Items

• 
  2020-09-01

  Every story matters - Student's perspective

  Classes in Fall 2020 were either fully virtual or hybrid. In hybrid classes, the professors would have to put the projector with some students being on zoom. This was a good idea because it helped students be safe and at the same time learn. It was also challenging because sometimes professors would pay more attention to the students that were in the classroom and not the ones on zoom. I took this picture a year ago to show my parents how classes were working. This was something my parents appreciated because they saw that St. Mary’s University was using all their resources to help students continue their studies. They liked seeing me continue my college experience in a different way but not fully virtual. I saved this picture for over a year to see the changes the world was going to have during the pandemic. I am glad we are finding new solutions and making changes with still being careful with COVID-19 guidelines.
• 
  2021-08-17

  I have to do WHAT to my syllabus???

  This is a screenshot of my theology class syllabus including the newly included "face mask policy." I think this is important to include because even though all professors need to include the same information about mask policies, there are some who have just included what needed to be and other who have mentioned it in other areas of their syllabus. It's also interesting to see that this could be the first major change made to some of the professor's syllabi in some time. I submitted this item because it's a part of people's reaction to this pandemic and it heavily influenced changes in our "first-day of class routine." Coming back to school in-person after a whole year online, it was interesting to see how professors were now sharing more personal details about why they are being more careful, checking that students are wearing masks correctly, and some professors being more strict or lenient with the food/drink policy.
• 
  2021-05-10

  HIST30060: Helping Me Study

  This is photograph shows one of my dogs, Elfie, sitting next to where I study for university during the pandemic. She and her sister, Bowie, would fall asleep next to me and keep me company. Often, they would help keep me motivated when I was struggling by hassling me back to the table. It is easy to look back over the past two years and look at the negatives, however, it is moments like the one depicted in the picture which help remind me that there were positive moments too.
• 2020-03-16

  From Unheard of to Unheard

  This excerpt outlines how the start of the pandemic affected the noise level of an undergraduate college campus.
• 
  2020-03-12

  Quarantine Life

  I am submitting a small glimpse of what life was life for me during Covid 19 and quarantine
• 
  2021-08-23

  (HIST30060) An Exciting Job Offer

  Due to the pandemic, I had to scrap my original plans of travelling after finishing my degree and to apply for jobs instead. I have always dreamed of working in economic policy, so I applied to the graduate economist program at the Australian Treasury in Canberra, my dream job. Going through the entire recruitment process remotely was a peculiar experience, and was, in some ways, even more daunting than doing in person interviews. When I finally received an offer, I felt that I was dreaming. In some ways, the lockdown was a blessing in disguise for me, as I would not have applied for the role if it was not for the pandemic disrupting my original plans.
• 2020-05-11

  COVID Graduation

  The day I had worked so hard for had finally come, and I sat on my couch to celebrate. Years of dedication, essays, long lectures, early morning lectures, scholarship hunting, and finals stress had all amounted to me celebrating my graduation in my pajamas. It didn't feel real. I cried for a while, and I think it was okay to cry. COVID-19 took away special things from everyone. It has taken away special loved ones, special plans, and special events/celebrations. For me and so many other college students, it took away a very special moment--the pride, sense of accomplishment, the payoff. Colleges around the country tried to imitate graduation the best they could with virtual ceremonies. Some ceremonies featured pictures and quotes from students, and most colleges provided an online commencement. I was too sad and frustrated to watch my commencement on the day of my graduation but watching it back has made me realize how much more my degree means to me.
• 
  2021-10-02

  Plague Year Interview

  Interview by me, John, with my dad, who works in health care supply chain, Cory.
• 
  2021-10-09

  The Challenges of Performing Arts During the Pandemic

  This is a short audio file that talks about what challenges I faced during the pandemic, including a performing arts that was shut down the day before opening night and then a successful fundraiser that raised $25,000.
• 
  2021-10-09

  Graduation 2020

  For my graduation ceremony in the summer of 2020, my school only allowed the students to attend the ceremony without bringing friends or family to watch the ceremony. Instead, my school decided to do a LIVE broadcast of the ceremony through their page on Facebook and their channel on YouTube. With that being said, my graduation party was kept small since this was midsummer. Through this, I was not able to bring my friends and family to campus for the ceremony in order to share with them that experience.
• 2021-10-09

  Final Semester as an undergrad student

  When the pandemic started a year ago, I was a residential student at my college. The news that we had to move out of the dorms was hard since we would have to pack everything up. The second half of the semester was all virtual with zoom meetings and not having that in person experience for the classes. Having to do that means not being able to see the friends that we have made on campus daily or being able to have study sessions together in small groups.
• 2020-03-19

  Life during Pandemic

  Life during pandemic has been crazy. From schools getting shutdown mid semester to half of the population in the world getting laid off from their job. The pandemic for me started when the schools got shutdown mid semester. University's and colleges went online during pandemic but high schools got shut down till the end of the year. I was a high school senior when the pandemic started. I was really happy at first to get a couple of days off from school, but the couple days turned into weeks and eventually in months. This would have been my high school graduation, the moment I had been waiting for years. But because of pandemic, almost no one from class of 2020 get to celebrate their graduation, the way they wanted. A couple of months after graduation, i went to start university. But it was not the university experience I imagined for myself. ASU went all online with zoom classes from home. I tried getting involved to see if that can make a difference in my college experience, but the involvements were also all online. One thing I learned during this whole pandemic was how important in person learning was. I did hear a lot of people complaining about not learning anything though zoom, but It actually happened to me. I had to use twice as much time going over lectures and quizzes than I would usually do. Because I would get distracted easily. On the other hand, during pandemic I also had a part time retail job. Even though half of the population in the U.S got laid off from their job, I actually worked double the shift during pandemic than I would normally work. I started working full time since the pandemic started till last month august, when the classes started in person. I did get to save tons of money to buy a car for myself. Thankfully during pandemic, no one from my family got covid-19, and we were all really safe. Overall, the pandemic was a crazy yet really wonderful experience for me because I not only learned importance of small things in our lives but also learned to always stay in touch with our family member and friends because you never know what will happen next.
• 
  2021-10-05

  COVID-19 vs. Me

  My story is raw and surely relatable by many of my peers. It captures the pandemic driven adversity I had dealt with during my senior year of high school as well as through my freshman year in college. It also includes a reflection that highlights our recent societal progression into a more normal and pandemic-free near future. This submission was simply meant to be another story regarding how COVID-19 has promoted upheaval and destruction in the lives of so many while reflecting on the current somewhat-improved state of the pandemic.
• 
  2021-09-15

  Puerto Rico es la jurisdicción de Estados Unidos con más estudiantes de escuela pública vacunados

  Puerto Rico es la jurisdicción de los Estados Unidos con más estudiantes de escuelas públicas vacunados contra el COVID-19, con más del 85% de los estudiantes elegibles inoculados contra el coronavirus. “Puerto Rico está liderando al país en vacunar a nuestros jóvenes”, sostuvo el secretario del Departamento de Educación federal, Miguel Cardona. El funcionario detalló que, de acuerdo con datos del Departamento de Educación local, el 86% de los estudiantes de 12 a 15 años ha recibido, al menos, una dosis de la vacuna contra el COVID-19. Mientras, el 92% de los estudiantes mayores de 16 años recibió ya una dosis de la vacuna o está completamente vacunado. En el caso de los docentes, Cardona señaló que más del 96% de los maestros está vacunado. “Estamos muy complacidos con los esfuerzos en torno a la vacunación en Puerto Rico”, expresó. A diferencia de los estados, en Puerto Rico la vacunación contra el COVID-19 es compulsoria para todos los estudiantes mayores de 12 años, de escuelas públicas y privadas, así como de educación superior. Solo están exentos de cumplir con este requisito aquellos alumnos y empleados de centros educativos que padezcan alguna condición de salud que no le permita ser vacunado o por consideraciones religiosas.
• 
  2020-06

  Virtual college graduation

  My daughter being congratulated by my father at her virtual college graduation at my home June 2020. Reminder of all of the important life cycle events that were cancelled or made virtual.
• 
  2020-08-27

  Playing D1 Athletics during the Covid Pandemic

  I am on the women’s soccer team at Arizona State University, and the world’s way of handling sports during the pandemic was ever changing and interesting to say the least. This photograph depicts me playing soccer outside while fully masked. At the start of the pandemic, all sports were put on a complete hold and all athletes were sent home. The next progression was that we were able to return to campus, however we must practice fully masked and maintain no contact with other athletes. As you can imagine, running sprints in August in Arizona was no easy feat, but nobody complained and everyone was just happy to get back on the field. Within a couple of months, we were able to resume contact, remove masks, and play against other schools as long as weekly testing was enforced. As the year has progressed and vaccinations have become readily available, the restrictions for vaccinated individuals have been almost completely lifted and testing is no longer required. This pandemic has completely changed my outlook on sports and life in general. It is so easy to dread the early morning practices, the hard team workouts or count down the days until your next off day. However, once those things are completely taken away from you, you truly realize how lucky you are to even be on the field in the first place. This pandemic, in all that it has taken from us, has given me a sense of appreciation for all the little things that I used to dread. I find myself being much more optimistic in the hard moments than I was before, and I have been able to be much more grateful for the opportunities that I have been given. I truly do think that this lesson will carry over into my life beyond athletics, and that I will have a different outlook on seemingly dreadful tasks. You never know when a global pandemic could suddenly put your life on hold.
• 
  2020-09-27

  Views From Quarantine

  On September 3, 2020, I was notified by a friend that I had come in close contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19. I then spent the next 14 days in quarantine, not once leaving my room. Since I live and work in the Taylor Place dorms, I immediately notified the community directors and was placed in a quarantine dorm where I could be separated from my roommate. Despite testing negative for COVID-19 and not having any symptoms, I still needed to quarantine for 14 days as a precaution according to ASU Health Services. Being confined by empty white walls and only being able to see slivers of the sky made the loneliness even more apparent. Although my camera was the first thing I packed, it took me until the ninth day to find the motivation to pick it up. I began photographing the things I could see from my dorm or my “Views from Quarantine.” Using a long lens, I had residents pose in their windows in ways that expressed their personalities. With every photo, I felt less and less alone. I began to realize how important it is for people to see what it meant to quarantine in the dorms. So I also began photographing my meals and room. At the end of it, I put together a photo story, “Views from Quarantine,” that was published in The State Press. It is probably one of my proudest accomplishments so far.
• 2020

  Finding Time

  Over the last five or so years, I've been dreaming about some event that would stir up some excitement in New York City, preferably some good event, but an event nonetheless. Never did I dream that it would actually come true, unfortunately in the form of a worldwide pandemic. Why couldn't it be something more fun, like aliens (although it seems like we might be getting there)? While the pandemic didn't bring anything exciting per se, it brought some change with it. When it began to be taken more seriously last year (2020), when all the shutdowns began to occur, I saw a major change in my day to day life. From being laid off of work, not being able to go to classes in-person anymore, and not being able to see any friends in person either, the normal, repetitive life that I had gotten so used to had disintegrated within just a couple weeks, if not shorter. It forced me to look at things in a different light, and as I was forced to be by myself for most of it, as we all were, I felt as if I needed to find some positivity and motivation in the few things I could do and had control over. I finally had time to focus on myself and made sure things like my physical/mental health and education were a priority. I took up cycling, as it was one way for me to be active and remain safe because it's not really something you need to do with others, and that opened the world up to me, especially with how empty the city was. Even my quiet pocket of Queens got quieter as barely anyone was outside, so while it did feel a bit post-apocalyptic out sometimes, it also gave me a sense of peace and freedom. Also, with having so much more time at home and not having to commute, I took advantage of online-learning to really give myself as much time as I needed, instead of the previous sense of rush and urgency I used to feel when it came to assignments, and actually turned my grades around pretty drastically. While the pandemic has been horrific on most fronts, by working my hardest to make the best of it, I've been able to better myself as it's given me time to enact real self-care. Something I've never taken the time to do before.
• 
  2020-04-01

  COVID-19 Through My Eyes

  This story is about my experience with Covid-19 and how my family and I endured the hardships we faced and everything we have gone through in the past years. This is important to me because it shares about the struggles we went through and shows what we experienced through what i consider to be the worst moments of my life.
• 2021-09-30T14

  LIFE OF A COLLEGE STUDENT BEFORE AND DURING THE PANDEMIC.

  Life itself is not easy, one has to find a way to be happy and live a good healthy life because we never know what might happen the next day or year ahead. Before the Coronavirus everything was pretty normal, people were going about their daily lives. Most people were not ready to face this type of hardship. During the Pandemic schools, Jobs, places to pray, and supermarkets were kept close. I remember my friend was excited about her Senior prom and we wanted to surprise her with a graduation party, however, things didn't go as planned so we had to stay home for the lockdown. My daily routine changed. I have to take all of my classes online. Around this time the cases become worse, death cases keep on increasing each time. At some point, I began to wonder why this Pandemic had to happen to us during the beginning of the year. There were days when we had to stand in a line to buy food. The saddest thing that I have heard was how few of my friends lost their loved ones. Life was not easy for them. I have to call and check on them every day. Many people became homeless because of eviction and there were no jobs, though some were lucky to apply for unemployment, that was not enough for the people to pay their rents and have to buy food. Each day when I wake up I always pray for us to have a vaccine because even the younger children that do not know much about this virus were also affected. In 2021 when the Covid-19 vaccine was released it was great news however, some people didn't want to take it because they thought that it was risky. The most difficult thing is how people have to go back to their normal life system again.
• 2020-03

  Unimaginable Grief

  [March 2020] A month in time no one would ever want to go back to. My friend and I were enjoying our day and suddenly got news that campus will be closed until further notice. It was a scary and confusing moment; before you knew it everyone was talking about the virus. We definitely underestimated the virus and saw it spread in the blink of an eye. Slowly but surely we all began to realize how serious this was and prayed day and night for it to end. Cities went on lockdown, thousands became unemployed, and families grieved the loss of loved ones suddenly taken by this evil virus. I am so fortunate enough to have my close family and friends here with me today, but that does not mean these last one and a half years did not take a toll on me mentally. We've lost many loving family friends whom we never expected to lose this early. One thing the pandemic, thankfully, taught me is to appreciate those who you love because you do not know when they can be taken away from you. As hard as this experience was, I am grateful for the ups and downs and pray for the beautiful souls lost. Rest In Peace <3
• 2020-03-16

  My life with COVID

  The COVID pandemic has affected everyone around the world. Going into march of 2020, I had a lot of pressure put on me by my parents to either quit my job, or take time off because they didn't know how serious the virus was and wanted me to take no chances. I also have an autistic brother who cannot speak so I didn't want to risk giving COVID to him. At the time, nobody knew how severe the virus was, but as time passed I witnessed first hand how serious it was. When I got back to work after taking time off, I saw what I thought was a joke. Shelves of foods completely empty, and all toilet paper sold out as well other cleaning products. This went on for about a month before people stopped buying a lot of things in fear. There would be lines outside of my job because too many people were coming and we didn't want to have a lot of people gathered in one place for safety reasons. More time passed and things sort of went back to normal but people now wore masks and practiced social distancing. Now over a year later, things are more calm and people are finally doing the right thing and wearing masks to prevent the spread of the virus and end this pandemic.
• 2020-06-01

  Covid-19 Reflection [MISSING MEDIA]

  My days during the covid-19 pandemic.
• 2020-03-20

  The blurry year

  I just started at Brooklyn College as a transfer student from Citytech. The semester was only like 5 weeks in when we started seeing reports of the Covid 19. Then the school closed for a day and we were told it only be for a short amount of time, we all know how that went. I haven't been on campus since that last day. There was so much unknown at the time with everything. How long we were going to be away from school, what was the deal with Covid 19, how dangerous was it, and how we were going to survive. At that point, everything closed, and the city was so quiet for the first time in my life. I came out a different person after the lockdown. It was a scary time for a lot of people. It felt like everyone was struggling with something. My biggest thing was just trying to make the best of the situation. and that's what I still do to this day.
• 
  2021-09-28

  Random COVID-19 testing on campus

  I received this email notifying me that I need to get a COVID-19 test. The email states that unvaccinated and vaccinated community members are chosen randomly. I've been chosen once already in September and I took a test voluntarily last week, but I suppose it is better to test and know. It's really easy to take the saliva test, there is a vending machine/pickup table in the MU, you pick up a kit, register your kit online, and then return your saliva sample. So, I'm not at all bothered by this process.
• 
  2021-09-27

  COVID-19, College and a Pandemic Puppy

  I was attending Estrella Mountain Community College at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. When we found out that we were going to have an extended spring break it seemed like a much-needed break at the time. Nobody knew it would change our lives forever and it especially changed mine. During the beginning of the pandemic, I completed my Associate Degree completely online and it would convince me to continue my bachelor’s degree completely online through ASU. I was able to experience this new way of learning in college and I really liked it. A lot of my peers in college have said how much they dislike online learning, but during the pandemic I learned how much I prefer online learning to in person learning. This pandemic has been one of the worst experiences I have had in my life, but it also taught me so much about myself. Another milestone during the pandemic was my family got a new puppy named Loki. She was really the highlight of our days during quarantine and gave us something to look forward to everyday. I work at an elementary school in the after-school care program, so at the beginning of the pandemic I was able to stay home and still be paid. When August 2020 came around, we had to go back to work, and it was terrifying at first. All the adults and kids were wearing masks, so it felt a little safer, but it was still very scary. The feeling of so many unknown things during this pandemic was really the worst and it just brought anxiety with every day. This pandemic also highlighted some issues that we have within our society. Things like access to covid tests and vaccines were highlighted within our society as issues. People living in less wealthy areas of the world did not have the same access to covid tests and vaccines as everyone else in the rest of the world did. This allowed the virus to spread even more than it should have already. Another big issue in our society during the pandemic was the mask debate. The virus continued to spread due to people refusing to wear masks and infecting people when they were not wearing masks. The mask debate is still ongoing because the pandemic is still not over. A huge issue we have in our society right now is the argument about whether vaccines are safe and if masks are effective. The only way we are going to end this pandemic is if everyone gets the vaccine and people continue to wear masks. This pandemic has been ongoing for almost a year and a half, it is time that we try as a society to end this pandemic.
• 2021-04

  Teleworking: Good and Bad

  I started a job earlier this year that is entirely remote. Before COVID-19, I would never have considered a remote job/ the possibility of teleworking simply because I thought it was something that wouldn't be possible in the field of History. Obviously this all changed when things shut down in 2020- and in some ways, the work realm changed for the better. I was able to secure a remote job relevant to my field for good pay, something that would not have been possible before the pandemic. On the other hand, working entirely remote makes it much harder to connect with coworkers and get out of the house.
• 
  2021-09-24

  COVID-19 Archive Project

  Two students interview each other about the pandemic and how it affected their life.
• 
  2021-09-15

  COVID-19 Archive Project Interview

  [Curator's Note] Two persons interview each other about their experiences during the COVIS-19 pandemic. They both lived in different countries when the pandemic started, as one of them lives in Singapore and the other in India.
• 2020-02-05

  Dancing through the Pandemic

  I have never experienced a pandemic like COVID-19, most of us have not. When we were told to stay home, quarantine and social distance life just became static. I moved into somewhat of a virtual reality, taking online classes and working from home. However, being home everyday without any socializing or going to the gym became really depressing and I had a hard time focusing on my work. One day my sister and I were sitting on the couch, over with pandemic life and she says "let's have a dance party". We blasted music throughout our apartment for hours and just danced all the pressure and stress out. We did this at least 3 times a week for months during the most difficult times of the pandemic. It became something we looked forward to. It was the best decision we have ever made. Not only could we destress but we had the time of our lives and it brought us closer as a family.
• 
  2021-09-22

  Mask trash near the bike rack

  A disposable mask was discarded/lost by the bike rack near the COOR building on campus.
• 
  2021-09-23

  Disposable mask on campus

  A disposable mask on the ground early in the morning before 9AM classes begin.
• 
  2021-09-21

  Being a student during covid 19

  I am sharing my experience as a college student during the pandemic.
• 
  2020-03-07

  Strengthening friendships and learning new hobbies

  When COVID-19 hit the states back in March of 2020, I was a freshman in college. I was sent home to and had to take the rest of my classes from home, for what we thought would be two weeks. Boy, was I wrong, two weeks turned into the longest and most memorable summer vacations of my life. When we had been sent home me and my three best friends wanted to make the most out of the time we were given, so we turned to our hobbies, which was fishing. Ever day I woke up earlier than I would have while at school. I found myself to be busier and more active during the pandemic due to all our fishing adventures. My relationships grew plentifully with my friends, and I was able to do well in school all at the same time. Throughout the pandemic I consider myself to be very lucky and blessed to not know anyone personally who had died from COVID-19, and I am beyond grateful for that. Not everyone is able to say the same. Even though I was active during the pandemic does not mean I did not take it seriously, we made sure to wear our masks, and practice social distancing. My friends and I decided that fishing would be the perfect activity to be safe while all still being together. We fished 7 days a week and gained so many new insightful skills and memories during our time. One fond memory that I have from the pandemic is when my friends and I went into a lagoon in the beginning of May when the ice had just melted, and the water was unbearably cold. At the time we didn’t have waders so we went in with whatever boots that we could find from home the water was much deeper than we had anticipated, by the time we made it through to our location that we wanted to fish in all our pants were soaked to our waists but that didn’t stop us from making it to our destination. I will never forget that day because it was a Tuesday in the middle of the day and we all had classes. It’s a great memory and I will never forget it because it was so unique compared to anything we have ever done in our lives prior to.
• 
  2020-03

  Life of a College Student During a Pandemic

  The COVID-19 pandemic has affected so many people all across the globe in many different ways. One of the big groups of people that have been affected in the United States is college students. I was a semester and a half into my freshman year here at Duquesne when everything began to take a turn for the worse. Looking back to then, I was still finding my way and learning what it was like to be a college student at the time, just beginning to become familiar with the lifestyle. The past year and a half as a college student has been a long and hard process of transitioning into life as a college student during a global pandemic. Simple things like going to class in person, to eating with my friends in the dining hall were not as simple as they once seemed. Many students, like myself, struggled with being as involved in online classes like we were during in person classes. Along with that, I struggled with retaining a lot of the information given to me by my professors during class time, communication between student and professor was not as easy as it used to be. But not only has the education aspect of college changed drastically, there has been a huge change in the social aspect of college as well. Simple things like meeting with some friends to go get dinner after a long week of classes was not as easy as it once was. Looking back, freshman year now feels like an eternity ago, a lot about my life as a college student has changed due to this pandemic. Certainly, things are becoming better, and we are getting closer to normality, but the pandemic still affects me as a college student till this day. Still having to wear masks on campus as well as getting a COVID test when feeling a little bit sick are some things I have had to deal with recently. Life as a college student is ever changing during the pandemic, it has been very hard at times, but it is certainly something I will never forget.
• 
  2020-02-20

  Separated by the pond

  My story starts in the first week of September 2019 when my parents had informed me that my oldest sister who I had not been very close with was getting married back home in the United Kingdom. This was a place where me and my family had lived for many years before a migration to the United States. She was getting an arranged marriage through the rules of Hindu religion and we would have to fly over to her engagement ceremony in February of the next year. When receiving this news, it seemed as if there was no real emotion behind it, just a simple flight over for a week and a simple return back home to Pittsburgh. Fast forward to five months later and we were ready for departure with no thought of how our lives would change in the coming few weeks. I had not seen my sister for much time before this week of events and I was interested in exploring how different her life has been from mine, especially in context of age difference as she is 7 years older than I. The week started in a somewhat awkward fashion as I was introduced to my future brother-in-law and his family, sharing the common small talk one tends to do in this situation. However, as the week progressed I felt as if we had much more in common with this family than originally thought and maybe this arranged marriage would be one of less tension unlike many others that are similarly wed. All great conversations and smiles would have one presume that this would lead to a final great day where we would all celebrate their engagement and wish good luck for the future endeavours. That night after the engagement ceremony, both my family and theirs had a long conversation on venues and dates for the wedding originally planned for December and that following morning I had to fly back out for my classes at university in the United States. I talked to my sister and told her I would do a better job keeping in touch and once my term ended in May, I could take a direct flight back into London to visit them and some of my friends around the area. Shortly after the engagement when all had settled, we had received news that there was an infiltration of covid 19 that had entered the United States, although I was not too alarmed about this. As the days and weeks went on, it was then turned from one person having contracted the virus to thousands and all international travel would be stopped, especially to the United Kingdom where they had much worse statistics. I talked to my sister on the phone and we kept delaying and postponing all aspects of our lives from the wedding to my supposed trip back. It has been almost two years since I last saw my sister and her husband in person but in fact the constant communication through the phone has only strengthened our friendship and in my opinion has been better than before the pandemic and introduced itself. I have submitted this as my story because I feel that we often take our family for granted and do not communicate with them as much as we could, being always busy in this fast paced modern world. Once this travel ban has been lifted, I plant to go to London with my friends and finally meet back in a face to face setting.
• 
  2021-09-20T19:35:00+00:00

  Faris Danan and Hridaya Patel COVID-19 Interview

  This object shares both of our experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic
• 
  2021-09-20

  Wake Up Call

  I was nineteen years old, now soon too be twenty-one, when news started circulating about a new virus that was spreading around in China. Personally, I thought the whole thing was just a bunch of fear mongering being played up by the media for clicks. In March of 2020 my theory would turn out to be drastically wrong. Slowly the spread of this new virus became worse and worse and before I knew it, everything was shut down and my family was in lockdown. My in-person classes at Duquesne University were all cancelled and moved to online conference calls over Zoom. For the first time in my life, a global event was having a real, tangible effect on my life. Being born in December of 2000, I have already lived through some world events that will go down in history. Wars in the Middle East, the Housing Market Crash, 9/11, the rapid advancement of computers and technology… all things I was alive for but either to young to remember or to ignorant to see the significance. For the first time in my life, I was seeing a major occurrence in the world directly impact my life and was able to comprehend the seriousness and significance. The object I have loaded is a picture of the Ferris Wheel my family owns and potentially one of the last times I will ever have seen it up and running. Hundreds of thousands of small and family run businesses have either been shut down temporarily or shut down for good because of the pandemic, my family business is no exception. My family runs Reinhart Amusements, a business that provides rides and games to Parishes around the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area for their summer festivals. I’ve been working for the businesses since I was fourteen and started helping long before then. Like many others, we too had to shut down because of the pandemic. My family does not rely on this business financially like my grandfather did. For my parents and many in my large family, it is more of a self-fulfilling hobby. I’m very lucky to get to say that my father and his father have put smiles on the faces of kids and adults alike all around the Pittsburgh area. It is now September 20, 2021 and we have not been able to partake in a festival for over 2 years now. It is sad to say, but after talking with my father and if we are unable to open back up in 2022 then we never will. I don’t know what the future holds with this virus and the world. What I do know is that though the pandemic may take away my family business, it will never take away my own and many others happy memories of it.
• 
  2020-03

  March 2020: A Life-changing Month

  The year 2020 was looking to be much like other years that I spent in college. I was going to be going to classes, meeting up with friends, and working out most days. As March approached, my excitement grew. Spring break was coming, and I had a scheduled trip to Cancun, Mexico. There was talk of a virus spreading through China, but it was very unknown to us. Prior to our trip, we joked about contracting the virus. Little did we know, that would be the week living in the world the way we knew it. My trip to Mexico was everything I wanted it to be and more, but I was ready to come home and finish the semester. We came back from Mexico, and I returned to Duquesne. Within one week of my return, everything changed. Universities around the country started to close for, what we thought at the time, two weeks. Duquesne followed suit. School did not return that semester and the entire country began to shut down. There was a lot of fear and unknown. One minute I was having the trip of a lifetime, and the next minute I was at home with my family only leaving to get groceries. We began using masks everywhere we went, using hand sanitizer many times a day, and staying as far away from others as possible. Although life felt like it completely stopping, the pandemic allowed my family and I to experience something that we might never get to experience again: over a month of quality time together. I was now doing school via zoom and my father, brother, and uncle were home from work. During this time, my family spent a lot of time together. My father and I would find interesting ways to work out every day since our gym had been shut down (see artifact image for a picture of my watch after completing a weighted vest walk. We began these weighted vest walks during the pandemic.). We would watch Netflix series as a family, do puzzles, and even play board games together. I will never forget these memories, even though they were accompanied by fear of the Coronavirus.
• 
  2020-05

  The Class of Covid(2020-21) [MISSING MEDIA]

  The picture above that I have chosen for the archive was taken around May of 2020 which is a few months after Covid-19 started spreading very quickly around the United States of America. This was the very start of online school and the era of Zoom. For future readers, Zoom was the company that acted very quickly during the start of the pandemic and made virtual meetings the most convenient and efficient for schools, companies, and friends who could not see each other in person. I personally had many online meetings with my friends when our parents would not let us out of the house in fear of the treacherous Covid that we might bring back with us. In the picture, the very last high school class of my career was over Zoom, and I could not hug or see my close friends, classmates, or teachers before graduating. My private school went from kindergarten to 12th grade in high school, so some of these people I have known for more than 8 years, and Covid prevented me and many other students across the nation and the whole world from having that sentimental last day being able to say goodbye to our favorite teachers or seeing some acquaintances before heading off to college. It is just crazy to think that it will be a very long time before another graduating high school class is forced online or in the near future when online class is just a foreign thought that would baffle kids or young adults that hear about it.
• 
  2020-04-16

  The Diary of a Broken High School Senior

  I was a member of the class of 2020 at what I believe is the most incredible school imaginable. Perhaps after thirteen years I am far from unbiased, but the sense of community offered by my beautiful, 1,200 student Pre-K through 12th grade school is unmatched. Now, envision a girl who walked this campus with her childhood best friends, siblings, and cousins, and, rather frequently, her mother who made an effort to lead the Parents Association countless years. Overlay a history of homesickness and a global pandemic, and the product is March 2020 me when this blissful chapter of my life was abruptly ripped away, propelling me prematurely towards college at a school I had already decided could never fill the shoes of my high school. This tear stained entry was written on April 16th, when my state governor officially shut down all schools for the remainder of the school year. I had spent the last four weeks with a countdown on my iPhone tracking the days until I could return to school. The countdown had to be adjusted at one point when “coronacation” was extended from one to three weeks. Yet I remained the voice of naive optimism, unwilling to entertain the unfortunate reality that everyone around me had already accepted. This may seem dramatic and theatrical. But this same optimist in me hopes that, should anyone stumble upon my story, they will “respect what [they] cannot know” (Saidiya Hartman). There is much more to this story and my history than could ever be relayed to another person. But with the right lens, great value can be extracted from every story, no matter how many dried tears dot its pages. Hartman, Saidiya. "Venus in Two Acts." Small Axe, vol. 12 no. 2, 2008, p. 1-14. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/article/241115.
• 
  2021-09-16

  Assignment for Literature and Cultural Analysis Seminar

  I'm sharing an assignment sheet for my "Literature and Cultural Analysis" class at Vanderbilt University for the Fall 2021 semester. The class, themed "The Archive," is designed to encourage critical thinking around the concept of the archive and its material practices and embodiments. While we think of the ways in which archives enable research and help to cultivate new knowledge and stories, we also consider how archives encode structures of power and act as sites of forgetting as much as remembering. I've asked my class of twelve students to contribute to the COVID-19 digital archive as their first writing assignment for the semester. This assignment is designed to introduce them to an existing and regularly updated archive and ask them to think critically about processes of archiving and the decisions that go into selecting, categorizing, and framing the importance of a cultural artifact. My students have been asked to choose 2-3 items from their experience of the pandemic year to share in this public forum. Their contributions will be tagged to sync up with this assignment sheet.
• 
  2020-10-08

  2020 Election

  The picture above is a photo that I took of myself after mailing my absentee ballot for the 2020 election. This was something that was especially exciting amidst the difficulties that Covid-19 had caused in the United States and around the world. Due to the pandemic, most in-person voting was not happening that year. Instead, most people mailed in ballots. As a college student, I needed to register for an absentee ballot in order for me to vote in my home state of New Jersey. I remember that I did this while I was stuck at home over the summer. For me, during the summer of 2020, I did not feel as though I was accomplishing anything. Registering for my absentee ballot was one of the only things that I actually accomplished during this time. In addition, there was much unrest in the country, as well as on social media, that motivated me to register as well. As a 20 year old, this was the first Presidential election that I could vote in, which made it especially important for me. During the summer, with all of the unrest in the country, I was interested to see the areas in which I agreed with my parents, and the areas in which we disagreed. In such a disaster of a year, I wanted to be able to say that I had voted in the election, at the very least. It is my civic duty after all. I think that this photo is extremely interesting because it is a true time capsule. I am wearing a mask, which characterizes the Covid pandemic. The filter proudly states, “Just Voted!!!” and “Elections 2020”. There is a joy that is evident on my face; there is something exciting about being able to vote in your first presidential election. Throughout my life, I have learned about elections and have always wanted to take part. In the 2016 election, my high-school peers and I, who were nearly competent citizens, were forced to watch from the sidelines. There is also something particularly interesting about an election in an extremely difficult time. It felt important in a way that regular years might not.
• 
  2020-09-16

  Vanderbilt Covid Testing

  This photo is a screenshot of an email that I received during the Fall 2020 semester at Vanderbilt University. Throughout the semester, I received many emails that looked exactly like that one. The email is proof of a negative Covid test result, which every Vanderbilt student had to receive each week during the fall semester in order to remain living in their dorm. If a student tested positive, they would be taken from their dorm into quarantine housing. For some context, in March of 2020, all Vanderbilt students were sent home early due to the coronavirus. From March onward through the summer, Vanderbilt students worried about their fate as students. Would we be allowed to return to Nashville in the fall? Would we be subjected to more online “college”, trapped in our childhood bedrooms? This anxiety physically ate away at me, keeping me in a constant state of unease. When we finally heard that we would be coming back to campus, it felt as though an immense, invisible weight had been released from my shoulders. We were told, however, that there would be restrictions to college life. At that moment, I did not care an ounce. I would happily take any variation of college, as long as I would be able to live on campus. One of my major stressors entering that year was that we would be kicked off campus a second time. Callous students loudly proclaimed that this was inevitable, there would be no way that we would last this upcoming year. Comments like this brought the anxiety right back to the pit of my stomach. As a student who was going to be living on campus, what would I do if I was kicked off? Where would I go? I did not even want to think about that as a possibility. But that was the energy that charged the air at Vanderbilt that year: there was a fear and a deep distrust that Vanderbilt would stay open. One of the key differences between this year and other years at Vanderbilt was the weekly Covid testing (In the spring semester, the Covid testing was twice weekly). Students were required to enroll in times in their schedule when they would trek over to the Rec, or the large gym on campus, to spit in a tube. At the beginning of the year, I would go with my friends during our allotted time. We soon learned, however, that it did not really matter when you went, as long as went sometime during the week. While this was in some ways comical, to walk into the Rec center, with pop music blaring, and spit alongside your college peers, there was something stressful about it as well. It was like constantly turning yourself in; if you did have the misfortune of having Covid, you had willingly given yourself over for the school to come and take you away. Especially at the beginning, fear of Covid was rampant. Even if you felt fine, a scratchy throat may seem like your doom. At the beginning of the semester especially, waiting for the emailed results felt like eternity. And we all knew what would happen to people who tested positive, or those unfortunate enough to be contact traced: they were shipped off in a golf cart for everyone to see, and were banished from the rest of campus. But this was worth it, all of it was worth it for us. The stress of getting tested and the fear of being quarantined was a miniscule price to pay for being able to be on campus, with our friends. It was an escape from our summers of restriction. Or at least, it was for me. And for that, I give Vanderbilt tremendous credit for opening and following through successfully with the covid-testing of all the students each week.
• 
  2020-03-11

  The Vanderbilt University COVID Shutdown

  This is a photo of an ABC news segment that was aired on March 11th, 2020, at the very beginning of the pandemic in the United States. The photo shows an interview of a Vanderbilt student (me!). The caption reads “Undergrad Students Must Move out by Sunday”. The interview was taken on a Wednesday, which had been the day that the students were notified that they would need to vacate the campus. The Monday of that week, March 9th, had been our first day after spring break. That same day, we received the first email about the Coronavirus. It stated that classes would be cancelled for the next two weeks. At that time, some students and parents began to panic. Some students decided to leave campus for those two weeks, and believed that they would simply return after those two weeks. These students only took the belongings that they would need for those two weeks, and many of them left the majority of their things in their rooms. Two days later, on the Wednesday of that week, the students received a second email that we would all need to leave campus, and that we had until that Sunday to move all of things out entirely. Naturally, mass chaos ensued as students struggled to figure out how to move all of their things. Most students did not have any help from parents or family, as many people were afraid to travel. This time was a blur of stress, fear, and sadness as students mourned the year that was left unfinished. It was a charged frenzy of packing and moving, but despite this, all around the Vanderbilt’s campus, friends could be seen hugging and crying, particularly the graduating seniors. It was truly surreal in the worst way possible. For me, this picture represents that entire, horrific, move-out experience. On the day that I found out that we would need to leave for the remainder of the year, I was in a practice room in my dorm with one of my friends. He had just been telling me how he had been fighting with his father over whether or not to leave during the two weeks without class. He, of course, wanted to stay on campus, but his father was convinced that he needed to come home. I had already conceded to my parents on that battle, and had plane tickets to come home for the Friday of that week. I, like everyone else, thought that I would only be going home for two weeks like the email had explained. I also was willing to be home for the two weeks to see my family, as I had been in the UK over spring break, which had caused major tensions with my parents. Wednesday’s email confirmed our worst fears: we would all be forced to leave for the rest of the year. I remember feeling completely numb. I walked out of the room to call my parents, while my friend called his. As I spoke to my mom, I realized that I would need to pack up all of my things extremely quickly. She advised me to go to the UPS store to get boxes; as soon as my friend and I were both off the phone, we went straight there, buying up many boxes each to begin packing. While we tried to smile and be upbeat, both of us were still in utter shock. With every ounce of my being, I did not want to leave. It was my sophomore year, and college finally seemed to be mine; I had a phenomenal group of friends who I loved deeply, I was involved on campus, and I loved my classes and professors. The tragedy of it all reverberated through me in waves. As devastated as I was, I had a more imminent task to focus on: moving out. Once we had bought our boxes, we realized that we could not carry them back to campus, and ordered an Uber. As I struggled to carry my boxes from the Uber, I noticed a news crew stationed outside of my dorm. “Could we ask you a few questions?” they called to the pair of us as we labored with our boxes. My insides swirled with anger and frustration about the whole situation, about the unfairness of it all. “Yeah, for sure!” I responded. Maybe someone would actually listen to us, and understand the insanity that we were experiencing. While I don’t remember the exact questions asked, I remember telling them that we had just picked up boxes as we were required to leave campus later that week. I attempted to communicate how upsetting this was to the entire student body. While I have never actually seen this news clip, a friend of mine sent me this picture of me being interviewed. For me, this picture captures how surreal the move out was. I was on the news, and I forgot all about it. It honestly meant nothing to me in that moment, as my world was pulled out from beneath me.
• 
  2020-10

  A Journal of a Plague Year

  The object I am uploading shows us how fashion is also impacted by Covid, it is really interesting.
• 
  2020

  Brooklyn College HNSC Prompt

  Brooklyn College HNSC assignment prompt, taught by Margrethe Horlyck-Romanovsky
• 
  2020-08-24

  Adventures in Virtual learning

  I’m in grad school now for the second time. I got my B.A. in 2009, and since it was right after the recession and collapse of the loan market, I panicked about jobs and went straight to an M.A. program. It wasn’t the best fit for me professionally or academically, but I didn’t have the life experience to identify that at the time. However, it was still valuable, and I met some of my best friends and professional connections I maintain to this day. Starting in 2012, I left academia and worked in a variety of jobs and fields before realizing I wanted to engage with archives and public history academically again. I found out I got into my dream grad program in late January 2020, and I was elated! Almost a decade after leaving my first graduate program, I was ready to start the next step of my educational and professional career. The excitement of a new city, new colleagues and friends, and fresh intellectual challenges awaited. More than anything, I was thrilled that my program wasn’t online, as that is not my preferred mode of learning. I don’t remember the precise dates, but COVID-19 came onto my radar around then. I know I tracked its progression through Washington state and then its spread to the rest of the country. Finally, it came to my town, and everything shut down. I ended up moving cross-country during the pandemic (another story entirely). Then, horror of horrors, classes began—online. The classes I’d been so excited for were moved to Zoom, my new classmates and colleagues nothing more than little squares. Some of them had pets, which was exciting, but in many ways, it felt like a waste of a year in terms of networking and developing camaraderie. Shifting to what is essentially a virtual, full-time job was a unique challenge. I wore pajamas most days, which was fun. I read all the advice telling me to put on clothes that I’d wear to the office or to campus, but I struggled to summon the motivation to do so when I knew I wouldn’t be going outside. My schedule was interesting, at least until I got a teaching assistantship gig that required more set hours. (The sleep inversion that occurs when the only things you’re required to be at are evening classes is incredible.) However, the lack of oversight meant some really great things! For the first time in my life, I was able to develop a reading/writing schedule that worked well for me. I had to, so I did. I was also able to put Netflix on in the background or play podcasts while I worked. Most importantly, I conquered my unease with online education. While asynchronous courses are still not my preference, over a year of remote learning means that Zoom is old hat. I, an introvert, also have a much easier time reaching out to strangers or new acquaintances. As we’ve met in person over the last month, some of those people have become great friends! While virtual learning and teleworking still aren’t my ideal, I love the new possibilities they offer for more accessible work and educational opportunities. [cat pictures] My coworkers were pretty great, and they miss me a lot now that I’m back working and studying in person. I still see them, but it’s just not the same.
• 
  2021-05-20

  Providence College Class of 2021 Graduation

  This photograph was taken by one of the photographers at the commencement ceremony for the Providence College Class of 2021 when I was being announced as receiving the honor of highest in academic rank (valedictorian) for my class. Providence had held its graduations at the Dunkin Donuts Center downtown for the past several decades, but COVID-19 restrictions made that impossible for the Class of 2021. Instead, the College opted to have commencement on campus, holding it at Hendricken Field. Each student was only allowed up to two guests. My parents and brother all graduated from Providence College, so it was difficult knowing that the pandemic prevented me from being part of the same traditions that they got to experience as seniors, such as Senior Ring Weekend. My brother had graduated just two years earlier, so I knew what being a senior was "supposed" to be like, but did not get to experience it. However, having graduation on campus was truly a blessing and a unique experience. I was able to get an extra ticket so that my mom, dad, and brother could all be there to see me receive my degree, and my grandmother was able to watch the livestream from her home. After a challenging year full of disappointment and distance, the Class of 2021 was graced with the chance to celebrate our achievements together.
• 2020-04-01

  Finishing my Undergraduate Degree during the Pandemic

  I was starting the last semester of my undergraduate degree when the pandemic hit the globe. At this time (around March 2020) I was planing to work on my senior honors thesis and happy to start my master's degree in October 2020. But in order to finish my thesis, I had to do some intensive research first: my plan was to visit a big German archive in Berlin and also to do some research in a couple of libraries. But just before I could do so, all German institutions went into lockdown and closed for months due to health precautions. As somebody who studied History and had to visit an archive for my thesis, I felt like I was totally stuck in my academic studies. I felt like it was impossible to finish my studies in the scheduled time, and for months I didn't know how to continue my academic work. Luckily, my university was considerate enough to extend the submission date for my thesis. After a couple of months of not knowing if I could start my master's degree in time (and in general not knowing how my academic and financial future would look like if I didn't finish my undergraduate degree in time) the archives and libraries opened up again, and I could continue my research and finish my thesis.