Items

• 
  2020-08-24

  First Day of School Picture

  The picture I chose to add to the archive is my first day of school on August 24, 2020. In this picture, I was laying in bed with my laptop because everything was online. If you were lucky, you got a professor that taught class on Zoom. That is the closest to being in a regular classroom as it got. You were able to see your classmates (if they turned their camera on), you could have discussions with everyone, ask the professor questions and get immediate answers. On the other hand, you could get stuck with a professor who chose to use youtube videos and websites instead of teaching. These were the worst, poor to almost no teacher-student interaction, just discussion boards and Google. It was impossible for me to learn like this, I felt like I was not being taught! It was always stressful when trying to do assignments for classes like this because I did not understand the curriculum. If I needed to contact my professor, I just had to send an email and hope they would email me back soon with answers. Sometimes, I would not get a response until days later, a few times I never got a response. After a while of this, I started to feel miserable, stressed, and depressed. My grades started getting lower and lower and knowing how much school costs, knowing that I was going to lose my grants and scholarships because I was failing, I started having anxiety attacks. In my head, I kept saying, “I cannot learn like this, I know I am going to fail, so why keep trying?” Things got to a point where I would open my laptop, look at my assignments, cry, and then just close my laptop back up. I lost all my motivation and I lost sight of my dreams to be an optometrist. I remember the day that I dropped out, the defeat that I felt, feeling like a complete failure.
• 
  2020-02-25

  Covid journal, 2020-2023

  From the beginning, I was aware that this was a world historical event and I wanted to be very attentive to how it played out, both in the news and in my personal life. I read that diaries were scarce in the aftermath of the 1917 pandemic, so it could be useful to scholars to create one this time. I reviewed it before submission, and it reminded me of many things I had already forgotten. Once I started in February 2020, I wrote every day until mid-2021, when entries began to thin out.
• 
  2022-03

  School Trip to New York COVID-19

  As a school, we take a trip to New York and Boston every other year. We had planned to take a trip in October 2021 but many of the venues in New York were still closed so we had to postpone until spring 2022. Even then, there were still a lot of students who did not want to get the vaccine that was required to enter all indoor venues at the time. We had to split the trip so those without vaccinations could go later when the mandate was lifted. There were still mask mandates and we had to present our vaccination cards at every venue. Despite the restrictions though, we had a great time in New York.
• 
  2021-06-16

  Golden Knights vs Canadiens Game 2

  I am a huge hockey fan and going to games was definitely something that I really missed during the pandemic. Once my family and I were fully vaccinated we were able to travel to Las Vegas and see playoff game. As a result of Covid-19, the NHL only had a 56 game season in 2021 and teams were placed in new divisions and the playoffs had some changes to its formatting, hence the weird matchup of Golden Knights/Canadiens in the Stanley Cup "Semifinals." The Golden Knights lost 3-0 but overall, it was still a really fun experience because I had never been to a Stanley Cup Playoff game before. There was still many Covid-19 restrictions in place during this time, but if I'm remembering correctly these restrictions were more prominent when I returned in December, especially at the arena.
• 2019-12

  HIS 643-44605: Story on Tourism

  Following the lift of COVID-19 restrictions, many people traveled for fun, adventure, or as a celebration of renewed freedom. However, I did not travel following the coronavirus and have never traveled outside the surrounding states. There are many reasons for this, but some of the primary reasons are that I am young, my parents never traveled, I have not had the money to travel, and the idea of traveling is scary. However, the older I get, the more I want to travel and not stay in the same space. There are so many places I want to travel when I can, that it is almost overwhelming. I want to travel to Italy, Greece, Sicily, France, Germany, Denmark, etc. I want to see David by Michelangelo, the Louvre, Santorini, Neuschwanstein Castle, Tivoli Gardens, etc. The sites I would want to visit are based on important historical and cultural sites. I would want to make the most of any place I visit, and I would spend every waking moment doing something. I would document my trip primarily through photos, videos, and physical evidence of my visits. I really enjoy collecting brochures, maps, stickers, post cards, etc., from places as a physical record of my trip. I hope to one day travel.
• 
  2022-06-12

  Trip to Chania, Crete: Wedding of the Century for the Family

  This was the first travel for me and my family when COVID-19 restrictions relaxed to a thoughtful degree. This is important to me because it was a time that my extended family came together and the appreciation of that was heightened by the absence of togetherness through out the more critical time of the pandemic.
• 
  2021-07

  Trip to San Francisco July 2021

  During the summer of 2021, my girlfriend and I traveled to San Francisco for a week-long vacation. Travel and business restrictions were greatly lessened but still in place. As seen in the photo masks were still very common, especially in a big city like San Francisco where there was less anti-mask sentiment (my mask was off just for the photo). We wore masks for the majority of the trip, including while on planes and trains or in any public space. One of the bigger impacts of the pandemic that we experienced during our trip was how many restaurants and other businesses closed at earlier times than before. Additionally, while our trip was happening the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were finally occurring after all of the delays to its start. We were able to watch many events from our hotel room that would have otherwise occurred a year prior.
• 
  2021-12-25

  Immunocompromised at Christmas

  The impact of COVID-19 on travel and tourism over the past three years has been significant, and in my experiences, travel for me in post-COVID era has been wildly different - as my mind swirls around a large concern that I could possibly do harm to my immunocompromised husband. He’d experienced major spinal and heart surgeries in the summer of 2020, and the following year a round of COVID left his nervous and immune systems permanently weakened. My parents had planned a large family trip in May 2021, and my thoughts continued to swirl around the potential for another round of COVID afflicting my husband. I had us cancel. Months later, my family finally convinced us to get on a plane for Christmas to Austin, Texas to see my sister’s new home. It would be our son’s first flight, too, which only added to my anxiety. It was December 2021, and most restrictions were still in place at airports at this time. I was grateful for the number of passengers on the flights, in the airports, and in public transportation hubs utilizing masks and maintaining distance from one another. I recalled seeing one family, completely maskless, at the airport. They seemed so out of place - and to be honest they looked very uncomfortable - too. Luckily, like us, my extended family was hesitant to explore the hustle of downtown Austin, so much of the trip was spent with everyone at my sister’s new home, cooking, reading, completing puzzles, and most importantly: getting her lawn familiarized with several dozen rounds of Bocce ball. It was the first time we were all able to come together after the start of the pandemic, and I felt grateful for the opportunity to be with my family in the same safe space. We got way too competitive, but the laughter during Bocce proved the most memorable part of the trip. I loved how happy my family looked in this moment, especially my sister (front in orange) and my husband (over her right shoulder). I am not sure what the future looks like for COVID and travel, but for me, I know that it already looks different - I will continue to mask, I will distance, and I will choose options that will do the least amount of harm to those I love and the people I may meet along the way.
• 
  2021-08-15

  Pandemics, Wildfires, and Climate Change

  The Covid 19 Pandemic is and was a transformative event representing history in the making. The state of Oregon and particularly Portland witnessed a trifecta of converging crises beginning with the lockdown on St. Patrick’s Day in 2020. That summer was one of the hottest in recorded history and saw the city and state divided in smoke-filled chaos. The literal last words of “I can’t breathe” uttered by George Floyd were being chanted in the streets downtown as wildfires raged in all corners of the state, set against the backdrop of a global pandemic. Everything felt surreal and the tension in the city was like a powder keg. By the following summer some advancements had been made, the first round of vaccinations administered, but the same underlying issues were present in Portland. Houselessness, fractured political ideologies, and Far-Right and Far-Left members clashing in an invisible maelstrom on the Willamette River. My husband and I had adhered to the very stringent guidelines and protocol set by both the city and state to the letter. For a bit of context, my husband worked on the front line as a department manager at a grocery store and wore a mask for eleven hours at a time often six days a week for a year and a half, while I volunteered at the Red Cross and held down the home front. In August of 2021, we finally decided that we needed to get out of town, so we grabbed the dog and set a course for the Crooked River in Central Oregon. It was a two-week period of sheer peace and glory bookended by fear and anger at the negligence of fellow humans. We camped on the river and practiced mindfulness and being present every day, breathing deeply the fresh air ushered in by a strong breeze from the East. The “going there” and “going home” portions were marred by anti-mask protestors with weapons arguing about state’s rights, as death toll numbers were rising. The fires had already burned over a million acres with no signs of slowing down, and the reality of Portland’s social justice issues did not disappear just because we did. The experience left us feeling gratitude for the opportunity to explore, our good health, and open minds, it was our 18th wedding anniversary, in which porcelain is traditionally given as a gift. Ironic, given the fact that not only is porcelain extraordinarily beautiful but also incredibly delicate, a perfect representation of the state of things during the summer of 2021.
• 
  2022-06-03

  First Student Trip After COVID-19 Pandemic Began

  I have led a student global travel trip for the last 10 years at my school. Because of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, our trip to Australia and New Zealand was delayed/cancelled until 2021 in hopes of COVID being over by then. I had 27 students have to postpone traveling on this trip. In 2021, we came across the same restrictions, and our trip was cancelled again. As we we were planning our 2022 trip, New Zealand still had quarantine rules that would have kept us in the hotel for a week before we would get to go anywhere or do anything. Due to this, we changed our trip to one to France, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. My students wanted to travel again, but did not know what to expect. There were still masking rules in place in a lot of the places we visited, and everyone had to take a mandatory COVID-19 test to be able to leave Europe at the end of the trip and get back into the United States. This was the scariest part because if your test revealed you were positive for COVID, you were required to stay in the country until you were negative. Everyone on the trip dreaded the day of the test because we had heard so many stories about other schools on different trips that had students who had failed the test. The trip was extremely important to me because it represented these students being able to fully restart their lives and finally be able to be kids again. This is a picture of me from the Louvre waiting my turn to see the Mona Lisa. It was taken immediately after I took a picture of all my students in front of the painting. I can see the happiness in my eyes again, getting to see students do something they love to do.
• 2021-06-01

  Post-pandemic Beach Trip

  Unlike most people that we knew, we did not travel anywhere during the pandemic. We did not have any visitors outside of our family and continued to use social distancing until the restrictions were lifted. When the world opened up again, we still chose to stay fairly close to home. At the time, we were living in Harrisburg, PA and decided to visit Virginia Beach. We stayed at the Hilton and were shocked to see how to the pandemic had effected the tourism industry. The hotel was wildly understaffed as they had let many employees go over the past year and it was chaotic. The rooms were not cleaned on time for check-in so there were people packed into the lobby, bags everywhere, just waiting to get to their rooms. The employees were overworked and mostly rude; wholly unlike how it had been pre-pandemic. When we were finally able to check into our room, we got onto the elevator and found that there was some kind of liquid all over the floor. We tried to show an employee but there were none around to help. After getting into our room, we pulled out the sofa bed to find that it was full of sand and that the room had not been properly cleaned. Eventually, someone did come up to clean it but it took hours. Our trip could be summed up as unrelaxing; nearly every employee seemed as though they were at their limits. There were still mask guidelines in place and all of the people there seemed angry about it, whether it was because they were wearing one and others weren’t or because they did not want to wear one and were angry that the guidelines told them to. It seems as though no one could be satisfied and everyone was inconvenienced no matter which side they were on.
• 
  2021-03-06

  Escape from COVID: San Antonio to Galveston

  I submitted this story because I wanted to explain what my first trip after COVID was like.
• 
  2022-06-12

  Eurostar station in London, June 2022

  During my honeymoon, my husband and I were in London, Summer of 2022. We had spent two weeks there and it was time to take the Eurostar train through the Channel Tunnel to Amsterdam. What particularly struck me was how serious the ticket agents and French government officials (the train must enter through France) were about Covid-19 Vaccine Record Cards. If someone did not have their official government-issued Covid vaccine certificate, they were absolutely not permitted on the train. It was very serious and made me anxious, even though I held on to mine tightly, along with my passport. We waited in the entry line for 40 minuets to an hour to get to the check point, the guards were very intense and scrutinized every passenger, and we eventually entered the train on to our destination. This was the first trip we had taken since the pandemic began, and by this time Europe and parts of Asia were opening back up for tourism. Many people we saw in London and Amsterdam at this time were no longer wearing masks, and since my husband and I were vaccinated, neither did we. We had an amazing honeymoon and I am grateful that the pandemic was slowing down and the countries we visited were accepting tourists.
• 
  2021-10-14

  Alone

  When travel restrictions were lifted, did you take a trip? If so, where did you go and why? What are your memories of this trip? Were there any continuing COVID-19 restrictions in place? Once the Pandemic restrictions were eased, not necessarily lifted, my family and I traveled to northern Arizona, southern Nevada, southern California, and Korea. During the Pandemic, life continued on as normal for me, not so much for my spouse. I was a social worker who continued to do home visits. My spouse was an elementary educator who was able to work from home. Life during the early-, and mid-stages of the Pandemic was busy, and it felt like we were going full-speed ahead - faster than before the Pandemic. Traveling has always been my family's go-to experience; however, the Pandemic halted travel as the areas we usually go to, road trips to California, or flying to Korea, were off-limits. Once restrictions were eased, we immediately traveled to those areas to get away. Restrictions were still present, mask mandates required us to wear masks in California, and Korea. One of the memorable moments was wearing a mask for a lift, a 14-hour flight, to Korea with a one-year-old who constantly wanted to pull the mask off. Lastly, the most memorable moment throughout the whole trip to California and then off to Korea was the feeling that we were always alone, during the day or night, everything felt like a ghost town.
• 
  04/14/2020

  Todd Leonard Oral History, 2020/04/14

• 2020-12-10

  My pandemic mental condition

  During pandemic, I was in the online English Bridge program of my university. The amount of assignments were a lot, and all I did during the pandemic was just waking up at 5am, eating break fast, going to class on zoom, eating lunch, doing assignments, eating dinner, and sleep. I could not even going grocery store to buy food or snacks because I could not finish assignments unless I just kept studying. Thus, in my room, I was alone and studying without any joy. My family supported me a lot for my study but I felt that only I was doing what I wanted (study), whereas my family was just working and doing domestic affairs. I was so depressed because if I was not existed, I did not let my family work so hard. I wanted to disappear at the time.
• 2020-08-22

  Finding peace during the pandemic

  During the pandemic, like most people, I experienced high amounts of stress and feeling kind of hopeless. I would spend the majority of my day playing video games in my house which doesn't really seem like a bad thing to be doing, but over time I could feel myself being lost and not the same person anymore. This was because before the pandemic, I was constantly on the move and interacting with people, so when this was taken from me I was unable to resume the things that I had always done. I began school at a local university and found myself unable to make friends as I had easily done in the past, because my social skills had taken a huge fall due to the pandemic. I found myself being a really quiet person and would only talk when I was talked to, and also found that I did not have the drive to complete tasks that should have been easy to complete. The way I began to overcome this was when I joined a local dance group. They were practicing at a park following social distance regulations. I did not instantly feel comfortable because I was unsure of myself and was not very confident when I first joined. However, the group was very welcoming and friendly towards me and they gave me all of the time and space I needed at the time to begin coming out of the shell that the pandemic had formed around me. Within about a year, these members have become some of my closest friends and we hang out daily. My confidence has reached an all time high that honestly I think might have caused me to become bored whenever I know something is a waste of time but is something that I have to do. This isn't necessarily a bad thing because it is definitely an improvement from before where I would not attempt to do things because I did not feel the confidence to complete them. Had I not joined the group, I would've stayed in my shell and would not have made the friends I have today. They gave me a chance to become active again and become socially active as well.
• 
  2021-12-01

  Taylor Schneider Oral History, 2021/12/01

  Taylor Schneider lives in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and currently works in sales and marketing. She discusses that she did not think that the virus was a big deal initially until everything started to shut down. She talks about her job opportunity and how it was rescinded because of the virus and how job searching was difficult because no one was hiring. She discusses how her communication with her friends and family was changing since the beginning of the pandemic with the use of FaceTime and Zoom. She goes on about how the mental toll of being on lockdown and staying at home affects her and the ways in which she passes time during the time.
• 
  12/14/2021

  Anonymous Oral History, 2021/12/14

  Anonymous is a person who, in his senior year of university, was hit by covid. Anonymous goes into detail on what went wrong with the pandemic, how new sources are at the biggest fault, and how it affected his personal life when looking for a job, and interacting with family and friends who both do, and do not want to be vaccinated, and self-isolating with many precautions despite Wisconsin having very few mandates.
• 
  11/28/2021

  Brogan Daniel Maxwell Oral History, 2021/11/28

  Brogan Maxwell was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota but raised in Rochester. He currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland as a graduate student at John Hopkins University. Brogan discusses the impact Covid-19 has had on his education, work, and social life. He brings a different perspective on communal efforts to flatten the curve and what his school has done to ensure safety. Touched on the government handling in his area and how he feels they are doing, and discussed the importance of being vaccinated and staying up to date on the pandemic.
• 
  12/05/2021

  Crystalina Peterson Oral History, 2021/12/05

  Crystalina Peterson is a non-traditional University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (UWEC) student. Currently, in her fifth and final year of undergraduate work, she will graduate from UWEC at the end of December 2021 with her degree in Public History before going on to graduate school with the hope of becoming a professor. Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, she moved to Barron, Wisconsin, near Eau Claire, for school. In this interview, Crystalina talks extensively about the challenges of motherhood during the pandemic especially when you have children in different households as well as mental health and how the pandemic had an impact on her and helped her better prioritize her health. She also talks about her experiences and involvement with the university, how the Covid-19 pandemic impacted that involvement, and how what she’s learned in college helped her better research and understand the pandemic. She also tackles the political climate that has heated up around the pandemic and how to handle those with differing opinions than your own.
• 
  12/01/2021

  Jillian Schemenauer Oral History, 2021/12/01

  Jillian Schemenauer was born and raised in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. From there she went on the receive her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from the University of Minnesota-Mankato. She is now working on her Doctorate degree at UW-Milwaukee. In her interview, she discusses moving to Milwaukee in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. She also discusses the increase in mental illnesses in her students and colleagues and the reasons behind the increase.
• 
  12/12/2021

  Anna Shearer Oral History, 2021/12/12

  Anna Shearer was born in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, and recently moved back to the area for her student teaching placement. In this interview, Anna explains the impact COVID-19 has had on her college experiences, student learning abilities, accommodating parents, and her personal struggles from the pandemic. Anna spends a large portion of the interview discussing the direct impact COVID-19 has had on students. She uses her fourth-grade placement class to talk about their struggle with handwriting, basic social skills, and general anxiety. As a recent college graduate from Winona State University, Anna stays optimistic and hopeful for employment within the Cottage Grove area and even feels comfortable teaching remotely online.
• 
  12/10/2021

  Jason Trzebiatowski Oral History, 2021/12/10

  In this interview, Jason Trzebiatowski, an EMT and Resident Assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, discusses some of the challenges and concerns facing first responders and other care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. He highlights the changes within the medical industry as it pertains to first responders, challenges he has faced as an RA with concerns from his residents, and the impact that the media has played in altering people’s perception of this virus and the institutions erected to fight it, including how much people’s perceptions of institutions like the CDC and the government, in general, have shifted over the past few years.
• 
  11/30/2021

  Erin Voss Oral History, 2021/11/30

  Erin Voss was born and raised in Colby, Wisconsin, and is currently a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In this interview, Erin discusses how COVID-19 has affected her life as a senior in high school at the beginning of the pandemic and as a college student currently. She discusses COVID-19’s effects on her mental health, family, and schooling. She shares differences she has seen in small town Colby compared to a large city like Madison and their responses to Covid. She touches on what her advice would be for people in the future to respond to a pandemic while keeping in mind mental health, students’ ability to learn, and cautions to take.
• 
  12/10/2021

  Courtney Erickson Oral History, 2021/12/10

  Courtney Erickson is a single mother who lives in Chippewa Falls, WI with her four children, as young as kindergarten through 16 years old. In this interview, Courtney Erickson discusses her experience being a caregiver during COVID-19 while also balancing school and work and the difficulties that go along with those responsibilities such as overseeing her children’s Zoom meetings and working from home. She shares the ways the pandemic affected her family life, the health of those around her, as well as her struggles with recovering from addiction amidst the pandemic.
• 
  12/14/2021

  Anna Buss Oral History, 12/14/2023

  In this interview, Anna Buss, who is a student at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, discusses her experiences being a student with a chronic illness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anna transferred to Eau Claire in her third year of college and shares her experience adjusting to the new school. She also talks about how the pandemic made her change her major, which was originally nursing, to graphic design.
• 
  12/12/2021

  Anonymous Oral History, 2021/12/12

  Anonymous is a student at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and is partially studying political science. In this interview, she discusses her own personal experiences with Covid and her thoughts on how leaders have dealt with it. She also discusses mental health and her mother’s experience in the medical field.
• 
  2023-03-20

  Disorientation: The Feeling I had on March 11th, 2020

  What Happened on March 11th, 2020
• 
  2022-01-31

  Syllabus from University at Buffalo HST 459, Dr. Marissa Rhodes.

  This is the syllabus from Dr. Rhodes' HST459 class at the University at Buffalo. From the syllabus: "This is a public history course revolving around the COVID-19 pandemic in partnership with the Journal of the Plague Year: An Archive of COVID-19 (www.covid-19archive.org). We will learn about oral histories (focused on the ethics and logistics of conducting, processing, curating, and exhibiting COVID-19 oral histories), and digital archives (focused on the ethics of rapid response archives, documenting the pandemic, curation and exhibit-making using Omeka-S). We will encounter readings on the ethics and methods of oral history, archives, and public history. You will also receive practical training and execute a culminating project such as an oral history collection, data remediation project, or exhibit centered around the Buffalo community, your hometowns, or some other group to which you have access or theme about which you are passionate." Students in the class submitted items to the archive, created oral histories and conducted projects within JOTPY. This will be linked to those items.
• 
  2023-03-30

  Dancing In The Face Of Uncertainty

  My family and I were shown immense grace as the world endured the heart wrenching sorrow of the COVID-19 pandemic. May those whose lives were stolen by the coronavirus live forever in memory, and rest in eternal peace. At the onset of my second Freshman semester, the chatter among friends included ignorant musings such as: "what would happen if we got it?”, and my favorite, “the virus would NEVER come to the island.” Before Costco lines evoked Walmart on Black Friday, and up-to-the-minute death tolls became the linchpin of our media diet, the Bayonne Bridge signified a seemingly impenetrable chasm safeguarding Staten Island from a quarantined cruise ship in February 2020; because obviously airborne particles don’t pay tolls, right? A strange sense of wonder and excitement overtook the CSI campus on March 11, 2020: the day Gov. Cuomo announced CUNY & SUNY schools would “pause” in-person instruction. I'll never forget hearing the announcement on radio before walking to class for the last time until September 20, 2021. As I drove down Loop Road, a group of students (presumably upperclassman) cheered while blasting music on the Great Lawn. If those students truly were upperclassman, their dancing in the face of uncertainty would spite the commencement celebration they would never receive. I suspect a webpage and some pre-recorded speeches is an inutile stand-in for sitting among thousands of graduates on that very lawn. In tandem with devastation, panic, and uncertainty, the pandemic thrust society into a hard reset. So much of life is spent planning, yearning, and working towards the future - all of which are meaningless novelties to a hellacious virus. To survive the pandemic, besides evading COVID by way of masks, social distancing, and grace from above, each of us had to sift the remnants of our livelihoods to make out what our “new” present would look like. I thrived through the pandemic with music blasting, self-reflection, and a sense of liberation. Family bonds grew stronger, passion projects were completed, and for the first time in a decade, my life felt tranquil. I am repulsed by the fact that while millions took their final breath, businesses shuttered for good, and anxiety tormented the world, I found inner peace reminiscent of my childhood summers. Eerily, I vividly recall sitting in the basement of 2N during a 8am Geology class wishing for, “all this crap to end”, and lamenting, “why didn’t I go to SNHU or some college online?” I guess someone got their wish, and dragged humanity down with him. My father was the only non-essential worker in the house; he didn’t get that fancy paper from the state which supposedly let you free if cops pulled you over. We spent the first full day of lockdown scouring local stores for the coveted (and effective) N95 masks. At a time when the CDC told people to not wear masks so medical professionals had supplies, we were on a mission to guarantee we had protection for the long haul. My family recognized that the “pause” would not be a 1 to 2 month patty cake. My father was adamant his Window Cleaning & Power Washing business would collapse from the indefinite closures of his commercial clients. Our first purchase was the last 3-pack of Milwaukee N95s with those gaudy exterior respirators from homespun Garber’s Hardware. The ever-jovial gentlemen behind the counter adamantly said something to the effect of, “we’re gonna be here ’till they tell us to shut them doors.” 3 masks wouldn’t cut it, so we continued down the way to ye olde Sherwin Williams; where the employee had no suspicion we needed a 20-count box of 3M's finest for anything other than some recreational spray painting. Mask wearing wasn’t en vogue just yet. Those masks were needed when my Uncle could not get out of bed at 1:30pm the following Saturday. He worked the night prior, Friday the 13th, at his second job as a bouncer in Manhattan. On Saturdays he would saunter out of bed by 10:45 the latest; but here he was: frozen in bed, voice hoarse, and coughing like a smoker. I threw on the 95 and nitrile gloves just to speak to him from the hallway. That day was also the first time I ventured out in full biohazard regalia. I still remember the condescending scowls at my neighborhood’s second rate deli counter. The treatment advice the CDC hotline provided was to load up on Extra Strength Tylenol and guzzle water like there was no tomorrow. Thankfully my Uncle did see tomorrow and recovered in about 5 days. While my Dad and I kept our distance as my mother tended to the patient, we realized there must be a fruitful pastime besides burying our eyes in CNN coverage all day. My father, perpetually seeking the next project, came to the realization that, in plain english: we needed a pool table. When I was 6 years old, my father built a pool table out of wood when he was working for a contracting firm that operated in what is now Brooklyn’s Industry City. At 9 feet It conveniently sat atop our giant dinning room table. It was a gorgeous deep blue with every authentic accoutrement short of nicotine-reeking cloth. The table lasted about 8 months until my mom wanted her dining room back, fair enough. For a long time that table felt like a fever dream. After the it departure it was seldom mentioned; the balls and commemorative Coca-Cola cuestick sat dormant in the far reaches of our old home. The biggest hurdle to this project was space. The only feasible location was the unfurnished room in the back of our basement. The room experienced iterations as a screen-print emulsion lab, woodshop, actual chocolate factory, punching bag area, and video recording studio. After countless YouTube tutorials, including a Filipino gentleman building an unleveled table where all balls rolled to one side, we ventured to Lowe’s “Indoor Lumber Yard” to rekindle the magic of 2007. We sourced only the finest un-warped 2x4s and the purest synthetic wood crafted by the hands of man: Unfinished MDF Board. The 97 inch composite wouldn't fit down the basement stairwell, so we asked the one employee not running from us to cut it down the middle. Our makeshift table now presented two unique considerations: first, the board had to be precisely glued back together, and second, did you know commercial lumber dimensions are several inches off the actual product size? And in case you were not aware, “real” pool tables are made of slate. Breaking ground on March 19th, we used our decommissioned 20-year-old kitchen table as legs for our new creation. The board’s overhang allowed pockets to sit freely (no ball return system needed). On the days I had online class, my father intended to go downstairs “for about an hour” in the morning, before getting stuck in a jam by lunch, and working until dinner. I would assist in between classes, and when I was free, we’d get caught up in the room for hours on end. With Music Choice and MTV Classic the soundtrack of our toil, my Dad and I measured “tournament standard” dimensions - only to be slightly off, argued about what the heck a 142 degree cut really is, and savored the aromatics of wood glue and contact cement. The room was coated in sawdust, with scrap wood scattered neatly about. I was finally involved in my dad’s carpentry prowess after years of staring at his convoluted tools. Have you heard a Mitter saw in action? The grinding of the spiraling blades drown your ears with the screams of a motorcycle whizzing through a tunnel. I’d wince in fear that the time would come when the blade’s “SHING” would be followed by an agonized scream. My dad made mention of how woodshop teachers were always missing an appendage. He even shared horror stories like the time the blade guard failed to engage on a circular saw, skid free, peeled the side of his boot, cut through floor tiles, and sputtered wildly until it sliced the power cord. When I did schoolwork upstairs while listening to SiriusXM (another pandemic coping tool) I regularly heard my dad belt obscenities en español louder than both of our blaring radios. The table was declared playable at 8pm on Monday March 30th. I know this because the music on tv tuned to a channel recording CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE (I DVR’d many movies during lockdown). The table is not 100% complete, and has some quirks which challenge you to be a better player. We practiced and played on that table at least an hour a day everyday until in-person classes began to cloud my schedule. Under lockdown, my family spent days and nights hanging out in the backyard, barbecuing and laughing loudly, before we capped the night with rounds of pool. In homage to the California Spring Break shelved by the obvious, I burned a best of California Hip-Hop Mix CD to play on our old stereo that found new life in the pool room. As New York overcame the epicenter phase, the laid back qualities of spring carried into the summer and fall. Everyday felt like a celebration of life. People were out in parks and open spaces, roads were traffic free, and in my case, I was able to hold the people I love closer. I wish everyone could have experienced the “new normal” as I did - with their own sense of peace. Don’t get me wrong, I have loved ones who no longer walk this earth because of the pandemic, and myself and my entire family experienced onset and lingering side effects from both the vaccine and the coronavirus. I do not think I would have survived contracting COVID as I did in May 2022 if I was not vaccinated. I look back at my lockdown experience so fondly because I choose to focus on the joyous moments in the midst of global tragedy. Perspective is key. Perhaps I was forsaken the “true college experience”. I know for sure I was afraid of COVID. I only stoped wearing my N95s after having them for 12 hours straight while coughing phlegm from the virus. I feel a sense of sorrow and shame when people tell me the lockdown screwed them mentally; regardless of whether or not they lost someone. But what did I get out of the pandemic? A furnished room, an unbroken streak of Straight A’s, an endless summer with those close to me - and at what cost? I’m still the same shoddy pool player after three years of practice. What the lockdown gave me, more than anything, was the one thing that is unequivocally fleeting in this life: time. Maybe in hindsight, those revelers on the Great Lawn had the right idea.
• 
  2023-03-15

  Kit Heintzman Oral History, 2023/03/15

  Kit Heintzman is a recovering academic currently residing in Lenapehoking, who was trained in the medical humanities with a special interest in queer theory, animals, and the history of nationalism. Kit has developed a singular collection of oral histories of the pandemic for A Journal of the Plague Year, collected from a range of individuals with widely diverse experiences. That collection addresses significant silences surrounding the pandemic broadly and within JOTPY more narrowly. In this item Kit is interviewed by Angelica and Erin, both with Arizona State University, about Kits collection process.
• 2020-03

  Old dog/new tricks! a new way to teach.....

  I finally became a video star.....that was never my intention when I started teaching fifty years ago! I am an adjunct art professor. When lockdown came and I couldn't teach in person, I had to find a new way to teach my class.....Zoom felt too complicated to me so I communicated with my students via email and videos that my husband and I made in the basement! A 15 minute video took over 3 hours or more between the filming and the editing! In addition, I really had to work hard to find the best way to communicate-the most effective way to present the lesson, as no questions could be asked as I presented the material. It really got me to think and be very clear about the subject and the best way to teach it. Once in front of the camera, I made believe I was talking to my class and just ran with it! I felt comfortable once I started. It was funny though, as we had to carefully think about camera angles and outfits that worked well as I moved! After all, this was permanently on tape...And, I had to be brave! My Brooklyn/StatenIsland accent was forever heard, as well as facial features, expressions and body parts that have always plagued me be forever seen! Overall, though, a great experience!!!! Who would have thought that such an awful, disturbing period could bring about new, positive experiences! Ah, but that is life after all, isn't it?
• 
  2020-07-27

  Empty Rockefeller Center

  During the height of Covid, when New York City first went into lockdown, it was surreal to say the least. I think the last time the city was so empty and void of life was 9/11, so to see it again in 2020 really highlighted just how severe the situation was. Two of my sisters, who are a nurse and hospital manager, talked about being in the city for work, and practically being the only ones working in person, and it feeling like some kind of post apocalyptic movie. I remember around May of 2020, I helped my other sister move out of her dorms at #NYU, and it took about 15-20 mins to get to the bottom of Manhattan (Union Square) from The Bronx, due to the lack of fellow cars on the road. To see such a highly populated and lively city such as NYC turn into a ghost town almost overnight was something of a shock. It was one thing to see photos, and speak on how insane the situation was, but to actually be in the heart of Manhattan at this time was… well scary. So, seeing such a busy area such as Rockefeller center be completely empty is insane to say the least, and brings up a sad reminder of just how bad things were in the initial stages of the pandemic.
• 
  2023-03-13

  The Meaning of Sunset in Lockdown

  This photo is from A Journal of the Plague Year in the Philippines, submitted by Mark Anthony Angeles on May 19th, 2020. I picked this photo because it connects to my experience from lockdown. The sunset to me represents an end of a chapter or era, as in, the end of my first half as an undergrad student. While it was stressful by end of sophomore year, I pulled through without any issues. But the light of the sunset to me also means that there is hope and that things will get better. That’s what I hope throughout lockdown, hope😌. #lockdownstatenisland
• 2023-02-28

  College of Staten Island Facebook Screenshot PROMPT

  The HST718 Public History Class at the College of Staten Island was tasked with taking screenshots of submissions to the Lockdown Staten Island Facebook page from 2020. The students were to use the information found on the page and submit the screenshots and add metadata. Their submissions will be linked to this assignment.
• 
  2023-02-28

  College of Staten Island HST 718 Instagram submission PROMPTS

  This assignment was for Public History students at the College of Staten Island to submit a personal item for the archive for HST 718. Their submissions will be linked to this item. Additional Assignments were given as well. Any assignment from College of Staten Island outside of the Facebook prompt will be linked to this item.
• 
  2020-05-24

  Fireside Chat Episode 3

  Episode Three of Brooklyn High School of the Arts series COVID-19 Fireside Chats! Students share their stories from quarantine.
• 
  May 22nd, 2020

  Environmental Psych. First Semester!

  This was the first semester that PSY 324 Environmental Psychology, an elective, upper level class in the Department of Psychology of the College of Staten Island was taking place at the St. George campus. It was our hope to have a series of field trips bringing our understanding of the dynamic between peoples and places outside of the classroom. We only managed to do one such trip, but nevertheless, the seed was planted. As a class we understood that there was more to psychology than power points and tests. Collaboratively, we started creating a curriculum that tried to use our shared knowledge of the world together with the conceptual complexity of environmental psychology theory. Quickly our task had to move online where we figured out how to move forward in our quest, without leaving behind those of us who are sick, taking care of sick people, working dangerous jobs, or have lost jobs due to the pandemic.
• 
  April 19, 2020

  CSI Class of 2020

  "Finally the thoughts of what my graduation were real. What it would look like, what I would wear, and who i would invite. The joy I felt thinking about the thought of graduation in May; has been replaced with uncertainty. Myself and another class mate walked the campus although it were closed to find lingering students and faculty to complete information for our capstone project, not knowing that what we thought would be a temporary shut down became more permanent. The feeling of despair is an understatement because I returned to school after almost 20 yrs to finish my degree only to be deprived of the feelings you get from accomplishing everything that's required to graduate. All I can do as for now is stay safe so when that alternate graduation date is set, I'm a part of it. You won't take my accomplishment from me Covid!"
• 
  2020-08-05

  Only Student on Campus: My First and Second Year at College

  The item that I am submitting describes my life as a student throughout my senior year of high school toward my first year of college. I emphasized the feeling of being alone and dealing with the college on a fully virtual level. As months passed it was important to validate the experience and the growth from being in an online setting to an in-person setting.
• 
  2020-10-20

  How covid affected NYC?

  Covid has affected everyone by the way you live your everyday life. Covid has affected New york city in many different ways , For example covid affected business to close down months including schools . Schools having to go remote . Another way New york city has been affected by the transit , The transit systems like the trains ,buses and commuter rail and ferries as a result to this the transportation has plummeted . For the subways in New York City it went down 90 percent and the buses went down 75 percent. The reason for this happening is people in quarantine and not going to work since some are working from home . Covid has affected health care workers. For example health care workers like doctors and nurses are around people who have it so they are more prone to get it. .This pandemic caused a lot of changes in the world. It caused everyone to be less social and not go out as much as it caused us to wear masks everywhere. It also caused a lot of people mental and emotional health to go down. For example there’s been a lot of social isolation which caused families to not be able to see each other as often. COVID-19 has impacted social mobility on child care cost and for families school dropout rate has increased due to fear of getting Covid. COVID-19 especially affected families due to not having jobs or working from home or being put on unemployment there’s been a big impact of Covid on families and family relationships creating a lot of tension and feeling depressed or not being united together. These pandemic parts of the population in different situations continue to affect people living in poverty situations with older people and disabilities. A lot of people have been put on unemployment and not being able to pay the rent. Covid has caused a lot of deaths and people could not be able to bury their loved ones. During The beginning of the year when the Pandemic was occurring depending on the situation of others some people were probably affected mentally Health care was provided to those who really needed it due to people not being able to pay for it and The state of new york lost money as well , It affected relationships and people got help by going therapy and staying connected to people . This pandemic affected many people personally. Covid has affected everyone's plan including travel because there's been travel bans and going to the airport has a lot of restrictions. A Lot of businesses are closing down to this pandemic by not giving income . Due to health care a lot of pregnant women had very high dress levels that affected their pregnancy . Which caused health care workers to be very aware of what was going on . Their risking their own lives to help us and young teens and kids were not able to fully able to enjoy the success of completing in graduating either high school such as prom or etc.it affected everyone's life and still is . This has caused a lot of stress and tension but has allowed people to be stronger in a sense and to appreciate the little things in life . Covid 19 has caused many hardships including loss of jobs . Some questions that still remain on this subject would be , When are things going back to normal ?, When is the vaccine coming out to prevent this ? When will this end ?. A message of hope i would say is everything will get better with time. The productivity has been slow due to employment going down ,People losing jobs . my personal experience with covid has become a learning experience . For example this pandemic has showed me to not take things for granted .
• 
  March 13, 2020

  unbeknownst emptiness

  I worked/attended CUNY Hunter College during the start of the pandemic. On March 13, 2020, we were informed that we would not be returning to work until further notice, and I believe that a majority of late-night classes/activities were cancelled. As a result, my friend/coworker and I walked around the near-empty campus. We ended up sneaking into an empty lecture hall, ate some snacks, and chatted about the future. I took a photo of our feet up on the seats as a sort of fun memento, to show how crazy it looked to see ourselves amongst the empty hall, and when a coworker asked where we are, we sent them that. The photo meant almost nothing at the time and was just a casual photo I took amongst many in my every day. Looking back now, it holds nostalgia as well as dread. I think the emptiness shows what was to come, and how terrifying it would be, and just how impactful the pandemic was on our lives. I have not stepped foot in Hunter since then, so that was truly my last time being in that school. It makes me sad and makes me think what the future would have held had these events not happened.
• 
  2020-03-11

  CUNY closures

  I took this photo of my friend, Sarah, cleaning everything she would be touching in March of 2020, the same day CUNY announced they would be closing due to COVID-19. I remember thinking she was silly for her paranoia. I was in denial that anything was really happening, and I think that was me trying to keep myself calm in all of the uncertainty of what was going to be happening. Looking back, Sarah was valid in her fears of this virus. The seriousness of the situation did not hit me until the announcement of the closure of CUNY schools.
• 2020-03-06

  Going Home

  At the start of the pandemic I was a freshmen in college at the University of South Carolina. We went on Spring Break and never came back to school for the rest of the semester. Classes were all online for about the next year, but I rented an apartment in Columbia so I could still be at school.
• 
  2022-10-01

  Chan Yak Ja Pbai (I Want To Leave)

  Unfortunately, I have not been able to travel since the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. The last two years of my undergraduate were affected by the pandemic, and initially, I was planning to study abroad during my senior year. Unfortunately, that was not possible and I was barely able to complete my student teaching placement for my Secondary Education Minor as the program was constantly under revision to ensure student safety. Now, as a graduate student, if I could go anywhere it would easily be Thailand as that is where my personal historical focus is. While my Thai is far from fluent, I have been steadily learning the language for about a year now as I hope to have an opportunity to complete an extended stay for scholarly or leisurely purposes. In terms of specifics, I would first like to travel to Chiang Rai, Sukhothai, or across Isan as Northern and Eastern Thailand have some of the richest historical and cultural sites, combined with the fact that individuals who I am very close to are from these areas as well. I have worked part-time at a Thai restaurant in Houston for a significant amount of time which helps considerably with practicing the language. As I am one of the only foreigners that works for the restaurant, the owners, my co-workers, and the individuals I have been introduced to through them have become like a second family to me, and I am very grateful for their generosity, inclusivity, and willingness to teach me as an outsider to the culture. Thus, I would love to be able to visit the areas that have meaning to them as well as fulfill my own historical ambitions. Two of my closest co-workers and I discussed traveling to Thailand and Laos together, and we agreed it would be interesting if we started a vlog to document the process. Not every temple or historical landmark allows photography or video to be taken, but I do think a vlog would be a great way to capture the moment as I am not the best at actively documenting things through social media. Video documentation also has the advantage of directly capturing the emotions and excitement of traveling as opposed to journaling or even photography. The photo I chose is of my co-worker and me at an event for the restaurant promoting Northern Thai cuisine in the traditional "Mo Hom", or the shirts worn by rice farmers.
• 2020-04-08

  A Celebratory Trip Canceled by the COVID-19 Pandemic

  I graduated from college in April 2020, one of my sisters also graduated from college that same semester, and my other sister graduated the year before. As a family we had planned a big trip to Florida and a cruise to the Bahamas as a celebration of our graduations. Unfortunately, because of locks downs and restrictions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 that trip was canceled. We weren’t able to reschedule that trip and I haven’t been on any trips since but if I could travel anywhere it would be on that trip with my family. I missed out on a fun travel experience to celebrate our graduations as a family because of the pandemic so being able to actually experience that trip now that restrictions are lifted would be a full circle experience. There are a few sites on Nassau that I would like to see like For Charlotte as well as the Pirate Museum. I would document my trip mostly through photography, especially since I would have limited access to the internet while on the cruise ship. This trip would mostly be about spending time with my family as we haven’t all been in the same place at once since Christmas of 2019. Traveling to me is mostly about creating memories with loved ones. The location and things we do are less important than the memories we create together.
• 
  2021-06-18

  Tourism Story: Florida After Travel Restrictions

  I graduated from my Bachelor's program in May 2021, after vaccine rollout and as travel restrictions were being lifted. To celebrate, my family organized a short trip to Florida in June, where we would visit the Universal Studios theme park for a couple days, which had always been a dream destination for my parents. This was a huge deal for us, because my family has never been able to afford a vacation like that, and we saved during the pandemic to be able to afford it once travel restrictions were lifted and we were all vaccinated. By the time we went, almost all travel restrictions had been lifted, and I remember the strange mix of relief and uneasiness I got from how "normal" everything seemed in Florida. I hardly saw anyone even wearing masks, and I was honestly glad for that not being a requirement in the theme park - I'm from Kentucky, and I hadn't been prepared for the intense Florida heat and humidity! I'll always treasure the memory of seeing the ocean for the first time and getting to spend time with my family, and even though I was still worried about the pandemic, it felt like such a relief to have a normal vacation after such a stressful and scary year.
• 
  2021-06-09

  Professor Vanlife

  In the summer of 2021, I accepted an adjunct job at a college back East. Rather than spend half the salary on rent and in order to socially distance from others, I fixed up a Toyota Sienna minivan so I could live in it for the summer. This was the first trip I had taken since the late winter of 2020. On the drive out from California, I stopped to climb a mountain in Wyoming and had the trail to the summit mostly to myself. Here's what I wrote about it on Facebook: "View of Laramie Peak (elev. 10,275) in present day Wyoming, an important landmark on the Oregon Trail. For those emigrants not from Appalachia or northern New England, it was the first really big mountain they’d ever seen and it loomed in front of them for several days as they approached it from the plains. Mark Twain passed by here in 1861 and recollected later, speaking about the mountain in the third person: 'Looming vast and solitary -- a deep, dark, rich indigo blue in hue, so portentously did the old colossus frown under his beetling brows of storm-cloud. He was thirty or forty miles away, in reality, but he only seemed removed a little beyond the low ridge at our right.'"
• 
  2023-02

  Tourism story for the COVID-19 Archive

  Worldwide, nations implemented social distancing and disease mitigation strategies in the Spring of 2020. These policies varied widely, but many places experienced restrictions on personal movement and travel. For your submission, respond to the following prompt: When travel restrictions were lifted, did you take a trip? If so, where did you go and why? What are your memories of this trip? Were there any continuing COVID-19 restrictions in place? If you did not travel and have still not traveled, answer the following question: If you could travel anywhere, where would you go and why? What destinations would you be sure to see? How would you document your trip (journal, social media, etc.)? How and What to Submit: For this assignment, you'll submit one item that captures a travel memory that relates to the COVID-19 pandemic. You'll submit your item to the COVID-19 Archive Links to an external site.on the "Share your Story Page." Include the following metadata (information): The title The description (this is the most important part. Tags: at a minimum (Arizona State University, HST 643, and History of Tourism). Feel free to add your own additional tags. Type: Audio recording, photograph, video, text story, recipe, etc. Date (When did this story happen) Contributor (your name) Location (where did/does this memory take place). What to submit: Submit your story to the archive Submit the title of your story on Canvas and the date you submitted it. This will help me find it in the archive.