Items

• 2024-11-11

  Parallel Timelines

  In 2020, I jumped to an alternate timeline. Everything I had known before became somewhat stranger, uncanny, the familiar suddenly not quite familiar. I began to lose trust and safety in my community, my family, and myself. I wondered if it was the beginning of the apocalypse. I wondered how we would survive -- any of us. It started with an earthquake. We lived in southeastern Idaho, and I had never experienced an earthquake in my twenty-five years. I was home with my partner and our two dogs. There had been news of the virus spreading in places far from us, but it seemed distant and inconsequential. Nothing seemed to touch us in our rural, isolated patch of Idaho desert. Things were as they'd always been and always would be. We had just made dinner -- mini Hawaiian sliders, kettle chips, and orange soda -- and had settled in to eat when the soda in the bottles began to ripple and shake. The dogs lifted their heads and tucked their tails. We both stared at the soda, then shifted our gazes out the window to the dry Lost River Valley, where we watched the land move in a way that didn't seem to make sense. I felt the shift internally as the earth shifted in kind. Something inexplicable had changed. Soon, people began to talk of the apocalypse; swarms of locusts (or murder hornets), natural disasters, plague, conspiracy, political unrest, riots. It was global; it was in our backyard. It was far out of our control and too close to home. And though wouldn't know it for a few more months, I was pregnant. I had never planned to be a mother, but I suddenly had to grapple with bringing a daughter into this unstable, dangerous landscape. The following week, my partner was laid off from work. Uncertainty grew. Lockdown protocols began, but they were ignored by most of our community. I continued going to work at my public-facing job, afraid each day that my unborn child and I would be infected with the mystery virus by the many, many people in my community who didn't believe it existed, who ridiculed me for wearing a mask, who thickly associated the taking of health precautions with opposing political ideology, compromised morality, and poor intelligence. My partner began to experience inexplicable health concerns: sudden, severe bouts of vertigo, rapid heart rate, weak pulse, fainting spells, inability to digest food, and days-long migraines. It was chronic and debilitating, preventing him from seeking consistent work. None of the health providers he met with was able to identify the source of these issues, citing either anxiety or sympathetic pregnancy and sending him home. He worried he was dying of an undetectable disease. I worried that nothing would make sense ever again. When I was seven months pregnant, our landlord made the decision to turn our home into a vacation rental. This left us to either pay highly increased rent or find a new home. However, over a few short months, the cost of housing had nearly doubled in our community, and we could no longer afford to live there. Our only option was to move out of state to live with family. My daughter was born healthy, though I gave birth alone because the hospital would not allow visitors. A couple of months later, in our sick and sleep-deprived states and while navigating new parenthood, we packed all we knew and took the leap. We came out alive on the other side. Nothing was as it had been, but we were hopeful of new opportunities. Trump left office. The vaccine was developed and distributed. My partner found ways to cope with his mystery illness and found meaningful work. We both returned to school. Things moved on, forever changed but not destroyed. But now, in 2024, I've jumped timelines again. It started when I swallowed a pill of Iodine-131, a radioactive isotope of iodine meant to kill the thyroid cells in my body that had become cancerous. Something shifted at that moment, and each event since has eerily mirrored the events of 2020. I once again find myself feeling that sense of strangeness, that uncanny reality, that loss of trust in the self and the other. I am unexpectedly pregnant with a second daughter, and the pregnancy is high-risk because of its proximity to the radioactive iodine treatment. My partner works, but I have struggled to get back into the workforce. There have been sudden personal conflicts with the family that have supported us, and we are now faced with finding a new home within the next six months. My physical and mental health have declined. And as of this week, we are living with the nearly unfathomable reality of a second Trump presidency. I try not to attribute unneeded significance to perceived patterns, but it's hard to ignore the parallels between then and now. Each shift feels like stepping into an uncanny mirror: familiar yet alien. I wonder if these parallels suggest a lesson or are simply the chaotic rhythm of life. In the midst of it all, I hold on to the small victories -- the ways we’ve learned to cope, to rebuild, to love fiercely in uncertain times. Despite everything, we are still here. I hope that this time, the other side will bring more than just survival: it will bring peace. As I sit with the weight of both past and present, I am reminded of what remains constant: the love I carry for my children, the strength I find in my partner, and the quiet resolve to face whatever version of reality lies ahead. Maybe we all live in parallel timelines, revisiting familiar struggles in different forms over and over again. For now, I’ll keep moving forward, one hand in each of my daughters', one uncertain step at a time.
• 
  2021-01-16

  TOMMY CHURCH! I ONLY MISS U WHEN IM BREATHING DADDY!

  I used to tell my dad if I had to choose between loving you and my last breath daddy, I would use my last breath to tell u I loved you! Then he got covid and I tried to give him one of my lungs. I would of given him both of them. I never got to touch him.ir comfort him only look at him thru glass. He had to be all alone to die. If I could if touched him I felt as thou I could of healed him as touch is more powerful then one will ever know. My dad was the most kindest helpful and giving man I have ever known. He will never be forgotten. Rising him the way covid took him has left a hole forever in my heart.
• 
  2023-01-20

  Happiest Place On Earth Found Its Spark

  This picture was taken in January or 2023, just a few months after the world “opened up” after the 3 year pandemic that rocked our world. This was the first trip my family and I took after the pandemic, the feeling of the park was that the world had healed and everything was normal again. Oftentimes, Disney is regarded as the happiest place on earth. They’re are multiple pictures that show the barren, happy-absent parks during the pandemic. The castle being lit, surrounded by people with no more fear of COVID was a great feeling. It felt as if the world had a giant sigh of relief.
• 
  2024-09-26

  When Fear Took Form

  I am sharing my story about the Covid -19 pandemic because the experiences changed my life for ever. I have read so many people in the past related stories of their experiences, and i am glad they documented those , because i am able to learn about the wars, the depression, the pandemics and so much more. Therefore i want to make sure i leave my experience, so the next generation can know what it was like living through that period in history.
• 2022-11-08

  The Sunset of covid-19

  My experience with Covid 19 was all over the place. If I were to describe it in one word it would be chaos. I remember going to Kingsborough Community College at the time and just everything shutting down and not knowing what to do. I remember all my classes turning into online classes. During this time, my mother fell ill with covid before any vaccines came out. I remember seeing how ill and bedridden she was. I was scared My mother was going to pass away and started bawling my eyes out to brother. Covid hit alot of my family and I started to become depressed. I ended up dropping all my classes because mentally I was not there. Eventually, my mother and other family members recovered, but some were not so lucky. An old friend from down the block lost their mother to covid. We used to practice karate together as kids with my brothers and her brother. Her mother was Sandra Santos-Vizcaino the first NYC public teacher to die of covid 19. I used to know their mother from the karate tournament and block parties we went to so finding out she passed away made me realize how lucky I was with my family. After all of this I got motivation again to start doing something with my life because at this point i was just rotting in my room for a few months. I ended up finding a job at a covid hotel in queens where I had to always wear a mask, gloves, vizor, etc. I was working alongside some doctors and nurses. It was such a different experience from anything I worked at before. Covid 19 had such a significant impact on everyone's lives and will forever leave a scar in many family's hearts.
• 2020-03-13

  An unforgettable tale

  I remember it like it was yesterday. I was a junior in high school, walking home with my friends. But prior to this, my government professor was very adamant about this new virus spreading around known as COVID-19. I had no idea what it was or why he was so obsessed with this virus. I didint think much of it until I saw the news that there was going to be no school. Later did I know, my life was going to take a drastic turn. Remote learning was a new concept for me. I didint complain since all I had to do was wake up and walk to my desk and turn my computer on for my first period class. It was the best thing ever. I passed my classes with ease and had no trouble learning or understanding material. This “paradise” was going to end when I would reach college. Learning through remote learning was so difficult. I was initially a biology major, which requires a lot of attention and understanding of the material in order to pass but I couldn’t. Being stuck at home was finally taking a toll on me. I wanted to get out of my house and be free. Walk around without a mask and be social with people. That’s when I realized that I was lacking social skills. It was sophomore year when schools were opening up. I was excited. Arriving at my first class and I was stunned. Seeing so many faces. I was scared. I didint know what to do. I wanted to leave as soon as possible. This “fear” would stretch until senior year of college when I started becoming more comfortable with my peers around me. Using the resources available for me. I can safely say I’m finally growing out of this craze known as COVID-19
• 
  2021-01-16

  In Grey

  It's an expression of my pain fro. Losing my daddy and it helps me to heal to tell the story thru music and video like this.
• 
  2024-07-27

  College Durring Covid, a Reflection

  This document is a reflection on the pandemic. It is written in a stream of consciousness style.
• 2020-03-24

  From The Traditional to the Unknown: Moving from In-Person to Online Learning

  Much like other college students in the spring of 2020, I did not know how to react to the news that a virus called COVID-19 had begun infecting major cities, towns, and people. As an avid gamer, it appeared to me as though we started heading down the path of a zombie apocalypse or something similar to that, such as the ones you see in Call of Duty. I can still remember where I was as a sophomore in college when my school decided that it needed to shut down, sending students back to their homes and moving classes to the online world. At the start of what became pandemonium, I was with my friends in one of their dorm rooms, and we watched as the former president of the school, with a panel of other officials, answered questions about the pandemic and how the institution would respond. From my perspective, it seemed that no one knew what to do, and it was disconcerting to see that the leaders of the school were themselves in a state of flux. But who could blame them? In many ways, that spring of 2020 was unchartered waters, where everyone, including our leaders, did not know what to do or how to set forth a concrete plan. The lack of certainty, as I recall, led many students to become unsure of how the school would handle classes, graduation, plans for reimbursement for housing and dining costs, and, most importantly, the health and safety of the students and faculty. From that moment in spring 2020, it seemed that the college landscape would never be the same. With that said, this leads me to the point of my story. When the school decided that all classes would go online for the remainder of the spring 2020 semester and the entirety of the following school year, 2020 - 2021, it seemed entirely new and, in some ways, scary. Never before had I taken online classes, let alone know how to operate a program called Zoom. When I read the newsletter from my school saying that the 2020-2021 academic year would be online, it seemed, from my view, almost pointless to make students do schoolwork at a time when everyone was more concerned about their health and not getting other people sick. From that perspective, I felt angry, confused, and dismayed about how online classes would work. More importantly, I wanted to know how professors would respond to the situation, hopefully having them recognize that they should not assign a traditional amount of school work for a semester course given the extenuating circumstances beyond the classroom and college. I can still recall taking my first online class, and I felt utterly lost. I did not know how to operate Zoom, I did not know how to interact with my professors and classmates by staring into a camera on my computer, and I did not know, at the start, how challenging it would be to feel motivated to do the schoolwork. The latter was a difficult obstacle to overcome as being back at home and not in a classroom made it easier to forgo doing school work for a day, creating a lackadaisical mindset that negated my ability to do my assignments in a timely manner. On top of that, not being able to physically see my professors, either in class or in their office, made it even more difficult to ask questions. As someone who typically raises an abundance of questions, it seemed to me that that was no longer possible. Having to send several emails back and forth and then only have a few minutes to speak with a professor on Zoom after or before class made the process more cumbersome. The transition from the traditional classroom setting to the unknown world of online learning was a significant curve ball created by the pandemic that made the last part of my sophomore year and my entire junior year feel less important. The online medium essentially made the coursework seem less valuable to me. Even though I lived on campus in my junior year, 2021 - 2022, at the height of the pandemic, the educational side of my college experience became impacted to such a degree that I found myself not as engaged about the work or the course material. To that end, I share this story because it is one of many about how the pandemic took a substantial bite out of educational processes from 2020 into 2021. The classroom never felt the same during the pandemic and when I was on campus in 2021. Everywhere was a ghost town. In many ways, having to go from the traditional classroom into the expansive world of online learning was not something I thought I needed to think about as a college student. Of course, no one could have predicted what was going to happen, making the situation during that time all the more difficult to accept. I look back on it now and realize that I did lose a year and a half of my college experience. It is an unfortunate outcome of the pandemic, but I am thankful that no one in my family passed away from the disease, and all of my friends were safe as well. I wish I could relive my sophomore and junior years as a regular college student. However, having gone to college in the midst of the pandemic is historic, and I want to tell other generations about this experience. It will be challenging for future students to know what it was like to go to school at the same time a rampant disease spread across the globe. On the flip side, I think going to college during this time shows resiliency and courage on the part of many people. I hope this story is one that many can relate to as we move forward from these troubling years and continue to grapple with the legacy caused by the pandemic.
• 2020-04-01

  Navigating the Pandemic

  Covid-19 was life changing not just for me but for the rest of the world. Finding out that school was going to closed for a day, to two weeks, to months and then suddenly spending my senior year of highschool through zoom. At first, like every student I was excited that school was going to be off for a few days but who would have known what we were in store for. During this time, I was taking all classes through zoom, just like every other student, and the only thing that mentally got me through this pandemic was my PGC family. PGC is known as Peer Group Connection in my high school, Thomas A. Edison CTE. This class was operated by the seniors who had this own group with another partner to talk to freshman, sophomore, and juniors. This class was mainly about encouraging and helping one another as well as doing activities. Although, the pandemic had a significant impact on this class, we were only meeting through zoom but overall we were all eachother's support system. We talked about any and everything with our kids, the good and the bad. This helped us tremendously with our emotions, as well as still having fun through such a difficult time period.
• 2024-05-07

  Life Before and After COVID-19

  Before COVID-19, no one thought twice about social interactions. After COVD-19 that's all people were thinking about. Something that was so normal and mindless became the one thing that people were afraid of. After lockdown was over, many people had social anxiety because they went form not seeing anyone to seeing everyone. People were so afraid of catching COVID-19 that they chose to be alone rather than live their life and make memories. Coming back to school after lockdown was so scary. I was so used to not having to see anyone or care about what anyone thinks because we had class from home. Seeing all these people, made me so self conscious of what people think and how to behave normally. It was almost as if I had never talked to people in my life. Even now in 2024, people don't interact in the same as before. It's more normal than ever to see people wearing masks. I feel that this is the new normal and we are probably never going back to how it was before COVID-19.
• 2020-06-12

  A missed out senior year.

  When it came to finally reaching my prime year, senior year in high school, I was nothing but excited for finally having that prom experience, the one I've seen in movies for years and the thing that I hyped up in my mind with my now EX ex-girlfriend. Except thanks to covid happening, all of that was shut down, completely shut off from happening. So instead of having prom, I had nothing. Which, to many people would have been seen as stupid but in high school I would've done anything to have something like that. An experience to dress up for a good cause and see people in dresses. Except since it didn't happen thanks to covid, I have a sort of missing feeling when it comes to high school. Everyone talks about prom and how amazing it was, and now I cant relate to it at all since I never experienced it. Probably the main reason why i ahte talking to people .
• 2020-12-20

  Declaring Patient 100 Deceased Life as a NYC EMT During an Unprecedented Global Pandemic

  December 20th, 2020, started as an “ordinary” day for myself and my colleagues. 1600 hours rolled around, and my partner and I clocked in for our sixteen-hour tour. We had finally adjusted to our new routine of working a mandatory sixteen hours as opposed to twelve. As emergency medical technicians, we were at the forefront of the COVID-19 Pandemic in New York City. Our region was hit hard by COVID-19 and seemed to be the epicenter of the pandemic for longer than one could ever imagine. For NYC EMS workers before the pandemic, it was common to see around three thousand calls for service daily across all five boroughs. Once the pandemic struck the call volume rapidly overwhelmed the city's EMS resources as they answered a record seven thousand calls for service daily. My partner and I made small talk as we awaited the arrival of the outgoing crew. The day shift arrived back at the station exhausted, defeated, and depressed. They informed us that during their sixteen-hour tour, they had answered twenty calls for service; fifteen of which were for critically ill patients. After some small talk, we exchanged medication kits and radios as it was our turn to serve the great city. Immediately after logging on to the computer system and giving the dispatch center an in-service signal, we were called for a priority one assignment. Our unit was called to the scene of a thirty-two-year-old mother diagnosed with COVID-19 who had stopped breathing. As we arrived at the scene, I donned my four-day-old n95 mask, as well as a makeshift gown made from a garbage bag with holes cut for my head and arms. As we made our way up the five flights of stairs the sound of the screams grew louder. We entered the apartment to find a woman lying on the couch who was clinically deceased. For the next forty-five minutes, my partner and I worked feverishly to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, defibrillation, endotracheal intubation, as well as intravenous cardiac drug administration. Despite our efforts, the patient continued to show no signs of life, my partner and I locked eyes and nodded at one another, knowing we had done all that we possibly could have for this patient. I switched the cardiac monitor off and looked down at my watch as I said, “Time of death 1705 hours”. Our next responsibility was to inform the patient’s husband and children of her passing. While you train for many hours to show empathy after death, this task never gets easier. My partner sat in the kitchen with the family, while I prepared the paperwork for a death pronouncement. My partner delivered the life-shattering news and did her best to console a grieving family. After returning to our ambulance to decontaminate our equipment and restock for the next assignment I opened my logbook to record the death encounter. My heart sank as I turned to the next open page which was page number one hundred. In less than one year, I had pronounced one hundred patients deceased from COVID-related illnesses. In my short career before the pandemic, I had only pronounced about fifteen patients deceased. It was at that moment that the true magnitude of the pandemic sank in. COVID-19 had decimated the way of New York City life, the previously bustling city remained shuttered as many remained in indoors in hopes of preventing illness. Before the pandemic, I had known the city as a connection of vibrant neighborhoods filled with culture and joy. COVID-19 had robbed our great city of its life and color; for the next two years, the city appeared black and white as a shell of its previous greatness. These thoughts quickly fled my mind as my unit was once again called to another high-priority assignment. We were called to a sixteen-year-old man diagnosed with asthma, who had recently contracted COVID-19 and was struggling to breathe. Our days were filled with assignments like these, often with no rest, and zero opportunities for a meal break. Nearly one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, my colleagues and I were exhausted, and our mental health and morale were at an all-time low. Many of my collogues fell ill, and four of them died because of COVID-19. We had often asked ourselves and one another; “Why Us? Why are we still doing this job? and when will this end?” While these times were challenging, we understood that we had been called to work in EMS because of our passion for caring for those in need. Day in and day out, we found strength and resilience in one another. My colleagues and I had implemented daily peer support groups in which all were welcome to come and speak about their experiences. While COVID-19 seemed to pull the world apart, it pulled EMS staff closer together. Enemies quickly became friends, and seemingly overnight we all became family. Our perspectives were unique as we were the only healthcare providers to enter the homes of the ill, and feverishly worked to care for them under less-than-ideal conditions. As the number of COVID-19 cases began to decline with the introduction of the vaccine, my colleagues and I felt we could breathe a sigh of relief. As quickly as the pandemic entered our great city, it seemed to vanish even faster. Each shift brought hope as we watched businesses reopen, and the streets were once again filled with color and culture. While we experienced new variants and spikes in COVID-19 cases, we felt that our great city had become stronger and more resilient. While COVID has changed our way of life, one thing I will never forget is the comradery we built amongst the emergency medical services personnel. To this day my colleagues remain a second family in which I can confide after a difficult shift. While COVID was one of the greatest challenges faced by New York City, I feel that it has made us stronger and more resilient than ever.
• 2020-08-18

  life in camera

  When COVID-19 first started I was in 8th grade. I didn't really understand what Covid really was or how serious it was. I went in feeling kind of okay about it all and staying at home. Once high school started things went downhill for me mentally. I did pretty well in school. I did all my work and turned it in on time and got good grades, but I struggled a lot mentally with myself and socializing with others. During that time being at home did help me to get closer to my mom, we would go walking throughout the day and that helped me a lot to start losing weight a lot more. However, I started to become depressed and struggled with my outward appearance a lot. Once we started going back to school in person, I didnt know ow how to act, I just felt ugly and quiet. I used to be such an outgoing person and I would talk to almost everyone. Now I don't like being in public and around others. I have very bad social anxiety and overthink a lot about what people think of me. I personally never got Covid-19 so I don't know how that can affect someone physically and I hope I never do. I watched those around me get it and the way that they struggled and even saw a few of them die. It was a really depressing time, to watch your loved ones around you hurt and struggle and eventually give up, and you're never able to see them again. Going back to school in person did help me a lot. Socializing with people and seeing my friends that I hadn't seen in so long was what really helped me to get out of my shell and help me love myself more.
• 2020-04-11

  A story under the pandemic

  The sudden outbreak of the epidemic in 2019 caused me to experience many more firsts in my life: my first online class, the first time I needed to wear a mask when I went out, the first time I had to take my temperature to be sterilized when I went to the doctor, and the first time I graduated high school in quarantine. In just a few short months, the outbreak spread across multiple countries turning into a global resistance, with new cases and even deaths increasing every day. Schools were closed and students were told to stay home. When I saw these real and ever-growing numbers, it was not easy to feel good. But after all, I was just watching the data on my cell phone refreshing, in fact, I have not really felt the seriousness of this virus. Until I saw a video: a girl's father because infected with the virus, due to the development of too fast, the father in just a few days time passed away, the girl looked at her father's funeral car drove away, which really found that the father is really gone, never come back, the girl through the mask towards the police on duty at the roadside disappointed and helpless shouted out a sentence: I have no father! That was the first time I felt the horror of this virus. In addition to my automatic daily tracking of the latest progress of the case, social media was flooded with all sorts of bad news about the outbreak, including how it was spreading, the misery and agonizing struggles of the infected and their families, and so on. I was so worried about myself or my family members and friends being infected that I was constantly urging the elderly members of my family not to go out, so as not to be infected. At the same time, the frantic buying of masks, goggles, sterilizing alcohol, and so on, by many people was increasing the fear of the disease. As a result of the epidemic, I know that many people are suffering from mental health problems such as insomnia or anxiety. I am one of them.
• 
  2019-09

  Covid-19 Changed my Life

  The item that I am a submitting is a short summary of my experience during Covid-19
• 
  2021-03-09

  Long Live My Mama

  I feel like my mama story needs to be heard. We loss millions of people to it .
• 
  2021-02-17

  It took my world

  This is a photograph of my best friend, my mother. In December of 2020, we went to Disneyworld and came back with Covid-19. I was barely pregnant at the time, but my Covid symptom was only a cough. This cough would only hurt my uterus, so when I started to miscarry, I wasn’t too surprised. My mom, on the other hand, thought that her muscles were sore from walking around the parks for a few days. She had a cough and a bit of a fever, but was still walking around the house as we quarantined together. She was cold, which only ever happened when she was sick. One day, she didn’t leave her room because she was struggling to catch her breath if she did too much. She had me turn the heater on for her because of how cold she was under her blankets and comforter. She had been keeping her C-PAP machine on to give her the extra air support, but when we checked her oximeter, it was only at 70. So I called the paramedics like she asked me to, they came, we met them at the door, her vitals were taken, and they said that I could take her to the hospital or they could. I told her that I would drive. I had to take her to the emergency room that was not in our normal network because that’s what was open. I took her there with the expectation of getting her transferred the next day. When we called, the other hospital couldn’t take her because all of their beds were filled. So, she stayed there, and I couldn’t be with her because they were trying to keep the spread down. She was texting and FaceTiming me for the first 4 days that she was in the emergency room. On the 5th day though, she stopped responding. I called the hospital and they told me that she had spoken to her doctor and they had decided to put her on the ventilator to give her body a break for a few days. It was not a few days. On day 39 of her being on the ventilator, they lowered her sedation medication and she had no eye movement. So, I told them to let my brother go in and say his second final goodbye and to call me when they had ended her fight the next day. They called and said that she took a few seconds off of the ventilator before they called the time of her passing. I was alone now. My dad passed away in 2006 and my brother was a technical part of my family, but it was just me and my mom in the house still. Now, it was just me. A year later, I lost my home because I couldn’t get a loan approval to buy out my brother’s half of the equity. At that time, I was pregnant again with the baby girl that my mom dreamt of me having. This child that she had planned to be overly involved with, to play with, to snuggle, to kiss, and to have memories and adventures with. But now, the nursery would be someone else’s room. A stranger. Covid-19 took my baby, my mom, my house, my stability, and my will to love. I have been able to love my baby girl, but I am always comparing myself to my mother and thinking about how she could’ve been the best grandma. How she would’ve helped me. How we would’ve traveled to so many places together. And now, I struggle to pay rent on a single room. I leave my child at daycare 5 days a week and try to keep her there for each meal in case I don’t have enough to feed her. And I hide away from a lot of socializing because my mom was my favorite person to hang out with.
• 2021-04

  Regret for a Trip Not Taken

  This story is about travel that did not happen, but should have during the Covid-19 Pandemic. In mid-2020, my little sister Sarah was diagnosed with kidney cancer. She was married and had 3 children up in Seattle. When my family heard the news, travel was severely restricted and many people were still dying daily from the virus. I have my own wife and kids, so we all agreed that it wasn’t a good risk to go and visit. Besides, we reasoned, she hadn’t started treatment yet and she had good chances of beating cancer. So we waited it out. My sister and I talked frequently, and she told me that she was optimistic about her cancer diagnosis. Unfortunately, our Dad died in January of 2021 due to complications related to Covid (he had Parkinson’s also), and neither of us could travel to do any funeral service. In April of 2021, the pandemic had cleared up enough that most travel restrictions had ended, everyone was vaccinated, and the risk was lower. My older brother Sean had planned a trip to go to Seattle and stay there for a month to visit, help take care of kids and just be there. He urged me to go, at least for a week or so because he told me that he thought it wasn’t going as well with her treatments as Sarah had led me to believe. Because of Covid patients overwhelming hospitals, I don’t think she was getting as much good-quality medical care as she needed, though that’s my opinion. Anyway, I didn’t want to go on this trip. I don’t particularly handle death and dying well, and I didn’t want to go there and be basically sad and crying the whole time, and I was in denial about her health, so I didn’t go. A few months later, in June 2021, Sarah succumbed to cancer and died. If I could go back in time to do it over again, I definitely would have gone. I would have liked to walk around Seattle with her and take pictures to put on Facebook, our primary means of sharing memories, or take her kids out for a few hours to sight see and get to know them better. I regret, and always will, that I did not go and see her and her family there at the end.
• 
  2021-03-12

  Philadelphia Trip Covid Combat Corner

  The pandemic was a very depressing time of limited activity that divided many by political responses. March 2020 is when the U.S. responded with stay at home responses followed by social distancing and testing. A year later in that same month of March, I was cornering my teammate for his fight for Cage Fury Fighting Championship in Philadelphia where some COVID measures still existed such as masks that we utilized on the plane and even during the warm up of the fight. Tests were required that had a swab impaled up our noses, but in hindsight it was a great experience especially as a historian where I toured many historical sites such as Benjamin Franklin's grave.
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  2020-08-01

  The Pleasant Sounds of a Quiet Town

  The photograph captures a moment of my family in Helen, Georgia. It marked our very first vacation as the pandemic began to subside, and society slowly started to reopen. Throughout the challenging year of 2020, I wrestled with numerous dark and trying circumstances. My engagement dissolved, my health deteriorated, and my battle with depression intensified. I often felt isolated, with nowhere to turn for human connection, as everything around us remained shuttered. The deserted streets and vacant stores seemed to echo the emptiness I felt inside. However, this trip to Helen breathed new life into me. For the first time in a year, I felt a spark of vitality. In Helen, I could once again frequent bustling restaurants, immerse myself in the sound of live music, and explore the welcoming shops. It marked the beginning of a remarkable turnaround in my life, which has since led to some of the most fulfilling years I've experienced. Today, I cherish even the smallest moments, such as a simple trip to buy groceries and the comforting presence of people in my life.
• 2020-05-07

  Pandemic Creates a Crowd at the Animal Sanctuary

  The pandemic lockdown ended, and businesses were opening up. There was still a sense of caution in the air. Masks and social distancing were still enforced. Still, travel started to boom again. People were going on trips by car, train, boat, and airplane. I traveled to William, Arizona. I had driven two and a half hours from Mesa, Arizona. The travel wasn’t hectic or riddled with traffic. I had made great timing. The scenery was beautiful. Went up the mountain and saw green everywhere. It was a nice change since I live in the desert. My family and I hopped in the car and headed off on an adventure. In Williams, a small little town was an animal sanctuary that I journeyed to. There were a diverse sort of species: wolves, bears, bison, mountain goats, and deer. It seemed to be an exciting trip. Bearizona’s park had a drive-through section, where I was able to drive to each habitat in my own car. The plus side was I didn’t have to worry about exposure to other people. I felt safe in my car. It had seemed that everyone had the same idea to come to Bearizona. There were long lines inside the park and where I drove through the habitats. There were times that I was at a complete stop for several minutes. It appeared that the animals didn’t like all the chaos in their homes. There were people honking their horns, yelling, and rolling down their windows when that was not allowed. I sat still and waited until I could move on. The animals started blocking the entrances and jumping up on cars. They were revolted, this made other drivers laugh and roll down their windows and take pictures. There was even a little girl standing up out of the car's sunroof. The whole experience was awful. I was not happy with the crowds. I understand that since Bearizona was a safer experience than being in a crowd walking through the zoo. I didn’t take pictures or buy souvenirs. I simply drove off in my call and headed back down the mountain. I reflect on this experience about how people were starved to travel, and stuck at home. When the lockdown ended everyone wanted to get out of their houses and go anywhere. We are used to going where we want when we want, but at the start of the pandemic life had changed for us all.
• 
  2023-07-19

  COVID-19 Archive Story_H. Crowder

  I have uploaded a personal story of how COVID-19 impacted my life; and how, in my mind, there is a before and after, two different sections of my life. I also observe the changes that were influenced by the Pandemic.
• 2021-06-03

  Traveling overseas during Covid

  My wife and I decided to travel to Greece immediately after the initial lockdown and when the travel restrictions were lifted. It was a difficult decision to take such a long trip during the pandemic, and especially since we had to travel through Germany in order to get to our final destination. Restrictions varied among countries, and the fear of another lockdown before returning to the United States made our trip quite stressful. Despite the circumstances, we decided to follow through with our plans because my wife needed to get a medical procedure done, and the doctor of her choice operates in Greece. After checking and double-checking all the required travel documents, we found out that we needed to provide negative Covid tests at the airport in Chicago in order to board the plane. It was unclear whether we would need to take another Covid test in Germany and upon arriving to Greece, but we both got our tests and headed to O’Hare international airport. When we entered the airport, we couldn’t believe the long lines ahead of us. We made sure to get there 3 hours before our scheduled flight, and we waited in line so we could show proof of our test results. After a 40-minute wait, it was finally our turn. We handed in our tests and waited patiently while the lady at the desk was looking at them with a perplexed look on her face. “You can’t get on this flight”, she said. “Your tests expired 30 minutes ago. You need to get new tests”, she added. We were stunned since we had both gotten out tests the day before, and the rules stated that the tests would be valid for 24 hours. The airline employee was telling us that we had missed the 24-hour deadline by half an hour. When we realized that the rule was very strict and there was no way we could get on the plane without taking new tests, we found out that we could get tested at the airport and get the results within 20-30 minutes. We both rushed to get new tests, but we were surprised to find out that the cost was $200 for each test. That was an added expense of $400 that we hadn’t planned for, the trip was very expensive, and we also had to pay for my wife’s medical bills in Greece. It was Wednesday evening, we would arrive in Greece on Thursday evening, and my wife’s appointment at the hospital was Friday morning. If we didn’t make that flight, we wouldn’t arrive in Greece on time for my wife’s scheduled operation. We had no choice but to get tested. While all of that was happening, time was going by and there was a risk we wouldn’t make it to our flight on time. My wife got so overwhelmed and stressed out that at some point she sat on her suitcase and started crying in the middle of the airport. I gathered all my strength and patience and helped her get up and pull it together so we could run for the tests, get the results, and run back to check in. At that point I realized that we weren’t the only ones going through that situation. There was chaos around us, people arguing with employees, getting upset and shouting, other people crying, people who didn’t speak English and were trying to figure out what to do, families with kids running around frantically, and everyone was complaining that the rules hadn’t been clear. It was a huge mess, and we were in the midst of all that trying to get everything done. We were able to get on a different flight that night, and we made it to Greece safely and on time for my wife’s hospital appointment. When I reflect back, I realize that there was indeed a lack of clear rules, and the whole situation could have been avoided if the airlines had provided more accurate guidelines. I have traveled internationally hundreds of times in my life, but I had never experienced anything like that before. I understand that the situation was new for everyone involved, and when I think back, I don’t get upset about it anymore, but that was definitely one of the most stressful travels I have ever had.
• 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

  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

  Woodcrofts in Post-Pandemic Iceland

  First, let me say that I am not a big traveler. I was never bitten by the travel bug, and I had no strong desires to see the world. A bit controversial, but I remember feeling even just a few months of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic that I needed to get out. I needed to escape my house, not because being quarantined and working from home with my husband was problematic or bad as far as our being with one another 24/7, but I just felt very confined and small, almost suffocated. There’s a difference, I think between choosing not to travel or leave your house and not being able to leave your house because of guidelines and the risk of spread illness. My husband and I had planned a trip to go to Iceland in September of 2019, but I just started a new job and couldn’t get time off that soon after starting, so we pushed it off to – as luck would have it – March 2020. In fact, it was planned for about a week or so after the entire world shut down and said “stay home.” At that point, we were “refunded” our tickets and accommodations, and were in this place of not know when or if this trip would happen. By refunded, I mean that the airline gave us a credit for the amount needing to be spent within a year after this date. So we felt in a bit of a dilemma and unsure of what to do. The news of the pandemic and the guidelines were – understandably - constantly shifting, and we were looking at international travel, so we had to frequently check the U.S. travel restrictions as well as Iceland’s restrictions and compare. Even then, restrictions fluctuated, at some points saying travel was allowed on one end, at others, if you test positive you may have to stay there for your entire quarantine period in a designated space away from others, extending your stay for potentially a month. It was a force to even consider planning. Finally, the stars aligned, and we were able to schedule our trip for October 2021, two years later that we had originally planned, but we were going and excited, if a bit nervous. I remember from the day we picked the flights looking up the travel restriction websites every day. I bookmarked the U.S. and Iceland’s sites to check to see if anything had changed in terms of guidelines or cancellations. We knew that we needed to schedule a covid test about 1 week prior to the flight and upload and bring proof of a negative result for the airline. We had been vaccinated, so we had to bring our cards for verification at customs. We also at that point, scheduled our return flight’s covid testing in Iceland to make sure that we had another negative result so we could come home. It was incredibly stressful trying to schedule all this, some sites were booked up, we had to take time off of work to get available appointments before going, all while reminding ourselves this is supposed to be a fun trip, a vacation in a country neither of us had visited before. Luckily, everything by way of travel went well. At that point, being in such a crowded area, like an airport, felt strange and uncomfortable. Everyone wearing masks, but still getting closer to us that we were used to now. We had heard stories of how planes are breeding grounds for covid, the air was recycled, so if someone on the plane is a false negative, they’ll give it to everyone. But we landed 6 hours later, and were relieved to do so. Despite not seeing a single puffin, our week in Iceland was absolutely fantastic; however, I can’t say that it wasn’t hindered a bit by covid and the transitioning public guidelines. After planning this trip for two years, we had read and marked up a number of travel guides that suggested areas to visits, restaurants to try, and trips to take while there. None of these books were equipped to prepare us for what vacation would look like post-pandemic. On one side, the sites and streets, even in the city of Reykjavik, were not nearly as crowded as we had read and expected it would be, which, for someone like me, who gets incredibly overwhelmed when around too many people, was perfect. We were able to visit museums, go on a virtual flyover of Iceland’s landscape, and see sights with no line or trouble. On the other hand, many store, restaurant, and attraction hours had changed or were complete shutdown, and were not updated on Google or on company sites. Occasionally we would finally reach a destination and find it was closed, but we understood that this was a small price to pay overall for a trip to Iceland so soon after things re-opened. One restaurant we stopped at in a small town south of Reykjavik was completely empty, we were the only customers from when we walked in to when we left. We were able to talk to the owner, who was saying that this is what it has been like for them since the start of the pandemic and restrictions on travel, especially international travel and tourism. It was a family-owned restaurant, where the owner and his wife sold art and homemade Nordic pieces on one of the tables in the back. They relied on tourism and the income of international visitors, and they said that this was the hardest part of the pandemic for them, seeing Iceland, a huge tourist spot for years, now hit financially and, really their way of life, changing because of this long ban on travel. For our trip across the country, fortunately, as it is, my husband and I are moderately outdoorsy people, so most of what we wanted to see or wanted to visit was outside and didn’t have the same restrictions that we found in town. We were able to spend a day at the Blue Lagoon, climbing a relatively recently active volcano, walk on the black sand beaches, and just drive around, climb out of the car and hike up a hill for the view. Early on, we decided to abandon our strict itinerary and just think of what we might want to do the next day and plan from there. It was jarring for someone like me, who is almost too reliant on structure and order, but the flexibility worked better and developing that mindset of being adaptable in this post-pandemic time helped combat the frustration and panic we felt after realizing so much had changed from the typical and expected. A stark difference we noticed while there was the general feeling towards covid-19 guidelines and vaccinations there compared to the U.S. at the time. Since the start of the pandemic, so many people were outspokenly skeptical and against the restrictions and guidelines in place and the vaccine, but we never really experienced any of that in Iceland. Rules and guidelines were quietly followed wherever we went, wearing a mask or maintaining distance, there was never a fight or resistance to this. We never saw or heard of any anti-vaccination groups or protests, as we had experienced both where we lived and on the news across America. All in all, our trip coming out of the pandemic was great, if not a bit unexpected because of the guidelines and transition period that came from international travel post-covid.
• 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.
• 
  2023-05-15

  What we need to learn from Covid

  This is based off of what I have seen and heard throughout the pandemic. I have decided to post this because we need more awareness of the issues in education.
• 
  2023-05-15

  Analysis of "The School Where the Pandemic Never Ended"

  Analyzing a New York Times article entitled, "The School Where the Pandemic Never Ended" through the lens of Daniel Defoe and Thomas Paine
• 2020-03-14

  My Sedentary Lifestyle Prepared me for What Came

  In the year of the pandemic I was not aware of everything that was occurring all around me, I did not watch the news; however, I did get news updates on my phone and people would tell me what was going on. I was working as a personal attendant at an elementary school when covid began, and I did not feel the effects that covid 19 has been changing society, the community that I lived in, and in my life until the lockdown began where everyone had to stay inside their houses. Before the lockdown began I was living a sedentary lifestyle where I would spend the whole day inside the house on my phone or watching TV, so staying in my house was an everyday thing for me and many of my family members and friends did not live near me, so I would always call them; however, I have heard about a couple of family members who I have grown up with mention to me that they had covid and before I returned to work after the lockdown was over my mother tested positive for covid, so this is when covid 19 was hitting hard to me because many people that I was close to were getting sick, when my mother was sick I began to worry whether I had covid 19, because I fell ill before her, however, I tested negative for covid 19 which I admit was a huge relief for me, but I was worried about my mothers well being, until she felt better. In news updates I heard about a lot of people who lost their jobs, and places that were shut down, because of the pandemic, so I felt fortunate to still have employment at the elementary school even if my hours were shorter than before because of the changed school hours, but I still felt fortunate that I still had employment and that none of my friends or family lost their lives to covid 19. When I first heard about the lockdown it was when I realized how truly serious the situation was, many people had trouble staying inside their houses during the lockdown; however, I always stayed inside on my phone, playing video games, and watching TV so remaining in my house was never such an issue for me since this was part of my everyday life so my sedentary lifestyle is what prepared me and got me through the lockdown during covid 19.
• 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.
• 
  12/07/2021

  Heather Perrault Oral History, 2021/12/07

  Heather Perrault is an Eau Claire, WI resident and currently works for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections as a parole officer. In this interview, Heather talks about her experience with COVID and how it affected her life as a stay-at-home mom/ pseudo-teacher for her kids as well as her job that she rejoined about halfway through COVID. She also talks about how COVID has affected her family and friends in terms of their physical and mental health and how the people she oversees as a parole officer may be affected by COVID as well. Heather also gives future generations advice on how she thinks they should look at information about the pandemic in the future.
• 
  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

  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.
• 
  12/08/2021

  Eric Schwerdt Oral History, 2021/12/08

  Eric Schwerdt, born and raised in Duluth, MN, is a non-traditional student and ICU nurse at the Mayo Clinic in Eau Claire, WI. Eric earned his BA from the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 2012. Later, he received his ADN from Lake Superior College, and finally his BSN from St. Scholastica. In this interview, Eric talks about the traumatic and demanding role of an ICU nurse during a pandemic - describing haunting images of sick patients resembling more machines than men, and the occasional peace nurses can provide for suffering families. He also delves into the science of COVID, the vaccines, and the complicated undertaking of educating a reluctant public about them. Throughout the interview, Eric also reveals how his personal struggles with mental health impact his experiences and inform his perspectives in the era of COVID-19.
• 
  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.
• 
  12/08/2021

  Jill Smith Oral History, 2021/12/08

  Dr. Jill Smith is a retired professor from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, she currently lives in Menominee Wisconsin. In the interview, she talks about how Covid-19 has affected her family and her work within her community. As she started the pandemic as a caregiver for her husband who unfortunately passed in January. When she talks about her job as a contact tracer for Dun County and how that has shaped her life. While she also volunteers at Steeping Stones and interacts with her community. Commenting on the political side of how her community adapted to the pandemic. Concluding with her perspective on how the future may look with the new Omicron variant.
• 
  12/10/2021

  Shae Havner Oral History, 2021/12/10

  In this interview, Shae Havner discusses her experiences as a mental health therapist during the pandemic and the changes in her career and her clients. She talks about how the pandemic affects mental health, both positively and negatively, and the rise in domestic abuse cases. She also gives insight into how COVID-19 affected her home life as a mother and how the pandemic has affected her sons as well as what her family and friends did to have fun during the shutdown. She lives in Fall Creek, Wisconsin, and works in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and compares how the two cities responded to the pandemic. She also brings up vaccinations, the booster shot, and getting her children vaccinated.
• 
  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.
• 
  11/27/2021

  Terry Ehle Oral History, 2021/11/27

  Terry Ehle lives in Two Rivers, Wisconsin with her husband, three daughters, and two foster boys. She works as a librarian at the local public library. In this interview, Terry discusses the struggles she faces during the COVID pandemic trying to juggle such a large family and their many extra-curricular activities. Her daughters are involved in musical theater, sports, and international travel- all of which have been impacted by COVID. She struggles to manage all of these different activities together, all while trying to be a good mother and a good employee. Because of her situation, she has had to take a lot of time off of work and has found herself working many nights and weekends to make up for the lost time.
• 
  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.
• 
  2023-03-20

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

  What Happened on March 11th, 2020
• 
  2020-03-19

  #FormalFriday

  "Since everyday is Corona Casual now, I propose we start doing 'Formal Friday.' Break out the tux or gown, do your hair, and settle in for a fancy day at home." I posted that on Facebook on Thursday, March 19, 2020. The next day, I shared a photo of myself in a cocktail dress, pearls, and lipstick, laptop balanced on my knee, chaotic home office behind me. In the weeks that followed, I would post a reminder on Thursday, and on Friday folks would post photos of themselves in their finery. These were friends from all aspects of my life, people who didn't know each other, using the hashtag #formalfriday and adding a little levity to an anxiety ridden time. For me, it was one of the only bright spots. Work from home started March 12th. Five days before that, my husband had informed me our marriage wasn't working. And five days after, my mom went into the hospital, where she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. Over the course of 10 days, my world had been ripped out from under me. The emotional isolation was crushing. Compounded with the physical and social isolation - I was living each day on the verge of collapse. But on Fridays, I would put on makeup, jewelry, and a gown and pretend that everything was hunky dory for social media. That my level of fear, of anxiety, of panic were on the same level as everyone else's. I would take a photo, sometimes with my daughter, and post on Facebook. Then I would take off the sparkles and finery and return to the dull reality of leggings and dread. Formal Friday went on for eleven weeks. I saved my favorite dress for last: A full-length gown with a black and white striped skirt (it has pockets!) and crop-top illusion. In the photo, my daughter is in her pajamas because we had given up on making her get dressed by then. I'm clenching onto her and she's flopped backward, totally over the whole thing. There's a smile on my face that doesn't reach my eyes. After I posted it, I had multiple friends reach out to ask if I was OK. We were three months into a two-week quarantine, yet the pandemic was a solid third on the list of things I was most worried about. The strain was starting to show on my body, in my face. Looking back at the photos now, I think about the illusion of social media and how easy it is to pretend that what someone posts is reflective of their full reality. I was going through the most challenging time in my life, but based on what I put on Facebook, I had enough joy to play dress-up once a week. At the same time... I still had enough joy to play dress-up once a week. And it brought me joy to see other people do the same. Seeing my friends, and friends of friends, and screenshots of zoom meetings, where people were in suits, or gowns, or just putting on a little make-up because that's all they could muster, kept a flame of happiness glowing inside me and helped me get through those first eleven weeks. It was silly, it wasn't a representation of reality, but when my whole world was on fire, it was nice to feel beautiful with friends.
• 
  2021-09-06

  Terrariums out of Boredom

  Covid took us away from everything and reality was hard to cope with. I decided to retreat into nature. The struggle was that I hated being in my house and I couldn't stay outside forever. I decided that I would bring nature indoors and started to make terrariums. I was able to exercise, practice a hobby, create art. and safely quarantine all at once.
• 2020-03-13

  March 2020

  March 13, 2020 was a memorable day for all of us. It's the day we got the call that the schools would shut down for who knows how long due to the virus that was rapidly spreading. It was a scary time for everyone due to all of the unknowns. We were stuck in our houses for months with nothing to do. Being quarantined did teach me a lot of things, such as how to have fun at home. Once the restrictions got lifted, and we were allowed to see our friends, I remember spending everyday outside, finding our own ways to have fun since everything else was closed. 2020 was year none of us will forget. We found ways to make light of a horrible situation.
• 
  2020-06-06

  Currents

  During the COVID-19 lockdown, I was bored. I started to listen to an unprecedented amount of music. Including music from the artist Tame Impala. This photo shows me listening to his “Currents” album via Spotify. Currents is now one of my favorite albums of all time. Everytime I listen to a song from it, I think back to 2020 and as a result, that time holds a sentimental value to me.
• 
  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.
• 2020-05-29

  Verazzano Bridge

  Taking daily walks during the pandemic didn’t make me feel “healthy” or “well-adjusted”. I watched the way my neighbors and I would pull our masks up when we passed each other on the street. Saddening, on one hand; a show of communal care, on the other. I think it’s human to want to pull a silver lining out of a tragedy and I guess the silver lining here is that I had time to s l o w down and look at my community, not just the people, but the signs on storefronts, dishes of cat food next to porches, and yes, the outline of the Verazzano peeking out through the clouds hovering over Belt Parkway. I used to walk on this walkway when I was a child too, and though the pandemic has changed everything, the fishermen are still here, their rods propped against the rail. People are still riding tandem bikes. Still laughing, talking, breathing in the salty air.