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July 17, 2020#wearamask #cooperstown #nationalbaseballhalloffame
#wearamask #cooperstown #nationalbaseballhalloffame https://instagr.am/p/CCw4BjVJAIQ/ -
2020-03-15
Life during COVID 19
My experience living during COVID 19 was unforeseen. It was my senior year of high school during the year of 2020 when I first heard of the term "Coronavirus." Being a student athlete at this stage of my life, I was looking forward to several upcoming events, such as Prom, my last outdoor track and field season competing as a distance runner, and graduation. When March 2020 arrived, everything came to an abrupt change for the worse. I suddenly found out that all of the current classes I was taking was forced to be online. The outdoor track and field season I was training for with my teammates and all of the goals that I set for myself were abandoned. The graduation I was looking forward to was held on a pre recorded video instead of a traditional in person setting. What I have learned from the pandemic is that some things will not go as planned, no matter how much time and devotion goes into a particular event. Telling this story is important to me because it can let other future generations acknowledge what happened during these uncertain times and what things can be prevented from happening later on. -
2022-09-09Back in Boston
The story is of me and my father going to see the Red Sox play at Fenway. The hat in the picture is the one I got at ballpark. It is important to me because it was the resumption of a tradition that me and my father have done for years. -
2022-07-10Tennis Is Done With Covid-19, but the Virus Isn’t Done With Tennis
This is a news story from The New York Times by Matthew Futterman. This story chronicles the changes tennis has gone through during the pandemic. Compared to other professional sports, tennis has been one of the sports with restrictions applied the longest Novak Djokovic, one of the top tennis players in the world, is noted for his refusal of the COVID vaccine. This caused controversy in 2021 at the Australia Open, where his refusal to get vaccinated resulted in his deportation. The Australian government was worried that his refusal would embolden others. The rest of the article goes on about what other tennis players have said about the restrictions, and what they mean for the sport. Some of the tennis players expressed not paying attention to restrictions as much as they used to, and wanting to live like they used to. -
2020-05-03
Belly Buttons & Makeba
Most people probably don’t think of belly buttons when they think of a pandemic. They likely also don’t think of the South African Activist Miriam Makeba. However, when I consider the earliest days of covid, those days before I realized I would be teaching online for an extended time, or that my Varsity Lacrosse players whom I had coached through their careers would never step on a field for our 2020 season, my life was all about belly buttons and a song called Makeba by a French Singer-Songwriter. In April of 2020, schools in Michigan closed, sending me home with every other educator to figure out online teaching. Also at this time, my daughter, Edie, was just over one year old. She was very fond of her “Beluh-but’n” (bellybutton) and ran around the house proudly showing hers off, thinking she was hilarious. To her credit, it was hilarious, and also adorable. She had recently heard the song Makeba by Jain on a BMX video featuring my husband from when he used to ride professionally, and it became her anthem. Even at three years old, she still requests Makeba in the car, though today it is second to David Bowie or Vampire Weekend these days. She would dance to it on repeat, her little feet on her ABC play mat making a sticky pitter-patter, her arms swinging wildly, and her diapered baby butt dropping low like she was in a nightclub. She was, and still is, one of the funniest little humans I have encountered. The attached sound clips are recorded from a video of Edie, my daughter, strumming my guitar on its stand, while singing her version of Makeba. These videos are some of my favorites, her head bobbing and bum wiggling with her music. These are the sounds that filled my house and my heart throughout those first weeks of quarantine, and they still bring me nothing but immense joy and thankfulness. Covid for me meant more time at home with her. I was there when she woke up, we spent much of our days outside in the warming spring weather, and I nursed her and tucked her in for naps and at bedtime. We were lucky, we did not face financial crisis or unemployment, nor did we or our loved ones fall seriously ill. The result was time at home together as a family. While the restrictions and isolations of covid did mount over time, and stress of restrictions were certainly felt during my second pregnancy for my baby boy born in May of 2021, by and large, our lives just kept moving. We adjusted, we kept a small circle of trusted friends and family, and we were cautious. But when it came down to it, covid to me will always be marked by extra time with my daughter, time that I would not have had if the pandemic did not change everything about our lives. I wouldn’t trade the extra moments of her laughter, dancing, snuggles, or silliness for the world. -
2020-04-01How Covid-19 Effected Highschool Athletics and the College Recruiting Process
High school sports for many students such as myself were drastically affected because of the Covid-19 Pandemic. As an avid golfer and college golf prospect from Michigan, the pandemic hurt me and my fellow athletes in many different ways. In my Junior year of high school, my golf season was canceled entirely because of the pandemic after being one of the state's higher-ranked teams. This took away the most important season for college golf recruiting as the most important year for junior golfers is your senior year of high school. The pandemic also temporarily closed courses and facilities, meaning that I could not practice my skills to become a better athlete. The pandemic affected all different kinds of athletes, not just golfers like myself. In the end, I was able to battle against the pandemic and persevere as I am now a College Golfer at Elmhurst University in the suburbs of Chicago. -
2022-01-10life at NAU during 2022
in this journal I have mentioned many times how COVID really never effected me or the work that I had to do. -
2020-12-13Six feet and a cloud of dust
A comic strip about Covid-19 -
2022-04-12VAP and SMhopes #12
In the future I want to be a baseball player. -
2022-04-12VAP and SMhopes #11
Yo quiero ser un jugador de fútbol -
2022-04-12VAP and SMhopes #9
Ser el jugador, estrella de todo el mundo. -
2020-03-15The eruption of senior year
This is important to me because weight lifting is important when it comes to playing baseball. Even know Covid-19 had hit us and closed down the gym, my friend and I were determined to stay as strong as possible so when we got back to playing we weren't behind anybody. With that being said, we made a squat rack out of wood and used it multiple times a week. We also made a deadlift platform that took us about a week to make and used that a bunch as well. -
2022-04-18Interviewee 2022/04/18
This audio interview discusses life as a college athlete during the covid-19 pandemic. -
2022-04-10Reflection of Life In A Pandemic
As everyone knows, we went through a pandemic. From that point, more happened in my life in that timespan than the 18 years that have passed before that. Celebrated two COVID birthdays, had a death in my family, heart surgery, lost and gained friends, the number of times I felt sick but actually was not because it was all in my head, the battle I had against COVID-19, too much has happened to count. However, I realized and went through this weird journey that I cannot really explain. I learned a lot about my own body, my brain, my mental state and health, it went through one rollercoaster if I had to be honest. I do want to believe that those blessings in disguise were really that, but it was quite the actual opposite. To be honest, it was something spiritual that had changed me over the past two years and I don't ever regret going through with it. I found that there will be nobody who will ever put their lives for yours other than themselves, and I found that being selfless means WAY more than doing things for yourself. Helping others, giving things such as time, your body, mind, gifts and amongst other things that mean a lot to people and that is something we all needed during quarantine and the pandemic. Life is so short, and it has its precious moments, so do not ever let anyone destroy that and let anyone control what you can or cannot say. Be kind, and be gracious to others and be respectful, because you never know what someone is going through. Also, I definitely missed sports. The beauty of basketball, the sport that has given me a lot of love and hate, came back with a bang and cannot wait for this year's playoffs! -
2020-08-14Wrestling Promotion Resumes Production under COVID Protocols
Professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor announced their intentions to resume production of their weekly televised wrestling show, but with no fans in attendance and COVID protocols for the staff. Like all live entertainment avenues, professional wrestling has also been affected by the pandemic and has had to take precautions to protect its staff, talent, and fans. -
2020-09-09
The Four Walls of Insanity
The day my life completely changed, QUARATINE had been announced in my district. What had begun as a light conversation with no expected impact on us later came to crumble our walls of reality and how vulnerable we really are. We live in a time of the future a virus wasn't expected to take so many of us out the thought that we've evolved beyond this point was false. We were unprepared for anything that was to come. I never got to enjoy my senior year complete my senior year, a year I'll never get back. I had begun with so much excitement it was my senior year in cross country I gratefully got to finish my season with all my teammates and some of my best friends from high school. However that would later come crashing down as I was getting excited for prom season shopping for a new dress and planning the night out with friends we were sent on a "2 week spring break" I never got back. Classes continued online, I no longer was able to do my daily routine of going to school then practice with friends. From now on any interaction was via Zoom or FaceTime we longed for reconnection. I'm someone who thrives off interacting with my friends especially pre quarantine the lack of interactions was draining me. I had to find a new way to cope which as you can see led to many hair color changes within a couple months. The four walls I would be so excited to come to after a long practice now became a prison cell. I would't change the way I chose to quarantine because I saw the negative affects of socializing with sadly one of my neighbors passing during that height of pandemic. However we are all only human and selfishness is part of who we are and I think it's fair to say my mental health took a large toll during the couple months that felt like years. Once my family as well as others became more lenient I was a able to hangout in small groups of people but never large and still fear it a little over 2 years later. I don't believe I have fully recovered from the situation this time period put us through. The isolation did allow me to discover new interests and how to spend time with myself which can be difficult, as well as an appreciation for long walks on your own. However it was a confusing time and one that only brought about more anxiety and fear with someone who deals with this struggles on the daily. -
2022-02-03Zero 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! -
2020-03-13Body Building: Covid Edition
In the years leading up to the Covid-19 Pandemic, I was working out 6 days a week. I was trying to build muscle in hopes to do a bodybuilding competition in the near future. I was making significant progress in the final months of the gyms being open and then it all changed. The Covid-19 spread became increasingly of concern and the world was going into panic. Then all the schools got sent home, I was home for a week before the gyms closed indefinitely. It was unknown how long everything was going to be closed down. There was no way that I was going to go weeks or months without the gym, I had come too far. Bodyweight exercises were not going to do the trick. I needed real weights to preform good muscle building exercises. The following day after the gyms closed, I drove to a local sports store and bought the last power rack, bench and barbell they had. This wasn't totally ideal like a real gym is, but it was enough for me to keep progressing. I was very fortunate to obtain these weights and rack because most people didn't and had nothing to work with. I lost no progress, and I am so grateful for that. -
2022-01-01HERMIT HERALD, ISSUE 135
Dems and Republicans, down the rabbit hole -
05/03/2021Kyle Sauley Oral History, 2021/05/03
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05/19/2020Trent 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. -
2021-10-18Looking Back to Look Forward and Adapting to Overcome
This screenshot shows an Instagram post from St. Mary's University. The screenshot is in regards to the University's annual marathon for the neighborhood, depicting an in-person event with evidence of masks and other restrictions/changes due to COVID-19. Seeing as the event is back to being held in person, it has both clear similarities and clear differences in respect to the years before, further proving the fact that the pandemic is ongoing and continued adaptation is necessary before we will be able to overcome. -
2020-10-15Looking Back to Look Forward and Adapting to Overcome
This screenshot shows an Instagram post from St. Mary's University. The screenshot is in regards to the University's annual marathon for the neighborhood, announcing a virtual marathon this year, that participants can do from anywhere. This is different from the years past, as well as from the years to come, further proving the fact that the pandemic is ongoing and continued adaptation is necessary before we will be able to overcome. -
2019-10-06Looking Back to Look Forward and Adapting to Overcome
This screenshot shows an Instagram post from St. Mary's University. The screenshot is in regards to the University's annual marathon for the neighborhood, announcing a virtual awards ceremony. Seeing as this event is clearly being held in-person, with little social distancing and no evidence of masks, it is different from the years before, further proving the fact that the pandemic is ongoing and continued adaptation is necessary before we will be able to overcome. -
2020-07-25A Different Online Meeting
Athletics has always been a big part of bringing together a school's community. It's an important aspect for not just the athletes but also the supporters. The complete cancellation of sporting events can be a jarring disruption to a school's morale and spirit. The rising of popularity of esports and competitive videogames though has been helpful in keeping people connected. Though physical, in person sports have been cancelled, classmates can still keep in touch with each other through their school's team by playing and watching the school's online games. The St. Mary's esports team has provided a way for people for people with similar interests to meet without actually ever seeing each other in person. A placement on the team isn't even necessary. Videogames have been an important outlet for me in the pandemic to keep me mentally happy. The closure of many places and the inability to see certain people in real life has made me rely on them instead. -
2021-04-25HIST30060 Anzac Day
This is an image from the Anzac Day match at the MCG on the 25th of April 2021. Returning to the MCG for AFL matches was one the more ‘normal’ things we could do at the start of the year. When this game was held, it was the largest crowd recorded at a sporting event in the world. The Anzac round is my favourite round of the year and it felt amazing that footy was back and Melbourne was covid free. A couple weeks later the AFL team I support - the Collingwood Magpies - saw its lowest ever recorded attendance at the MCG since 1940, as AFL returned, many of their supporters chose not to attend games, this may be due to how our team was performing or the capacity limits. Just looking back at this photo in lockdown makes me question how we thought we were ‘back to normal’ at the start of the year, when we were so far from it. -
2021-10-23Dancing on the Beach
As Melbourne moved out of its second winter in lockdown, my Irish dancing classes moved from Zoom to South Melbourne Beach to take advantage of the rules allowing outdoor sport training in small groups. Having to contend with the sun, wind and rain was a new experience for a very indoor activity; so was training in full view of the fascinated public. It was a spectacular chance to post on social media in the setting sun, however. The beach was packed every weeknight with people like us enjoying their outdoor exercise, more than it had ever been before the pandemic. At the rules eased and allowed more indoor activities, people disappeared from the courts and walking paths. Eventually, we returned to indoor activities too. Submitted for University of Melbourne HIST30060, Semester 2 2021. -
2021-07-06HIST30060: NO BASKETBALL FOR ALL!
The local basketball courts near my house were closed due to risk of contamination with COVID-19, much to the dismay of my sweet young neighbours. -
2020-12-27Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds
Despite most activities being cancelled due to restrictions, I was lucky enough to score four free tickets to the Boxing Day Test cricket match in Melbourne at the MCG, and I brought three of my friends to the match. It was actually my first time at a live sporting event, so it was particularly memorable for me. Rather scarily, we soon found out a few days later that one of the spectators on that day would later test positive for COVID-19, leading me to take a COVID test myself, which thankfully turned out to be negative. -
2021-10-03The First Game Back and the Last Game of the Season
This was a photo from my seat at my first mariners game back since the beginning of Covid and the last game of a great season. IT was an emotional game because they lost their wildcard spot, it was probably Kyle Seager's last game as a mariner after 10 years, and it was my first time in the ballpark since 2019. It feels like we are getting back to normal even though I am still hesitant to jumping back in. -
2021-10-07NBA and Quarantine
this is a social media post that describes how NBA players that are unvaccinated cannot travel outside of their hotel when playing in Toronto Canada unless it is related to team activities. If they break quarantine they face criminal charges. -
2020-06-09
college life in COVID
this image is from friends I have made during my dark times during COVID 19, it was hard to make friends as a freshmen when classes were held on zoom. this took a toll on me and my personal life was going dark, it seemed that everyday that passes was just like the day before, no change. it made me contemplate how life is really worthless, you get up to everyday to do your required tasks and then get back to sleep just to get up again the next day and rinse repeat. I started going to a religious place to get help, and found people to hang out with. which ultimately helped me get back to normal life. I still feel as if life is worthless to most of us, as we do almost the same thing everyday and are expected to entertain each other. and while that may seem grim and dark, its the reality of life. to think of life in this manner is not harmful fore say as it helps you take bigger strides and risks in life, which may not be taken when life is thought of as a precious gift from god. and while life is a precious gift from god, realizing that taking strides which may negatively impact your life can also improve your life, which will help you get in a better spiritual and emotional state of mind. so while I played Basketball and enjoyed my time, I knew that my life was gonna get significantly better because this life barrier I placed upon myself was not gonna hold me back. and that was going to improve my spiritual and emotional state of mind -
2021-10-03T14:23Brianna Biagini Oral History, 2021/10/03
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2021-10A fitness lovers life during a pandemic in the UK
It describes how I struggled during the pandemic as I was not able to do what I love doing the most: training. -
2020-08-27Playing D1 Athletics during the Covid Pandemic
I am on the women’s soccer team at Arizona State University, and the world’s way of handling sports during the pandemic was ever changing and interesting to say the least. This photograph depicts me playing soccer outside while fully masked. At the start of the pandemic, all sports were put on a complete hold and all athletes were sent home. The next progression was that we were able to return to campus, however we must practice fully masked and maintain no contact with other athletes. As you can imagine, running sprints in August in Arizona was no easy feat, but nobody complained and everyone was just happy to get back on the field. Within a couple of months, we were able to resume contact, remove masks, and play against other schools as long as weekly testing was enforced. As the year has progressed and vaccinations have become readily available, the restrictions for vaccinated individuals have been almost completely lifted and testing is no longer required. This pandemic has completely changed my outlook on sports and life in general. It is so easy to dread the early morning practices, the hard team workouts or count down the days until your next off day. However, once those things are completely taken away from you, you truly realize how lucky you are to even be on the field in the first place. This pandemic, in all that it has taken from us, has given me a sense of appreciation for all the little things that I used to dread. I find myself being much more optimistic in the hard moments than I was before, and I have been able to be much more grateful for the opportunities that I have been given. I truly do think that this lesson will carry over into my life beyond athletics, and that I will have a different outlook on seemingly dreadful tasks. You never know when a global pandemic could suddenly put your life on hold. -
2021-08-19UArizona Football Team 100% Vaccinated
The University of Arizona football achieved 100% vaccination rate at the beginning of the 2021 season, the highest in the Pac-12. TEXT OF NEWS ARTICLE: The Arizona football program is 100% vaccinated against COVID-19, the team announced Thursday. The rate includes players, coaches and other staffers. First-year coach Jedd Fisch had made that a goal, and the team has achieved it. The UA is believed to be the only team in the Pac-12 to have reached 100%, with UCLA in second place at 98%. During Arizona's media day earlier this month, Fisch revealed 115 of the Wildcats' 118 players were vaccinated — a 97.4% rate and a five-player improvement from the team's mark in July. Other teams in the Pac-12 that are above the 90% threshold include Washington, Colorado, Utah, USC and Oregon. Oregon State (88%), Stanford (85%) and Washington State (80%) are behind the other Pac-12 programs, while Arizona State and Cal haven't disclosed their vaccination rates. Ole Miss is another college football program with all of its personnel 100% vaccinated. “We are proud to say our football program is 100% vaccinated,” the program posted via Twitter. “Our players, our staff and all who are affiliated with our program have worked very hard to accomplish this goal. “We take our health very seriously, and we are committed to a 12-game season and beyond. We are also committed to staying healthy and are hopeful that campus can follow our lead.” -
2020-03-07Strengthening friendships and learning new hobbies
When COVID-19 hit the states back in March of 2020, I was a freshman in college. I was sent home to and had to take the rest of my classes from home, for what we thought would be two weeks. Boy, was I wrong, two weeks turned into the longest and most memorable summer vacations of my life. When we had been sent home me and my three best friends wanted to make the most out of the time we were given, so we turned to our hobbies, which was fishing. Ever day I woke up earlier than I would have while at school. I found myself to be busier and more active during the pandemic due to all our fishing adventures. My relationships grew plentifully with my friends, and I was able to do well in school all at the same time. Throughout the pandemic I consider myself to be very lucky and blessed to not know anyone personally who had died from COVID-19, and I am beyond grateful for that. Not everyone is able to say the same. Even though I was active during the pandemic does not mean I did not take it seriously, we made sure to wear our masks, and practice social distancing. My friends and I decided that fishing would be the perfect activity to be safe while all still being together. We fished 7 days a week and gained so many new insightful skills and memories during our time. One fond memory that I have from the pandemic is when my friends and I went into a lagoon in the beginning of May when the ice had just melted, and the water was unbearably cold. At the time we didn’t have waders so we went in with whatever boots that we could find from home the water was much deeper than we had anticipated, by the time we made it through to our location that we wanted to fish in all our pants were soaked to our waists but that didn’t stop us from making it to our destination. I will never forget that day because it was a Tuesday in the middle of the day and we all had classes. It’s a great memory and I will never forget it because it was so unique compared to anything we have ever done in our lives prior to. -
2021-09-20T19:35:00+00:00Faris Danan and Hridaya Patel Oral History, 09/20/2021
This object shares both of our experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic -
2021-09-18Claire and AJ Oral History, 2021/09/18
Explains our experiences within the COVID-19 high school years, our two years of upperclassmen experience. It's important to us because it happened to us during the most formative years of our lives, and we're reflecting back on it. -
2021-09-15CT and LG Oral History, 2021/09/15
Two college students recall how their final years of high school were changed by COVID-19, discussing how sports were cancelled and classes went online. -
2020-06-25Hats Off: Finding Closure Amid Uncertainty
This screen recording, a small snippet taken from a live video posted on the Richardson High School Eaglettes Facebook page on June 25,2020, takes place in the back parking lot of my former high school. The fixture in the middle of the video is a "stick chick", and just beyond the stick chick is the stadium where I performed at every football game for the last three years as a member of the Richardson High School Eaglettes, a Texas style dance team. What you witnessed was the senior hat-hanging ceremony, meant to be performed in our big auditorium at the end of our final show that is usually held in April. This moment is meant to be the pinnacle of the drill team experience, a last bow in front of your teammates, family, and friends as they celebrate and applaud you for your hard work and dedication. Every early morning, every sore muscle, every tear of frustration was meant to be justified in this moment, when I could finally hang the heavily sequined hat that carried the makeup, sweat and troubles of my three-year experience and inwardly declare "I did it". But that moment never came. When school closed indefinitely in March amidst the raging global pandemic, our final show was the first event to be cancelled, followed shortly after by prom and graduation. The disappointment was crippling. I felt my world cave in as every important moment I had waited months for was stripped from me, and soon sadness made way for anger. Then one day I received an email, announcing the date of an outdoor and socially distanced closing Eaglette ceremony. And funny enough, the moment you see here almost didn't happen. I was so content with my anger that I contemplated not attending the ceremony, controlled by the belief that denying myself of this moment would show the pandemic that it could no longer hurt me. But with some motherly encouragement I gathered myself up at the last minute, making it just in time to hang my hat. I recieved honks instead of cheers, headlights instead of stage lights, and the ages old concrete of the parking lot as my stage. But I wouldn't have had it any other way. What you witnessed was my moment of victory, my realization that good can spring forth amid bad, and the moment that I decided I would not let the pandemic defeat me. -
2021-06Lasting pandemic effects of overexercising
This page from my bullet journal displays the workout I conducted each day during the month of June, 2021. The viewer should note three pertinent pieces of information to understand the necessity of this piece for the archive: the bullet journal itself, the exercise habits, and the timeline between the beginning of the pandemic to the actual entry. Primarily, I picked up the hobby of bullet journaling itself during March of 2020. I wanted a method to record my own habits – such as exercise, eating, music taste, and TV shows - in a scrapbook type format during the pandemic. Truthfully, the entire book would contribute to the archive, due to the personal detail and day-to-day routine recorded. Secondly, the workout tracker shows a slight addiction to exercise, with runs or walks every day, in addition to tens of thousands of steps I already took. These overexercising habits began for me during quarantine, with time and stress on my hands, and no healthy ways of coping. Finally, the reader should also acknowledge that I wrote this entry in June of 2021, a full 15 months after the start of lockdown in the US. That timeline shows that lingering effects of the pandemic remain, perhaps even grow with time. This artifact expresses more about my experience with the pandemic than I can articulate due to one central reason: learning self-love through exercise. Though I’d always struggled with having time on my hands, the pandemic left me feeling more uneasy with loneliness and boredom. Without a healthy way to deal with my emotions, I turned to exercise for the release and endorphins that I needed. Before I knew it, a casual workout each day led to apple watch addiction, calorie counting obsession, and cycles of binge eating and overcompensating through exercise, etc. While this sounds like my own personal journey, quarantine kickstarted and exacerbated these issues for adolescents all over the nation. With the recent introduction of tiktok “What I eat in a day” videos and Chloe Ting’s workout videos, people grew obsessive about wellness and moving their bodies. I learned so much about my body and my brain through this struggle with overexercise and obsession – and I feel grateful for that. Still though, I notice these effects in myself and others. This small contribution of a workout tracker speaks volumes about habits of teenagers after months of loneliness and free time – whether teenagers obtained an obsession with appearance, food, or exercising. And if those issues did not resurrect for some, I’d argue that the pandemic brought many other mental health challenges to surface for my age group. While this submission does little to express my emotions or challenges surrounding my exercise routine, it conveys the lingering effects of mental health tolls and body challenges from the pandemic. -
2021COVID-19 Story
During the pandemic, I was able to get back into reading and also once the restrictions were lifted, I was able to get back in the gym and start biking again. I would try and bike anywhere from 10-15 miles per day which was a goal of mine to hit. -
2020-03-15Lockdown in the Frozen Tundra
When we first got the news about school closing down for a couple days, school was the last thing on my friend group and I's minds. When we got off school that gloomy March day, I instantly met up with my friends to go up north for a trip we had been planning for weeks. I was so excited because we had so many activities planned such as snowshoeing, hiking, and snowmobiling. After we all met up, we packed up the car and left. At the time, we had heard things about Covid-19 from around the world, but we were all still pretty foggy on what it is and what it does to you. It was almost as if we acknowledged that it existed, but told ourselves that it could never happen in the United States. When we got there, we unpacked all of our things and quickly headed outside to go snowshoeing on a nearby path. When we were through with our activities for the day, we headed back to the cabin. I remember checking my phone and having a bunch of texts from my parents and friends saying that they had just cancelled school for another couple of weeks, and I started to think that maybe this whole thing was more serious than I had thought. Looking back on this picture, I look at all of our faces and notice that we were so oblivious to what we were about to experience. This is essentially the picture taken before our lives changed forever. -
2021-09-12Oreoluwapo Omotayo-Benson and Christopher Combs Oral History, 2021/09/12
This interview contains two personal accounts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The questions discussed cover multiple aspects of the pandemic, and how it has shaped our lives as high school/college students. -
2020-10-31Connecting through Climbing in the Pandemic
Just prior to the pandemic, I got seriously into rock climbing. For me, not only it was a much more fun way to work out, but it is absolutely a social sport. Everyone at the climbing gym was and continues to be extremely friendly, and you can simply strike up a conversation with anyone by simply asking what routes they are working on so that you can help one another find the most efficient way to reach the top. As all the routes are graded, just watching yourself improve and working on harder routes is an amazing feeling. With the outbreak of the pandemic, however, the gym closed until September, and I felt like such an important piece of my life went missing. While it was hard losing an activity and social outlet like that, I like trying to find silver linings in the difficult times. Even though it took me a while to come to this conclusion, I realized that it took the pandemic and losing it to truly appreciate the people there and sport itself. Ironically, I can almost contribute the pandemic to my continued obsession with climbing, even if it did rip it away from me for a few months. Attached is a picture of the first event back at the climbing gym, which was a lights-out event for Halloween where you could only use headlamps to see where you were going. -
2021-03-03Tossing for the First Time in a Year
This photograph was taken on the one-year anniversary since the last Providence College Club Ultimate Frisbee practice. I had sent a message in the team group chat about it being one year since we had been able to practice together. The school had not yet allowed club sports to practice again out of safety concerns. Varsity athletes were still practicing and competing, but club athletes had no indication of when they could gather again. We had already missed our spring 2020 season and our fall 2020 season, and it seemed like we were going to miss most, if not all, of our spring 2021 season as well. One of my teammates responded to the message with a burst of enthusiasm and rallied some of us to the field. It was an unusually warm day for the beginning of March, and even though there were only six of us who answered the call to toss and we were spread out and masked, something felt normal for the first time in months. We felt the joy of sharing Ultimate with each other and let the world of stress, anxiety, and worry melt away for a few blissful moments. -
2021-07-23First Race in a Pandemic World
Terrified, I put on my shoes and walked over to the canyon. I’m always nervous before a race - where will I place? What if I can’t finish? It’s adrenaline talking. This time, it was different. For the first time since early 2020, I was competing in a race, outside, with other people. When I signed up, the case count was the lowest it had been since the original shut down. I was nervous, but excited. Then Delta exploded. As the numbers climbed, I tried running with a mask that week. Two days before the race, I made it 3 miles and had to take it off. This was the Hot and Hilly 10K I was prepping for. It’s over 90 degrees and the course is all hills. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do the mask the whole time. I also knew the course had narrow parts, wide enough for only one runner. What happened if I got in a group? Was being outside enough to dissipate the virus, like current advice suggests? Or is Delta more potent? And is there a difference between standing outside unmasked and running full speed unmasked in a group of other people roughly and heavily drawing air in and out? As I waited for the gun, I wore my mask. I was the only one and that didn’t bother me. In fact, I was a little self conscious that I would be judged but I think everyone was just focused on the trail. When the race began, there was a natural small bottleneck. I left my mask on. About a mile in, I had to take it off. Luckily, the crowd had thinned. Since I am not an elite runner, I wasn’t doing the 7 minute miles of the head of the pack. On the flip, I also am not slow. I was able to find a sweet spot where I could see the front of the pack in the distance, but was far enough ahead of the average runners that I was not in a crowd. Overall, it was amazing to be racing again. I love competition. For over a year, I ran only on the treadmill. There was part of me that wondered if my ability have disappeared during the quarantine. I came in 4th place in my division and am beyond excited with that placement. I also was relieved knowing I was done with the crowds for the day. I spent two weeks secretly nervous I contracted COVID and am happy to report that the vaccine seems to have worked for me. I have another race scheduled for October and am already feeling nervous. Our hospitalization rate has shot to nearly 500 and the ICU is two away from 100. Will my next race being outdoors be enough to protect my family, especially my two unvaccinated kids at home? Will my vaccine even still be effective by October? My second shot will have been administered seven months prior at that point. -
2021-08-11There is No Good Decision
My daughter is very athletic. I don’t make that statement lightly. I do not lie and I will look you in the eye and tell you my son is not an athlete. But my daughter was born with a natural ability for sports. Anything she tries, even recreationally, she excels at. When she was 3, she began gymnastics and in first grade, she joined the competitive team. It’s not just that she’s athletic, she works extremely hard. So making her sit out an entire season due to COVID was not an easy decision. I do not regret it, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard. When this season began in May, we cautiously allowed her to return, fully masked. The cases were down and the coaches wore masks. We decided the risk was worth it for her mental health. Then the COVID restrictions were lifted June 15. My daughter became the only one in the full gym with a mask. We hoped for the best and have been lucky so far. But the cases are exploding. They are higher now than this time last year. What do we do? All her friends are from the gym. Truly. She doesn’t have any close friends at school because most of her time is spent at the gym. Can we take that away from her again? She worked out every single day of quarantine to stay in shape and she did. Can we look at her and basically say her work was for nothing? There is no good choice. What is more important? Protecting her physically or giving her the part of her life that secures her mental health? At the end of last week, I was seriously considering pulling her as the daily cases rose to 1,000+. However, in a move that shocked me knowing the clientele and position of the gym on this entire pandemic, even her gym has reinstated masks for all coaches. This made me feel maybe 5% better. Her one on one session is also from 8 - 9pm, which I was bummed at at first - so late for a kid! But I quickly realized we’re the only ones in the gym that late, which lowers my anxiety a bit. So we’re going to take the risk for now and allow her to continue going. I just hope it’s not a decision we regret. -
2020-09-10New research shows COVID-19 link to heart damage
a press release from Banner Health encouraging cardiac screenings for student-athletes as new research has revealed potential heart damage as an after effect from the virus.