Items

• 
  2020-05-06

  Drive Through Birthday

  On May 6, 2020, my childhood best friend officially turned 15. It may be just another birthday for most. However, in Hispanic culture, it means a girl's shift from childhood to womanhood. Usually celebrated by parties filled with hundreds of people, princess dresses, cultural food, music, and gifts. Due to the pandemic, it was diminished to a drive-through celebration filled with masks and distance between loved ones. It was a memorable birthday; nevertheless, a significant part of the typical Hispanic cultural experience was stripped away from her.
• 
  2021-04-12

  21st Birthday Trip, Post-Pandemic

  My twin sister and I turned 20 right after the beginning of the pandemic in April 2020. That birthday was a gigantic bummer, because all my friends had left my college campus and I was still there but couldn't visit home either due to Covid concerns (my parents are in their 60's and my sister has asthma). So, after a year of not traveling or doing very much else, my first post-covid trip was for my 21st birthday. Not yet ready to get back on airplanes but wanting to do something exciting, my mom, dad, sister, and I packed into the van for an 8-hour drive across Colorado to an Airbnb in Durango, near the southwest corner of the state. Durango is a cute little tourist town that's still sleepy from winter in April, and definitely non-traditional for a 21st birthday bash. We had two objectives for the trip: Mom and Dad were going to buy us our first (legal) alcoholic beverages, and we were going to take a ride on the narrow-gauge railroad that ran from Durango to the nearby tourist/old mining town of Silverton. The first goal was accomplished quickly upon our arrival; we located the old Strater hotel, built in 1887, complete with a bar where we immediately situated ourselves. The servers were dressed like flappers, all wearing masks, many matching the colorful fringes of their dresses. I ordered an old fashioned, was tipsy after half, and handed it off to my mom to finish. My dad had a great time shepherding us back to the van. The train ride the next day was the highlight of the trip. We bought tickets in advance, since only a limited number of seats could be filled in each car due to lingering covid precautions. Masks were also still required, except when eating and drinking (a full bar was available, as well as coffee and pastries). The train crept up into the mountains alongside a river, sometimes crossing over very tall trestle bridges, prompting my mom, who's afraid of heights, to pull her mask up over her eyes. Lunch, which was previously served on the train, was instead provided to us in pre-packaged boxes, to be eaten outside at picnic tables along the river where we were free to spread out and remove our masks. On the ride back to Durango, the full bar on the train was open, and most masks came off. My parents bought my sister and I our second drinks of being 21 (mimosas at 3:30pm, woo!) and we headed back to the Airbnb, stopping to pick up some Serious Texas Barbecue. While Covid ruined my plans for the 21st birthday party I thought I would have, it gave me a few years to slow down and to appreciate my family and small, meaningful, gatherings together, which I wouldn't trade for the wildest party in the world.
• 
  2020-04-05

  Zoom birthday party - HIST30060

  My 20th birthday party, held on Zoom. We tried to convince George that his microphone was muted, and he proceeded to abuse us via Microsoft word and the “share screen” function. While they didn’t compare to real life interaction, Zoom provided many new creative ways to converse which we had a lot of fun exploring.
• 
  2020-06-03

  Covid Birthday

  My 21st birthday was just a few months into lockdown. Like millions of other people, something I was looking forward to was affected (not ruined) by the pandemic. There were so many instances of things changing due to the circumstances that we had to stay positive about how we viewed the adjustments. Thankfully I was still able to see my friends although we were keeping our distance. In the photo, you can see all of my friends and I standing far apart from each other in my yard. This was just one pandemic event of many to come.
• 
  2020-07-24

  Birthday present

  A comic strip about Covid-19
• 
  2020-04-27

  Birthday During Quarantine

  This is my now fiancé, who wasn't too keen about my taking their picture, but this was a huge milestone in her life! We celebrated her 21st birthday during quarantine. Of course, I had to bring her to the ABC store so we could get stuff for margaritas. After the store, we went home to play a Jane Austen theme board game with her parents. She had told me that one of the easiest things about wearing a mask and wanting to wear make-up, is that she only had to do her eyes since everything else was going to be covered up anyways.
• 
  2022-04-11

  26th Birthday

  This is an Instagram post by alannakate96. This person is celebrating her 26th birthday while wearing a mask. She thanks her family for helping celebrate her day despite having a "spicy cough" as she calls it.
• 
  2022-04-10

  Reflection 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!
• 
  2020-04-08

  The Covid Birthday

  Back in April 2020, just after the whole Covid-19 outbreak began, it was probably one of the worst days of my life. For starters, I'm the son of one of the greatest mothers on this talent, I love my mother so much and would put anything aside for her every need. My mother's birthday is April 8th, so it's actually coming up this Friday, which is why I share this story with you. During the covid outbreak and til this moment, I have never had a positive covid test, not saying I may or might've not had it is beyond me. Unfortunately during the start of the outbreak in the Houston area, my mother was one of those unlucky people who caught covid early on and what made it worse was, it was about 2 days before her birthday. She was miserable from several illnesses attacking her body all at once, and there was nothing we could do for her except pray and wait. My mother laid in bed on her bday the entire day, she was running a fever, shivering from chills, and throwing up nearly every hour. She lost a lot of weight from this incident too and I was appalled by it all. On her birthday, I sat right outside her bedroom door the entire day and just talked with her while each of us wore a mask to try and prevent the spread within our own house. I would do anything for my mom, and I could tell that me staying with her all day to keep her company was something she most definitely enjoyed!
• 
  2020-12-04

  104-Year-Old World War II Veteran Beats COVID-19

  This remarkable article tells the story of how a 104-year-old World War II veteran from Alabama named Major Wooten was able to beat COVID-19 in a little under two weeks after testing positive. The article describes how Major Wooten was given an infusion of a newly approved monoclonal antibody therapy named bamlanivimab, and while this treatment physically drained him temporarily, he was able to recover 24 hours later. Wooten maintains that he is still quite drained and “mentally fuzzy” after having COVID-19, but this remarkable man was able to bounce back extremely well from the disease. This article is significant to the archival collection relating to COVID-19 survivors, as well as the collection pertaining to veterans. It truly is amazing to see someone like Major Wooten survive fighting in France during World War II, and then continue to beat the odds by defeating such a deadly disease. This article will do a great job of addressing the lack of input within the archives from elderly veterans on how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted their lives.
• 
  2021-10-20

  Birthday Presents from my Best Friend

  This picture shows the presents I received from my best friend Alex back in October of 2021. Normally, I would have two parties for my birthday; one with family and one with friends. Alex would normally be part of the friend party or possibly a separate party of our own. However, due to COVID, that was not meant to be. Alex wanted to keep healthy in order to keep seeing her nephew, so it was for the best to not hold the party this year. Instead, we decided to meet up on my birthday for about a half-hour to hand out my presents. She gifted me with four figures of Princess Aurora from Disney's Sleeping Beauty. Aurora is my favorite Princess and I was so happy to add these figures to my collection! I am glad that we were able to talk for at least a short time before she had to go home. I hope that in 2022, we can actually hold an in-person birthday party for my birthday and her's as well.
• 2021-04-05

  The Most Important Birthday- COVID Edition

  21st Birthday's in my family have always been a staple. We go out, eat dinner, celebrate with drinks, the whole nine yards. Well, that changed with the pandemic. I figured that for my 20th it was fine because I was only turning 20. When I got to my 21st, I was hoping things would change, But restaurants still were closed, bars had strict mandates. What was I to do? Well because of this. I had to spend both my 20th and 21st birthdays in my home, doing nothing but playing video games. This was a birthday I looked forward to my entire life, a birthday that most look forward to, spent playing video games. Completely ruined by a national pandemic. I was devasted, my entire mindset to the day was completely ruined and it was all due to the Pandemic. Mind you, I did have my family with me so that did not change, but the entire tradition that every one of my siblings received was taken away from me. To this day, I am still completely upset about how the Pandemic took my day away from me, but what could I do about it? Everyone was facing the same issues and I know that many birthdays were probably ruined as mine was. This Pandemic has controlled almost every aspect of our lives for the last two years, and it makes you wonder. Will it ever end? Will life ever return to the way it was before the Pandemic? I am not sure when it will go back to normal, but sure am hopeful it does at some point because I do not want anyone to have their birthday celebration stripped away as mine was.
• 
  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.
• 
  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.
• 
  2020

  COVID-Safe Birthday Parties

  The attached collage of photos displays the COVID-19 birthday parties that have become so well-known in my family over the past year and a half. After a few birthdays were skipped over due to uncertainty at the beginning of the pandemic, my family decided to do birthdays that would be distanced, outdoors, and masked. Unlike the passing of the months, which was meaningless when we were stuck indoors, the changing colors of the “Happy Birthday” sign added a sense of progress and individuality to each celebration. However, these photos, identical aside from the color scheme, are a reminder of the restrictions of the pandemic. While the decorations changed, the masks, socially distant tables, and disposable plates did not. Outdoor family gatherings at my house had once been a choice. However, during this pandemic, we did not have the option to eat indoors on a hot day or go to my uncle’s backyard where social distancing was more challenging. This collage of photos is relevant not just to illustrate ways in which our lives have changed during the pandemic, but also how we have adapted and maintained our values. These photos reflect what my life has centered around during the pandemic: attempting to engage in my normal activities in a safe manner. This is surely a sentiment that many can relate to. Thus, I feel that, in the future, these photos can demonstrate the adjustments that were made in order to maintain family values and a semblance of normal life.
• 
  2020-10

  Pandemic Birthday at the Aquarium

  Last October 2020 I celebrated my 22nd birthday. Between COVID-19 and the death of my father, my birthday wasn't high on my list of things to prioritize. However, my family and I decided last minute to go to Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut as it is one of my favorite places & they had socially-distant protocols in place. I enjoyed seeing the belugas, seals, penguins, and jellyfish in a safe and distant manner.
• 
  2020-03

  The long summer break

  I submitted what the start of the pandemic was like from the view of a 16-17 year old and how it started the rapidly changed conditions.
• 2021-08-03

  The Comfort of Carbonara

  Homemade recipe of Carbonara for my son's tenth birthday, with all the restaurants closed, we improvised.
• 
  2021-07-11

  Pandemic Piñata

  When Covid is over I will no longer have to send my daughter a homemade Pandemic Piñata filled with hand sanitizer, masks, and such "goodies" for her birthday. When Covid is over she'll be able to fly home and celebrate with us.
• 
  2020-05

  Roses are red

  My grandmother's birthday is in May, so last year, during the beginning of the pandemic, we were unable to visit her and celebrate her birthday or Mother's Day. So, we sent her a nice card, and in it, my brother and boyfriend made up the poem. It reads "roses are red, violets are blue, when coronavirus is over, we'll come see you! xoxo Owen + Andrew"
• 
  2021-07-09

  Charlotte Tibollo Oral History, 2021/07/09

  Mother interviewing 5 year old daughter about the pandemic.
• 
  2020-08-15

  Laughter is a Girl's Best Friend

  The image I included shows the sense of sound. In the picture submitted my two close friends and I are laughing in a picture together. The story I am regarding with this is the fact the pandemic deprived me of hearing not only their voices in person but also their laughter. In my state we started the lockdown by late March, so all of us were not quarantining together, so the time when the pandemic was the worst was the longest, we went without seeing each other in person. Of course, like other people, we would use technology, like Facetime and Zoom. Like most other people know, Zoom is not the same as in person. So this picture shows us laughing and for the first time in a really long time to hear us all laughing was musical. I think this particular sensory history shows the importance of what a person hears from day to day, or on a regular basis. It becomes clear in times of global pandemics what gets taken for granted until it is taken away. I think when this history gets studied in years to come, historians are going to see a recharge in what people think is important. Those simple things, like a friend's laugh, were lost in the time of quarantine.
• 
  2020-06-28

  Distant Friendship

  Through the start of the pandemic, in America, my state shut down by late March. I was fortunate enough to have been able to quarantine with my parents, after a fall my grandma joined us as well. The hard part was though to be totally honest not seeing my friend. My two best friends and I are super close and that period between March through June was the longest time since we became friends ten plus years ago, that we were apart. My birthday was during that time, which again was weird and sad not to have them as part of my actual day. I think sound was a sensory that I missed during the pandemic. Hearing my friends in person, was completely different than hearing them over Facetime, or Zoom. The laughter that normally flows, online was broken up by bad connections.
• 
  2020-09-18

  Grandpa's 80th Zoom Birthday

  This is near the beginning of the school year. I am still settling into 8th grade and am yet used to life during coronavirus. This is the first birthday I have had to celebrate over zoom which was really weird. This is still the stage of Coronavirus Journals where I say what I ate for lunch. Tyler 9/18/20 New Orleans, LA Coronavirus Journal Today is Friday, and Rosh Hashanah. I don’t think my family will celebrate though. I know we will be celebrating my grandpa’s birthday tonight over a zoom dinner. I am really excited to talk to my grandparents because I haven’t spoken to them for a long time because of covid. Today I woke up at 7:48 am and I am really lucky that we have til 8:15 to get to school because I would have definitely been late. Yesterday I had a baseball scrimmage and did pretty well. Today for lunch I had a turkey and swiss cheese sandwich and some barbecue chips. I am pretty lucky to have no homework today since I had Science, History, and Band.
• 
  2020-05-19

  Zoom Birthday Celebration

  During the COVID-19 pandemic, we celebrated my dad's birthday through a zoom call with my sisters!
• 
  2021-02-19

  Turning 5 years old in February 2021

  My daughter turned five on February 19, 2021. We had no family or friends over to celebrate. We had individual Zoom calls with each set of grandparents & a Zoom birthday cake celebration with all of the aunts, uncle, cousins, a great aunt & grandparents late in the evening. People sent their gifts ahead of time. She opened them throughout the day. We gave our daughter her birthday gifts, too. This particular photo is showing virtual Bingo. One set of grandparents sent over a Bingo card set & they had a copy of the same one. We played the game virtually. My daughter had a lot of fun.
• 
  2021-04-09

  Lauren Ridloff birthday message

  Lauren Ridloff thanks their followers for making their second birthday in a pandemic a special one and encourages everyone to keep fighting.
• 
  2021-01-17

  Betty White says she's celebrating 99th birthday in quarantine

  LOS ANGELES -- The legendary Betty White turns 99 today, and like many others this year, she is planning a birthday in quarantine. White recently spoke with "Entertainment Tonight" about how she will spend the start of her last year as a nonagenarian. "What am I doing for my birthday?" she said. "Running a mile each morning has been curtailed by COVID, so I am working on getting The Pet Set re-released, and feeding the two ducks who come to visit me every day."
• 
  2020-10-09

  Happy Birthday Mom, Goodbye Grandma

  It was just the turn of midnight and I called my mother to wish her happy birthday, but to my surprise the phone was picked up to deafening cries and the hurt can be sensed through the phone, something has happened. What could it be? Well it turned out to be the worst thing anyone wants on their birthday which is the death of their parents. My mom and I were supposed to go to Poland to see my grandma but now she has passed on my mothers birthday, there is no reason to go anymore as we must quarantine for two weeks. Just like that no goodbye, no funeral, no nothing we didn't even get to say a last I love you. Goodbye Grandma.
• 
  2020-08-17

  Surprise Birthday Driveby

  It was my 64th Birthday and I was down and out on the couch with Corona Virus. I got a phoncall from my daughter asking me to go to the front window. I told her I could barely get off the couch and I had a fever. She told me to bring my phone and video tape my grandson skateboarding. He had just learned a few new tricks. So I managed to make it to the window and to my surprise horns started blowing and cars began driving by my front window. It was a Birthday drive by ! I was in shock. They truly fooled me ! At first I couldn't tell who all these people were but after they circled around a couple of times I began recognizing people. It was my family and friends. They came from as far as Los Angeles County. Even my 96 year old mother was there ! I truly felt love
• 
  2020-05-23

  COVID 20th Birthday

  What I have submitted is important to me because I learned that I don't need a lot in life in order to be happy, but instead I have more than enough with the people that love and support me.
• 
  2020-10-06

  A Pandemic Birthday

  This year, birthdays were different. I didn’t get to celebrate with friends and family, I didn’t go out to eat, I didn’t celebrate with drinks at a bar, and I had to cancel a trip to Chicago that involved museum trips and live shows. Leading up to my birthday, I felt a sense of loss and homesickness, and felt some resentment about not being able to celebrate while others ignored Covid restrictions and stay-at-home orders. That being said, I made an attempt to turn my attitude around, and planned some simple, fun activities I could do at home. I ordered food in, picked up a pie from a local bakery, carved pumpkins with my family, and ended my day with some Animal Crossing. It ended up being one of the most relaxing birthdays I’ve ever had, and I received lots of virtual love from friends and family that brought me a sense of closeness, despite the distance.
• 
  2021-02-07

  Lost 16th Birthday Gift

  This document recalls my sister's cancelled 16th birthday present and her perspective on the closure of events in 2020-2021. It is important because it captures a unquiet perspective from a teens point of view.
• 
  2021-02-04

  My Mother Will Be 80 Years Old This Week

  My mother will have her eightieth birthday this Sunday. She is not likely to share her story here. She has a computer and uses the Internet. However, she usually only looks at other people’s posts on Facebook and does not use Twitter at all. I will therefore tell some of her story myself. My mother has been stuck in her house for nearly a year now. She lives only a mile or two from each of us, so my sister and I get her groceries for her so she does not risk exposure to the virus. My mother was resistant to this for a while, from a combination of independence, a disinclination to impose on others, and a plain desire to get out of the house. My mother probably has not gotten a hug from anyone in nearly a year. We call her nearly every day, and we do visit with her on patio, but we always keep our distance. As much as she would like to see people more, she does not want to break social distancing. In her view, she has stuck with it this long and does not want to waste that effort. When I talk to my mother, she often expresses boredom. She reads, works on puzzles, watches television, and calls family (although she does not want to bother people). The other day I half-jokingly suggested that she spend some time writing her memoirs. It would be a gift for her children and grandchildren to record her life experiences. My mother has started writing several pages a day. She writes long-hand in a notepad, then types up what she wrote on her computer. I was amused when she told me this, because I have not written that way in more than thirty years, and younger generations likely could not imagine doing it this way. My mother made one of her rare trips outside the house last week. She was able to navigate the website and get herself an appointment for a COVID vaccination. I was rather proud of her for persistently navigating a website that I found confusing and difficult to use. Her persistence in seeking a vaccination speaks to her eagerness to get life back to normal.
• 
  2020-05-13

  Birthday celebration

  The workers at Centre universitaire de santé McGill celebrate the 92nd birthday of a patient in quarantine.
• 
  2020-12-19

  COVID Birthday

  This is a photo of my sisters birthday party late last year. She is a nurse at St. Josephs Hospital and for the safety of her friends she decided that a Zoom birthday party would be best. At the time she was working in the ICU on the COVID unit; the heart of all the action. She has since been moved back to her normal position but for quiet a while she wasn't able to see or interact with anyone outside the hospital. Her birthday was fun and we got to see family that we hadn't seen in what seemed like years. It was also really fun teaching my older family members how to use Zoom. Putting filters and funny backgrounds was hilarious. It is definitely something I'll remember about living through this pandemic.
• 
  2020-12-29

  Happy Birthday to Me

  For my 25th birthday I found myself sitting in the passenger seat of my girlfriend's car. As we entered hour two of waiting in line at the Orlando Convention Center for free COVID-19 testing, I kept myself busy playing Animal Crossing on my Nintendo Switch. A week earlier I had thought I was getting a cold. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary since coronavirus had already passed through my house and I made it out safe. Then, on Christmas day, I took a bit of pizza and realized there was just nothingness. I could feel the sensation of what I knew the taste was supposed to be, but there was only texture. I didn’t immediately panic, thinking it was probably due to the congestion of my cold. It wasn’t until my girlfriend mentioned that loss of taste is definitely a COVID-19 symptom that the realization dawned on me. The soonest I could get tested was on my birthday, which also happened to be the day I noticed my sense of smell had completely disappeared. Even though I still had two fully functioning eyes, I felt like I was operating completely blind. It never occurred to me how much the taste and the smell of food was so essential to my enjoyment of eating. It was a humbling experience, and I’m incredibly grateful that the loss of senses was my only real symptom. I tried to use my tasteless time wisely and eat all the undesirable food that has long since been shoved to the back of the pantry. Though, I would be lying if I didn’t say the day I got my tasting back, I ordered all my favorite foods for contactless delivery. It was my little 2021 belated new years celebration.
• 
  2020-12-08

  My Personal Experience Turning 21 During a Pandemic

  This collection item not only symbolizes my personal experience of turning 21 during a pandemic but it also demonstrates something significant about my generation under COVID. I was one of the many 1999 babies that experienced this milestone birthday during the pandemic. This photo is to remind that I was not the only one who had to celebrate this birthday in my kitchen and that I was not the only one who couldn’t go out to a bar and take shots with random people. This pandemic has brought about a lot of unexpected things to many people. Turning 21 during COVID times and having an impromptu celebration during it is something that I think is important to document and remember, not only for my generation but for everyone. Looking back on the unexpected and homemade 21st birthday celebrations that people had this year will be something to cherish one day. These kinds of stories are also important in documenting how many people, although there were far worse things going on around them, chose to be selfless and sacrifice this very special birthday for the safety of themselves and others.
• 
  2020-11-23

  Covid Cat Birthday Card

  This is a photograph created by my brother, Domenic Ciampa. Like many others during the time of Covid-19, he has been able to continue his passion for drawing due to the lockdown restrictions. This was a card he made for our mother's birthday during the quarantine. There are three abstractly drawn cats with a funny blurb of text to the right. The text on the card reads, “I washed my hands before creating this... Happy Birthday” I thought this would be a good addition to my mini archive because it is a personal item to me. It also responds to the needs and considerations of my ethical archival collection. This object withstands all of the ethical practices and guidelines which I am following.
• 
  2020-05-13

  Mme Benoit fête ses 92 ans au CUSM - Mrs. Benoit celebrates her 92nd birthday at the MUHC

  Pierrette Benoit celebrated her 92nd birthday while in hospital recovering from COVID-19. The staff on C8 at the Royal Victoria Hospital of the MUHC ensured her day was special by presenting her with a cake and singing her Happy Birthday. Gestures like these are just an example of how MUHC staff go above and beyond for their patients.
• 
  2020-11-29

  Social negative gatherings: ‘Learn from our story’: How a B.C. birthday became a COVID-19 superspreader event

  This article includes a video on how a birthday became a COVID-19 superspreader event.
• 
  2019-12-16

  A Pandemic Birthday

  With the outbreak of COVID-19 you never really understood how much it was going to change things. Everyone assumed we were going to be locked down for a couple of weeks then it will all be over. Now, it has been eight months and we are still under strict rules. One thing that we all took for granted was our birthdays. The younger kids did not understand why they could not have their friends over and the elderly were terrified to even leave their houses because they are more prone to catching COVID-19. So, the only people you could celebrate with were the people you were locked down with and depending when your birthday was, you were really not too fond of those people. Thankfully, someone came up with the idea of a drive by parade. That is when everyone jazzed up their cars with balloons and signs and drove by your house screaming “happy birthday,” making your day a little bit better.
• 
  2020-04-07

  Postponed 30th Birthday Extravaganza

  Seattle- Michelle had to cancel her 30th birthday that she had planned to make into a large event with friends and family travelling from all over the country to celebrate with her.
• 
  2020-04

  Family facetime

  At the start of lockdown it became clear that my family would not be able to see each other for a while. Most of my family lives in Sydney, some of us live in Melbourne, regional Victoria and Canada. In response, my sister initiated a Coffey Family FaceTime every night at 6:30pm with whoever was available. However, this meant teaching my grandmothers how to use Facebook and how to start a call. More than 8 months later and both my grandmothers still can’t turn their video on without direction and also can’t start Facebook calls. This call kept us together when we felt far away. Celebrating father’s day and birthdays and anniversaries on FaceTime made some moments more memorable and some feel more lonely. Face timing each other was fun until there was a family dinner in Sydney and you couldn’t leave the state. However, there were fun moments, stirring up my parents dogs by yelling “walkies” or “dindins” and then leaving the call, FaceTiming on empty trams and using the weird face effects to confuse my grandmother about who’s camera was whose. The call gave structure to the days spent inside and caused me to talk to my grandmothers and extended family more about the current world events. HIST30060
• 
  2020-04

  Birthdays in lockdown - HIST30060

  When the pandemic caused Melbourne to more-or-less shut in March, my year 12 brother who attends a boarding school, and I, who lived in the city to be closer to university, had to move home to the Mornington Peninsula with our parents. All four of us, and our two dogs, celebrated our birthdays in lockdown - and not just any birthdays; my mum turned 60, my brother turned 18, and I turned 21. We had high hopes for grand celebrations which were obviously not possible under the government restrictions, so instead we did what we could from home and the celebrations were very special. Even though we didn't have access to some of the things we normally do for birthdays (e.g. dinners out at restaurants, movie tickets etc.) it was so nice to see the effort we put in to make each other's day special.
• 
  2020-11-04

  Happy 21st

  HIST30060 A person’s 21st birthday (whilst not as big a deal in Australia as other countries) is still considered an important milestone. I, like many other people in Melbourne, had the pleasure of experiencing my 21st birthday in lockdown. Friends were not invited. Family could not visit. Instead, I spent the day at home with only myself, my sister and my dog. I feel like this picture accurately represents what the time was like. Dead. Not literally, of course, but life had grinded to a halt during this period. And yet, that day was one of my happiest. Maybe because it gave an excuse for people to contact me. A theme I think runs through a lot of the pandemic. Because we could not meet physically, social interaction through technology became a lot more prevalent. And who doesn’t love being sent cupcakes?
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  2020-10-27

  Kim Kardashian Receives Backlash over COVID-19 Vacation Tweet

  Celebrity Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) posts a tone-deaf tweet about vacationing for her 40th birthday. This was not well received by the public, as it was viewed as overly privileged and offensive to the many people out there struggling to make ends meet during this pandemic. This tweet has sparked many parody memes mocking Kim's tweet.
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  2020-04-08

  Birthdays During Covid19

  When the stay at home order was first put in place back in March many events, gatherings, and plans had to be cancelled. One special day that many people didn’t want to go unnoticed were birthdays. My friends and I saw multiple stories and videos of people doing drive by birthdays in order to celebrate the special day of their friends and family. One of my best friend's birthday was in April. Before we went on lockdown we were planning on doing a surprise birthday party at his house. Unfortunately this was cancelled because of the lockdown. I’m sure you can imagine the disappointment that we all felt because we couldn’t celebrate with our friends. We decided to do a birthday drive by. All of our friends gathered at the park around the corner from his house in our cars in order to drive by. I looked around as I sat there. This was our new normal that we were going to have to accept. I saw a row of cars behind mine waiting to wish our friend happy birthday through our car windows. I heard all my friends yelling from car to car in order to talk to each other. We drove by his house multiple times and eventually stopped in front to talk to him individually and do the best we could to give him a good day. Instead of swimming in his backyard and eating pizza together, we sat out front yelling and honking. We realized things had changed but thankfully we were able to make the best of the situation were in.
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  2020-10-27

  Times of a Bitter Sweet Pandemic

  During this pandemic, I have been feeling a wave of emotions. Loneliness, solidarity, confusion, boredom. These past few months have not been easy for anyone, to say the absolute least. Being isolated has taught me a lot about myself; a lot of things that have been hard to cope with. However, there was one thing that brought me joy during these times: baking. Baking ties in with so many things I like. Art, food, TV, and designing. On July 1st, it was my little sister Melia’s 9th birthday. For this important day, I decided to do something extravagant and make Oreo cupcakes. I’ve never made Oreo cupcakes because my family isn’t much of a sweet tooth, (and are kind of obsessed with richer tastes like strawberry) but my little sister LOVES Oreos. Because of that, I spent an entire night baking her cupcakes- making sure they were up to perfection. Knowing that she wasn’t able to get a proper celebration or party made me sad, but also motivated me to make the best out of that day just for her. The fumes of the sweet vanilla filled my kitchen as I spent the next few hours baking batches and batches of cupcakes. I would take occasional tastes of the batter just to make sure it was mixed evenly, of course. The cupcakes were left to bake for an hour, and that was the time I spent to make sure the decorations would be perfect. The next day, I surprised her with the cupcakes and she was ecstatic. I was worried that it the cupcakes weren’t enough for a 9 year old because the pandemic limited me from getting her a physical present, like a toy. Nobody’s ever went out of their way to make such cool cupcakes, she said. I even went with to one of Melia’s friends houses with her so we could share our sweet surprise with them. Not only did I make my sister’s day, but I even made some other little kids’ day too! Although this story may seem like any regular birthday surprise, it showed me how much the littlest things could bring someone so much joy, and there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel, even if it may be a dim one.