walks through the green spaces around the city. I loved being in a new city, but this semester was also very lonely. Even though I made a few close friends, it is hard to make new friends while being safe with the COVID restrictions. I tried to have a positive attitude about this situation, but it was often difficult to think about how this first semester of college could have been. It was strange to think that I could have been in a foreign country and traveling to other countries during breaks. I often thought about how there would be more people spending time in each other's rooms and people stopping by each other's rooms if we kept our doors open. I am lucky that I could be on campus in Boston this semester because I got to join a service fraternity called Alpha Phi Omega. Through that pledging process, I got to meet many upperclassmen and other first-year students, and I got to be involved in the Boston community. Now, I am home for the holidays, but I am even more worried about COVID because cases are rising. There is some hope on the horizon with the progress that the vaccines have been making. I am hopeful that my future semesters in college will be better, and I hope that people will continue to be safe and protect each other.
• 
  2020-04-07

  Postponed 30th Birthday Extravaganza

  Seattle- Michelle had to cancel her 30th birthday that she had planned to make into a large event with friends and family travelling from all over the country to celebrate with her.
• 
  2020-11-22

  Interview with Brad and Christina Long: Restaurant and Food Industry

  The contributor of this item did not include verbal or written consent. We attempted to contact contributor (or interviewee if possible) to get consent, but got no response or had incomplete contact information. We can not allow this interview to be listened to without consent but felt the metadata is important. The recording and transcript are retained by the archive and not public. Should you wish to listen to audio file reach out to the archive and we will attempt to get consent.
• 
  2020-03-13

  The great costco chicken shortage

  My partner and I went to Costco to do regular grocery shopping for the week when we stumbled on the emptiest isles we have ever seen at any Costco. I remember turning to my partner and saying “This feels unreal. I have never seen a store this empty and I don’t think that I ever will again”. It was still March, and my partner was just told by his job to stay home and that the office would be closed for a while until Covid was under control. We didn’t know at that time seven months later he would still be working from home. It was eerie being in a store that was so empty and it is hard to explain what it felt like to see that. It was at a time of high panic for others but I hadn’t felt that same panic until that moment. I was very worried we wouldn't be able to get chicken for the foreseeable future and I didn’t know what we were going to do. I panic purchased a five pound bag of dry pinto beans that are still living in the back of a cupboard in my kitchen, unopened, on that trip. I think of my quarantine experience in multiple stages, the first to being before Costco, and after the great Costco chicken shortage. I think other people felt the same way I did; After they saw people panic buying, they started panic buying or fretting more than they may have been in the months before quarantine. The beginning feelings of panic did do good for me though, they made me more conscious of what we are eating and how much food we actually buy. I feel like the changes have benefited me for the better. Arizona State University HST485
• 
  2020-10-13

  Finally moving to Phase 2

  Wenatchee has been in lockdown and stuck at phase 1.5 for months due to an inability to get the virus under control. We finally received word that we could move to phase two and reopen things like the museums and library in town, which have been closed for 7 months due to COVID. This reopening means that many public services like computer use at the library and wifi for those who do not have access to it at home will be open and able to be used by those that need it. It is an important to compare where we are at to other places that moved into new phases much quicker, some of which had spikes because of it. I personally have not been able to leave and have been stuck at my house for months. I used to go to the library three times a week for school and to get out of my house but with a pandemic, I have been spending more time inside. I do not feel comfortable enough to go to the library yet, but am excited that the option is now there. Back to normal is still not an option though, and I worry that this will cause more cases in my area. This whole experience has been eye opening for how much I did unplanned, now I have to plan everything I do so I can keep myself and my family safe.
• 
  2020-03-20

  Fresh Air, But For Only So Long

  During the pandemic, specifically between March and June, there wasn't much for me to do with work. I would help my Dad with his now unfamiliar school work. I did play games and watched the entirety of Parks and Recreation, but couldn't stave off the boredom. I needed to do something. So, I would go on walks. Sometimes I would go by myself and sometimes I would take my dog Carolina. She loves taking walks and it was something new for her with every walk. I lived in a rural part of town and the air was fresh. The smell of flowers drifting in the air, while also smelling cow manure as well. All I could hear was the sound of the birds, neighbor dogs and the farm animals. Carolina would stare at those dogs or animals, but never approach them. It was wonderful to breathe in the warm air. Cars were a rare sight and sound when I would walk along the asphalt with no issues. It was so quiet. It was nice to have the road to ourselves. Prior to COVID, people would be driving along our road frequently and we could hear them even from the end of our driveway. There seemed to be less garbage in the ditches too. Sometimes, I would see whole families walking along the road, probably wanting to inhale that fresh air that I was enjoying. Mid to late summer though, the air became thick with smoke. The fires around Washington, especially from nearby Selah, were suffocating and my walks stopped. There was even a fire on the ridge behind our house and I was worried that we would have to evacuate. The sky was muggy and the area was too warm, thankfully, since we all started wearing masks, we could cope with the fires. Mostly, I was disappointed that the fresh air I breathed towards the beginning of summer was gone. The picture I chose to share was a picture I took of the fire that started on the ridge behind our house. It's not the best quality, but that smoke was what closed out the summer. There was a lot to deal with this summer; COVID and fires mostly, but somehow, we made it. *Photograph, this is something that I took myself.
• 2020-10-06

  My Life During COVID-19

  In early March of two-thousand twenty, my husband and I had just begun a journey of going back to mass on a weekly basis. When the governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, mandated that all gatherings of more than five people had to be shut down, that included our local church, gyms, local restaurants, and more. This mandate closed local parks, schools, and many businesses for the remainder of the Spring season. Easter mass was also cancelled which personally impacted my family as it is a tradition to gather at our local church with extended family for the holiday. My husband and I were both considered essential employees at our places of employment during this time. We had to carry a letter to prove our being essential while we drove to and from work. Working in the front office of a physical therapy clinic, the patients arriving before treatment and exiting afterwards began to feel unsafe due to the fear we all felt leaving our homes. This fear also resonated with my two co-workers because one was a Type I diabetic and the other was six months pregnant. Throughout the month of April, I began working from home in order to decrease my hours so that my coworker with diabetes was able to keep his hours. My other coworker who was pregnant took a leave of absence for two full months before returning during phase two. Since the state began phase two and released restrictions, churches and gyms reopened with capacity limits to provide social distancing from one another. My sister, who works for a private preschool, was uncertain if classes would reopen in the fall. She was making daily Zoom calls with her small preschool students from March until summer break began in June. As the state slowly begins to open up, our lives have changed with the use of masks and hand sanitizer. The distancing that has been placed over society has increased concerns about leaving home. The world is holding onto hope for a sense of normalcy that will soon arise from the clutter of dirty masks and used gloves.
• 2020-07-13

  Pandemic, Depression, Uprising

  My name is Emily Small Michon, I live in Seattle Washington, it is 1 in the afternoon on a day that used to be called Monday. When I first heard about Covid-19 I had no idea it would affect us this drastically. It felt surreal working at coffee shop watching children put toy dinosaurs in their mouths and how everyone seemed to start paying with cash in spite of the need to be more sanitary. Then I got sick, it was a weird 48 hour flu with a headache and throwing up accompanied by a very sore throat. The night after my headache and throwing up went away my lips were huge. They looked like they had been pumped full of Juvéderm injections or something. I tried to get tested but they told me I didn't meet the criteria since I didn't have a fever or shortness of breath. I was then fired from my job for "trying to get out of working." They sited that I had requested shift coverage from two shifts even before getting sick, they said it seemed like I “did not want to work”, and also mention that I had failed to stamp enough paper cups during my shifts and had had some interpersonal conflict with coworkers. There was a lot of drama at that job and I certainly was not the only one who had been part of the conflict. This all came without any prior complaints or disciplinary actions. Fortunately, I was still able to get unemployment since the company I worked for (Cafe Vita) is large and never responded to inquiry about my job separation. During this time my ex-boyfriend who was also my closest friend became being overly attentive, sweet and concerned about me. He would FaceTime me every day, he sent me a book he thought I would like in the mail and almost every morning would leave cute or funny animal videos in my inbox with messages like I hope you see this when you wake up and have a good day. This didn’t last very long and things turned a corner when I asked if he wanted to watch a movie together… like a shared screen sort of pandemic deal. He strangely responded with, "I don't know that seems like something people in a relationship do." It seemed completely ridiculous to think that you couldn't watch a movie together during a pandemic just as friends but I did want to be in relationship and this had been an area of contention for us for a while so I finally put my foot down and said I could not continue with things the way they were because it wasn't fair to me. It was really painful losing my favorite person, the person I was closest to and enjoyed talking with the most. I know this sort of loss is nothing compared to the stories of people who have lost loved ones. This was just beginning of course. Since then a massive uprising has begun that I feel particularly invested in and yet at the same still an outsider. I have not altogether found my place or decided how much I am willing to sacrifice. There are many people who are putting their body and their life on the line. I was out protesting the night Summer Taylor was killed. For those of you who don't know they were a young Seattle protester who was murdered by vehicular assault while protesting on I-5. The police neglected to blockade one of the off ramps though they had promised to secure the area, and that was their job and responsibility to do. The driver, Dawit Kelete, can be seen in a video maneuvering around two cars acting as safety barricades for the protesters who were chanting and dancing shortly before the brutal crime occurred. Another protester Diaz Love was also severely injured and for a time in critical condition. Upon regaining consciousness, Diaz was confronted with the death of their friend and an overwhelming amount of hate mail in their inbox. They still quickly posted that this would not affect their dedication to the cause. There have been over 60 recorded attempts of vehicular assault during the protests and with the current gains being made by the black lives matter movement. Since this is my personal story, I will tell you that I have also experienced cars acting like they want to run me over. The first was a cement truck who drove up onto the sidewalk towards me. The entire time the man glared at me from piercing blue eyes surrounded by sunburnt skin. This occurred in the capitol hill area somewhat near where the Cal Anderson protests were taking place. For those of you who don't know those were the protests where Seattle protesters received the brunt of police violence. Tear gas and munitions were utilized on an almost nightly basis, however the people persisted, and this led to the establishment of the Capitol Hill autonomous zone (CHAZ)...later known as the Capitol Hill occupied protest or CHOP. The other two incidents happened in my own neighbourhood on two different occasions when I was out for a run. I live in very white residential neighborhood in north Seattle. Both times the drivers made eye contact with me and I nearly had to jump out of the way. It confused me, sadly, because I am a white female and I am not used to experiencing this type of targeting. I am still baffled at what assumptions they would be making about me in my non-descript jogger’s clothes and my now natural hair color. Perhaps they assume all Seattleites are liberal? Maybe it was the inherent misogyny of white nationalists (I think we forget that they hate all women too), then again it could have just been angry men taking out pandemic related frustrations on vulnerable pedestrians....... I will never know.
• 
  2020-05-05

  DC Mayor Fights For Control of Her City

  Amid tensions with the president over his deployment of federal officers during protests, Washington’s mayor had “Black Lives Matter” painted near the White House in an unmistakable assertion of control.
• 
  2020-04-05

  Joint DOD-USAF Guidance on the Use of Cloth Face Covers

  These documents outline the proper use of cloth face masks on US military installations per the US Department of Defense and the Department of the Air Force. Also included is a memo to all personnel at Joint Base San Antonio (Fort Sam Houston, Lackland and Randolph AFBs, and Martindale Army Airfield) from the base commander addressing the DOD's COVID-19 responses, and how they will be implemented on base. This resource also includes a tutorial on how to wear and create homemade PPE.
• 
  03/18/2020

  King County Field Hospital

  An article from the digital version of the Seattle Times discussing the building of a 200 bed field hospital on a local soccer field.
• 2020-05-14

  The End

  A personal account of the pandemic.
• 
  2020-03-22

  Returning Home in Seattle during the Pandemic

  The image was taken when I finally arrived at SeaTac airport in Washington at 11:00 A.M on March 22, 2020. Because my parents scared that Uber drivers are easier to be exposed to the COVID-19 virus and it would be more dangerous for me to sit near them, my mother told me to catch the public train instead. It was definitely the right choice because due to a huge number of infected people in WA, everyone is afraid to take public transportation so it was only me in that entire train's section. To be extremely careful, I also wear a mask, gloves, tie my hair, and cover my head so that I am less exposed myself to the air.
• 
  2020-04-20

  Healthcare Workers COVID-19

  It tells us about the healthcare workers that are on the front lines helping the people who are affected by COVID-19
• 
  2020-04-04

  "We Could Get Wiped Out:: American Indians Have the Highest Rates of Diseases that Make Covid-19 More Lethal

  Lummi Tribal Health Center braces for the worst as it struggles to get federal stimulus funding to buy protective gear for health workers as the tribal fitness center is converted into a field hospital for coronavirus patients. #IndigenousStories
• 
  2020-04-04

  Feb through Apr

  Short text.
• 
  2020-03-24

  Never Seen the City So Quiet

  What Seattle looked like before lockdown.
• 
  2020-03-28

  AT&T Store in Tacoma, WA sanitizing its store

  AT&T store in Tacoma, WA closed to property clean its store
• 
  2020-03-28

  AT&T Store In Tacoma, WA clearing its merchandise

  AT&T Store in Tacoma, WA clearing its merchandise to property sanitize and prevent contamination on any of its hardware
• 
  2020-03-28

  AT&T Store Empying Its Shelves

  AT&T Store in Tacoma, WA emptying its shelves to prevent contamination on their phones, tablets and other hardware.
• 
  2020-03-27

  AT&T Store Changing its operations for COVID-19

  AT&T Store in Tacoma, WA
• 
  2020-03-22

  Trump outlines national guard activations for New York, California and Washington

  Trump deploys national guard to help state governors with response to Covid-19,
• 
  2020-03-21

  Coronavirus shutdown: photos from Spokane and Spokane Valley

  Photos of the city during covid-19
• 
  03/17/2020

  A sign posted outside the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington reads “You are my hero and I love you”

  Kirkland, Washington is an epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak in the US
• 
  03/17/2020

  Darlene Kimball, one of the first US fatalities of Covid-19

  From The Washington Post: “Darlene Kimball, 72, was one of those who died of covid-19 after a stay at Life Care Center. The avid gardener, animal lover and grandmother of five had been living with ovarian cancer for four years when she fell in mid-February and went to Life Care Center for rehabilitation, said her daughter, Tami Kahler.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/us-coronavirus-death-toll-reaches-100/2020/03/17/f8d770c2-67a8-11ea-b313-df458622c2cc_story.html