Items

• 
  2021-02-26

  Coronavirus: Quebec considering ‘immunization passports’

  With coronavirus vaccinations now underway in Quebec, the province’s health minister is floating the idea of a so-called “COVID-19 passport” — digital proof that people have gotten the jab in order to access venues or activities.
• 
  2021-02-27

  A picture is worth a thousand words

  "A gravedigger wearing protective gear walks among fresh plots in between burials of COVID-19 victims at Cementerio do Alto de Sao Joao in Lisbon on Feb. 25. Portugal has recorded over 800,000 cases and more than 26,000 deaths, according to data compiled by John Hopkins University. Amid a national lockdown earlier this week, @apnews reports, the country's daily tally of new cases dipped below 1,000 for the first time since October. Photograph by Horacio Villalobos-Corbis/@gettyimages"
• 
  2020-03-14

  Going Home

  This story reads the story of the impact of COVID 19 on my life is important as it shows the transition from the normal world into the new covid world.
• 2021-02-25

  A Strange Way to Grieve

  My father-in-law had an accident last April and passed away about ten days later. He was brought to the hospital in the middle of the pandemic. Nobody was allowed to visit and be with him. My husband was able to speak to him over the speaker phone. He missed seeing him in person. The doctors only would allow visitors in the last moments near death. My husband did not make it in time. Later, he had to retrieve his cremated remains from the car in a sort of curbside pick-up fashion. It was very awkward for him. The usual quiet moments in this situation did not happen. We wanted to hold a memorial for my father-in-law, but because of covid19, we kept pushing it back saying to ourselves, “Well, maybe in October…Maybe in December…” Now we have decided to forgo a traditional memorial for an online one. Soon in March we will have a Zoom memorial with a slideshow of pictures, video, and music, and it will be on his birthday. We hope people will make some remarks. It is stressful getting this together, and I hope it goes well on Zoom. None of us are experts with any of this technology. Handling the affairs of a loved one’s life when they have died is hard enough in normal times. It is even harder during a pandemic. As I write this journal entry I think about my husband and the hardship he and his side of the family has gone through during this time. Knowing them, they would not want to share anything like this on a public archive. I am involved in this grief, but it is different for me. My role is mainly to support. For an archive like this, its collection is all decided on what the public wants to share. Emotionally difficult stories like this may not be shared firsthand as often. My story is also not in depth as it could be if I were the person centrally involved in this grief. I hope that future historians read stories like mine and realize how strange and difficult this time was for grieving people. Nothing is normal. Having a memorial where people get together and support each other through grief with kind words, pats on the back, and long hugs is totally out of the question. We just have to do the next best thing and move on with our lives as we cope with an uncertain future and wonder when life will go back to the way it was before the pandemic or if we have truly lost this aspect of our culture, customs, and traditions.
• 
  2021-02-14

  My Story: I Got COVID-19 Because of ICE

  I am sending a diary style writing where I share my experience during the pandemic. I focus on the issue of ICE during the pandemic. Before the lockdowns, my uncle was detained by ICE and was deported during the pandemic. My uncle has been living in the US for 25+ years and Mexico, my uncle's home country, has changed a lot since he last lived there. For that reason, I went to Mexico to take him home. This made me get COVID.
• 2020-02-24

  The Extended Spring Break, or How COVID Made Senior Year a Let-Down

  I remember talking about the virus beginning to pop up in America in my AP Research class with the rest of class. The nature of the class was an at-your-own-pace kind of deal as long as our research essay and presentation developed accordingly to segmented deadlines. Our teacher loved to talk about current events with us while we worked, and it'd often get a few of us side-tracked for half-an-hour, but this time our whole class was involved. Like many at the time we thought it'd just be a slightly worse flu, that it was something we'd make it through just like all the other flu-seasons from years prior. As it became a more severe problem throughout the nation, we all started to realize that Spring Break may last longer that initially thought. We figured we'd eventually come back with new guidelines in place, but at least for our school district, that was it. The senior-year-experience effectively died their for many of us. Prom got cancelled, Gradbash followed suit, and after holding out for so long, the promise of a graduation ceremony too. We still had the same schedule and school work, but now, many of the fun events and activities were cancelled. School from home still seemed relaxing at the time and had yet to devolve into the "this is like a personal prison" mentality, so there was some positivity that we could hold on to until Summer vacation. I couldn't look past everything falling apart for the year to make myself happy. I've been able to move on since, but seeing your senior year get reduced to ash in a few weeks really took a toll on me for a few months. Now in college, I feel some sense of socially-distanced normalcy has returned to the area I live in, as we don't have a noticeably high amount of cases here, but it still doesn't make me feel that much better of having lost an important year of my life.
• 
  2020-04-05

  Anxiety lingers as N.L. officials trace majority of coronavirus cases to funeral home

  Funeral home in Newfoundland was linked to a superspreader event
• 
  2021-02-19

  The Delta Flight Museum Will Become Georgia’s Largest Covid Vaccination Site Next Week

  The state of Georgia has announced that they are partnering with Delta Air Lines to turn the Delta Flight Museum into a vaccination center. The center will be one of four major vaccination centers in Georgia. Vaccinations will be offered through drive-thru and walk-up.
• 
  2021-02-19

  Vaccinations on campus

  ASU is now vaccinating people on campus. Members of the ASU community receive an email when they are eligible. I am eligible and have tried making an appointment twice, but the appointments are always full. After you get a vaccine, employees are supposed to upload a copy of their vacine to an ASU website.
• 2021-02-17

  Mourning Limbo

  It’s strange, losing someone during this pandemic. We saw grandma on her birthday last month and probably wouldn’t have planned to visit until Easter. Before the pandemic I would have taken her out a couple times a month and other relatives would make sure she had plans other weeks, even if it was just a trip to Walmart or the grocery store. But after nearly a year we had settled into this new normal. So I find myself checking Facebook to see if grandma liked a picture of my cat or picking up the phone to give her a call and then remembering. We haven’t had any sort of memorial, of course. My aunt wants to go to grandma’s favorite beach this summer, assuming we’re all vaccinated (and that seems less likely all the time). I’ve never been to that beach without grandma. Maybe then it will feel real.
• 
  2021-02-17

  A College Athlete's Pandemic

  The story I uploaded explains how the Covid-19 pandemic has changed my experience as a college athlete. This is important to me because playing a sport in college is a huge part of my overall college experience.
• 2020-12-23T18:05:10

  Quarantine Taco bell time

  My quarantine was much like everyone elses experiences, staying inside, self quarantining, not seeing friends as often as I would have liked. Except one day just before Christmas I got a text from my friend that him and his brother wanted me to come and do Christmas shopping with them and then stop at Taco Bell and get food. I had not seen anyone since we moved back home from campus for winter break so I was excited to see my friends. My friends came to my house and picked me up and we headed to the closest target for them to do their late Christmas shopping. Whenever we arrived and parked we went to the entrance and they were limiting the amount of people that were allowed to enter the store and made sure everyone had their masks on. Then we made it into the store and had to walk in certain directions because of the markers telling which way people can go. We ended up not finding what we were looking for and decided to go to the Petco next door to look around for fun. We saw these giant shrimp in the aquarium section and thought they were really cool. After this we went to the Taco Bell drive through to get food since we could no longer eat inside during the pandemic. We ordered our food and got it through the drive through window in a plastic container. One benefit about the pandemic is that fast food service is much more sanitary than before. After we ate our food and sat in the car and talked for a while we decided to go home for the night. Even during the pandemic we could still have fun together going to stores although it was different than before.
• 
  2021-02-15

  Black Lives Matter Protests Across Canada

  This is a collage of the various BLM protests across Canada from the summer of 2020. The images are (top row, left to right): Toronto, Chatham, Vancouver, Calgary and (bottom row, left to right): Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax
• 
  2021-01-16

  Attending a Football Game in a Pandemic

  For much of 2020, the thought of having fans at sports games seemed far off in the distance, especially considering the part where professional sports were cancelled altogether. However, thanks to the adjustments made toward the pandemic, in January 2021, I had the opportunity to attend a NFL Divisional Playoff game between the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens in Buffalo. It took the whole season but for the playoffs, Bills fans were finally going to be let in the stadium, even if it is only at about 10 percent capacity. The process to get tickets was brief, as the game was only confirmed to host fans less than a week beforehand. We got lucky, and my dad and I were able to get tickets. One of the requirements to attend the game, was to get a COVID 19 test on the Wednesday beforehand. The tests were done simply, and quickly with the results being sent to the patient the next day. I would have been more worried to test positive and miss the game however, I had COVID already a few months beforehand and the chances of getting it again are very low. We soon received our negative results, and it was time to prepare for the game. When we arrived at the stadium the day of the game, there were significant differences to the regular pregame scene. There was no one out tailgating, which would otherwise be done all day in preparation for the game. Entering the stadium was a bit different too, on top of presenting your tickets, everyone entering was required to provide their negative COVID-19 test results to security to enter. Once inside the stadium, the most notable changes are the complete lack of seating outside of the stadium bowl. Alongside this, concessions were more limited, walkways were marked for directional flow, and everyone was required to wear a mask at all times. In the bowl, the seats were mostly taped off, with openings where people purchased tickets in small groups of two to four seats. Despite the audience capacity being around only 10 percent, I was surprised at how loud the stadium got throughout the game, it did not get quite as loud as it does at full capacity, but it was a lot louder than you would expect from only seven thousand fans. Overall, the game experience was not ruined by covid, but I hope soon we can go back to not worrying about keeping a mask up while cheering at a sporting event.
• 
  2021-02-11

  Family is Forever

  COVID-19 has affected me in a way that seemingly everyone has felt in some way. This pandemic has brought my family closer together, physically and emotionally, than ever before. My family is usually the type to cover up our feelings and hide our thoughts with sarcasm, but this pandemic has unleashed all of those hidden feelings. Being stuck in the same house I have been in for the past 21 years has changed how I view family and the time that is spent together. When the pandemic first occurred, we were all devastated and annoyed, just like the rest of the world, that we were instructed to stay in our homes 24/7 and only leave our homes for certain conditions such as essential work, food, and outdoor activities. During the first few weeks we were all getting antsy and annoyed staying inside all together, but we had to come to terms with the fact that were stuck with each other whether we like it or not. We slowly began to play board games, go on outdoor walks, and spend quality time together because we were all that we had. I used to hate having family dinners, being asked a million questions by my parents, fighting over the bathroom with my siblings, playing family game nights, and much more. Over many months of being cooped up in the same house with my whole family, I started to realize that I cherish those moments more than I thought I did. During the past few holidays that occurred during the pandemic; Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and soon to be Easter, it is easy to see that close family should be cherished and held close to our hearts. Not being able to see my cousins and grandparents for these holidays has been a different kind of experience. We always take for granted those times where we get to casually see them or plan gatherings, but now we’re forced to stay distanced to keep everyone safe. My mom has recently said, “We are showing how much we love them by not seeing them”, explaining that we are keeping everyone safe and healthy by not gathering and possibly spreading Covid-19. Looking into the future and the years to come, I hope to keep appreciating the time with family that I will have and look to make the most of situations I am put into. This pandemic has taught me many lessons that I wish to further learn from and value the important thing sin life that we usually take for granted.
• 
  2020-06-16T20:08:07

  Covid trip 2020

  Well the pandemic hit my school in the early week of March and we were only sent home for two weeks. As soon as we were ready to go back, we were sent home for two months after the first dismissal. After all that was informed, we actually stayed at home for the rest of our senior year. We missed out on our prom and that is something we looked forward to and something you cannot get back. After prom we normally go to a cabin and just enjoy ourselves after the dance, which is a highlight of any high schoolers life. Our past junior year, we had prom and proceeded to get a cabin on Lake Erie and it was an amazing experience. In the summer of 2019, all of my high school friends took a trip to Ocean City Maryland for about a week and that was our so called senior trip even though we we Juniors, let alone we did not know what would happen in 2020. Once we graduated, we decided we needed to end our horrible senior year with something we would remember. We decided to take a five day trip down to Hilton Head. It was convenient since my one friend moved down there for her college and she already had a place down there. We could not stay there because she just moved in, but we got a house very close to hers and it was right next to the water. This was pretty much our final goodbye before we all went to college so we took it all in and enjoyed our final summer together. When we were down there, it did not even feel like the virus was going around, no one had to wear a mask, families were every where with their kids, and it seemed like everyone got lost in the real world. This image is important to me because they are my boys, everything we do, we do together and that picture will hold memories. It will hold what happened in 2020, the virus that went around, and the last summer we enjoyed together.
• 2021-02-11

  Zoom Birthday "party"

  For this journal entry I plan to discuss the changes this pandemic is bringing to children and parents, and continue to discuss how their voices are silenced in this archive. My son’s sixth birthday was the other day, and I decided to host a Zoom get-together for him with his closest friends from school. It was awkward for me to text some moms I have not seen in ages because we do not go to the park anymore for play dates. This group of moms and kids would meet up on Fridays at this park the kids fondly called the “fish park” because it had a play structure with a big fish designed into it. The group got to be quite large at the beginning of 2020 with around eight families participating. As I write this, I am feeling very sad and missing those days when we were all together. We often would each bring something to snack on and share as a group. We were all there to help each other and of course socialize. It was a nice social group. It was also a friendship formed based on our children’s connection to each other. So, when the pandemic hit and play dates were out of the question, some of us drifted apart for a while. I remember when we first started learning about COVID-19, this was the hot topic of discussion in our Friday meetups. We debated and discussed and worried. They all thought I was crazy, I am sure, for going out and stocking up on food back in February because an official from the CDC told people to even back then. Later, they started to realize I was right and followed my lead before it was too late and the grocery stores started emptying out. Four of us formed a text group and have kept in almost daily contact with each other this last year. A lot of our conversation is supportive while we try to get through these challenging times as moms of small children. We share our worries and fears. We share our joys and survival tips. There have been lots of laughs, too. It has been a blessing to have this support group this year. We even met up in a park one Sunday morning last fall and spent the morning catching up. We were of course masked and sitting in chairs well over six feet apart. All these moms have made the same decision to keep their children at home. One mom decided to home school her children because she could not get adequate resourcing for her son who has autism and as a former teacher, she decided to take it on herself. Being online for school has been especially hard for children on the spectrum, I have been told by a few moms with children who are, because mainly their routine is messed up. Two of us have our children in the flex program and one moved hers to a new completely online school our district created to serve families during the pandemic. The flex program was for parents who are wishy washy on deciding whether to send their kids back to school. It is for us parents who were too scared to send their kids back so early (and had the privilege to keep them home) and optimistic that the virus would fade away enough and our kids could return relatively safe. It is not looking good that our children will return at all this year. Every quarter we say, oh maybe next quarter, and then the virus spreads in our community and the numbers tick up and we keep them home again. Anyway, the point is that my two kids have been home this entire time, almost a year, out of a brick-and-mortar school and not socializing with other kids in person. It has been very hard for them. They miss seeing their friends desperately. Obviously, a birthday party was out of the question so I decided to set up a Zoom “party” for my son yesterday to celebrate his birthday and so he could see his friends’ faces for a little bit. It did not work well. First off, I muted everyone to announce the plans and then could not figure out how to unmute everyone and that lead to tears and frustration. Kids kept leaving and coming back. Some would not participate in the games I tried to arrange. We played charades, would you rather, and did a little scavenger hunt by sending them to find objects of the various colors of the rainbow. My kids were not having it. My son was out of sorts which is not like him, and my daughter was so upset with me because I would not let her interrupt the games to play a video from her screen. So, she was pouting, and my son was pouting for some unknown reason. I think he was overwhelmed and just fatigued by it all. This is not what he wanted for a birthday party; I am sure. But I tried. I did the best I could with the circumstances, and I know some of the kids had fun even if the birthday boy did not. The bottom-line is that Zoom birthday parties are hard—harder to facilitate than in-person birthdays and wow do I give props to teachers who are doing this every single day. My son’s kindergarten teacher makes it look so easy! But I know it is not. I already had tremendous respect for teachers, but my respect has grown even more after this experience. I am very thankful for all they do for our children. They should be honored. The problem with this archive is the potential for silences. As I discussed last week, children will be silenced in this archive unless an adult writes their experiences for them. I am writing this story about this Zoom party for the archive and it is getting included, but it is still from my perspective. My son is not sharing what he felt during the party and how he has felt this year collectively. We may never know what he was thinking during the party because little kids move on and forget. At the very least though I have shared this experience from my point-of-view, which I am sure is a replication of thousands of parents and children’s experiences all over the world—at least the ones who have access to the internet and Zoom.
• 
  2021-02-07

  2021 ASU Graduation?

  This story tells of my experience of hoping for a spring 2021 graduation. It is important because it captures my feelings about it and shows how closures are still happening in 2021 like they did in 2020.
• 
  2021-02-07

  Lost 16th Birthday Gift

  This document recalls my sister's cancelled 16th birthday present and her perspective on the closure of events in 2020-2021. It is important because it captures a unquiet perspective from a teens point of view.
• 2021-02-05

  Keena Covid Vaccine Booster

  I got my vaccine booster on Friday, February 5th, at 4 pm. I was very excited to return to the local hospital for this vaccine appointment. On February 1st, tier 2 had opened, and vaccines were now being offered to anyone over 65. The hospital had really stepped up their game and was administering about 20 vaccines every 4 minutes (I asked), and they were so efficient! I got my second dose and then sat waiting in the lobby for 15 minutes. While I was waiting, there was a woman behind me (older than 65) who had just gotten her first dose. She was scheduling her appointment for her booster and struck up a conversation. She told me that she was so sad that so many people were dying, and she was excited to get the vaccine. She also mentioned that since her husband had died and she was no longer able to drive, she took a cab for the 45-minute drive to the hospital. She didn't care what the cost was - she wanted the vaccine. It was really quite sweet. After my shot at, 4 pm my husband and I went to our friend's home for our usual Friday night take out dinner. Around 10 pm, while we were still at our friend's home my ankles, knees, and hips began to get unusually sore. We left shortly after, and I was uncomfortable the entire car ride home. When we finally got home, I went straight to bed. At 6 am, I woke up with a splitting headache, body aches, and chills. I got myself out of bed to go to the bathroom (about 3 steps away) and immediately felt nauseous. I returned to bed, woke up my husband, and asked for water, Tylenol, and a heating pad. After taking Tylenol, I fell asleep for about 1 1/2 hours. Again, I woke up with a splitting headache and body aches but couldn't take any more pain relievers. I just laid in bed trying to get some rest and ordered Chick Fil A breakfast; I'm not sure why but that's what I was craving. I got out of bed to eat breakfast and promptly returned to bed. I took more Tylenol at 10 am and fell asleep for another hour and a half. When I woke up shortly before noon, I took a bath to calm down my body aches. My wrists and my shoulders/armpits hurt the worst. I stayed in the bath for about 30 minutes, which is a lot for me because I honestly cannot remember the last time I took a bath - I think they're gross. After that, I moved out to the couch, took more Tylenol, and watched a movie. When the movie ended, I went back to bed. I slept from about 3 pm to 5 pm. When I woke up, I took more Tylenol, moved to the couch, and watched another movie while my husband made dinner. I had some dinner and stayed on the couch until 10 pm. While the Tylenol helped with the body aches for about an hour, nothing seemed to touch my headache. I was using a heating pad on my neck and doing some yoga to try and stretch it. I went to bed with my usual nighttime routine and fell asleep around 10:30 pm. I didn't wake up at all overnight. I woke up on Sunday at 8 AM feeling AMAZING. It was like I had never reacted at all. My arm is not sore; I have no body aches and no headache. My husband is a third-year med student and spent most of Saturday looking at me like a science experiment because my body was reacting to the vaccine exactly like it was supposed to. Through all of the pain on Saturday, I was silently cheering on my body for doing its job because I knew that meant it was working. Through the entire pandemic, I was able to remain Covid free (as far as I know), and I would certainly take 1 day of vaccine induced pain over 7 days of Covid.
• 
  2020-03

  A Year Without Rowing

  The end of my freshman (2019-2020) spring semester of college was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic gradually growing more and more. Not being able to have a normal freshman year and sophomore year (2020-2021) was not what I was expecting going into college. I have always expected my college years to be full of fun times and rowing but instead they have been full of the COVID-19 pandemic and online school at home. Traveling has been cancelled due to the pandemic which is what stopped studying abroad chances in different countries around the world. Not only was my college years cut short but also my college rowing career as well. Freshman year the spring season was cancelled due to COVID-19 as well as my sophomore fall season and maybe spring. The spring break has been cancelled for the school due to the pandemic which meant the teams spring break training has been taken away which is where we get into racing sprint pieces on the water. Being able to race and perform in regattas at a collegiate level is something I have always looked forward to throughout my high school years. Not being able to have the chance to compete against other colleges especially in the main season of rowing which is spring is something that is upsetting to myself, the rest of the team, and the rowing community. Having limited rowing opportunities for practice such as small boat rowing, small group pods, and the location. Strict policies from the athletics department have been guiding what we can and cannot do for rowing. There are plans for my sophomore spring season of competing against other college rowing teams if the COVID-19 pandemic begins to decline. If the pandemic begins to decline it will lead to less policies enabling the team to practice as a whole team and in bigger boats like 8s and 4s. This will allow the teams to practice at a higher degree on and off the water to become ready to compete in the regattas. The picture that I have attached is from my fall season of freshman year when there was no pandemic going on. I picked this picture because it is special to me because my collegiate rowing season has only been a semester long. Wishing that my next two years of rowing will be COVID-19 free and full of races and regattas. Hopefully the vaccine will help fix the pandemic and move towards the future into a COVID-19 free life.
• 
  2021-01-29

  Coronaland

  With Carnival parades cancelled, somebody had the bright idea to start the Krewe of House Floats to (a) make up for it and (b) to possibly offer work to unemployed float artisans. The results have gone beyond everyone's wildest imagination with 5,000+ people signing up in New Orleans, surrounding parishes, and around the world. This is a detail of an installation that shows how many people are feeling these days, “Cuckoo from COVID”
• 
  2021-01-29

  Coronaland

  With Carnival parades cancelled, somebody had the bright idea to start the Krewe of House Floats to (a) make up for it and (b) to possibly offer work to unemployed float artisans. The results have gone beyond everyone's wildest imagination with 5,000+ people signing up in New Orleans, surrounding parishes, and around the world. This installation, shows how many people are feeling these days, “Cuckoo from COVID”
• 
  2021-01-29

  Coronaland

  With Carnival parades cancelled, somebody had the bright idea to start the Krewe of House Floats to (a) make up for it and (b) to possibly offer work to unemployed float artisans. The results have gone beyond everyone's wildest imagination with 5,000+ people signing up in New Orleans, surrounding parishes, and around the world. This creation, at 430 Harrison Ave., gives the perspective of the crowd and advises people, “Six Feet when possible Y'All”.
• 2021-01-31

  My Second COVID Christmas

  My wife and I just had our second COVID Christmas, this time with my mom's side of the family. Because very few on that side can work remotely, almost everyone has had and survived COVID due to work exposures over the past six months. Until we're able to secure vaccines, I also expect at least some of us will have to endure a second round of illness. Having Christmas in January was a strange experience, much like Baseball in November from 2001. I'm glad we finally got to assemble for a few days, and I appreciated most everyone's responsibility with their conduct. My sister is a nurse and treats the pandemic with too little respect. Although she's potentially outside her immunization period, she still acts as though she's chock full of antibodies capable of defeating every new identified strain. AND, she waited until we'd all been together for a full day to reveal her boyfriend has had COVID symptoms for a few days but refuses to be tested. Beyond the drama and anxiety that inspired, I'm grateful to have seen my grandmother, and I'll be even more grateful to know that she doesn't develop signs or symptoms of illness in the coming days. The lesson I learned from this family function is that I can't trust those closest to me to candidly assess the risks those pose to the rest of us. They can't differentiate between their right to make their own health choices and my right to do the same. My understanding was that we had all been sufficiently careful for several weeks to ensure no one would bring COVID to the Christmas celebration, and I was wrong. My bad. I promise it won't happen again, and I won't attend another family function without being vaccinated first, at least not with my sister or a clear, deliberate, and sworn confirmation that everyone I see has been sufficiently cautious. This entire pandemic at this point for me is a balance between mental and physical health, and it turns out they can't both win.
• 2021-01-07

  A Virtual Funeral is Now Normal

  On January 7, 2021 I attended a virtual funeral service for a friend's husband. This was the first time I had seen an online funeral. It was streamed on Youtube while the closest family and friends attended in person. I watched the service from my phone alone at work. It felt surreal. I recognized several friends on the tiny screen with familiar voices, but it felt far away. Since then I have spoken to a few people and mentioned how I felt disconnected to be on the other side of the screen. Many others had similar stories about these kinds of services. It was now normal to experience these things, but I can't shake the feeling of how much the experience continues to bother me. I hope some day online services won't be necessary.
• 
  2020-07-11

  Masked up

  At my brothers wedding in the summer of 2020, masks were asked to be worn during the event, which is very different than the pre-pandemic wedding appearance. Some people were not happy with having to wear a mask because they thought the photos wouldn’t like as nice. This picture is with my father, with my mask unfortunately upside down but still serving its purpose of keeping people safe.
• 2019-08-07

  The “Greatest Pandemic in History” Was 100 Years Ago – But Many of Us Still Get the Basic Facts Wrong

  This article was published on August 7, 2019 just months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020. The author’s intention was to share facts about the Spanish Flu so that we can be better prepared in case a similar catastrophic event occurs again. The similarities between Spanish Flu and the current pandemic cannot easily be ignored. It makes one wonder what will be said about COVID-19 100 years from now?
• 
  2019-04-05

  Pesach mutual aid, care packages for solitary seders!

  When we went into lockdown in Naarm (Melbourne), many Jewish people realised this meant doing their seders solo or over zoom. Restrictions on number of guests meant that a seder with the family wasn't possible. Whilst at most seders you would usually have multiple people who had divided the seder night responsibilities (someone on charoset, matzah ball soup, gefilte fish, kosher wine, boiled eggs and each item for the seder plate), this night was different from all other nights. Our seders suddenly felt bare with the looming responsibility to create an entire seder's worth of food, for one. For those of us who lived away from our families and the bagel belt, there were additional challenges. For the queer jews who left their south-eastern homes for the cramped share houses of the inner north, finding Kosher and seder specific ingredients was near impossible at our local Piedemontes. I called my closest Woolworths and asked if they had ingredients for passover, "You could try the international food aisle?" they suggested, I knew that wouldn't suffice. I was grieving the loss of my most important cultural holiday of the year and the foods that came with it, when I decided I would drive to Southside, and collect ingredients from there. Knowing it would be useless to cook for one (and that I still haven't learnt the skills to do so) I decided to buy enough that I could make up care packages for other Jewish people doing their seders alone. The buba of the northside, giving just enough of everything for a table of one. 3 matzah balls, a jar of broth, enough matzah to break, hide and dip in charoset, etc. Other Jewish people contributed ingredients or made gefilte fish to distribute too. I managed to distribute over 25 packages to people joining their seders via zoom. For me, it was such an important way for me to feel connected to community despite distance, and honour pesach at a challenging time.
• 
  2020-12-31

  They Never Saw the Sun

  For every birthday and Christmas, I get new running shoes. I tell my mom and husband to buy them when they’re on sale, save them, and wrap them up for me. I run A LOT. When quarantine started in March, I took one run outside. Two days later, the CDC confirmed everyone’s worst fears - the virus was airborne. Although running is a low risk activity, where I run, the trails are very narrow. Unfortunately, the people who walk/bike/run there are apparently pretty narrow minded and refuse to wear masks. Could I run outside and not catch COVID? Probably. But with both my husband and I working from home, my +65 mom living with, and a perfectly fine treadmill, that risk just didn’t seem worth it. Man, I miss those trails. But I am lucky to have my treadmill. In July, I pulled out a new pair of running shoes. I honestly didn’t think about how long they’d been tied to the treadmill, I just laced them and put them on like I had done so many times before. One virtual marathon, three virtual 10Ks, and 600+ for fun miles (all on a treadmill) later, it was time to retire my trusty running shoes. On December 31, I announced their retirement with a snarky picture on my Instagram. But what a bizarre pair of shoes to retire. Perfectly clean on the outside, completely destroyed on the inside. The poor things never left the house, they never saw the sun. As a trail runner, my running shoes are always filthy by the time I’m ready to retire them. How strange to retire a pair of shoes that look brand new. How tired they are inside. A symbol of the bizarre year that was 2020.
• 2021-01-25

  statistics

  There have been 97.7 total Covid 19 cases in the world. One of those cases was my uncle. Near thanksgiving he wasn't feeling well so he instinctively got a Covid test. About 2 days later he got a call that said he had the virus. This effected our family greatly. We were all worried sick and were praying that he healed. The funny part was, he said it only felt like a regular cold. He did eventually get better and we were thankful to God.
• 
  2020-12-19

  COVID Birthday

  This is a photo of my sisters birthday party late last year. She is a nurse at St. Josephs Hospital and for the safety of her friends she decided that a Zoom birthday party would be best. At the time she was working in the ICU on the COVID unit; the heart of all the action. She has since been moved back to her normal position but for quiet a while she wasn't able to see or interact with anyone outside the hospital. Her birthday was fun and we got to see family that we hadn't seen in what seemed like years. It was also really fun teaching my older family members how to use Zoom. Putting filters and funny backgrounds was hilarious. It is definitely something I'll remember about living through this pandemic.
• 
  2021-01-20

  Poet Amanda Gorman has a star-making moment during Biden-Harris inauguration

  I was teaching during the inauguration. But I pulled up the ceremony and allowed the students to watch Biden take his oath. Afterwards I quickly shut it down and tried to catch up on the lesson I had already planned. One of my students during 6th period unmuted (which is rare). "Mrs. Bell? Did you see the poet? It really moved me". I told her I would watch it after class. When I did get a chance to watch it, I was so sad I missed the opportunity to share Amanda Gorman's dream of a better America with them in the moment. The next day, each class watched it with me. Students who normally never speak applauded her, telling me what her vision meant to them, that she was elegant, that she was brave. Watching her speak was a moment I will never forget. She made history with words of hope in a horribly fractured America. She brought a sense of patriotism and optimism that I haven't felt in some time. I know she inspired kids everywhere. Ahhh!!! It was so good. "If only we're brave enough to see it, If only we're brave enough to be it".
• 2021-02-25

  COVID Statistics

  As of now, there have been roughly 100.17 million COVID cases worldwide. Of those 100 million people that have had COVID, about 2.14 million have died. This means that the death rate of COVID-19 is about 2%. Most people who get the virus have little to no symptoms, and recover quickly. However, the elderly and people with underlying health conditions are more likely to develop complications because of COVID (respiratory tract infection). Luckily, everyone I knew who got COVID were pretty healthy. My cousin Michael, who just graduated from UC David and is training with the Marines, contracted COVID and recovered very quickly. My family cancelled our Christmas celebration in Burbank to prevent my 94 year old grandpa from getting COVID. He is definitely in the high-risk category because of his age. I am thankful that no one close to me has died of COVID, and I pray for those who have passed away.
• 2021-01-06

  Vaccine required for events

  This is an article going over some things you may not be allowed to do without the vaccine. This includes going to big events and being in large crowds.
• 
  2021-01-21

  No Pain, No Psych

  The last time I stepped foot into a climbing gym was March 8, 2020… The last time I felt both pain and psych at the same time was March 8, 2020. My last pre-Covid birthday celebration was March 8, 2020. What a day to look back on with such happiness, but also sorrowful yearning. When I was younger, I tried soccer… volleyball… tennis… and long story short, I discovered that trying to aim at spherical objects just wasn’t my thing. After several years of experimentation, I found a magazine advertisement for a climbing gym and almost immediately asked my mom if we could check it out. After day one, I knew I would be in it for the long run. For one, climbing didn’t require me to kick, bump, or serve a ball. That criteria was easily met, but most importantly, climbing proved to be a puzzle that continuously enticed me to complete it. Each route at the gym was a new challenge for me, and I was flooded with adrenaline as I fought my fear of heights and racked my brain to find a suitable sequence to top the climbs. Right hand up, right foot out to the side. Left foot high, left hand grasping the lip of the wall. The process nearly resembled the times where I learned how to solve a Rubik’s cube with a myriad of algorithms. As I grew stronger in my climbing technique, I possessed an arsenal of movements that I could employ at any time. The attached video shows the last climb I ever attempted before the lockdown commenced. Unbeknownst to my past self, I would never get the chance to finish it. Now, as I sit at home every day for distance learning, that climb continues to haunt me… Goodness, that was dramatic. No, but really, losing the opportunity to climb each week essentially equates to me losing my main coping mechanism. Whenever my mind was plagued by academic stress or general unease about the future, I would climb and climb and climb, at least three hours each Sunday. In the moment, all I desired to focus on was my next move – how I would inch closer to the top of the wall. I was never an exceptional climber, but I still liked to believe that I could be averagely skilled in something besides school. I suppose there was also the idea that, if my education headed downhill, I would escape in a minivan and become a nomadic climber, but my mother would not be pleased with me. With junior year beginning online (and most likely ending online as well), I found myself experiencing an influx in anxiety. During the weekdays and weekends, most of my time was spent either napping, surfing YouTube, or doing homework… such a dreadful cycle that contributed to my worst slump ever. Climbing used to instill me with so much energy that seems to have simply vanished ever since the pandemic hit. Nonetheless, I am finding my way to be active at home. YouTube often fuels my procrastination on school assignments, but it also provides me with the workout videos I follow along with on Saturday mornings. When climbing gyms facilities reopen, I know that my climbing technique will be extremely rusty, but I look forward to feeling… alive again. Climbing is a rather masochistic sport, but it is the “no pain, no gain” aspect, along with the exhilaration, that keeps me wanting more. (Side note: yesterday was Inauguration Day! Hoping that we are able to hold our nation's officials accountable in this new age for democracy.)
• 2020-11-09

  Symptoms of Covid-19

  Throughout 2020 there has been many different symptoms of Coronavirus. The main ones are fever, sore throat, coughing. I had a personal experience with one of my family members getting the virus. It was my great grandma. My great grandma was my biggest hero. She went through many obstacles in her life including; World War 2, she was a model for Norway, and she even beat a pandemic. On November 4 2020 my family and i found out my great grandma was diagnosed with Coronavirus. Now she had many health issues and we all knew the virus would not help that. On November 8th she tested negative. We were all very happy she made it through. The next day she was not doing well and she passed away. She was surrounded by family on zoom to talk to her and I will never forget how amazing she was.
• 
  2021-01-21

  A Shed of Inspiration

  The object that I have presented is my Akaashi plushie from one of my favorite anime shows called Haikyu. During quarantine, I have retaken an interest back into anime. I used to watch anime when I was in middle school, but my obsession ended because I was prioritizing school more. Until my friend convinced me to watch a show called Haikyu, which was about high school volleyball and made me get hooked back into watching anime again. Although my Akasshi plushie is just a stuffed animal, it has helped me through my journey as a junior in high school because it reminds me to continue working hard. In the show, Haikyu, the team Karasuno's goal is to get to nationals and become the top school in Japan. Although they struggle to achieve their goal to reaching nationals in their first attempt, that does not stop them from continuing. They all persevere through their downfalls and eventually, they finally achieve their dream. This show has given me a shed of inspiration, reminding me to continue working hard because eventually, I too, can achieve my ambitions with the efforts I put in. It also represents the difficulties that our country is currently struggling in right now because the number of COVID cases continues to rise and the vaccine for COVID is still in preparation. However, we continue to persevere trying to find a vaccine to cure this sickness and for our country to finally be at peace once again. To sum up my 2020 experience, I would have to say it was quite a crazy, adventurous, yet boring time. It was crazy because I have never expected I would experience a pandemic in my life time. To think I have read about all sorts of plagues in history class, only to discover I would actually experience it myself and one day, be able to retell my journey through this difficult time to future generations. Despite it being crazy, I thought it was also quite an adventure going through this pandemic. I have taken interests in hobbies that I never thought I would such as baking, painting, and embroidering. I even began taking an interest back into anime, which I never thought I would because I always believed it was silly, only to find out I was completely wrong. These animated shows have helped me become the person I am today and I am really grateful for that. Sure, discovering new hobbies was an adventure, there were some moments during quarantine that were boring. I could not go outside and interact with my friends as much, which made my quarantine experience even more boring. Holidays such as 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, was quite tragic. Normally I would go on vacation with my family, but because flights were cancelled and going around increased the risk of catching COVID, my family and I stayed home trying to make the most of the holidays. We followed all of the stay at home regulations for the holidays by wearing masks and standing 6 feet apart from our family members just in case they ever caught it. The holidays did not feel as special anymore since we could not interact with people as close, making it seem like it was a normal weekday. My quarantine workspace is my white wooden desk with light blue draws and a light blue chair to match the draws. On my desk, there is a white lamp, an essential oil diffuser, a candle, and a tiny Buddha statue. Around my desk, there are a couple of photos of my family, anime characters as well as BTS members too. Three things that I would include in my quarantine survival kit would be my phone, food, and water. I would bring my phone because it would be my only source of entertainment since I have the ability to communicate with my friends, watch shows, online shop, and listen to music. I would also definitely bring food and water because I need it for survival and I love to binge watch shows while eating some food. I wanted to upload a photo of the anime paintings I have painted during quarantine, but unfortunately I can only upload one photo :(. Instead I will describe it :). My first painting that I have painted was a picture of one of my favorite characters named Killua and he is from the show Hunter x Hunter. I painted a close up photo of him smiling and made my background a little blue color. As for my second painting, I painted Hinata and Kageyama from Haikyu because they are known as the best duos when it comes to their play tactics. I painted Hinata and Kageyama who are both smiling from joy because they were able to get a good shot from one of their plays and I painted the background yellow to symbolize the happiness in the painting.
• 
  2020-11-07

  Covid Dog Shows

  I have shown dogs for thirty-five years, which is my hobby and passion. Before Covid going to a dog show was a social event for all humans and canines involved. Exhibitors would greet each other with high fives and hugs. Ring stewards handed armbands to exhibitors, and judges would give placement ribbons to exhibitors and shake their hands when leaving the show ring. Both winners and losers were hugged in congratulations and condolences. Dogs could cue off of their exhibitor's facial expressions and were not leary of strangers who approached them. Dog shows were a laid back and social environment. When the pandemic created shutdowns in every aspect of life, dog shows all but disappeared in Arizona from the middle of March until early November. A few kennel clubs have opted to offer hosting dog shows with "Covid Rules" in place. Starting in November, showing a dog became "different." An exhibitor had to sign a "Covid survey and waiver form," have a scan temperature taken when entering the show grounds, wear a mask at all times, pick up armbands set out on tables and verbally declare the armband was received. When entering the show ring, a specific entry point and exit point was utilized, and exhibitors had to be six feet apart while in the show ring. After a judge examined each dog and determined placements, the exhibitors would stand six feet apart by placement placards and then exit the ring taking their placement ribbons off a table by the exit. There was not any physical human contact made between exhibitors, ring stewards, and judges. The physical challenge of running with a dog while wearing a mask restricted breathing, making showing a dog difficult. If a dog won at the show and a picture was taken, the photographer would offer to "photoshop" the judge into the photo with the dog and exhibitor or everyone socially distanced. In addition to no human interaction, dogs were unsettled by people wearing masks. Showing a dog in a Covid environment has become tiring and stressful, and going to a Covid dog show is not fun even when you win.
• 
  2021-01-21

  A Quarantine Gender Tale

  Living in a pandemic, navigating through the ins and outs of being (almost) 17, and self-reflecting on who I am during quarantine has shaped me into an entirely different person than who I was at the start of 2020. I remember sitting through a speaker presentation for a club I’m in during Transgender Awareness Week; In part because of LGBTQ+ education being moved into virtual spaces and in part because I feel the term now deeply resonates with me, I quickly took this screenshot of the slide defining the term non-binary. Before the pandemic, gender and how I viewed it was never a thought in my head because I often had no time to even reflect on what it meant to be a girl, to be a boy, or to simply exist beyond the binary. But I feel like if this prolonged period of isolation has taught me anything, it’s that gender and my relation to it will always remain an agglomeration of everything and nothing at all, and sometimes that’s perfectly normal.
• 
  2021-01-21

  Covid Christmas

  During Christmas we had a lot of family go to my one of my Grandmas house and we had Christmas Day there. A couple weeks later we found out that my Aunts brother was exposed to Covid. My parents got tested and they were negative, and so was my Aunt. The not so good thing is now, my other Aunt has been staying with my Grandma since then and makes us wear a mask when we visit our Grandma. That was my story.
• 2021-01-21

  A personal story of how I have been affected by someone testing positive.

  During the COVID-19 Pandemic, I had both sides of my family get it. My dads parents and my cousins, and my cousins on my moms side. This was really hard because I usually visit them every holiday or try to at least. Since they had COVID I wasn't aloud to see them or visit them. This was really hard because since wasn't aloud to see them I didn't know if it would be there last day, my grandparents are all 80+. This was a personal story of how I have been affected by someone in my life getting COVID-19.
• 2021-01-21

  Life with covid

  I have been lucky enough to not have many people close to me get infected with covid. However there are a couple people I know that did get it. One case that affected me was my orthodontist. He got diagnosed a few days after I had an appointment with him. So obviously I had to quarantine. I got tested and tested negative. But I still took the necessary precautions. That whole week I could not leave my house. I missed soccer practice. I couldn't hang out with my friends. It was lonely and boring. Luckily no symptoms ever appeared and all was well.
• 2019-12-12

  My Experience of Covid-19

  My experience with Covid-19 actually happened pretty early on. Probably a couple of months before it was publicly announced as a problem. I came back from a trip to Japan and my brother was sick not too long later. He took a flu test (mostly recognized as the Covid-19 test) and they tested him positively for A flu. It wasn't influenza but a different type of flu. He was sick throughout all of Christmas of 2019 and gave it to me in early January. We were both sick with a fever, and it was pretty hard to breathe. My brother got the worst of it. He was in a fit of coughing and sneezing. He would throw-up after every meal. He wouldn't talk much since he said his throat was dry. When he recovered about a week after I recovered. He said it was miserable, and that he wish he never gets it again. Now he makes it his #1 priority to wear a mask. He wears a mask all the time, outdoors, in the car, even indoors with us.
• 2021-01-21

  The Spread of Corona Virus

  I have a fairly large friend group and around halloween a couple of my friends got corona. So on Halloween there were 3 different parties to split up the friend group, so that it would be safer for corona. At one of the parties there was this girl there and her brother had corona (but she didn't know it at the time). So everyone she was with got it, including her. Then they had to quarantine and stay away from everyone for 3 weeks. I felt really bad for them because it seemed really lonely. I have also gotten tested multiple times and it felt really weird and my nose started running. I am glad that I have these experiences to learn and grow from.
• 2021-01-21

  My Experience with a Positive Covid Test

  I personally haven't really been affected by Covid, but I have had a few friends who tested positive. It was kind of funny because the two friends that I would talk with every day and hang out with were the two to get it. One of my friends tested positive on Christmas Eve and the other tested positive a few days before Christmas. I didn't know for a while because of Christmas plans and holiday festivities, so it wasn't a huge deal, but we couldn't get together for new years' which was kind of sad.
• 2020-11

  How People I Know Testing Positive Has Affected My Life

  My grandparents tested positive right after Thanksgiving, but we didn't go up there since they were not feeling well. Other than that, my orthodontist and his wife tested positive, but I haven't had/needed an appointment in quite a while. That is just about it.
• 2020-02-05

  .

  One of my dads friends that we were with tested positive for corona. Thankfully, my family and I never ended up getting it. We had to stay home for two weeks, and miss a bunch of activities. I got bored really easily and it wasn't enjoyable. I am glad its over.
• 
  2021-01-15

  HERMIT HERALD VOL 1 ISSUE 92

  President Trump impeached a second time
• 
  2021-01-11

  HERMIT HERALD VOL 1 ISSUE 91

  DISCUSSION OF IMPEACHMENT