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2021-12-07T13
Covid-19 Archive Project Second Interview
After learning about four major pandemics, we discussed how our views of the COVID-19 pandemic have changed over the course of the semester, and how our perceptions of pandemics as a whole have changed. -
2021-12-06
Amberley L. and Elsa Hanson Oral History, 2021/12/06
Elsa Hanson and Amberley L. interview each other about how they think COVID-19 compares to past pandemics. They also discuss how the public has dealt with the pandemic if there will be long term effects of the pandemic, and what precautions they have been taking. -
2021-12-06
Kate Roche and Ariel Emrani Oral History, 2021/12/06
It explains how past pandemics have affected how we view COVID-19. -
2021-12-06
Suhani Rathi and Lilly Daugherty Oral History, 2021/12/06
Northeastern University students, Suhani Rathi and Lilly Daughterty interview each other in this school assignment. In this interview they take turns comparing the COVID 19 pandemic to past pandemics. They discuss the similarities. -
05/06/2021
Liz Haynes, Oral History, 2021/04/21
Liz Haynes discusses her life pre-COVID and how she has been affected during COVID as a cancer survivor. She talks about her love of travel and hopefully future plans, politics (local and federal), and ends with positive outlook for the future. -
05/16/2020
Kevin Secker Oral History, 2020/05/16
University of Wisconsin Eu Clair student, Glenn Walborn interviewed Tyson factory security worker Kevin Secker. In this interview Secker discusses how the pandemic has impacted his life. Secker is also a student and discusses how his classes have changed to accommodate online learning. Also discussed is Seckers new job as a plant security guard for Tyson factory in New London, Wisconsin. He discusses the changes that factory workers had to adhere to and their reaction to all those changes. He also discusses his opinions on government response to the pandemic and skepticism he experienced in the factory. He briefly discusses conspiracy theories he has heard and remedies that some factory workers have been sharing. Secker finished off the interview with hopes for the future and lessons he hopes we as a society have learned. -
2021-12-05
Ted and Howard Fan Oral History, 2021/12/05
Two college students conduct this interview with each other to compare the COVID 19 pandemic with past pandemics. They discuss government response and society reaction. -
12/11/2020
Damir Kovacevic Oral History, 2020/11/16
Professor Damir Kovacevic was born in Bosnia before coming to the United States. He has lived across the midwest but currently lives in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Damir works as an assistant professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with a focus on international relations. In this interview, Damir Kovacevic discusses how the pandemic has affected his life, profession, and emotions. Damir provides insight into how the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire has handled the pandemic with testing and closing the college for the remainder of the Fall 2020 semester. Damir also touches on how Eau Claire, the state of Wisconsin, the United States, and foreign countries on the international scale handled the pandemic. He discusses how teaching as a career has changed and adapted to the pandemic. He discusses topics such as the media and misinformation when it comes to healthcare and the virus, but also the general decay in trust. -
12/11/2020
Emily Martinsen, Brian Dombrowski and Morgan Moe Oral History, 2020/11/11
The contributor of this item did not include verbal or written consent. We attempted to contact contributor (or interviewee if possible) to get consent, but got no response or had incomplete contact information. We can not allow this interview to be listened to without consent but felt the metadata is important. The recording and transcript are retained by the archive and not public. Should you wish to listen to audio file reach out to the archive and we will attempt to get consent. -
05/26/2020
Michael Mike Michalski Oral History, 2020/05/26
In this oral history interview, Alexander Michalski interviews Mike Michalski in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. Mike discusses his job and how it was affected by covid, the impact the virus has had on his friends and family, and home life. He touches on media and how the news is covering the virus. He also discusses local and federal government responses to the virus as well as his hopes for the future. -
2021-11-29
Signs & Symptoms - Six feet social distancing
I chose this image because it played a huge part of our reality in surviving the pandemic. By taking appropriate precautions and maintaining our distance with others in order to decrease the spread of germs and limit the spread of COVID 19. This image originated mainly from the CDC and every place a of business conformed to incorporate special mandates made by the government to help prevent the spread of COVID19 -- safely. -
2020-01-05
The Beginning of the International Journey
During COVID-19 in 2020, some international students could not come to St. Mary’s due to closed embassies and lack of resources. In Spring 2021, international students came to continue their studies after studying online in their first semester. Days before coming to the U.S, international students received an email letting them know what they need to complete before arriving at the university. For some international students, this symbolizes the beginning of a new journey and the start of their experience at St. Mary’s University. -
2021-11-22
Paula Ferradas Oral History, 2021/11/22
Paula Ferradas Hiraoka is an international student at St. Mary’s University from Lima, Peru. After applying last year to St. Mary’s, Ferradas has come to the U.S to start her dream to become a good professional. In this interview we ask her experience as a new international student and how the resources in the university have given her the possibility to grow. -
04/20/2021
Alexis Hernandez Oral History, 2021/04/20
Alexis is a senior at St. Marys College majoring in political science. In this monologue she discusses her initial reaction to the COVID 19 pandemic, her employment status and how it was affected, and the economical effects she has witnessed due to the pandemic. She also discusses her family and home dynamic and her siblings response to online learning. She touches on social issues like racism and politics effect on society. She describes how she felt when she contracted COVID and how she spread it to her family. This monologue ends with her last thoughts and hopes for the future. -
06/02/2020
Dylan, Watts, William, Henrietta, Kristen, Sameera, and Kaia Oral History, 2020/06/02
The contributor of this item did not include verbal or written consent. We attempted to contact contributor (or interviewee if possible) to get consent, but got no response or had incomplete contact information. We can not allow this interview to be listened to without consent but felt the metadata is important. The recording and transcript are retained by the archive and not public. Should you wish to listen to audio file reach out to the archive and we will attempt to get consent. -
2021-11-16
Hermit HERALD, ISSUE 132
Wokeness, big Democrat problem -
2021-02-26
Illinois to open federal mass vaccination site at United Center
Parking lots of the United Center will soon host a new mass vaccination site for Illinoisans. Gov. JB Pritzker says the site will have the capacity to give 6,000 doses of vaccine per day. The home of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks will open as a vaccination site on March 10. But, construction is already underway. This will be one of the several community vaccination centers led by the Biden administration. Doses will come directly from the federal government instead of taking vaccine away from the allotment for the state and the city of Chicago. Leaders explained seniors will have exclusive access to appointments before the site officially opens. However, FEMA hasn’t set dates for those appointments at this time. Reporters asked how Pritzker could guarantee this facility would create easier access for those in need compared to wealthy Chicagoans. “In the city of Chicago, in Cook County, and across the state, we’ve all made and are continuing to make efforts to attract people of color to people who are most vulnerable to making those appointments, giving them access wherever we can. Having a site in a location like the United Center makes it more easily accessible,” Pritzker emphasized. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said rideshare service Uber will provide 20,000 free rides to help people get to the site. Information about scheduling appointments for vaccinations should become available in the coming days. “With this new site, we’ll now be able to take our vaccination success to a whole new level and bring to bear the historic and inclusive recovery that is soon to come,” Lightfoot explained. Getting Black and brown residents vaccinated Still, the state has a significant issue getting Black and Latinx Illinoisans vaccinated. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin explained a recent study showed minority neighborhoods in Chicago had a vaccination rate of 5%. The majority-white areas of Chicago currently report 13% of the population vaccinated. Durbin says the United Center site should help. “The faster we can get people vaccinated, the more quickly we can escape the grip that this pandemic has had on our nation for so long, the less likely we’re gonna see mutations and variations which we have to fight in different ways,” Durbin added. The Springfield native said the federal government could provide more help with vaccine distribution bypassing the American Rescue Plan. President Joe Biden has asked Congress to approve the $1.9 trillion package with specific portions going to mass vaccination sites and $1,400 stimulus checks. Pritzker noted things are getting better in the long battle with COVID-19. “Someday not too far from now, we’ll be at the United Center not for a life-saving shot, but for a game-winning shot,” Pritzker said. -
2020-03-26
‘This Is the Biggest Challenge We’ve Faced Since the War’: How the Coronavirus Crisis Is Exposing the Precarious Position of Museums Worldwide
The article discusses the financial hit to museums caused by the pandemic and fear and anxiety over how long museums can sustain amid a global shutdown. Whereas federal aid has come to the rescue of some museums provided by select countries for example, Germany and Britain; however, the United States does not have the same relief plans in place for cultural institutions. The pandemic has revealed weaknesses in the current museum model in relation to funding and what the article describes as a “winners take all mentality”. These problems have been compounding for decades but is the pandemic the straw that breaks the camel’s back? What might a new museum model look like if the old one is no longer sustainable? -
2021-01-19
Incoming CDC Director to Prioritize Communication, COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout
As Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, prepares to assume the role of CDC director on January 20, the former professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and infectious disease physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham Women’s Hospital faces a myriad of challenges wrought by the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. January 21st marks the 1-year mark since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the United States, while current data indicate the country has surpassed 400,000 deaths. In comparison, the 1918 flu pandemic took 675,000 American lives, while the US reported a total of 405,000 fatalities during World War II. Even at the unprecedented speed with which pharmaceutical companies have developed vaccines for COVID-19, rollout has been fragmented at the state level while racial disparities in administration rates are beginning to become apparent. In an effort to improve the national rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, Walensky plans to increase the CDC’s communication to combat any hesitancy in receiving the vaccine, and indicated she wanted to increase media appearances above those made by current director Robert Redfield, MD, who departs with any remaining Trump administration officials Wednesday. She said making sure science-based communication is effectively disseminated to the public in layman’s terms is a top priority. “Science is now conveyed through Twitter. Science is conveyed on social media, on podcasts, and in many different ways. And I think that's critical,” Walensky said during a livestreamed interview with JAMA's Howard Bauchner, MD, the journal's editor-in-chief. When confronting vaccine hesitancy or anti-vaxxer sentiment on social media, “There's just this massive void and the right information, I think, is not getting out there… I want to make sure that the science is conveyed. We have to say it to one another. We have to say it to the public. And then we have to say it in other forms.” Internally, Walensky hopes to bolster the voices of scientists already employed by the CDC. Under the Trump presidency, “they have been diminished. I think they've been muzzled,” Walensky said. “This top tier agency—world renowned—hasn't really been appreciated over the last 4 years, and really markedly over the last year. So I have to fix that.” Although some states have been widely successful in administering the allotment of COVID-19 vaccines they were given, many have reported roadblocks. Part of the Biden administration’s plan to enhance rollout is to expand vaccine allocation to 4 key locations: federally qualified health centers, community vaccination centers (ie, stadiums), mobile units, and pharmacies. “Part of the challenge with COVID-19 was that we had a frail public health infrastructure to start. It wasn't ready to tackle what it was given,” Walensky said. As director, she hopes to bring this reality to Congress’ attention. “We're in this because we had warnings for many, many other public health scares in the last 20 years and we didn't fix our public health infrastructure and our data infrastructure,” in response to those tests. In order to meet President-elect Biden’s goal of 100 million vaccinations in 100 days, the constraints currently faced by federal and state governments need to be mitigated. “We have to titrate our supply and our eligibility so that we somehow hit the sweet spot, wherever it is we are, with how much supply we have and how many people are eligible,” Walensky said. While the CDC set the initial guidelines for vaccine eligibility and revised them this month, the Trump administration left actual rules and distribution processes to states, resulting in wide variation across the country. Some states adopted stricter standards that led to the waste of vaccines, while loose adherence has led to long lines and confused residents. Expanding the population of those eligible to administer the vaccine can also help alleviate these roadblocks. These individuals can include retirees, the Public Health Commissioned Corps, medical military, upper level medical and nursing students, dentists and veterinarians. Increasing both the number of vaccination sites and vaccinators will also help address the equity problems brought to light by the pandemic. “We want to make sure that we can deliver volume, but also volume to the people in places that might be harder to reach.” In a collaborative approach, the federal government will step in at a state-by-state level and offer help based on each state’s unique challenges, Walensky said. -
2020-12-31
Trump administration falls far short of vaccination goals as new virus variant looms
Logistical problems at the heart of the federal government’s faltering rollout of coronavirus vaccines came into sharper view Thursday as the Trump administration fell vastly short of its goal of delivering an initial shot to 20 million people by the end of December. On the final day of a bleak year, only about 2.8 million people had received the shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the first of two doses needed to provide immunity to the virus. Around 14 million doses had been distributed as of Wednesday, according to Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, and a total of 20 million doses have been allocated. Though the figures are an underestimate — data collection on vaccinations has lagged — the doses administered so far represent just a small fraction of the ambitious targets outlined by officials from the administration’s Operation Warp Speed program in the fall. “We’d have liked to have seen it run smoothly and have 20 million doses in to people today, by the end of 2020, which was the projection,” Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s leading infectious-disease expert, said in an interview with NBC’s “Today” show on Thursday. “Obviously it didn’t happen, and that’s disappointing.” Nationwide, states and health-care providers continued to grapple with unpredictable timelines for when new vaccine shipments would arrive and in what quantities, while chronically underfunded public health departments struggled to muster the resources to carry out mass injections of front-line workers and vulnerable people. Fauci said that he hoped momentum for vaccinations would build in the first weeks of the new year and bring the country closer to its immunization goals. “But there really has to be more effort in the sense of resources for the locals, namely the states, the cities, the counties, the places where the vaccine is actually going into the arms of individuals,” he said. “We have to support the local groups, the states and the cities to help them get this task done, which is a very prodigious task.” Under the Trump administration’s plan, the federal government supplies vaccines to states but leaves it to state officials to prioritize residents, send doses to providers and get shots into people’s arms. The approach — as well as a litany of logistical problems — has caused a varied distribution effort. Local health departments and hospitals tasked with administering the vaccines have complained that they do not know when shipments will come or if they will receive additional resources, said Oscar Alleyne, and epidemiologist and chief of programs and services for the National Association of County and City Health Officials, which is made up of about 3,000 local health departments. “Some health departments have only received vaccines as recently as this week,” Alleyne told The Washington Post. “I had one health department that told me they had received their vaccines the day after Christmas.” Alleyne compared the communication concerns to those that cropped up during the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, when unclear guidance hampered efforts to get the population vaccinated. “It really boils down to ensuring a very transparent process,” Alleyne said. “There will always be a lag between the doses allocated and those shipped; between those shipped and those administered; and between those administered and those reported to CDC as administered,” Michael J. Pratt, a spokesperson for Operation Warp Speed, said in a statement. “We’re working to make those lags as small as possible.” At the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical complex in the world, the approach has already created logistical challenges. Hospital officials on the campus in south Houston often don’t know exactly when to expect new shipments or precisely how many vials they’ll receive, according to Bill McKeon, the center’s chief executive officer. That leaves the center with just a couple days’ worth of vaccine inventory on hand at a time, he said. “At best, we hear estimates. It’s a day-to-day situation,” McKeon told The Post. “We hear that we may be getting more next week but we’re not sure.” To date, the center has administered the first of the two injections to about 60,000 people, averaging more than 4,000 a day, according to McKeon. That includes some of the center’s 120,000 employees, as well as patients with underlying conditions who are first in line for inoculation. But it’s only a tiny portion of the sprawling metropolitan area the center serves. Until hospital officials can better predict how many vaccine doses they’ll have available week after week, McKeon said, vaccinating more people, faster, will be an uphill battle. “You can’t do scheduling with a couple days of inventory. We wouldn’t put a patient through the process of coming to the hospital, leaving their home, and then say, ‘Sorry we don’t have the inventory,’ ” he said. “We can’t be bold and just say, ‘Let’s do ten thousand a day.’ ” McKeon called on the federal government to take a more active role, possibly offering more large-scale vaccination centers, and relieve pressure on state officials, whom he said were “rowing in the same direction” as providers. There will be a growing need not just for more health-care workers to give the shots, he said, but for people who can perform the administrative work of calling patients, verifying their personal information and signing them up for injections. “I’m not seeing the grand strategies on a national basis, and I’m concerned, because this is a war,” he said. “Every day that we delay on some of those grander strategies we’re going to see losses of life.” As the distribution of vaccines has proceeded in fits and starts, coronavirus deaths and hospitalizations have soared to new heights. More than 125,000 people around the country were in hospital beds battling covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Hospitalizations have exceeded 100,000 since Dec. 2. The nation on Wednesday also recorded a record 3,862 deaths in a day. The previous record, set on Dec. 17, was 3,406. New daily reported cases were trending upward again, after dipping during the week of Christmas. Family gatherings and spikes in holiday travel make it all but certain that the new year will bring yet another wave of infections. Compounding fears about the accelerating virus spread, a new, more transmissible variant of the coronavirus has cropped up in multiple U.S. states after circulating in the United Kingdom. The presence of the mutated pathogen only added to the need for vaccinations to ramp up quickly, said Scott Gottlieb, former Food and Drug Administration commissioner. “The Covid vaccine could be a tool to help reduce the impact of current wave of epidemic spread,” he tweeted Thursday. “But we’re largely missing the narrow window we had to deploy it rapidly enough to alter the present trajectory of death and disease in January. The new variant makes this more urgent.” Clarification: This story has been updated to cite Operation Warp Speed’s distribution numbers. It has also been updated to note that Operation Warp Speed has allocated 20 million vaccine doses to states. -
2020-12-14
The U.S. Approves a Vaccine
The Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use on Friday, clearing the way for millions of highly vulnerable people to begin receiving inoculations within days. The authorization is a turning point in a pandemic that has taken more than 290,000 lives in the United States. With the decision, the United States becomes the sixth country — in addition to Britain, Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico — to clear the vaccine. Today, we ask the science and health reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr. what might happen next. -
2020-04-23
St. Mary's C.A.R.E.S
Many students from the start of the pandemic have had to turn to governmental assistance from the CARES act to help pay for their tuition or college-related expenses. This item showcases one of the most prominent government relief programs that were available to STMu students and college students nationwide. This funding was essential for many college-aged students who may not have qualified for the stimulus package or unemployment but who were facing the negative financial effects of the pandemic. -
2020-05-21
HHS, AstraZeneca Speed COVID-19 Vaccine Development; First Doses Due in October
The Trump administration announced early today that HHS and AstraZeneca will collaborate on a coronavirus disease vaccine called AZD1222. A statement released from HHS said the partnership will make “at least 300 million doses” of the vaccine available, “with the first doses delivered as early as October 2020.” The vaccine is one originally developed at the University of Oxford; the university and AstraZeneca announced a global development agreement for the vaccine on April 30. In its own statement early today, AstraZeneca said a phase 1/2 clinical trial of the vaccine began last month to assess its safety immunogenicity and efficacy in over 1000 healthy volunteers, who are 18 to 55 years of age. These volunteers are all in the United Kingdom. Late-stage trials would begin in several countries based on these results, the statement said. According to HHS, the agreement between AstraZeneca and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), an agency within HHS, would essentially kick start manufacturing of the doses while phase 3 clinical studies are under way this summer, involving 30,000 volunteers in the United States. BARDA will spend up to $1.2 billion for research, technology transfer, and scaled-up manufacturing, Emergency use authorization or licensure from FDA would be needed for the vaccine to reach the public, the statement said. As for the timeline, “Early milestones enable BARDA and AstraZeneca to determine how the program progresses forward.” “This contract with AstraZeneca is a major milestone in Operation Warp Speed’s work toward a safe, effective, widely available vaccine by 2021,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “Getting a vaccine to the American public as soon as possible is one part of President Trump’s multi-faceted strategy for safely reopening our country and bringing life back to normal, which is essential to Americans’ physical and mental well-being in so many ways.” “The Trump Administration is making multiple major investments in developing and manufacturing promising vaccines long before they’re approved so that a successful vaccine will reach the American people without a day wasted,” Azar said. Besides the BARDA agreement, AstraZeneca said it has reached deals with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organisation (WHO), to ensure the fair allocation and distribution of the vaccine around the world. AstraZeneca is also in discussions the Serum Institute of India and other potential partners to boost production and distribution. AstraZeneca also holds a major stake in Moderna Therapeutics, which announced earlier this week its experimental vaccine had produced antibodies in small group of healthy volunteers. -
2021-09-07
The Possibility of COVID-19 after Vaccination: Breakthrough Infections
COVID-19 vaccines are effective at preventing infection, serious illness, and death. Most people who get COVID-19 are unvaccinated. However, since vaccines are not 100% effective at preventing infection, some people who are fully vaccinated will still get COVID-19. An infection of a fully vaccinated person is referred to as a “vaccine breakthrough infection.” -
2020-04-20
Jobkeeper notification - HIST30060
After losing my job the prior month I attempted to find financial support through the Jobkeeper program that was being run by the Victorian Government at the time. Unfortunately as a result of being terminated the prior month as well as having a casual status at the job I was unable to receive support from the government or the company that I worked for. This meant that I was out of work and money for a period of 6 months in 2020 before finally being able to find another job. Personal information relating to myself and the business have been marked out in order to protect privacy. -
2020-03-01
Letter of Termination - HIST30060
In March 2020, my former place of employment was forced to close down as a result of lockdown restrictions. This was the only communication given to employees about being let go. I had worked at the company for four years at the time from the age of 16 through to the time I was 20. I have redacted some of my own personal information as well as information that could give the company away. The swim school did not manage to reopen at full capacity for almost a year and many staff did not return to the school as they found other employment. -
2021-10-01
Disaster Payment: "Getting Paid to Study"
The COVID-19 Disaster Payment, given to workers unable to earn income due to COVID-19 state or territory health order, was given to construction workers during the two-week construction shutdown in Victoria. Traffic control in the construction sector has been my casual job alongside university for the past three years. The recent construction shutdown, however, allowed me to receive the $750 a week from the Disaster Payment without working at all. My housemates and I called this “getting paid to study”. This was especially true in the lead up to exams were we spent the majority of time at home with very little excuse to do anything other than “hit the books”. -
2021-08-02
A complex decision: Deferring International Students
In the Center of International Programs, during Summer 2021, some decisions had to be made in the office. Due to internal changes, some applications could not be processed, and I-20s could not be developed. Between 10 to 20 undergraduates and graduate students had to be deferred to have more time to issue their visas. This impacted students as some had already made arrangements to come and each case had to be taken into consideration and also be taken personally. The Center of International Programs has over 20 students preparing to go to the university by Spring 2022. -
2021-08-09
New Beginnings - First in-person International Student Orientation During COVID-19
On August 9th, 45 students (approx.) came to the first international student orientation. During the session, they explained how to maintain the visa status, more information about working in the university, and health recommendations and guidelines. They were also asked to leave their documentation for the following scanning and complete some forms during the session. This session was the first one after COVID-19 appeared in the US. -
2021-10-17
HERMIT HERALD, ISSUE 130
$3.5 TRILLION BILL, YES OR NO -
2021-03-14
Paradigm Shifts
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about many paradigm shifts; everyone I know has undergone a lot of change in themselves, their beliefs, and in how they view and interact with the world. There is a lot of grief these days but there are changes worth being happy about. -
2021-09-18
Biden Administration Sends More Agents to Texas Bridge to Move Haitian Migrants
It is utterly dismal that this is taking place, and being written about, as if it were compartmentalized from the crisis of mass death facing the entire planet. Face masks are required on all U.S. public transit and on all flights, yet migrants seeking asylum are treated without regard for even their bare minimum safety. -
2021-10-14
Biden Says Port of Los Angeles Will Operate 24/7 to Ease Logjam That’s Fueling Inflation
The global supply chain crisis has led to some unprecedented steps to regain efficiency. How much more recourse do the public and private sectors have? -
2021-09-06
Empty Classrooms: An Uncertain Future
When COVID hit and schools were forced to shut down, education had to transform in many ways. Students began remote learning through video conferences and online tools like Google Classroom. Moving online not only took away a lot of the personal interaction and connection between students, but it made learning the content even more difficult. Students were less motivated, it was more difficult for them to ask questions and get their questions answered, and many students began to fall behind. Transitioning back into the classrooms has helped students begin to pick back up from where they left off with their class content, but there are still so many absences daily in classrooms all across the country. This article discusses the issue of how future generations will be impacted by the COVID education crisis. -
2021-10-07
Exposing Systemic Racism in all Areas
While some believed the pandemic aid solved food insecurity, that couldn't be further from the truth in black neighborhoods. -
2020-03-22
Job Security as an Essential Worker Pride-A Meme
When the pandemic first took place, I was working as an Executive Assistant at a Domestic Violence Agency. Our agency was initially sent home, which prompted a mad dash to learn how to hold Zoom meetings, how to securely set up working from home, getting laptops and printers to workers, and all of the other craziness associated with a rush to work from home. The first day we were sent home, I spent the day learning Zoom, checking emails and answers phone calls and texts. That was a Friday. On the following Monday, I was back in the office. No one else was there, so I could do a lot work without interruption. It was determined that our work as a domestic violence agency was essential. At the time, that was a major relief for this single mom of three girls. I remember feeling panicked about the possibility of needing to go on government aid or unemployment. So, it was a total relief to me to find out we were essential. I worked hard during that time to. It took more effort and energy to help others work from home. I was glad that I could work from my work office, but it still required a lot of extra work. After things settled a bit, I would hear about how much more people on unemployment received. It was frustrating to hear about honestly. But, at the time, this meme was exactly how I felt. I felt a lot of pride to be considered essential even if it meant more work (for less pay). -
2020-06-07
Much too early
The country was clearly still in distress when governments decided to reopen -
2021-03-13
On the Fence
South Carolina legislation and its residents have always been on the fence about COVID but when senator Lindsey Graham caught it back in March of this year, reality started to settle in. This was a wake up call to southerns and South Carolinians alike to start taking COVID mandates more seriously. I empathized with Graham but also was somewhat grateful that his sickness would be a lesson to others. -
2020-11-07
You're Fired [PRIVATE -DUPLICATE]
I worked the polls at Nevitt Forest Elementary during the 59th presidential election. The lines were crowded at 6:00 prior to the polls official opening at 7:00. The energy in the voting room was definitely mixed--some determined, some anxious, and some angry at the previous conditions of Trump administration of 2017-21. Although the energy of the election results are still mixed today still, this meme reflects one of the more amused and joyous reactions of the election turnout. Thus, using one of Trump's infamous lines of his famed tv show Celebrity Apprentice, this meme pokes fun at the importance of public ratings not only in pop culture but in politics as well. -
2021-08-16
False Promises?
After 20 years of bloodshed, the Us military forces withdrew from Afghanistan, leaving it under Taliban rule. The departure was followed by a , two week process of which more than 120,000 people tried to evacuate (Council of Foreign Affairs, "The US War in Afghanistan" The tweet depict the heartbreaking images of crowds of people trying to cling to the sides of Us military planes at the Kabul airport and tweets from US civilians sympathizing with the troubles overseas. -
2021-09-26
‘See us, hear us’: Residential school survivor on how to mark Sept. 30 holiday
This is a news article documenting Geraldine Shingoose’s comments on how the new national holiday of Truth and Reconciliation must be observed; the article contains a video and conversations regarding how to teach children about Residential Schools in classrooms. -
2021-09-24
Best Summer Ever
This is a news article detailing the result of Alberta’s “Best Summer Ever” which saw almost all pandemic restrictions relaxed with only the begrudging exception of a required quarantine if you were to test positive – yes they seriously tried to get rid of that. ‘They’ being the UCP (United Conservative Party) of Alberta, which has exacerbated the pandemic through prioritizing corporate needs by pushing to continually open the economy at the expense of public health. Ontop of this, the continual gutting of our healthcare system, as a means to ‘legitimize’ the need for a private healthcare system coincided with this, and had devastating results on the lives of Albertans. Jason Kenny, the premier, went to our ‘greatest outdoor show on earth’ the Stampede; and flipped pancakes for all attendees with a smile. They sold ‘Best Summer Ever’ hats, while slowly our hospitals were filling up. As I am writing this, there is a humanitarian mission currently in my province, the army has been deployed to assist, and we are flying people to Ontario for medical treatment because our hospitals are at capacity. The cannibalistic nature of this party and overall of Capitalism has resulted in immense suffering for my province, people are dying in waiting rooms. The last portion which I wrote there really bothers me, I can’t comprehend that experience, you’re in somewhere where they can take care of you, or help you in anyway – but there’s nowhere to lay down, dying in a liminal space. I have Conservative, and Liberal friends who have stated that “it isn’t that bad” or that it’s “just the unvaccinated,” (yes this is a real comment a Conservative ‘friend’ told me in response to my anger with the situation) I cannot comprehend what they mean by either of these, the situation is clearly unacceptable. People have been willfully sacrificed so corporate executives can make their regular paycheques, why is that not infuriating people, why is it just this fixation on ‘getting back to normal.’ Normal is killing people, and having strong men like Jason Kenny smile and flip pancakes only adds onto the absurdity of the situation, I can’t help but be reduced to a boiling rage whenever I read anything relating to our province and the pandemic, I don’t want to live here anymore if this insanity is perceived as somehow normal, or at the most extreme, ‘tolerated’. -
2021-10-08
Battle over Mask Mandates
The story of this video is based on mask mandates across the United States. How different cities and states are reacting to President Biden's pleas for companies and state/local officials to mandate masks. -
2020-11-07
You're Fired
I worked the polls at Nevitt Forest Elementary during the 59th presidential election. The lines were crowded at 6:00 prior to the polls official opening at 7:00. The energy in the voting room was definitely mixed--some determined, some anxious, and some angry at the previous conditions of Trump administration of 2017-21. Although the energy of the election results are still mixed today still, this meme reflects one of the more amused and joyous reactions of the election turnout. Thus, using one of Trump's infamous lines of his famed tv show Celebrity Apprentice, this meme pokes fun at the importance of public ratings not only in pop culture but in politics as well. -
2021-09-15
What Happens to Military Who Refuse Vaccine?
This article talks about the recent vaccine mandate for all US military members and what some of the repercussions could be for those who refuse. Additionally, the article discusses how challenging it can be to get a valid exemption for this vaccine if military members have already consented to dozens of other vaccines during their careers. -
2021-10-05
Turistas Ignoran Aislamiento Social en Rincon PR
Maria del Carmen Gonzalez de Telemundo PR entrevista al alcalde de Rincón, Carlos López Bonilla. El alcalde dice que los turistas están ignorando las reglas de distancia social y los toques de queda. Maria del Carmen Gonzalez: "Nostotros con se encuentra el alcalde de rincón, Carlos López, a quien le agradecemos que esté aquí con nosotros durante la tarde de hoy. Como el municipio a manera de las situactión para controlar a los turistas a tenido a problema con el." Carlos Lopez Bonilla: "Sí, ese es situactión un mucho problema. Cuando comenzó todo esto, el toque de queda, por lo menos tuvimos que nosotros a intervenir con más de 100 ahorita en las diferentes calles, las diferentes playas, extraído poco a poco. En el segundo día fueron menos y hay hoy en el día de hoy ya ha sido 88 personas que nosotros tenemos que ir con otro. Personal a intervenir con ellos y hablar con ella." -
2021-10-05
Puerto Rico Requires Negative Covid Test
Beginning July 15, 2020, the governor of Puerto Rico ordered all tourists to show a negative, molecular Covid test in order to enter the island. The governor had tried to close down all US mainland flights from coronavirus hotspots but the FAA did not respond to her request. Instead, the governor required tourists to show proof of a negative Covid test, using this QR code (above), in order to leave the airport. Throughout one's stay in Puerto Rico, the government texted/emailed everyday asking for any symptoms. For the first several months, the questions were only in Spanish (above). -
2021-10-04
My experience and how COVID-19 affected me.
The essay outlines what I had initially known about COVID-19, what I experienced, what close family or friends experienced, and how I saw the world change as a result. The purpose being to share my thoughts to not only get it off my own chest, but to help others feel comfortable in sharing their own. -
2021-09-10
Australian Census Materials
The Australian Census was conducted when many people and cities were in Lockdown. This changed the nature of Census work. No longer door knocking, workers were required to drop of census materials and reminders in keeping with 2021 contactless procedures. I wasn't allowed to doorknock but had to use intercoms for large apartment buildings. We were given masks and bright yellow satchels to carry materials. -
2021-09-29
Covid in Altus Oklahoma
I wanted to share my personal experience of living through the COVID-19 Pandemic in Altus Oklahoma. While my experience probably looked very similar to others, I believe it is very important to always information share so everyone can have the complete picture. I am active duty Air Force, and was residing in Altus Oklahoma during the pandemic in 2020. Living on a military base, it is not very often that you have quiet hours or down time. However, during the height of the pandemic, the majority of the base shut down and went to minimum manning for almost 30 days. It was strange to see operations halt, and all non essential workers staying home with their families for the duration of the town shut down. Organizations went from in person working to relying on home desktop computers to get the mission done. During this time people were also limited on where they were allowed to travel, and people they were allowed to see. At one point, some people were not even allowed to go on walks outside, because they were not sure how the virus would spread and if it would be safe being close to others. As doctors and scientists started discovering the make up of the virus and how to mitigate against its effects, we started gaining more liberties back. Members were no longer confined to their homes, we were able to do outdoor activities near the base, and were allowed to travel to nearby towns for any essential items. Looking back on the situation that occurred a little over a year ago, it is hard to imagine and remember what it was like to be confined to our homes and not being able to engage in social gatherings. One thing that is pandemic has highlighted to me is that despite all the adversity the world has faced, we are still determined to get the mission done efficiently and effectively everyday. I would also like to highlight the importance of social connectedness and gatherings. During the isolation period of the pandemic, the majority of people suffered from lack of communication and not being able to connect with those around them. If this pandemic has taught us anything it should be to not take your health for granted and to value the time you have with loved ones, because you never know when it will be your last time together.