Items

• 
  2020-04-01

  Coronavirus Journal: April 2020

  The essay is composed of entries from my daily journal during the month of April 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic quarantine. It shares the perspective of my partner and me, retired senior citizens in Up North Michigan.
• 
  2020

  Daily Entries

  The three index card entries represent our emotions and actions at the start of the pandemic. I came back home from school to live with my mom so we relied on one another for emotional support. The shared journal helped us record our daily activities, take note of our current state of minds, and allowed us to 'take it one day at a time.' The act of writing down our movements (or lack thereof) and accomplishments (ranging from submitting my thesis to making sweet potato fries) helped us recognize that time was passing and that good days were approaching. We continued to write in our shared spiral journal for about 6 months. The entries are important to me because they reflect how my mom and I were feeling at a very uncertain and unique time in history. While I don't feel comfortable reading through them all just yet, I'm excited for the day when enough time has passed and I can reflect on the months in isolation in an objective manner.
• 
  2021-09-05

  EPITAPH an excerpt from an epistle by Sebastian Delgado, dps

  [CURATOR'S NOTE] This is an piece of fiction submitted to the archive by the author.
• 
  2020-04-04

  HIST30060: Enthusiastic Journal Entry

  This is a photograph from my first journal entry after lockdown began. It shows what I think was a fairly common welcomed feeling to the lockdown, before we knew how serious things would get. I recall being excited to have some time to focus on writing and exercise without the distractions of work. How quickly those feelings changed...
• 2021-09-06

  home learning

  writing about covid
• 
  2020

  WRT 102 Writing Prompt Pima Community College

  Writing prompt given to WRT 102 students of Pima Community College, taught by Estella Gonzalez
• 
  2021-04-02

  Why is this so hard?

  Every week, write an entry in JOTPY. Seems like the easiest assignment ever. I thought so, too. But, I have really struggled. I have found myself behind in entries and I probably need to write 2-3 times a week for the rest of the semester to stay on track. I've always had trouble journaling and writing in diaries ever since I was a kid. I've always viewed those things as really personal thoughts and I like to keep mine in my head. I viewed writing my innermost thoughts and viewpoints would give others an advantage over me, a way to see my weaknesses. A super intimate view of myself through my own lens. I've read thousands of pages, researched for hours, written a dozen response papers, drafted a 25-page paper, and still, this write in JOTPY every week has been the hardest assignment all semester. Maybe it's because it forces me to think about COVID and how it has affected me, my family, and the rest of society. COVID has taken over my life for the past year and this assignment forces me to confront that fact and my feelings about it head-on. It forces me to publicly share these thoughts. At first, I wondered if it was even beneficial to assign students to write for a project like this. It's supposed to be shared experiences but how authentic are the entries really going to be when people are not writing on their own, but writing because their grade is dependent upon it? I cannot speak for other students, but I feel that this entry I am writing now is very authentic. Although I am scrambling and having to submit a few times a week, I am grateful for this assignment. It really helped me grow as a student and a person. I still have a ways to go, but I am becoming more comfortable with sharing my personal thoughts and opinions in writing.
• 
  2021-02-04

  My Mother Will Be 80 Years Old This Week

  My mother will have her eightieth birthday this Sunday. She is not likely to share her story here. She has a computer and uses the Internet. However, she usually only looks at other people’s posts on Facebook and does not use Twitter at all. I will therefore tell some of her story myself. My mother has been stuck in her house for nearly a year now. She lives only a mile or two from each of us, so my sister and I get her groceries for her so she does not risk exposure to the virus. My mother was resistant to this for a while, from a combination of independence, a disinclination to impose on others, and a plain desire to get out of the house. My mother probably has not gotten a hug from anyone in nearly a year. We call her nearly every day, and we do visit with her on patio, but we always keep our distance. As much as she would like to see people more, she does not want to break social distancing. In her view, she has stuck with it this long and does not want to waste that effort. When I talk to my mother, she often expresses boredom. She reads, works on puzzles, watches television, and calls family (although she does not want to bother people). The other day I half-jokingly suggested that she spend some time writing her memoirs. It would be a gift for her children and grandchildren to record her life experiences. My mother has started writing several pages a day. She writes long-hand in a notepad, then types up what she wrote on her computer. I was amused when she told me this, because I have not written that way in more than thirty years, and younger generations likely could not imagine doing it this way. My mother made one of her rare trips outside the house last week. She was able to navigate the website and get herself an appointment for a COVID vaccination. I was rather proud of her for persistently navigating a website that I found confusing and difficult to use. Her persistence in seeking a vaccination speaks to her eagerness to get life back to normal.
• 2021-01-26

  For The Sake Of My Time

  At first it was nothing, Then something for all. I wrote and I drew, I played ball. The wind blew outside, strong and loud, But I was inside, away from the crowd, today was no day, for something out loud. And when my notebook fell to the floor, I cried. When my mask shifted on my face, “They could die” But at the end of the day, I picked up my pages for the sake of my time. Author's (Explanatory) Note: I stitched this together through scraps in my notebook that I had written over the year. Some of them on simple topics, others on grave events. This is important to me because it's some of my writing that didn't come planned and pre-packed, but an experience and struggle put together through snippets of my life and genuine, if simple, emotions that are coursing through every single one of us, only to be amplified in times like these.
• 2021-01-28

  Amanda's future pandemic nightmare.

  The scene begins on december 31st 2019. Amanda: This year has been a wonderful year and I am ready to greet the next year 2020 with a few new year’s resolutions. My first new years resolution is- Mysterious time traveling Alien: I'm going to stop you right there. Amanda: who are you????!!!! Mysterious time traveling Alien: You aren’t going to get to do any of your new year's resolutions this year. Amanda: Yes I am. Why do you say that? Mysterious time traveling Alien: You’ll see. In fact, you’ll see right now. All of a sudden with a flash of blinding white-green light, Amanda is zapped 3 months into the future. Amanda: what happened? What day is it? She looks at her computer. Oh no! I’m late for a meeting! She then sees another email. It’s my boss. “Here is a zoom link” what is this? I guess I’ll click it. She enters the zoom meeting. Boss: alright. Hello, Amanda! So glad you arrived! So we have a problem. Amanda: No, I have a problem. What’s going on? Why are we on this call? Why am I not at work? Boss: are you serious? You don’t know? Yesterday you knew fine. You were saying you wished this pandemic would be over with. Amanda: But what’s going on? Boss: a virus has traveled around the world and has resulted in us having to stay at home, wear masks when we go outside, and do everything online. That’s why you’re here. Are you ok? Do you have amnesia? Amanda: i have to leave for a few minutes. Boss: the most i can give you is 20. Be sure to mute your mic and stop your video. Amanda: How do I do that? Boss: you do so like usual. Amanda: oh my god. What is going on? When i was making my new year's resolutions 10 minutes ago i had no idea this was what it was going to be like. How am I going to survive? I am never going to survive a day like this. Boss: um, Amanda? You’re not on mute. Amanda: How do i mute myself? Boss: you click on the bottom left hand corner of your screen and you have the option to mute and stop video. Amanda: ok. She does so, with much difficulty. Oh wait, Tiffany's calling. Maybe she can tell me what’s going on here. Tiffany: hey! How are you? What are you going to do today? Amanda: i was thinking about going to the grocery store, filing reports, and visiting you this afternoon. Tiffany: hold on, going to the grocery store? You have to order online. The only way you’re going to visit me is if you wear a mask. And the only thing you’ll get to do at home is the filling out reports thing. Amanda: how long is this going to last? Tiffany: what? Amanda: the whole “pandemic” thing. Tiffany: I think 2 weeks to a month. Amanda: thank god. Tiffany: I know, right? It’s terrible already! All of a sudden, Amanda’s Boss’s voice comes into her computer. Boss: Amanda? Are you ready to make your statement? Amanda: yes boss. Boss: i can’t hear you. You’re still on mute. Just as she finds the unmute and start video buttons, her 5 year-old daughter Vivian calls her saying she has been kicked out of her meeting. Amanda struggles for a few seconds, but then, with another blinding flash of white-green light, she is zapped into december 31st again. Mysterious time traveling Alien: Now do you see why you can’t do any of your new year's resolutions? Amanda: no, Tiffany said that the quarantining will only last 2 weeks to a month. I’ll have plenty of time to finish my new year's resolutions. Mysterious time traveling Alien: It’s going to be much longer than that. Amanda: *faints*
• 
  2020-06-19

  The Dangerous Luxury of Claiming You've Rejected Society

  Early in the pandemic, a man I knew died of Covid-19 in an overwhelmed hospital. I kept thinking he might not have died if the hospital had been better funded. Then I remembered he had once insisted to me that he lived outside society. I saw a sad connection: hospitals and public health in general were underfunded because too many people felt they did not share a common society with others. More thoughts about Covid and community started flooding my mind. Eventually I pulled these thoughts together in a short essay.
• 
  2021-01-17

  Potato Chips, Prana, and Perambulation: My Favorite Things to Weather the COVID-19 Storm

  This submission is a description of the five favorite things I have used to help me get through the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly as I have had to transition to working from home.
• 
  2021-01-16

  Falling Back On My Escapism

  As the title suggests, this is a description of my favorite things that helped me through the pandemic. I think it's important to capture the pleasures we've fallen back on despite all the negatives.
• 2020-12-01

  Journaling Through COVID

  It was probably late March this year when I realized the pandemic was much bigger than anyone could have predicted. On the 16th, when my school district and the whole of the country went into emergency lockdown for three weeks, it just felt surreal, as if there was no way any of this was actually happening. Still as cases started rising day by day, I’d watch the graph as it went up and down, counting the COVID cases as they happened. I’d track the global progress in dealing with the pandemic, taking in every new piece of information about it, my mind buzzing and eventually pounding with everything happening around me. To say the least, it wasn’t long before I quickly became overwhelmed with the weight of everything around me, beginning April. It was around that time when I found my journal, a small navy colored book, probably costing about a dollar, yet worth so much more. Before the pandemic began, I rarely used a journal or any physical book to organize my thoughts; I’d just sometimes use the notes app on my phone. But, as the pandemic snowballed into what it is now, and I felt my relationship with the world around me changing, I quickly realized I needed an outlet specifically designed to help me process my thoughts. A new news story in this crazy year would pop up. I wrote something down. I graduated high school in a cramped car packed with my family in a traffic line of people I couldn’t really recognize, instead of a crowded stadium with everyone I’ve known since I was eleven. I wrote something down. I celebrated my 18th birthday in a socially-distanced way, instead of going out with my friends. I wrote something down. Starting college, two states away from my school, beginning what’s supposed to be one of the best experiences, alone. I wrote something down. And, yet, feeling guilty, writing all of this, knowing and understanding that I am still incredibly fortunate and lucky to be surrounded by those who love me, and I them. I write something down. Whether I realized it or not at the time, journaling really became a therapy to calm my already anxious mind from overthinking, as it slowed me down enough to process the surrounding changes. My journal was one of the few things, one of the few spaces in this new lifestyle, that I felt I had complete control over. No matter what was going on outside, and as much as I’m trying to learn more about everything that comes up this year, taking it in while still also taking care of my mental health, I suddenly found this space where I could just think, say, and write what I feel. More than just a place to process my thoughts, which is what I usually take from writing, my journal just became an extension of myself, a comfort that I didn’t know I needed, as I was able to take things one step at a time. In a world of judgement and chaos, I could return to a place where there was order, and I could say what I wanted, how I really felt about so many things changing at once, all out of my grasp. I’m safe there. And, when I wasn’t writing what I was feeling or thinking at that moment, but still needed an escape, I'd use this journal, alongside my sketchbook, adding in aimless doodles or spending time actually sketching. In the same way one reads books to learn a new truth or escape reality, I did so too for just long enough to gain control of my feelings before diving back into a world too big to understand. It was, and still is, the middle ground connecting my quarantine space with the world around me. But, perhaps one of the biggest advantages of documenting this journey is that now I have this time capsule of what I was feeling, what I’m still feeling about this entire crisis and how I’ve been dealing with it. It’s a piece of me that will always reflect my own perspective amongst everyone else’s voices and stories throughout all of this chaos, and I get to hold onto it forever. So going forwards, journaling is something that I hope I can always return to, especially in times of stress or anxiety, for the value and journey of reflecting on self-identity is one that will always remain priceless.
• 
  2020-12-16

  The Pandemic and Pens

  I’d like to start by expressing that when I started this paper I’d come to the early conclusion that I didn’t have an object that “helped my ride the covid crisis”. I had adopted the similar sleeping patterns of a hibernated bear and didn’t have a shiny, new hobby to show off. My thoughts mirrored the resemblance of a pinball game, half-baked ideas ricocheted back and forth in what, at the time, felt like a seemingly small head. My problem was that I didn’t truly realize the significance of this object until I was forced to introspect. With consideration, an object I’d choose to represent the duality of my life pre and post COVID would be a pen, not the type rich ladies would drape their fingers around and daintily dip into a rich, black ink in order to create the most beautiful calligraphy strokes. Just an ordinary, utilitarian pen. I guess before Corona this is exactly how I pictured it. There was nothing remotely special about a pen at the time, just a necessity for in-person schooling. The motion of grabbing my pen in the morning became just as routine as brushing my teeth; it had been a part of my routine since elementary school. In March, the static sound of the intercom interrupted derivative practice and emerged from the speakers telling students to grab their belongings from their lockers. At the time it seemed COVID would be the cause of an extended Spring Break. Thinking little of it, I tossed my pen to the bottom of my bag and blended in with the crowd of students rushing to the parking lot as if it’d just been announced everyone would be competing in a Nascar race and had to depart immediately. The thing about time is it continues regardless of circumstances. Eventually classes continued on Zoom and technology was incorporated in nearly every part of my day. Admittedly my new routine proceeded as follows: 1) Wake up and check my phone 2) Online classes 3) Homework completed online 4) Use my phone or computer on and off until bed 5) Repeat This was the most disengaged I had felt from both school and friends in years. I felt like I’d been placed on a conveyor belt and was just moving along without actually doing anything. My eyes transferred lazily between the Zoom computer screen and my phone. If my screen time was represented by a bar graph it probably would’ve looked like it pranced into a New York City elevator and rode it to the top without stops. Initially I was glad homework was switched to being strictly online. My keyboard acted as a catalyst as I completed my assignments much quicker than I would have with a pen and paper. After a couple weeks of this, the honeymoon phase had passed and reality loomed in like storm clouds. I became more aware of the growing disconnect between what used to be seemingly normal activities. Desperately trying to clutch onto life pre-Corona I picked a pen back up. Quarantine, so kindly, gave me mass amounts of time to spend alone. At first this juxtaposition was overwhelming as it seemed all the institutions I had once known collapsed around me. It was noticeably easier to fall victim to this pessimistic mindset, but instead I nervously started trying to process my thoughts on paper and journaling. The stay at home order had quite literally put up a barrier between the outside world and my friends. Journaling was the healthiest pastime I took up. It allowed me to work through internal barricades on my own time. I’d compare journaling to knitting - at first it’s just ideas (or yarn) trying to organize themselves in order to create the final product. Originally with either hobby it is both frustrating and confusing to begin, but with practice it becomes relaxing and the motions proceed with little need for thought. For the first time since pre-quarantine I felt clarity with my thoughts; the storm clouds were clearing out. If anything this was the most comfortable I had been with myself because there was no one else to compare myself to- just my pen, paper, and myself. I grew up with a negative connotation around therapy, so this was incredibly healthy for myself and allowed for tremendous personal growth. It also helped me break the technological constraints and dependency I was feeling. With this same pen, I also started drawing. Looking back, drawing has helped me tremendously become less critical of myself. I use to try to mimic other people’s art styles and would feel deflated when they encompass the same artistry. I finally learned how to doodle as a meditative purpose instead of it needing to be something I’m great at. Instead of allotting all my free time to technology, I used pens. The colors danced around each other on the page while my wrist controlled the motion. Even before the pandemic, I was aware of the social media crisis in our society, but lockdown reemphasized this concern of mine. This was a way for me to unplug. When I contrast pens and computers, I think of the theme of originality. Nearly everyone’s work on the computer follows the same monotonous MLA, Times New Roman font, double spaced papers, whereas everyone writes differently or has a different pen preference. There is more room for creativity and uniqueness to shine through. Overall, pens paved the way for me to take a step back and reprioritized. I came out of quarantine feeling more comfortable with myself and carried my writing hobby along with me from California to Washington. I’ve been staying in touch with loved ones through handwritten letters, something I certainly would not have done prior to quarantine and would have opted for a text instead. There’s something special about using a pen. Writing is so universal yet individual at the same time. Everyone writes uniquely and handwriting reveals personality traits. It’s something I’ve realized is special. The picture on the left is my mom and brother with their pens of choice, and the picture on the left is my holiday card my mom sent me in college; in a way pens unite our family.
• 
  2020-12-07

  The Home Within My Head: My Experience of COVID-19 In Prose

  I have always been acutely aware of how poetry connects people across places and time. Today, more so than ever before, humans are grasping for a connection as intimate as physicality without having to be in the same room. This poem speaks to that struggle. I hope it helps others out there, suffering from isolation, to feel a bond across the deep chasms COVID-19 has cultivated in our new world.
• 
  2020-10-01

  Jewish Melbourne: Jewish Women of Words - Atida Lipshatz

  Atida Lipshatz wrote a piece for Jewish Women of Words reflecting on food during the pandemic
• 
  2017-10-16

  Jewish Melbourne: Jewish Women of Words - Lisa Farber

  This is an article by Lisa Farber, talking about her child finishing school in 2020, during the pandemic
• 
  2020-05-08

  Neighbourhood entertainment

  Early in the Covid 19 lockdown I found these notes posted on telephone poles along my path to the train station. I later heard a rumour that they'd been sighted all the way along the local bike path. Whether the story they tell is real or not I love that someone in the neighbourhood was providing a story for the community to follow on their daily walks. It felt like following an old fashioned newspaper serial. We've all had to find new forms of entertainment, and since gyms shut down and people started working from home, people seem to have been taking up walking like never before. (HIST30060)
• 
  2020-11-05

  Lethargic Lockdown

  HIST30060 - In reviewing this 'plague' year, I feel that there can be no simple way of explaining the whirlwind of emotions that seemed to fluctuate just as readily and sporadically as our daily covid- case numbers did back in April and May. My first uploaded image is a photograph I took of a note that was found in our letterbox in Balwyn, which we received on the 7th of April. Later we discovered it was made by two younger girls who lived at the bottom of our street, who had been writing similar letters for all our neighbours too! I felt it was very important in this unprecedented time to cherish the small acts of kindness, particularly given the emotional state of lockdown. Despite their relative insignificance, it is these small communal acts which I will cherish, which keep us connected to those around us, while ironically social distancing at the same time. Similarly, the young sisters who made the card are the same age as my niece, 9 years old. I often look at this card and think of how their youth has been irrevocably changed in this pandemic. My second image is a photo I took of Mills beach in Mornington on the 31st of July. I think it will always remind me of the occasion where I snuck down to the Beach, on the premise of doing some 'maintenance' at a family property, which was what I explained to the police who were patrolling the highway. My father has had his bouts with pneumonia in the past, so the family decided that if he could conduct his work from home, then it would be best to get of Melbourne. So my mum and dad were staying down the in Mornington from late March and came back to Melbourne around the start of November. Although we would routinely call eachother on zoom, this photo in a way commemorates the time where I had to sneak down to the beach in order to see them. Though a beautiful sunset at mills beach, there also is a sense of morbid beauty and unease to the photo. It was the only time I think I have ever seen such beautiful weather and calm water, with no boats or people in sight. The third image is a screenshot from a facebook invitation to a party which was created in early March. The guys that made the group event had originally planned to host a get together by December. I think in a sense this does give some explanation in regards to the expectations of corona, and the hysteria that was surrounding it in early March. I think as explained in the screenshot, although we didn't know what to expect, all we did know was that "the next few months are gonna be very long." Recently they updated the invitation from a party that will maybe happen in March next year. Although it may be some form of normality to look forward to, I think that this year more than any other we have learnt to prepare for the worst. Though it is currently listed to go ahead around March next year, part of me thinks it will be delayed again. My fourth image is a screenshot I took from an instagram page called "melb_lockdown," which was created in early April this year. It is an instagram page that features many artful collections of the Melbourne CBD area in black and white photographs. As one who often indulges in photography myself, I think the artist behind the instagram page is always trying to send a message with his work. I think what strikes me most is naturally seeing images of one of the 'most liveable' cities in the world, which is now devoid of the very things that have have given the city it's -claim-to-fame.' The once frenetic energy and vibrancy of the busy Melbourne CBD is now lifeless, colourless, and painfully mundane. My last image, is a meme that a friend of mine sent me. Similarly it is a an Instagram page called 'Covid 19 Funny Memes.' Though very funny, it also highlights a lot of the communal attitudes that have fluctuated and changed through out the pandemic. In late February/ early March, I believe that because it the pandemic was largely still a distant story that was affecting Europe more readily and Australia, it was something we really engaged in a kind of hysteria with. Because we hadn't experienced it, it was something we couldn't truly understand. Certainly these sought of humorous memes were not being created back then. But now I feel having lived with the pandemic for the last 8-9 months, people's attitudes have altered so much. I think because we are now more prepared to satirise, mock or create humorous memes is not to suggest that we have become apathetic towards the pandemic, but I think it shows that we are 'over it.' I think now living with this shadow over our lives for 8 months has taken its toll, and humour may be one way we can attempt to disassociate ourselves from this monotonous cycle.
• 
  2020-08-19

  Jewish Melbourne: writings by Child Survivors of the Holocaust during Covid times

  This collection of writings was assembled by Viv Parry (Chairperson for the Child Survivors of the Holocaust Melbourne Group) for submission to the archive. It contains the following: 'A Point in Time', a recent article that Viv Parry was asked to write for the New Year Magazine for The Ark Synagogue, Hawthorn Connections (August 2020) is a newsletter edited by Viv Parry for the Child Survivors of the Holocaust (CSH) Melbourne Group. In this newsletter there are 9 individual contributions from CSH in answer to her personal request to "tell us how you are travelling at the moment during this unprecedented time?" Viv made no suggestions, asking only that they addressed the group (265 CSH members) and shared their thoughts at whatever level they found personally relevant to themselves. 'Child Survivors, Corona' is an article written by Dr Paul Valant's for Connections, published in April 2020. A second article on the topic appears in the August edition of the newsletter. An email from Stefanie Selzer, dated 31.7.2020. Stefanie is the World Federation Of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust & Descendants N.Y, President and Claims Conference representative. Stefanie forwarded our Connections Newsletter to the other CSH groups in the US including Canada where Mark Elster felt compelled to reply (also included in the same document). These documents together create a story of a unique group of people who are supporting each other at this difficult time, with a remarkably positive attitude.
• 
  2020-04-22

  The 3Rs COVID-19 taught me

  COVID-19 pandemic shakes the entire human race and how the disease triggered the press button to let us all “slow-down” or “pause” to almost our entire usual goings remains an enigma to one and all
• 
  2020-04-22

  An Older Woman Shares A Message For Her Family

  Instagram account southernseniorlivingnews posts a photo of a woman holding up a whiteboard with a message to her family reading "Hi family, I'm hanging in there. Hope everyone is safe. Miss you all. Thanks for the letter to my Concord friends! <3 Mom". COVID has made it way more difficult to see and communicate with loved ones who live inside an assisted living, nursing home, or other community for older adults. Protecting them also means restricting our contact with them and that can be extremely difficult for both parties.
• 
  2020

  Witness to History

  This webpage invites audiences to include their perspectives of the Covid-19 pandemic. Individuals can write a few sentences about their experiences and help build a database of responses. Functioning as a digital journal, the Massachusetts Historical Society collects how Boston residents respond to certain prompts pertaining to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• 
  2020-08-07

  One Journalist Is Chronicling San Quentin’s Huge COVID-19 Outbreak—While Locked Inside

  One inmate at San Quentin Prison in California has been keeping his press contacts apprised of the situation during the pandemic via letters, many written on a typewriter. Kevin Sawyer, serving a sentence of 48 years to life is also the prisons newspaper editor, though operations stopped in March when prisons in the state went on lockdown in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. He wrote 8,000 words during just the first seven weeks of the pandemic. His goal is to document what is happening inside the prison during the pandemic.
• 
  April 14, 2020

  It was just another virtual kindergarten class in quarantine. Then Jon Bon Jovi dropped in.

  Bon Jovi dropped in a Florida kindergarten Zoom class.
• 
  2020-04-18

  Plague Journal, Day 36: The Girlfriend and I fight

  I'm keeping a Covid-19 journal. Here's the latest entry, detailing the first CoronaWorld fight with The Girlfriend and the long-awaited arrival of The Kid.
• 
  2020-03-25

  Plague Journal, Day 12: The Four Ts

  I'm keeping a Covid-19 journal. Here's the latest entry, with updates on the health of The Kid and The Girlfriend:
• 
  2020-05-06

  Humans of Covid-19 AU: Alex Landragin

  “COVID19 hasn’t really made a huge difference to my life. I was working full time up until last year, then I quit my job to go back to writing full time. I live alone, and my office is in my home, so I already spend most of my time socially isolated. I'm not sure yet how the pandemic will impact on my writing. I am using this time to do a large amount of reading and take in many ideas. Weirdly, the novel that I published last year is actually an apt one for a pandemic. A big part of the novel takes place in Paris in 1940 as the narrator, who is Jewish, waits for the Nazis to invade France; he is largely stuck in his flat and there’s a curfew going on. So in a way, my novel reflects the current reality. Sometimes a silver lining doesn’t justify the damage caused by the thunderstorm. But I hope that this pandemic will lead to a recalibration of our priorities, away from a fantasy happiness bubble living beyond our needs. I hope the return to scarcity will be accompanied by a return to cooperation, mutual assistance, empathy. Some of those values that we associate with helping each other through tough times I've been making a concerted effort to not rely too much on technology. I’ve made a deliberate decision to read more and I hope this quarantine will lead to a revival in interesting reading for all. I've been reading a book that was written almost 100 years ago. The main message I've taken from the book is that you’re never going to get used to this. The only thing you can do is get used to not getting used to it.” Instagram post on Alex Landragin, writer, and his experience during the pandemic, which was created by a psychology student living in Melbourne who was interested to hear about how COVID-19 was impacting on different peoples’ lives.
• 
  2020-05-05

  Quotes

  I picked this up in middle school and have copied from it to make up for my boredom.
• 
  2020-04-30T23:30

  Like a gladiator

  This is a poetic prose I wrote about staying valiant and resilient during isolation. Humanity is fickle but one thing no one can take away from us is the indomitable spirit that we possess, especially in the face of adversity.
• 2020-05-24

  Day to Day (English)

  A series of short stories and other literary writings by Japanese authors, inspired by the Covid crisis, posted online in English translation.
• 
  2020-04-08

  Amy Stanley: The Disaster Era

  Blog post by Prof. Amy Stanley about individuals' ability during disasters to take action.
• 
  05/14/2020

  Writing in the time of Covid 19

  This journal entry is about the effects Covid -19 pandemic on my academic writing and academic goals.
• 
  2020-05-12

  COVID-19

  A personal account of the pandemic.
• 
  2020-05-13

  little things- a poem

  little things- a poem
• 2020-05-07

  He Who Watches

  The sun a shooting star, Shining so brightly. The moon a bed, For the man who started it all. But why? Why does the sun shine? Why do the stars gleam their stunning light? Why do we deserve it? Why does he do this? He wakes up just as you, He watches and admires. He fulfills our desires, But what did we do to deserve it?
• 
  2020-04-05

  COVID 19 Journal: 04/05/2020

  COVID 19 Journal by Kaitlin Whalen written 04/05/2020.
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  2020-03-20

  Letter to my son’s 4th grade teacher

  The greatest hardship for my children in this time is the loneliness of missing their beloved teachers and friends. Writing letters to their teachers helps them feel connected and is good writing practice for their home learning.