Items

• 2022-05-10

  Athens Pride and Queer Collective to host first local Pride Parade

  This is a news story from WUGA by Sofi Grates. According to this article, it says that Pride Month will be back in full swing in Athens after it being canceled due to COVID. It will be hosted by Athens Pride and Queer Collective. The parade that is sent for June 12 will include vendors, music, and a cookout
• 
  2022-05-11

  Fact Checkers

  This is an Instagram post by covid_antivax. This post is in criticism of social media removing posts deemed "misinformation" about COVID and the vaccine. The tags from this user, like #depopulation, suggest that the goal of COVID and the vaccines is to reduce the population size. The censoring of information regarding the virus and the vaccine has been troublesome for myself. I do not think it is the right of social media to dictate what can and cannot be said, barring anything illegal, like death threats. I think it is a dangerous trajectory when these multinational companies start deciding what governing bodies and people should think. It brings into question people's actual rights to speech. People should have the right to voice their opinion on subjects like this. If people are prevented from speaking out as much on social media, they will get driven to more niche websites and forums to discuss things, which in turn help create more echo chambers. The great thing about free speech is the ability to bounce ideas off with other people and be given the opportunity to decide for myself what is right with more information available. Taking this away will make it harder to really test ideas and make them more refined. This is more my criticism of social media in general, but the talk on the virus and the vaccines has noticeably made it worse for any side to reconcile.
• 
  2021-03-31

  Pandemic Object: My Movie Ticket

  My pandemic object is a picture of the first movie ticket after the lockdowns of March 2020. Godzilla vs. Kong was meant to release in May 2020, but due to rewrites and the pandemic, it was pushed to November 2020 then to March 2021. Since the Godzilla franchise is my favorite movie franchise, it was only fitting that this was the first movie in theaters in a pandemic world. My dad, brother, and I traveled to the more comfortable Queensgate theater in Richland, Washington on the movie's premiere night. While I found the movie had some pacing issues and missing plot elements, I think that people needed an action-packed, fun monster movie to escape to. Two giant monsters fighting and destroying cities can be easier to deal with because we know it is not real, but they are tangible, we see the monsters. COVID is the opposite, it is real, but also an unseen threat without certain technologies. Godzilla and Kong have human characteristics we can identify with while COVID feels inhuman and impersonal. This is just something that I have noticed.
• 2022-04-26

  Time Machine

  As many have most likely stated, living through the COVID-19 pandemic is like living in a time machine, or fast forward. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was an eighteen year old who had no idea where she was going after high school. I had about five outstanding college decisions at this point. I know - I applied to a lot of schools. Since then, it has been two years that flashed before my eyes. I am in a completely different state and a completely different person. However, it does not feel like two years have passed since I graduated from high school. I remember the last time I stepped foot in my high school. It was March 13, 2020. I was so stressed out about exams and was just ready to get out of there. I know now that if I knew it was my last real day of school, I would have lived it very differently. My graduating class (the class of 2020) was referred to as the pandemic class, or the champions of senior skip day. Believe it or not, my graduation was a drive through that took place in my high school’s parking lot. My senior prom was canceled twice. The second time, I was getting ready and Idaho (my home state) went back a COVID recovery stage. So, they canceled the dance two hours prior to its scheduled start time. Beginning college during a pandemic was a weird experience. We were not permitted to have guests in our dorms and had to eat our meals outside or in our own dorms. Making friends was so hard. My only friends were my suitemates until second semester. All of our classes were on Zoom. This made my parents question why they paid for my dorm. I still think it was worth coming to school last year because I made my life long friends here.
• 
  2020-07-24

  Birthday present

  A comic strip about Covid-19
• 2022-03-08

  Pandemic victims mourned at Tempe event as advocates call for COVID-19 memorial day

  This article is about the Covid Memorial event held at the Arizona Heritage Center in Tempe on March 7, 2022. The event was organized by the Arizona Historical Society, the nonprofit organization Marked By COVID and the COVID Memorial Quilt project. The Covid Memorial Quilt is on display until August, 2022 at the Arizona Heritage Center.
• 
  2022-03-07

  Arizona to remember Covid-19 Dead at "Memorial Day" event.

  This article is about the Covid Memorial Quilt exhibit at the Arizona Heritage Center in Tempe. The Arizona Heritage Center is a museum of the Arizona Historical Society. This article describes the quilt and the memorial event held on Monday, March 7, 2022. The event was sponsored in part by the non-profit group Marked by Covid which honors those who have died of Covid 19. Almost 28,000 Arizonans have died of Covid as of March 7th.
• 2022-03-07

  Arizona to remember COVID-19 dead at 'Memorial Day' event,

  This article is about the Covid Memorial Quilt exhibit at the Arizona Heritage Center in Tempe. The Arizona Heritage Center is a museum of the Arizona Historical Society. This article describes the quilt and the memorial event held on Monday, March 7, 2022. The event was sponsored in part by the non-profit group Marked by Covid which honors those who have died of Covid 19. Almost 28,000 Arizonans have died of Covid as of March 7th.
• 2022-04-18

  COVID-19 and my life.

  I’ll keep this as short and detailed as possible since I could go on and on about how the past few years sucked but also were good. When COVID-19 came to the United States in 2020 I was a Senior in Highschool about to graduate. I was in band with the wind ensemble and I did winter guard as well. I went to Meridian tech in the afternoon for biomedical sciences and was in all sorts of honors clubs. Because of COVID-19 I missed all of our band competitions in the spring, the rest of winter guard, all of my senior activities, a “normal” graduation, and more. I graduated in July instead of May. I respect and followed the mask mandates but it definitely sucked during times like graduation because that was such a special moment that was tarnished by the pandemic. I feel for the 2021 seniors but they at least had a warning. We didn’t. They had time to plan and we didn’t. After that I went to Oklahoma state university and I’m still there. It’s hard to believe that I’m about to be a Junior in college. The last few years have flown by. I missed out on a lot of opportunities and experiences along with everyone else. Luckily, the pandemic seems to be dying down but I know it’s still here. It pisses me off when people say it’s not that bad. One death or millions of deaths is bad and I wish people respected and understood that. But sadly, some don’t and they take this pandemic as a joke. I have yet to get COVID and I’m very happy about that and don’t plan on getting it ever hopefully. It’s caused de watering consequences on both a personal level and a nation wide level. This past year I had other personal experiences that didn’t help which was that my Grandma passed (from heart condition) unexpectedly, I came out to my parents as a lesbian and they’re homophobic, one of my dogs is in renal failure currently, my elderly neighbor who is like another grandma to me got run over by a car (she’s doing good now), I’ve made mistakes that caused me a lot of pain but I corrected them and am working on myself, and more. I know everything I’m saying is so negative but I can’t recall a whole lot that was positive in the last two years. My best friend is my girlfriend and we’ve been dating for 4 years, I just went to an oddities expo, etc. so at least there’s some positive things. There’s more that I haven’t said but not a whole lot more. Either way since 2020 life has been very hard. Not just for me but everyone. I just hope it goes up from here.
• 
  2022-02-02

  Engaged Couple Decide To Require All Wedding Guests To Be Vaccinated — Now Family Is Refusing To Comply

  This is a news story from Your Tango by Dan O'Reilly. This is about a couple that required all family members attending their wedding to be vaccinated. The issue with this is that the family does not want to comply to those wishes. This story was originally found in r/wedding on Reddit. According to the bride, her fiancé's family was on board with imposing vaccines, but the bride's own family is 50% vaccinated, with the unvaccinated thinking this is a dumb idea. This has been part of a controversial issue on if vaccines should be imposed. Most of the Redditors had sympathies for the engaged couple and believe it is what was needed for a safe event.
• 
  2022-01-19

  National Postal Museum closes due to COVID-19

  This article discusses the closure of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington D.C in January of 2022. This is significant due to the fact that its closure is a result of staffing shortages, which have been affecting museums all over the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a significant contribution to the archives because museums do not have a lot of representation within the archives, especially postal museums. The article is important to me personally because I was able to visit there once while I was in Washington D.C., and it was an interesting experience.
• 
  2022-03-30

  After two-year hiatus, LGBTQ events return to Fiesta San Antonio

  This is a news story from the San Antonio Current by Sam Sanchez. This story is about LGBTQ events returning to San Antonio after a two year break due to COVID. For the past two years, many of these events have been canceled. This article shares events happening in San Antonio and what non-profits they benefit. Some of these non-profits include: the San Antonio AIDS Foundation, The Thrive Youth Center, Pride San Antonio and BEAT AIDS. Events include: themed parties, chili cook-offs, party shuttles, and fiestas. Certain events include fees for attending and certain COVID precautions, such as masks, to attend.
• 
  2022-01-14

  My First Pandemic Concert

  Since the pandemic has commence, I haven't done many public outings or attended big events. This January, I had finally got enough of the courage to go to a concert for the first time in three years. Overall, I would argue that the outing was fun and safe, but I could not help but still feel anxious and scared of what was yet to come despite it being a good time. Part of this was because the concert did not require anyone to wear a mask, nor did that enforce social distancing with the seats like I thought they would. Most of this was because COVID-19 cases had started to climb down despite the onset of the new variant OMICRON at the time. I wore my mask regardless since we were sitting so close to people and still enjoyed myself despite these bypasses. I feel that this concert represents how I and other people felt confident enough to do big social outings again despite the pandemic still going on. I also feel like this concert illuminates how people still seek entertainment and enjoyment in their lives and how the pandemic impacted the way people use to be able to go out and enjoy themselves. Now that things are starting to slow down with the pandemic, people like myself are starting to use this opportunity to go enjoy ourselves, which honestly brings me much hope and optimism about the future now.
• 
  2021-03-01

  Club Red Concert Venue Closes Due to COVID-19

  This article details the closing of the popular Mesa concert venue Club Red during March of 2021. Unfortunately, due to an inability to host concerts as a result of COVID-19, Club Red ran out of business and had to close its doors after 15 years of music. Club Red was the first notable local music venue to close in the wake of the pandemic, and it made me sad personally because my own band used to play shows there. I have had the privilege to interact with Kimberly LaRowe of 13th Floor Entertainment, who is featured in the article, on several occasions to book shows for my band, and I never had a bad experience. While it is not explicitly stated that Club Red closed as a result of COVID-19, it his highly likely, as suggested by Kimberly LaRowe in the article. This article does an excellent job of diving deep into how drastically the local Arizona music scene has been affected by COVID-19, especially venue owners and promoters. Also, this article provides a very interesting story of the history of Club Red over the years, and details the subsequent reactions that many local and prominent musicians had to the venues closing, which certainly adds to the archives performing arts collection
• 
  2022-03-27

  Were masks and pandemic anxiety a useful distraction towards ideas that should not matter, but did (to many)?

  Like everything having to do with public interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing and lockdowns significantly impacted "traditional weddings." Gone were the days of large weddings, dancing around mask free and hugging the happy couple. If you search the internet, you will find a large amount of information on happy couples who had to cancel or alter their plans. Many of the #COVID BRIDES stories on this archive illustrate the extreme panic of changing plans and constant change, such as wearing masks in their pictures. The pandemic altering, delaying, or even preventing weddings has impacted society's mental health and perhaps future cultural traditions in weddings. This archive has a collection on mental health, https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive/page/mental-health, which demonstrates how hard this pandemic has been on many people. The effects on mental health shows how weddings are a popular and important tradition in American society. The ceremony is a way to share your love before others, blend families and friends, and move from a "single person" to a team. When I say wedding, I mean the customs and celebration within the ceremony, not the genders of the couple. Gay marriage has not been legal throughout America long, only since 2013. The anxiety and stress of two years of delayed/cancelled weddings during a pandemic pale in comparison to the longstanding social pressure for LGBTQ people not to marry, on top of previous legality issues. There is still a large group of Americans that have the opinion that it is "evil" or a sin. I have seen and heard in person, movies, or television disparaging remarks on the idea of two men or two women getting married and/or kissing. I wanted to highlight this picture from TIME magazine as I hope it demonstrates that masks made people freak out. The idea that the officiant and the people were so distracted and concerned about the two brides either not wearing masks or being the only two kissing while not wearing masks----rather than not being male/female made me smile. I hope some of the pain, anxiety, and discomfort of the pandemic was turned into positivity by distracting people from the meaningless idea of couple's gender and that some LGBTQ opponents realized there are bigger problems in the world.
• 
  2020-12-22

  First Christmas not with Family

  This is a picture of the first Christmas tree that my brother and I bought to set up in our apartment. It is a small tree because I figured we did not need a big one since we had a small number of ornaments to hang up. This tree also represents Christmas 2020, the year of COVID-19 and the first year we did not spend Christmas Eve with our parents. My Mom has an auto-immune disease and she could not go out much in 2020. However, at some point, she either went out or COVID was brought home. She ended up in the hospital a day or two before Christmas and tested positive for COVID. Therefore, it was for the best for my brother and I to not go home on Christmas Eve. I was disappointed we couldn't go see them. However, my brother and I decided to order Shari's, a diner restaurant local to Washington and Oregon, for dinner. We didn't see them that day, but we were able to go over the next day to open presents and not much else. Not the best Christmas, but I suppose it could have been worse.
• 2021-08-21

  Virginia PrideFest Postponed due to COVD-19 Surge

  Video highlights why the cancelation of PrideFest 2021 was important. During this time in 2021 there was a COVID-19 surge, so for the safety of the community, PrideFest was canceled. This shows the difficulties that the community faced and the hard decisions that had to be made in order to keep the community safe, but also the city of Richmond.
• 
  2020-06-25

  DVUSD Letter to Parents Announcing 2020 Graduation

  On May 1st, Dr. Curtis Finch, the Superintendent of Deer Valley Unified School District (one of the largest districts in Arizona), sent a letter as part of a daily update during the end of the 2019-2020 school year. Due to laws and regulations, there were many people unsure about whether the Class of 2020 would have a graduation ceremony. In this letter, Dr. Finch announced that an in-person ceremony would be held during the summer (July 2-3) due to a survey where the majority of parents indicated that they wanted an in-person ceremony. He stated a specific time for each high school and explained that additional information would be given each week, due to needing to plan exactly how the ceremony will work depending on guidance at the time. On June 25th, the graduation was canceled. This item shows the work and resilience that went into trying to give students and their families the milestones that they were hoping to experience. Many people, businesses, schools, and other organizations worked to find ways to safely host events. While some worked, this is an example of a plan that did not go through.
• 
  2020-06-25

  DVUSD Letter to Parents Regarding 2020 Graduation

  This letter is written by Dr. Curtis Finch, the Superintendent of Deer Valley Unified School District, one of the largest school districts in Arizona. The letter is addressed to the 2020 class of DVUSD high school graduates and their parents. Dr. Finch explains that graduation (which had already been postponed by a month) would need to be canceled due to new laws and policies. The letter ends with an encouraging note. This letter says multiple things about the pandemic. First, many people believed the situation would get better. This is shown by attempting to delay graduation by one month when in reality, the increasing cases due to the pandemic would continue much longer. Another message shown by the letter is that school staff, parents, and graduates were working to attempt to save milestones such as graduation in multiple different ways, but were not able to.
• 2022-03-20

  Covid 19 as a senior

  When Covid first started, I never imagined it becoming, as serious or being as long as it was. I was a senior in high school, and on March 13, 2020 I never thought that would be my last day of high school. All I wanted was to participate in all the fun activities, but that never happened as life never really went back to normal.
• 
  2022-03-18

  Explore the archive assignment for ASU HST580 interns week 1

  These are the assignment instructions given to the Spring 2022 graduate student interns at ASU. This assignment asked them to explore the archive and then submit something that reflects represents their geographic location.
• 
  2022-03-01

  Military Mask Guidance Update

  The attached is a memorandum for record from the Under Secretary of Defense. This memo was published 1 March 2022 and was a big deal for us in the military and really everyone who works on military installations or in other Department of Defense facilities. Prior to this memo, we were all required to wear face coverings at all times when in doors, regardless of local state or county guidance. This memo was a great policy move as it changed the requirement from an overarching blanket policy to instead replicate local community guidance. I can tell you, we were very relieved to not be required to wear a face covering at all times. unlike many other sectors across the US, many military members did not have the opportunity to work from home during the pandemic. This is just due to the nature of our jobs, therefore we were masked up for a long time, even in places such as Texas and Florida where masks were no longer required according to local state and county guidance.
• 
  2020-04-24

  Utilizing the Pandemic

  I have a feeling that my journey through the Plague Years has been rather different than most other people. Even with the Pandemic raging, I would genuinely consider the past two years some of the best of my life. Though there were certain adjustments that had to be made surrounding the uncertainty of the disease early on, my life was largely unaffected. I was living at home and taking online classes at a community college so those continued after only a slight break. I worked part-time at a pet food store and because pet food was considered “essential” for people, I was allowed to continue working uninterrupted. My dad started working from home and my siblings high school went to a part-time schedule. During the day we started a plethora of new tv shows and almost every night we were able to have dinner as a family and play board games. The best part, after some debate, larger universities began moving to online classes and closing campuses. This meant that my friends who were away at school would be coming home. Once we knew the signs, symptoms, and the relatively small danger presented to younger people we were able to hang out and have socially distanced fun. As an introvert, friends, family, school, and work were all I really needed to be happy, and the loss of large-scale social functions was of no importance to me. In fact, I was able to utilize the lack of interaction during the Pandemic as a cover for experimentation. On April 24, 2020, after hearing my dad ask me to get a haircut for the third time, I decided to take matters into my own hands and gave myself a buzzcut. There were four thoughts ringing in my mind as the razor vibrated in my hand. 1. I need a haircut 2. No place was open that was close 3. I have had the same hairstyle since high school. 4. And most importantly, not many people would have to see it. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was and how it looked. Since that time, I have been much more adventurous with my hair styling and even with what I wear. The Pandemic helped me realize that life is too short to not try something new just for the sake of it. And though I did get clowned by my friends on occasion, that didn’t stop me from doing it again 11 months later… The pictures included are the sink full of my hair and hanging out with friends rocking the buzzcut. Overall, I know how lucky I was to remain relatively unscathed throughout the Pandemic. My paychecks never stopped, my classes resumed shortly, and my relationships with friends and family blossomed. The only real loss experienced was my hair, and for that, I am more than grateful.
• 
  2020-05-30

  POV: Graduating during 2020

  I graduated high school in the year 2020, right when Covid-19 was growing at a rapid rate, and the world was on a lockdown. March 13, 2020 was the last day of high school for me, but I didn’t know it at the time, no one did. Senior year was supposed to be me and my friends’ last year together before we all went our separate ways for college, but the only way I could see them was social distancing in a parking lot or on face time. My mental health began to plummet, I was never one to be home, I was always out of the house. Just the isolation, not seeing your closest friends, not having anywhere to go outside the house, and doing the same boring stuff every day was so frustrating because there was nothing you could do to change that because the rest of the world was doing it too and it just was how it was. I never got to go to prom, something that was supposed to be the best night in all of high school. Events that we have been looking forward to all our lives were being taken away from us, including graduation. It felt weird to be celebrating me graduating, since we weren’t even really having school. I tried to be optimistic, I mean I worked so hard for 18 years to get to this point in my life. My high school decided to do a drive-thru graduation, where I stayed in the car and was handed my diploma, not with all the teachers or friends who helped me get there, but I was grateful to have my family. I never got to shake my principal’s hand, had people cheering for me, or able to stand with my friends and throw my cap in the air. My graduation party was the following week and held outdoors, and I was excited to see close family and friends. However, 2 days before my event that I was already kind of sad about how many important people weren’t going to be there, my extended family contracted covid. My extended family was as close as my immediate family to me, my aunt was my baby-sitter growing up, and they were unable to make it. I was crushed and crying for days leading up to it and even after, it just wasn’t the same without them. It’s sad writing this, something that I spent my whole life working forward to just ripped away. It was a true test of character, adaptability, and mentality. This was the lowest point in my life, all thanks to Covid-19.
• 2022-02-06

  A never ending battle on COVID-19

  It’s been nearly two years since the start of the pandemic, and if you ask some people, the state of this disaster hasn’t improved a whole lot. I turned 20 a few days ago, which marks my second birthday that has passed since the official start of Covid, which if I’m remembering correctly was March 13th, 2020. I’ll never forget the announcement made over the Pine Richland High School loudspeakers that day. Sitting in the back of the statistics classroom, the statement told us that we would have no school for the next two weeks, which at the time beat any time off we’d ever had prior. Fast forward two years later and we still wear masks indoors. We still have to wash or sanitize our hands after just about any surface we touch to hope we don’t get the virus. Even more importantly, I haven’t been able to see some of my family for years now. Driving all the way out to New York would be risky since they aren’t in the best health, and it’s not worth taking any chances with how bad this virus can be for some people. The worst part of it all has to be that we don’t know when this is going to end. It’s been long enough that the pandemic has become political, with rivalries between those who choose and refuse to get the vaccine, but will it ever stop? Will there ever be a point in time that we can all feel safe enough to be able to do anything without living in fear of this virus? I never expected to be sitting here years after this all started writing how just about anything is still affected by Covid, but I guess I’ve gotten used to it. After all of this, though, the whole “you never know what you got until it’s gone” saying really does remain true.
• 
  2020-06-01

  You Never Know What You’ve Got ’Til it’s Gone

  As a senior in high school, I did not realize how important it was to experience milestones. I thought graduation was just an event that people dreaded and sat through for hours and hours until it was over. I thought prom was just another dance. I thought senior night for lacrosse was just a short walk across the field. I did not realize the true meaning and importance of these events until they were taken away from me. My whole life, I watched my friends and brothers experience their “senior night” for their sports teams respectively. 2020 was finally my year to experience my senior night. I joined my mandatory Zoom call to discuss the options for the upcoming season, only for it to turn out in the cancellation of the entire season. I was heartbroken. At this moment, I realized that I would never play the sport I loved with my teammates ever again. I realized I would never be able to walk across the field with my family and be honored for all of the time I spent devoted to the sport of lacrosse. I would never be able to experience the feeling of walking off of the field for the last time in my career. The only experience I got was a drive thru of cars in a parking lot. Nothing could ever make up for the memories that I missed out on when my season was cancelled. Another event that impacted me was my graduation. I had just spent thirteen years in my school district and it was finally my year to walk across the stage in my cap and gown while my family members cheered for me. Instead, because of the pandemic, I simply got to watch a slideshow from my computer with my name typed on a slide. That is all that was done by my school for my graduation. I was lucky enough that my family wanted to make this milestone special for me, so they gave me my own graduation. They set up a stage and a private graduation in my backyard with all of my family members which helped make up for the graduation that I missed out on. But, I never got to experience graduating from high school, and that is something that I know I will never get to experience due to COVID. COVID has had an impact on my life in ways that I did not expect it to. COVID took away experiences and emotions from me that I didn't even know meant anything to me. This pandemic has taught me to take advantage of and appreciate any milestone in life, no matter how trivial it can seem. I felt and experienced the true meaning of the phrase, “You never know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone,” and if I could sum up my experience of the COVID-19 pandemic in one phrase, it would be that.
• 
  2020-05

  How COVID-19 Altered Some of Life’s Most Memorable Times

  The COVID-19 lockdown began in March 2020 of my senior year of high school. At first, it was just a two-week vacation break, then it soon became unknown what the rest of senior year would be. I was extremely devastated when the pandemic took away my senior year because the last year of high school is one of the most memorable times of your life. Although it was a rough time, my friends, family, and I did what we could to make the best of every big moment. The first monumental moment taken away from me was my 18th birthday on April 20, 2020. My friends and I have always gone all out for each other’s birthdays such as concerts, dinners, gifts, and big celebrations. My family always went out to our favorite restaurants or had extended family come over to celebrate as well. For my 18th birthday, we made the best of it by my mom making my favorite dinner, and my friends planned a drive-by parade past my house with signs, balloons, and cards. Although it ended up being a nice day, it was still hard to enjoy it with wondering what the day could have been. Senior prom is an exciting moment that you look forward to your entire senior year. My childhood best friend and I planned to go together. My friends and I had bought our dresses back in January, so we were all ready for the big day. Due to school being shut down and social distancing guidelines, a senior prom was not possible. To make the day the best it possibly could be, my friends and I put on our makeup, did our hair, and put our dresses on to have our own prom. We took pictures together and had a little party at my friend’s house. The best part is that our version of a mini prom ended up being more fun than an actual prom. However, it is still bittersweet that we never got to experience the last dance with our senior class. Missing out on a graduation ceremony was the hardest part for me. It was the final closure to have with your classmates and teachers before heading off to college to begin a new life. I did not get to see any of my classmates walk the stage and share such a sentimental moment with them. We did receive our diplomas, but it was not the same as being on the football field with 300 other classmates and the bleachers full of family and friends. Senior banquet occurred after graduation where everyone got together at the school and had a fun night one last time. After a couple months of worrying, tears, and longing for more, it was time to move on. Although senior year did not end the way we wanted it to, the memories of making everything the best with the people I love mean the most to me.
• 
  2022-02-03

  Zero attendance sports games

  As a lifelong hockey fan, specifically for the New York Rangers, it was highly disappointing to find out that the rest of the 2019-2020 season would continue without the attendance of fans at Madison Square Garden due to lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Watching every hockey game at home simply did not compare to being able to witness the firsthand action of rocket slapshots, massive hits, and gruesome fights seen up close in person. Although, I am fortunate that the rest of the season continued, and I was able to see the Rangers compete in the playoffs despite them being eliminated in the first round. Yet, the beginning of lockdown was indeed a scary time for most people. There was no anticipated end to quarantine restrictions nor an end in sight to the highly contagious virus itself. Writing this excerpt two years later, thankfully, the vaccine and the use of masks has allowed for regular attendance to return to most sports arenas and stadiums nationwide. Hopefully, we will find a permanent solution to the virus itself in the future and continue normal sports activities restriction-free!
• 
  2022-01-03

  It finally happened

  We’re two months short of the two year anniversary of the Covid outbreak here in the US. My family of four followed the rules, masked up, quarantined and my husband and I were vaccinated as soon as we were able. This holiday season we found ourselves living life as we had before Covid, we got too comfortable. Our children are small and we were still unsure if we wanted to get our six year old vaccinated. We went into public spaces unvaccinated, participated in all the family Christmas festivities and then we got sick. I thought it was a cold at first and then one day it dawned on me that my sense of smell and taste were gone. Then the guilt and shame set in. We got too comfortable, we lost sight of the fact that Covid is not gone. People are still dying. My husband and I are fine, it’s like a cold with the added adventure of not being able to taste anything. I worry for my kids though. I feel guilty that we didn’t get my oldest vaccinated. I hate to watch her fight this with only over the counter medication to help her. I feel for my three year old. I hope they don’t get worse. This was a rude awakening for us all, Covid is not gone.
• 
  11/23/2020

  Danielle O'Connell Oral History, 2020/11/23

  C19OH
• 
  05/19/2020

  Trent Jansen Oral History, 2020/05/19

  An oral history interview with Trent Jansen. Trent discusses how family and friends have been impacted by the COVID pandemic. He also talks about how his day-to-day work life has evolved during the pandemic. Trent additionally discusses his views that it is time to reopen businesses and get people back to work. He theorizes that mental health issues caused by shutdowns will result in worse long-term issues than the virus itself.
• 
  2020-01-28

  Predicting the Future

  I remember very specifically sitting in my Econ class my senior year of high school; we had to watch a CNN 10 video every week and explain how the things in the video could affect the economy. I remember looking my Econ teacher in her eyes and telling her that I thought the Coronavirus was going to be very serious and deadly. She told me that a few dead in China and a few cases in other countries doesn't mean that it will be a big problem. My whole class laughed at me because I was worried that the Coronavirus was going to come to the U.S. and kill a lot of people. That was January 28th, 2020. Cut to March 13th, 2020 Corona was in the U.S. and was spreading very rapidly. March 13th, 2020 was the last day of my senior year without me knowing it. We were told that we were getting an extended spring break and would be out of school for 2 weeks then we would be back. That did not happen. I never stepped foot into my high school again. We started Zoom classes on March 31st, 2020, and I never saw my high school teachers in person again. I didn't get a senior prom, proper graduation, or a school picture to show my future kids. Covid-19 ruined my senior year and would go on to ruin my first year of college, forcing me to drop out for the safety of my family and friends.
• 
  2020-03-31

  I hate this so much

  On March 31st 2020, my state governor, J.B. Pritzker announced that school would be out of session till the 30th of April. I was a senior in high school, and hearing that broke my heart as the last day of school for the seniors was May 8th 2020. The biggest year of most young adults lives is their senior year of high school, as it signifies their last moments of childhood before embracing adulthood. I was in my mother's bedroom sitting on her bed with my sister watching the live newscast. My sister was a freshman in college at the time and about two weeks before had to clear out her dorm room and bring it all home shortly after her Spring Break had ended. She didn't have a particular reaction to it, not that I can remember. After the governor stated that school was out for another month, I began to cry. My mother cried for me, as she knew how much I had been looking forward to my senior year, and graduation, and prom. While I was crying and watching the newscast continue on, I took a photo of myself on Snapchat, and typed out "I hate this so much". I did hate it, because there was nothing I could have done about it, and I was being robbed of a particularly precious moment in my life. Many seniors in the class of 2020, both high school and college, were robbed of what they deserved that year. I'm submitting this because this is one of many real reactions students in my age group had, and it is important to me since I am currently in college to become a history teacher. I'm living through a historic time that I will be teaching my future students about, and I will use the photos and videos I took as primary sources for it.
• 2020-03-17

  Senior Year of High School

  Back in March of 2020 when Covid first hit, I will never forget when my school was on an extended 2 week spring break because of Covid scares. At the time, I was a senior and we were getting ready for all of the end of the year fun things going on. Unfortunately, that got cut short. During this 2 week time off- it continued to get extended and eventually we got officially put online until the rest of the year. It was very sad for us seniors as we had no idea that day back in March would be our last day of high school. I cried as well did many of my friends as we did not get a proper end or proper goodbyes to our high school experience. Never did I think walking into school would I not be able to have a real graduation because of a virus. Graduation ceremony was online as they put photos of each graduate. It was all very depressing and a sad way to end the year. No one saw this coming and I as well all high school or college seniors around the world will never forget it. I cannot wait till tell my children about this in hope everything is back to normal in the way future and that they can properly graduate.
• 2021-12-10

  Graduation

  Right when the pandemic was peeking in March me being a senior, thinking we had two extra weeks of spring break, and then realizing that everything went hybrid online and we were going to have a graduation and prom or nothing. This is important to me and my peers because we never really got to see each other for one last time properly.
• 2021

  Halloween 2021

  She made this costume herself to go trick-or-treating in the City with classmates. Apparently, they don't think high school is too old for that nowadays. Last year, we didn't let her go out and we didn't hand out candy either. With a sick grandmother in the home who uses oxygen, it was just not a risk we could afford. She came back and said that the trick-or-treating was pretty skimpy. We didn't get many kids at home either... but that might have been because Halloween fell on a Sunday this year.
• 
  2021-08-16

  Fall 2021: Creating Community No Longer Virtual

  After attending college online and having virtual classes, many students were eager to come back to the St. Mary’s University community. However, creating a community has looked different from pre-covid semesters. Before the pandemic hit, student life and university programming council hosted many events. Residence life and resident assistants also hosted events for residents in the dorm halls. When everything was virtual resident assistants tried engaging with residents and creating community online. This consisted of watching movies, playing games, or just having a space to talk to each other. Now that residence halls are open and most classes are in-person, creating community looks a bit more like pre-covid semesters. Resident assistants are required to create engagement opportunities for their residents. There are several ways to do this like traditional planned programs, spontaneous get-togethers, bring-along events, etc. Although the programs resemble pre-covid semesters more than the last three semesters, covid is still something to beware of. When planning events, resident assistants consider how many people might attend, whether the space is indoors or outdoors, will there be food, etc. Resident assistants are also required to uphold and enforce covid policies like mask-wearing. So, while also trying to create a sense of community, residence life and student staff still try to create a safe environment.
• 
  2020-08-26

  Emily Karreman Oral History 2020/08/26

  C19OH
• 
  2021-11-19

  #Coveryourfangs Interview with Wind Ensemble Members

  This is an audio interview with two members of the St Marys wind ensemble. It goes into how they were feeling when the university shut down, and their potential fears for the band program. It also goes into their experiences during online rehearsals and outdoor rehearsals.
• 
  2021-11-03

  #Coveryourfangs Interview with Dr. Mireles

  This is an audio interview with Dr. Matthew Mireles, the St Marys Music Department Chair. It goes into the challenges he faced managing the music department, what he was feeling throughout COVID. It also goes into what his priorities were after the initial lockdowns and what his main goals were when it came to getting the band program back to normal.
• 
  2021-03-17

  Spring 2021 St Marys Jazz Clinic

  This is an email getting the approval from the university to hold the St. Mary’s spring jazz clinic. It details the protocols the music department was planning to enact to ensure a safe environment for all of the bands coming to perform at the university. This email is significant in that even a full year after the start of COVID there were still certain restrictions on what the band could or couldn’t do, and the band required confirmation from the university that their protocols were sufficient.
• 
  2020-03-20

  Art Basel Hong Kong Moves Its Art Fair Online in the Wake of Coronavirus

  W Magazine’s “Art Basel Hong Kong Moves Its Art Fair Online in the Wake of Coronavirus” discusses the complete digitization of the 2020 Art Basel Hong Kong edition. The feeling of losing the general energy of art events or the excitement of an art fair booth setting more specifically that I and many of my friends and colleagues had when transitioning to remote work was echoed in the article. More interestingly, the article touches on the artistic responses to the pandemic - augmented reality or digital works playing with the new virtual lens that constituted our world during the height of Covid.
• 
  2020-05-01

  My 18th Birthday in Quarantine

  This photo was taken on my 18th birthday, during my senior year of high school. I should have been in school, however the entire world was in quarantine due to the Coronavirus. I had no way of being able to have a normal birthday, so my parents decided to organize a drive through birthday party for me where my friends and family came through in my driveway and waved to me and left gifts. While very unexpected from what I thought my 18th birthday was going to be, I think it shows that despite the conditions, people were loving and passionate enough to participate in something like this for me.
• 
  2021-05-21

  “'It’s impossible to compare 2019 and 2021; it’s a completely different world': what has sold at Art Basel in Hong Kong”

  Art Basel, Hong Kong did finally happen in person in May 2021. In the article, Lisa Movius discusses the reception to the hybrid-model art fair, the change in demographic, noteworthy sales, and spotlighted works, artists, and gallery booths.
• 
  2020-04-02

  HIST30060: Birthday Zoom!

  HIST30060: This screenshot of my auntie's birthday celebration on zoom would be a familiar scene to many. This is one of the many ways my family had to adjust to "covid normal". Birthdays always involve a big gathering and a way for everyone to catch up; losing this was really disheartening . However, this photo also represents the resilience of my family in still being able to find a way to be together, even if zoom felt like a poor substitute. Zoom was and still is a crucial part of many people's lives in the pandemic, yet can create a barrier for those who find the interface challenging to use. Elderly members of my family often found zoom quite tiring and hard to use, creating a further barrier to connecting in lockdown.
• 
  2021-10-23

  HIST30060: Post-lockdown Event

  The screenshot for a post lockdown birthday shows the enthusiasm for reopening and recommencing social life, but is tempered by the restrictions still in place.
• 
  2021-08-01

  Messenger Video Call Screenshot - HIST30060

  During each of the lockdowns the popular way for my friends and I to stay in touch was through video calls to each other on the Facebook messenger app. Pictured here is myself and four other friends on a Saturday night all talking to each other. Two of the participants were wearing suits as they had previously attended a video call for a football presentation. It was not uncommon for people to jump in and out of calls as the calls themselves could last a number of hours.
• 
  2021-10-22

  Every story matters – Greek Week 2021

  Greek Week was my first experience in a sorority. It was amazing to live thanks to the help of the Greek life leaders. Because of COVID-19, it had been online, and the experience wasn't the same. I'm really thankful that it was possible to do it in person this time, and it meant a lot to me to bond with my new sisters. Paul, one of the main authorities during this event was a very good leader. He maintained COVID-19 guidelines and enforce them very strictly. Thankfully nobody got COVID-19 and the games were played and fulfilled as supposed to. Without him or the other figures that helped everything would have not been possible, this experience wouldn't have been what it was.
• 
  2020-10-20

  "In the Return of Art Fairs, Smaller Is Better", The New York Times

  This New York Times article from October 20, 2020 comments on the positive spotlight smaller art fairs and lesser known galleries have bene thrust under due to restrictions on social gatherings and a changing public perspective amidst uncertainty and turbulent political and social issues exacerbated by Covid-19. The pandemic has provided an opportunity for smaller, more niche art fairs such as 1-54 or Viennacontemporary.
• 
  2020-11-17

  "Art Basel in Hong Kong postponed to May as coronavirus throws 2021 art fairs into disarray"

  Anny Shaw writes for The Art Newspaper about the postponement of the 2020 edition of Art Basel, Hong Kong. The art fair was previously cancelled in February one month ahead its standard date in mid-March. It was tentatively rescheduled for May 2021 in hopes of vaccination and improvement in daily numbers of contraction and death rates.