Items

• 
  2020-05-07

  Screen Grab English 7800 Spring 2020

  This screenshot shows three students and their instructor in a moment of silliness on Zoom, where we attempted and mostly succeeded at engaging in rigorous academic work while keeping one another sane and grounded.
• 
  2021-02-14

  My Story: I Got COVID-19 Because of ICE

  I am sending a diary style writing where I share my experience during the pandemic. I focus on the issue of ICE during the pandemic. Before the lockdowns, my uncle was detained by ICE and was deported during the pandemic. My uncle has been living in the US for 25+ years and Mexico, my uncle's home country, has changed a lot since he last lived there. For that reason, I went to Mexico to take him home. This made me get COVID.
• 
  2020-04-20

  During the War... or A Gift of Time

  When the going gets tough, the tough get going... I think I understand the meaning of hunkering down and getting to work now. I have always loved creating and now more than ever am embracing its healing powers. During these last six weeks I feel like we have been dodging bullets. We have become hunter gatherers looking for supplies to combat the germs. We are obsessed with stocking our little fort with enough of everything (art supplies), to survive the war. Through it all, my husband and I have also been obsessed with creating. Me in my home studio, learning how to collage, make books, creating paintings, greeting cards and finding new techniques to immerse (distract) my self. My husband in his shop behind our house making cigar box guitars! I read a quote from J.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, that sums up, like most things, will be our attitudes that will help us accept this interruption of life..... ”I wish it had not happened in my time”. said Frodo. ”So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what we will do with the time that is given to us.” Since the start of the pandemic I have created over 65 paintings. I need to create in order to find sanity and feel productive and not scared and anxious. The photograph is a painting I created using Rohrshadk blots as inspiration.
• 
  2020-03-15

  Remorseful Disaster

  This story is an ongoing experience for me as my family and I try our best to continue bearing with the lockdown. I wanted to share how things are at home because not every family is taking this situation with the same positivity.
• 2020-03-24

  Covid-19 affected my life on eating habit, sleeping habits, and emotional wellness

  When the pandemic started, it affected my life. Before the pandemic, I attend class on campus from Monday through Friday. I will have to wake up super early around 7 am or 8 am to get ready for class. After class ends, I will rush to my part-time job and begin working. This is what I do every day and I feel like this is what life is supposed to be like. After the pandemic started, I needed to stay home and attend an online course. When attending online courses, it gives me the anxiety of worrying whether I will pass the course or not. It is my first time attending the course online and I’m scared that I might not catch up with my education. I lost my part-time jobs and my parents stopped working due to the pandemic. I started to worry about the family income and planning to get a job. However, it is hard to find jobs during the pandemic and it is too risky for going outside. I started home every day and felt bored to the point I felt emotional numbness. My eating habits and sleeping habits change. I sleep almost the whole day at home and it causes some aches in my head. I often feel like I am lacking energy and easily tire. I also lack the motivation to do anything and think that the world is boring. I sometimes skip breakfast and lunch when I wake up at 4 pm when I sleep too much. These eating habits and sleeping habits are bad for my body. I decided to change a little to fix my health and I will start from sleeping and eating first. I feel like I need to find a goal or something to do in life to keep my motivation.
• 
  2020-09-25

  A City Once Busy

  I once used to walk this street on my way to work at a restaurant. I always loved how busy it was, seeing the streets overcrowded with people who had places to be. When I lost my job because of the pandemic in March I had to go home for 7 months. At the beginning I think we all thought that things would have turned around by the time the leaves started to fall. When I came back, I went downtown to visit the restaurant I had once worked at. The restaurant was boarded up still and the streets were mostly empty, and I felt kind of empty too.
• 2020-08-22

  The Difficulties of a College Student During a Pandemic

  During the start of the school semester of spring 2020, talks of a very contagious illness stated to spread. Most students on campus believed COVID-19 to be a threat nut one month later, all colleges across the world shut down. While moving out, my friend's dad said we would be back that same semester. I believed him until infection rates increased across the United States. States started to shut down including the one I lived in. Restrictions, isolation, and guidelines were enforced to ensure public safety. Instead, thousands of people went into depression including me. Not being able to leave my house during the pandemic was difficult. Not only was I hundreds of miles away from my friends at school, but I couldn't see my friends at home too. My experience with online class didn't make interacting with people any easier. Most of my classes didn't require the camera to be on, while the other class didn't even meet online. This was very difficult for me because I was used to being around friends everyday. I started to become depressed as I spent 2 months without interacting with anyone but my family and my teacher. Fortunately, restrictions eased up as the spring semester came to a close. I was able to get a job at a donation center for the summer. I still wasn't allowed to see my friends which made for a disappointing summer but working helped the time go by. When it was time to go back to college, I was relieved. My college was fortunate enough to have students on campus for the fall 2020 semester. I was overly excited to see any friends after months. I counted down the days until we moved in. But I knew the semester would be different. When arriving on campus, I learned that several rules and regulations were implemented to "keep the community safe." Some of these included no visiting anyones dorm room, scheduling when to eat, certain doors were entrances while others were exits, no guests from off campus, must wear a green bracelet at all times, must get randomly tested, etc. I made sure to read the rules and regulations but unfortunately, my roommates didn't. The very first night on campus, my roommates decided to have friends over. I told my roommates that it wasn't allowed but it did not matter. The guests stayed until there was banging at the door. The Resident Assistant working that night wrote us up, and we had to meet with the Dean. While meeting with the Dean, I explained how it was not my fault and I was against having guests over, but I was charged with a $200 fine. Completely upset, I change all my classes to online classes and moved back home. I did not trust my roommates enough to stay. The last thing I wanted was several fines that weren't my fault. When I got home, I was really depressed. I was the only one home out of all my friends and I was back to remote learning. I couldn't see anyone while home and I felt betrayed by my roommates. I felt like my life was crumbling as another semester of my college experience was being wasted. This caused me to have a mental breakdown, and lose all motivation to do work. Four months passed by slowly and I escaped the semester with mediocre grades and a crippling mind. Fortunately, my parents noticed I was not in the best shape of mind. They had me see a therapist and find new activities to do during the pandemic. This got me back on my feet and my friends from home started returning from school. The gap between semesters when well and I was joyful again. However, it was time to decide if I wanted to return to campus for the 2021 Spring Semester. I was torn because some of my friends were staying home that semester and I still did not trust my roommates. I thought rationally and contacted them to see our their semester went. To my surprise, they received 4 fines and one of them had to quarantine. This gave me reassurance that I made the right choice on leaving campus during the fall semester. Currently I am taking the 2021 Spring Semester all remotely and I am happy. I am seeing friends and have synchronous classes. I am confident that I will keep seeing my friends at home and keep a good mindset throughout the semester. I wish for everyone to stay strong during the pandemic and seek help if you're depressed.
• 
  2021-02-16

  Recreation During Covid

  This is the creative project I've been working on in Minecraft to handle the stress of attending grad school during the Covid19 pandemic. Minecraft and other video games have been sources of stress release and social interaction since forced isolation/quarantine and restrictions on social gathering has resulted in more people playing games and joining online communities for the needed social interaction for the maintenance of their mental health.
• 2020-03-09

  My life in a pandemic

  The year 2020 feels like a never-ending nightmare. January and February of 2020, were just like any other ordinary month. I was getting my life together, planning my year out. I had gotten a new job as a patient care technician, I was going to Japan in the summer, and was hoping to be a resident assistant at one of the abroad programs in the summer as well. I remember being in the student union waiting for Josh Peck to arrive as a guest star at Duquesne. My friend asked me about my trip to Japan and if I was still going. Thinking back to it, I wish I weren’t so naïve. I told my friend how I was not worried and that it should all be fine. I was not expecting the impact it would have to how the world functioned. As Spring Break came along, I began training for my job as a PCT. I was ready to start work but that was when we started to get information about universities around us closing. I thought it would be any day now that Duquesne would also follow. A week after we got back from break is when Duquesne finally decided to close. Once I got home, it took a while for me to adjust to the new teaching style. While doing so however, I also took on some new interest and hobbies. First, my family and I worked on a renovating my room. We built a new bed frame, painted my room, and redid all my furniture. At the same time, I started to cook and bake every single day. In all the craziness of online school and renovations, I found comfort in the kitchen and working out in my basement. I would always find some new recipe to try out and because of my excitement, I would spend most of my time of the day in the kitchen. While doing so, I found time to workout so that I did not gain COVID weight. I was lucky enough that my classes for spring semester was comparably easier than my past semesters. This helped in being able to continue my hobbies and do online school. Starting back Fall semester was another challenge I faced. It was the start of my senior year and it felt depressing. It was supposed to be an exciting year and I was ready to get involved more around campus. However, with the new policies set, I do not get to see my friends often, or ever. Classes are more difficult to follow along because of the hybrid system and while I am supposed to be getting ready to be a nurse in a year, my experience in clinicals are being reduced. In all the darkness that COVID brought however, I am hoping with the new vaccine that we will start moving towards a normal life again. I cannot wait for the day I can be with people without the concern of COVID.
• 
  2020-12-23

  COVID-19 The Good, The Bad, and The Deadly….

  COVID-19 The Good, The Bad, and The Deadly…. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck I was in the spring semester of my second year of nursing school. Being naïve and not having experienced a pandemic before, I expected COVID-19 to breeze in and out like the flu every year. What I didn’t expect was a deadly virus that would leave behind it a path of death, despair, and devastation. One of the biggest areas in my life that was impacted by COVID was my education. As classes moved to virtual platforms there was a major learning curve for both students and professors. CDC guidelines and social distancing made it difficult to find areas on campus to study and next to impossible to study in groups. My friends and I worried about our lack of clinical experiences and how that was going to impact our future. Since I had virtually no clinical hours during my specialty rotations, not only was I unsure of my skills, I was also unsure of where I wanted to take my nursing career. Returning to work over winter break was also very challenging. I am a patient care assistant and medication technician at an assisted living facility. All throughout the summer I worked with the threat of COVID looming above my head like a dark cloud. It was the first time in my life that I felt people really depended on me. I understood that my actions impacted the health of others. Fortunately, my residents all remained safe. However, I was not prepared for my return a few months later. The residents were no longer allowed to have visitors and they started testing positive for COVID. At one point we started to run low on personal protective equipment, but we were still trying to take all the precautions that we could to keep us and our residents safe. It was heart breaking to be the one holding a residents hand as they passed away due to coronavirus. My job became a lot more difficult having to communicate with families and watching their final moments with their loved ones. The residents that were lucky enough to not contract the virus were lonely and couldn’t understand why they had to quarantine. They felt abandoned and afraid. It was a very trying time for all my coworkers since we were all working overtime due to our staffing shortages. Working overtime was both physically and mentally draining. Even on my days off I was called in because staff members were getting sick and were unable to come in. It was mentally exhausting because every day I would come in to work and be nervous to walk in to report and see who had passed in the hours I was gone. COVID-19 also brought about some remarkable changes. I have spent a lot more time with my family as we have discovered our new passion-hiking. My co-workers and I have a new appreciation for one another and take the time to have meals together and support one another to make sure we are doing okay mentally. I have been part of innovative changes like my COVID-19 remote patient monitoring job and positive experiences at the COVID vaccine clinic. I have seen the medical and scientific communities collaborate on treatment guidelines and the development of a vaccine. It has also been an incredible period for change and innovation.
• 2021-02-12T15:27:16

  The Year to End High School

  Coronavirus hit the United States during my senior year, and it made things very difficult. No one was really worried about coronavirus at the beginning of 2020, but when March hit people started to realize that coronavirus was more serious. March 12, 2020 was my last day of in-person high school and I had no idea. I did not get to go to the actual last day of in-person high school because I had a respiratory infection at the time. Halfway through the day on March 13, 2020, is when they decided to close all schools in the U.S. for two weeks. All of the kids in my grade thought it was only going to last two weeks and then we would be back in school to finish the year, but that didn’t happen. After the two weeks off, they gave an extra couple of days off to figure out how to change completely to online learning. We ended up finishing the year online and although my classes got easier, my life got so much harder. I am an essential worker that works for a long-term care facility and when I was not doing school or schoolwork, I would be at my job doing as much as I possibly could to keep my residents fed and safe. I had a lot on my plate at the beginning of the pandemic with balancing school and work and trying to figure out how to still have a social life while staying in my house. I also had to be very careful with whatever I did because I needed to protect my parents who are sixty years old and seventy years old and also protect my residents who are mostly sixty or older. Since I was so busy working and doing school nothing hit me until May when the school decided to cancel prom and graduation. This hit me hard because I worked so hard for twelve years to now get nothing. I worked so hard to have all A’s in middle school and high school and be on the honor roll all of those years to not even get to celebrate my achievement. I had one night when I was thinking about all of it and I ended up having an anxiety attack and crying to my sister all night because I was so upset with how I was ending my senior year. I eventually got over it and starting college was such a weird experience it’s been so hard to make friends with people and we haven’t been able to have normal college experiences. Now that it is almost a year after the schools closed there are now two vaccines out and I have been able to receive both rounds of it because of my work, but there are still so many that need to receive the vaccine and we still have a long time before we return to normal.
• 

  Anxiety during the Pandemic

  Since I can remember, I have always been a very nervous and anxious person. On my first day of second grade, I couldn’t even bring myself to leave my mom, and usually kids grow out of that stage when they go off to kindergarten. Throughout all of grade school, and my freshman and sophomore year of high school, I was always insecure, self-conscience, and very sad. It finally got better my junior year of high school and the only reason it got better is because I was on medicine. I went to a therapist and took my medicine on the regular, but I still was very anxious. I guess anxiety is just a part of who I am, and it is not something I can grow out of. After giving explaining my background with me being a very anxious person, you can probably see where this story is going. Obviously moving away for college was a very scary and anxiety increasing time. I could not sleep, eat, or smile the two weeks leading up to leaving for college. The sad thing is is that I was finally getting better, but then college came. Believe it or not though, I moved to Pittsburgh for college, and my anxiety got better. I was not as insecure and really learned to not let things get to me that used to get to me. It was March 14, 2020 where my life, and my anxiety started to go back to how it used to be in grade school and the beginning of high school. This pandemic has not been easy for anyone, and everyone can attest to that, but having anxiety and then having a world pandemic hit was horrible. I remember getting the email that told us we had to go home, and I had an anxiety attack. Because of my anxiety, I am a big planner and having to leave campus and not knowing when we will return put me in a state that I hope I never go back to. My mom picked me up on Sunday, March 15th, and that day I did not sleep, eat, or talk for about fourteen hours. I did not like how I did not have a scheduled day to go back to school, which made me so anxious because like I said before, I am a planner. We never got to go back to school and let me tell you online classes made me so anxious. I felt so behind, because going from all in person classes to all online classes is not an easy transition for anyone. Being a person with anxiety, I felt as though I was put into a world, I was not meant to be in. It felt so rushed, confusing, and honestly, I was at my lowest in the middle and end of March. I remember crying to my parents about how I didn’t want to do school because it was miserable and going out in public was so scary to me. This pandemic was publicized everywhere, and I thought in my brain, if I go into the grocery store, I will get COVID, and I know that is not true, but that is how my anxiety works. I did not go anywhere for about four months, and if I did, it would be for a drive in my car. I did not see anyone for about five months because I was worried about where they have been, and if they have the virus. This whole virus really made my anxiety worse and put me at my lowest point in my life. I felt like I did not have any friends, and I also felt very dumb because I thought I knew nothing that was going on in my classes. I started seeing a therapist again and it really helped. The fact of being scared to go into the grocery store or mall or even seeing friends seems silly. I wasn’t scared, it was just my anxiety because I wanted to make sure I did not get the virus. I hope this virus comes to an end, because I know how much it took over my mental health, and I believe I am not the only one.
• 2020-03-20

  Journal of the Plague Year

  The Corona Virus aka COVID-19 has drastically affected my life as well as the entire world. COVID-19 first affected my life during my second semester sophomore year of college. The beginning of sophomore year was when we first started hearing about COVID-19. At that time, it wasn’t really a big deal. It was more like a myth in a sense; it was happening everywhere else but here. And then, March came. More and more reports of COVID-19 in the United States were being presented. It was starting to become a serious threat. The day after Saint Patrick’s Day, I was with some friends and we were all hanging out and getting lunch. During our lunch, we received an email saying that we had to move off campus within the next week due to the threat and seriousness of COVID-19. We were all so shocked and upset that our sophomore year was cut short. In the blink of an eye, we had to pack up our entire college lives and leave to go home. All of the memories we were supposed to make were gone. For me, all of my friends were at school so going home was very hard for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family but, I also want to be able to see my friends. Once I got home, I had to do the rest of school online and had to be quarantined in my house. Online school was such a new and difficult experience. I had never done online school and neither had the professors, so it was a very difficult transition. Something else that was difficult was being trapped in a house from March until May. I am not the type of person to just stay cooped up in a house. I like to be out doing things and socializing with others but, I couldn’t do that. I was confined to my house with only my family. It was hard finding things to keep us all entertained every day while also trying not to kill each other. We tried puzzles, games, family walks and hikes, movie night, and everything in between. These things worked but only for a short period of time. Being quarantined really does affect your mental health. I also had to celebrate my twentieth birthday in quarantine which was not fun at all, but at least I was with my family which made it better. Then came July. July first was when I was moving into my first house in Pittsburgh for college. I thought that it was going to be such a fun and exciting time. But it was difficult with the whole pandemic going on. It was hard to see my friends, go out to eat, and go to the bars. I was still able to have fun, but it was still difficult to adjust to a new lifestyle. Online school full time was also hard, but I got through it and figured out how to do school efficiently. Come end of October, I got COVID-19. I didn’t realize of shitty COVID-19 was and that I could even get it because I was so young. I had all of the symptoms except loss of taste and smell. I was bed ridden for two weeks; it was awful. After that things were as good as they can be during this time. A week before New Year’s Eve, my entire family tested positive for COVID-19 except me since I had already gotten it. They got really sick and I had to take care of them and grocery shop and run errands for them. That was hard for me to watch them all be so sick. But they got better and became healthy. Yes, I haven’t had this extreme story due to COVID-19 but it did affect my life in ways that I didn’t think it could. I had to change my entire way of living because of this virus.
• 
  2020-08-21

  College Through A Pandemic

  While I have been incredibly fortunate to remain shielded from the harsher effects the pandemic has wrought on so many families and individuals over the course of the past year, I have faced a multitude of inner challenges in the transition from high school to college. Attending college, in the most normal of times, can prove a formidable adversary for those like myself who struggle with anxiety. Navigating a new campus, facing distance from loved ones, and managing an increase in course load all were deeply concerning facets of the experience in my eyes, even when a global pandemic was an inconceivable complication to these already daunting tasks. Most paramount of my worries, perhaps, was the social aspect of college. Though incoming freshmen are often reminded that this is an area of insecurity common to every new student, the restrictions that students were dealt amplified my ever-growing hesitations. Mandatory isolation, lack of social gatherings, and limited opportunities to meet others culminated into the manifestation of my deepest social anxieties. If I couldn’t cope with the pressures of normal interaction, how could I be expected to thrive in an environment barren of the very opportunity? I spent many nights leading up to the looming day of move-in sitting on the couch with my parents, often talking until the early hours of the morning. I was, at first, hesitant to express my feelings and risk sounding ungrateful or ignorant of the great privilege I possessed. So many people yearned to be in the position that I myself wanted any way out of. I was thankful for the opportunities that I had been given, and I felt that squandering them and conceding to my anxious preconceptions would be an insult to all those who weren’t given the same chance under the difficult circumstances the pandemic established. After many hours of deliberation with my family, I felt that letting my increasing social anxiety dictate my future would be disposing of a precious opportunity for personal growth. When the day of move-in arrived, it was impossible to ignore the pit in my stomach and the tightening in my chest once my parents had said their goodbyes and departed. Though I couldn’t have felt more alone in that moment, I quickly learned that this was far from the case. After only a brief period of awkward silence, my roommate and I set about decorating our space with posters representative of our shared taste in music and love of hockey, interests we soon found to be shared among a small group of people in our building. Through our conversations that first night, it was not only clear that good friends are much closer than my anxiety would have liked to admit, but also that we were going to establish a deep bond in experiencing the often challenging, always unique adventure of attending college in a pandemic.
• 
  2020-04-19

  Covid-19 and its Impact on my Routine

  When the Covid-19 Pandemic hit, it was very hard for myself and many other. Having to stay quarantined and not being able to see my friends and even family members was hard. On April 19th, 2020, it was my birthday and my parents knew all i wanted was to see my friends. They planned a drive by and one of my closest friends stayed the night at my house. 4 days I had learned that my friend tested positive for Covid-19, which ultimately led to myself getting the virus. This totally through my body out of balance. I sat around all day, barely ate, and constantly felt tired, but I knew I needed to do something about this. My older brother, who was at our house during quarantine, was an athletic trainer. He began to train me, even while I still had the virus. He set me up with workouts and I began to train in the basement of our house where we had dumbbells, bands, and a pullup/dip bar. I began working out 6 days a week and really noticed a change in my diet and mental state. It got me into a routine of getting good sleep, eating a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and kept me active and in better health. I went from being constantly tired, lazy, and not eating enough nor getting any sleep to always wanting to work hard, stay happy, and physically and mentally healthy. Although the pandemic has had many downsides, i learned to stay active in working out and staying in the best shape i possibly can be in.
• 2021-02-11

  Star Trek and the Pandemic

  Since its release in 1966, Star Trek has been an inspiring and comforting series to millions of people around the world. It is unapologetically utopian and hopeful, and throughout the pandemic it has been of incredible utility to people suffering from isolation and other stress in their lives. Even though the pandemic has had little real impact on my day to day life, Star Trek has still remained my favorite piece of media to immerse myself in to feel a little better about the future. Set hundreds or even a thousand years in the future, Star Trek is a setting where diseases like Covid-19 have been wiped from the Earth permanently, and even unknown alien diseases can be cured and eliminated in just hours of study and research. No one suffers from homelessness or poverty, as replicators have enabled extremely high quality of life for everyone. For me, in a time when not only is there uncertainty about disease but also high degrees of political and societal stress, Star Trek is a breath of fresh air whenever I sit down to watch it. For a time I no longer have to worry about Q-Anon cultists ransacking the capital or about catching the disease. I have seen Star Trek referred to as "competency porn," and indeed that is exactly one of the things that appeals so much in this time of strife and angst. Unlike most pieces of media, Star Trek doesn't rely on failures of communication and other frustratingly real issues to drive its conflict and stories. Instead, each show is focused on extremely competent and intelligent characters who are able to work together to quickly and efficiently solve issues using their pooled knowledge, despite their differences. Through this I can revel in the utopian ideal of the show and believe even for just a moment that we could reach that point ourselves one day, even if for now our society is plagued by the very issues Star Trek posits we can overcome. One could call it escapism, but I think many people would agree that escapism is exactly what people need and want right now due to the ever-present and overpowering feeling of doom surrounding everything else.
• 2021-02-04

  It Looks Like Its Not Just Me

  I came across this article about how many people are "hitting the wall" with COVID fatigue, and it helped me realize that my current state is not unique. Lately, I have been feeling the cumulative effects of the isolation that the pandemic has created. I feel less physically healthy, and mentally as well. Frankly, I do not think I am as mentally sharp as I was a year ago. It is at least comforting to know that I am not alone in this. There is also now hope that the pandemic will end and that life will return to some degree of its former normality, but it seems clear that this will take some time.
• 
  2021-02-10

  Resist COVID Take 6! public art campaign targets misinformation, encourages vaccination

  The grassroots public awareness campaign Take 6! has started an art-focused COVID-19 awareness campaign. Their goal is to raise awareness of COVID-19, the safety measures against it, and the importance of getting vaccinated.
• 2020-03

  COVID- College Freshman Edition

  My introduction to COVID-19 was something I will probably never forget. March of 2020 I was in my freshman year of college halfway through spring semester. It was being rumored that COVID was taking over the US and people were dying from this virus. I was uncertain, as the rest of the country, as to how many more people were gonna die and truly how contagious this virus was. I had some knowledge on the virus because I actually did an informative speech on COVID back in the Fall of 2019 in my public speaking class. At the time of my speech there were about 10 possible cases within the US. That number today is about 27.3 million in our country alone. Everyday became uncertain with health and travel which both played a major role in my life. I attend my university in Pennsylvania, and I live in Florida, leaving me 900+ miles away from my family. Being 18 at the time, having rumors of our university closing down scared me. I became afraid of how I was supposed to pack up everything on my own, find somewhere to keep it or a way to ship it home, and be on an airplane, and finish my freshman year of college during a global pandemic. There were then rumors of states shutting down and people being unable to travel in and out which made my situation even worse and my stress levels to increase. Spring break was approaching, and many schools developed the same plan- close schools and universities down for a few days and go from there. This turned into schools remaining online for the remainder of the school year (3 months). This is where my story gets fun (heavy on the sarcasm ). Before I flew home for spring break my mother called my school and specifically asked if the university planned on shutting down so that way, I could properly plan out my flight, pack up my room and put everything in storage. The university said that they did not plan on doing so and if plans changed, they would notify us. Well….. I flew home two days later on a Sunday and once I landed, I got an email from the school that we would be remote for the rest of the spring, fall 2020 was uncertain and that all residents needed to move out within week time. I was filled with anxiety and anger. I now had to find a storage place, figure out how I was going to transport everything because I didn’t have my license, and if Florida and Pennsylvania would let me travel. This also meant that I had to pay for another flight to school and back home as well as a hotel. I was able to book my flight, work with Res Life on a timeframe to move my stuff out and a storage place with a way to transform. My main issue once I landed was a place to stay. Everything in the country began to close including hotels. I did not book a hotel in advance because I was told that I could stay on campus, but of course when I arrived, I was told otherwise and had to find a hotel. Once again, my mother made a phone call and was able to get me a two night stay at a hotel. In the end I was able to pack up everything and fly home without getting the virus, it just took a lot of hoops to jump through to get there.
• 
  2020-03-11

  Mental Health during the Pandemic

  On March 11th, 2020, my life changed drastically. Just over a month into my second semester of my freshman year at Duquesne University, I was excited to keep making memories with people who became like a second family to me. However, news of a virus on the other side of the world was spreading quickly. We never thought that it would come to this country or affect us in the slightest. But on this day, the entire student body received an email that would absolutely crush me: the email from the president of the University telling us that we would need to leave. When I received this news, I do not know which I was more scared of, this mysterious virus or not being able to see my new friends for a long time. At this point, I did not know how the virus was going to affect me. I had absolutely no idea how much tragedy was about to spread throughout the country. All I knew was that the high of being a college student, with independence and a new group of amazing people was being ripped away from me like a snap of the fingers. As soon as I got home, all I did was complain to my parents that I wished I was at school. Each time I did this, I would end up feeling terrible, because I knew that people were suffering. However, even though I knew I shouldn’t, I felt like I was suffering too. My entire life, I was raised as an only child. As a kid and in high school, I had an amazing group of friends that I still talk to today. When I went to college, I started spending every waking moment with my new group of friends, whether it be doing homework, watching movies, etc. I knew I wasn’t going to be with them year-round, but I knew that I was not ready to leave them in the middle of March. After all, the semester wasn’t even over yet. Spending the rest of my semester at home was extremely difficult for me. I felt so lonely, even though my friends were just a phone call or text away. However, every time I communicated with them, I somehow felt further away from them. It was a constant reminder that I should be with them, but I could not be. Throughout the last months of the semester and into the summer, my mental health rapidly. I knew I was experiencing a small form of depression, but I did not want to admit it to anyone because there were people in the world that were suffering more as a result of the virus. I soon found some form of comfort when I realized that other teenagers and first-year college students were going through the same thing as me. So many people were taken away from the people and places that they loved most, and everyone was having a hard time coping. The coronavirus has put the entire world through a lot, but each day I have hope that the end is near, and that we will all be reunited with the world we used to know.
• 2020-06

  My time during Covid

  2020 was a year like none other that included different events that will go down forever in history. One major event was Covid-19 which ended up affecting everyone all across the world. Some were hit harder by it than others as it directly effected our families and our lives. Like many, I was also affected by covid and all of the restrictions and regulations that came along with it. Most of my story took place in Greensburg, Pennsylvania from March 2020 when it all started all the way until we went back to school in August. This summer was different than any other as it started with restaurants being closed and not being able to see any friends since everyone was supposed to be in quarantine. Eventually places began to open back up slowly with mostly take-out food or outdoor dining and masks everywhere. During this, I was able to get a job at UPS in the warehouse pre-loading the trucks in the mornings. This changed my schedule as I went to work at 3 in the morning and got off work at around 8. My days mostly consisted of working early in the mornings and then going golfing with a couple of friends and then going to bed at 5. Even though I did this most days, I was still not able to get any better at golf. One thing that Covid really affected was being able to see my Nana as I would usually get lunch with her every Monday. Because of Covid, it was best if I didn’t see her for reasons of health as she is at a much higher risk of being negatively affected by it than I would be. Covid kept my days the same for the most part until I eventually moved back into school which consisted of getting used to a new schedule and more on campus rules. Covid really just increased the amount of time I spent on my phone and xbox and decreased the amount of in person interactions that I had with people. This also happened when I went back home for Thanksgiving as I only had it with my family and not my grandparents. While I was still affected by Covid and all of the things that came with it, I was still very lucky as it did not affect me much. I was lucky as no one in my family or myself got Covid. I would say that my experience during Covid was a lot easier than other people’s experiences as it may have affected their families greatly.
• 
  2020-05-06

  Questioning the Future

  I closed my laptop after taking my last final exam for my second semester of college. Rather than celebrating the end of my freshman year of college with friends, I was found alone in my childhood bedroom, wondering what the future had next to offer. The distraction of being able to focus on my schoolwork provided an escape from the other depressing reality that I found myself in. My parents were stressed for their own safety, and for the safety of their loved ones, as COVID-19 roamed rampant throughout the United States. My younger brother was attempting to balance online school at the young age of thirteen- stressing about online lectures rather than being able to play with friends as I did at such a young age. I felt angry and helpless that there are people in my community who would not follow preventative measures such social distancing or wearing a mask- simple actions that would be able to save countless lives. I felt frustrated that the leadership of the United States blamed other nations for causing this pandemic, rather than work tirelessly to find ways to stop the spread of COVID-19. In a time where I should have been surrounded by those who I cared deeply about, forming new relationships that would last a lifetime, and focusing on what I truly want to gain in life- I was found alone and wondering if the future I imagined would ever be possible. I imagined that I would be able to go back to school the next year- a campus that I grew up on and imagined making friends on and being social with others- with the hope that a vaccine for COVID-19 would be found. I remember my parents feeling scared about their future as educators, questioning if they would be thrown into the zoo of high school and elementary students, who may have contracted and spread COVID-19. I remember my brother being scared that if he saw his friend, he would make mom and dad sick. All of these depressive scenarios truly made me question the type of life that I was living. Before the pandemic, I remember living life freely; however, it was as if one day was simply repeated into the next, I was going through the motions of life in order to succeed and achieve the future that I desire. Being alone in my childhood bedroom allowed me to realize that life is truly precious at its core- one will never know when their path for life and their future may take a turn for the worst or run into a bump in the road. Nevertheless, spending time with my family for five months allowed me to become reawakened to the little things that life has to offer. The smile of saying hello to a friend without it being hidden behind a mask. The hug of a loved one without it being through protective plastic. Although the pandemic halted my path to the future that I imagined I would have, it allowed me to remember what life truly has to offer, ensuring me that I am still on my path to achieve the future that I desire.
• 
  2020-04

  COVID. A Blessing in Disguise?

  The pandemic has allowed me to take a step back from everything in society to see what I truly care about and what truly matters to me. Not only what matters, but who in my life I love and care about that matters. The photographs I have attached show exactly who those people are. Throughout the pandemic I have made stronger relationships with my family. Although there were moments that it was hard spending time with just them 24/7. It was difficult knowing I could not see friends from home that went to different colleges during the year. This is because their parents were definitely stricter about COVID than my parents were. And I completely understood that, but it was tough not seeing one another knowing they were just five minutes away. To fill that frustration, we would have Netflix watch parties from our houses on our own computers so that it would feel as if we were all watching the same movie in the same room. Then after a few months we would take our dogs for walks outside, and that is shown in one of the pictures. We did this so that we could see each other while being able to properly social distance. It was just hard having to accept that for now it would be our new normal. Going home from Duquesne meant that all my friends from school would also be heading home. In another picture it shows a few of my friends and I all FaceTiming one another. We would all group FaceTime together just about once every day to play games and just catch up which also gave me something to look forward to. A positive that come from quarantine was being able to do workouts with my family three times a week. We never got to do this because I would be at school and my brother would be working. Two times out of the week we would work out at a local park near my house. Then every Saturday morning bright and early at 7 AM my dad’s trainer would pick a different sight throughout the city to work out at. This was something I definitely looked forward to once a week because typically we would just work out at the same gym. Now that the gym had to be shut down it allowed us to think outside the box. In one of the pictures it shows my dad, brother, his girlfriend and others that worked out at Point Park one freezing morning. It was definitely hard waking up on a cold morning, but having a change of scenery, being able to be outside and be physically active with some family and friends was nice and refreshing. We went to other destinations around the city too such as outside Hinze Field, PNC Park, and Pitt. In another picture is my mom and I. We have always been close, but with me being away at college COVID had allowed me to be around her more often. We would watch movies, cook dinner, and make fires together which was nice to be able to spend more quality time together. Overall, COVID was hard not being able to see certain friends that I have missed, but it had also allowed me to make stronger relationships with those I had not spent a lot of time with because I have been away at college. In some aspects I would say that COVID was a blessing in disguise for me and my family.
• 
  2020-03-20

  Hope

  My plague year story of the covid-19 pandemic is honestly quite a normal one. For me covid was not a barrier. It was an obstacle that I learned to get around. I did not let anything hold me back from trying to make the best of my situations. Nothing was ideal in any way possible. I never imagined my final months of highschool being spent at home or starting college online. But I always remembered to take a step back. To distance myself from the chaos and most importantly enjoy my time to the best that I could. Because as humans we have limited control on what happens in our life. It all really depends on how you react to what is happening. You can let the confusion surround you and hold you back. Or you can step out and keep strolling on your path to success, happiness, and love. So like I said my situation in life at the time of the beginning of the outbreak was not ideal. I was in my final few months of highschool and looking forward to graduation, prom, and moving on to college. Unfortunately those milestones did not occur according to plan. My highschool experience was cut short. Way too short. I was forced to adjust to online schooling in very little time. The teachers were still confused on how to teach online and kids were confused on how it worked. My school did not utilize google meets or zoom at the time. So my only connection to my teachers was email. The situation was pretty sad. I missed my friends from school and I missed my teachers that used to fill my day with fun. But I adapted quickly and got my work done. I did not let the communication gap stop me from finishing school on a high note. I utilized the extra free time I was presented with by working. All the time. I work at Target. So I am considered an essential worker for an essential business. So I was desperately needed at the store all the time to help out. I was working forty hour work weeks all while still making time for friends and finishing school work. I worked later shifts, came in on off days and came in earlier to help when they needed. I will never forget the benefits of the work experience I got during the first few months of the pandemic. It taught me a lot about managing my time and money well. I also made great connections with my coworkers and customers who came into the store. These experiences will help me greatly when I move forward in my life in many ways I do not even realize yet. I worked a ton, finished highschool, enjoyed my summer; which I still found a way to make memorable and started college. I may not have gotten the experience I had hoped for when I first came to my campus. But as I’ve said many times, I did not let the obstacles stop me from enjoying my life. I built the greatest support group of friends and I could not have asked for a better outcome. My group and I made the best of college campus life. We always find ways to have fun and still get our work done. So far college has been a fun time and I am glad I came. Again, my story may not have the same hardships as a lot of people may have gone through. My story has been pretty hopeful. So here is to passing the hope on. I hope I continue to grow and thrive and if you may not have had the best experiences yet, here is to hoping you can break free from the chaos and live life to the fullest capabilities right now. Life is not about how hard things are, it is about how you are able to overcome difficulties in your path.
• 
  2021-02-10

  Ubiquity

  This is a personal piece, more like a little rant, about essential workers and the ubiquity of the virus.
• 
  2020-05

  Weekly Planner

  Attached is a picture of my planner from May of last year. I have always tried to keep a journal of some sort but over the past few years entries in my actual journal have become more sporadic, and I sometimes feel bad that I'm not documenting my life better. But I have found that I keep my memories and experiences in different ways. I keep post-its and planners and notes from past classes, all of which contain some view into a different time of my life. This page in my planner was probably drawn during class, or while waiting for another class to start. The goldfish stickers were there before I wrote the words around them, I'm pretty sure. Looking back now I could say maybe the goldfish and the misconception about their memory is a comment on the way isolation and lack of enrichment affects memory, but really I just had them nearby and thought they were cool. At this point the monotony of quarantine and online school and being out of work made a planner feel kind of superfluous and each page was less like an organized look at my week and more like a dumping ground for my thoughts. The speech bubbles near the fish read: "(I love you guys)" "What?" "I said let's count down so we can all sign off together!" Since moving back to my parent's house in March I haven't seen any of my friends in person. It's been nearly a year of movie nights over discord, all of us counting down and trying to press play at the same time despite the latency. There's a certain intimacy of talking to someone late into the night from my bedroom, surrounded by artifacts of my high school life. I'm afraid for myself and afraid for my friends but we don't talk about the big scary thing looming over all of us. It's been nearly a year and the space in between now and February feels both infinite and microscopic. I am still, but time goes on. I remember that I wrote "One day I will be disappointed (spelled incorrectly) I did not document history better" later in the week. Memory is fragile and I want to preserve it the best I can but lately I'm too tired to take down the details of each day. Maybe this vague collection of my thoughts will be valuable to future me, but I won't know until then so I'll hold onto it anyway.
• 
  2020-03-31

  The Chance to Focus on Personal Health

  In March of 2020, I was sent home from my sophomore year of college when business and schools began to shut down. It was recommended that everyone quarantine and not go outside unless it was to exercise. That sparked the idea for me to start running outside to get some fresh air and to see something other than the inside of my house. I was never a good runner, but I always wanted to take the time to train my body to be better. I figured what better time than during a pandemic when there is nothing else to do. I always knew the importance of exercise and would do small workouts five days a week but running took my workouts to the next level. I started noticing a great difference in my mood and energy level. Not only was running improving my physical health it started to improve my mental health. I then noticed as the pandemic progressed that I was not making the healthiest of food choices and in order to perform well on runs I had to fuel my body correctly. The pandemic allowed me to focus on my body so much that I noticed how certain foods would affect my performance on my runs. Exercise alone does not improve your health so I started doing research and read books on which foods I should be eating. I found that the best guide to eating healthy for me is the Mediterranean diet, so I started experimenting with different recipes. As I continued to research, I found that a lot of my minor symptoms that I experienced throughout my life were correlated to a gluten intolerance. I decided since I had time on my hands that I would try to eliminate gluten from my diet to see if there were any improvements to my health. To my surprise I noticed a huge difference in my energy levels and most of my minor symptoms had subsided. I was never diagnosed by a doctor that I have a gluten intolerance, but what I do know is that my body feels better going gluten free while following the Mediterranean diet. Without the pandemic I do not think I would have even found the time to listen to my body and experiment with my diet. By the end of Summer in 2020 I felt the healthiest I had ever been, and I recognized how lucky I am to be in good health seeing how fast Covid-19 was spreading. I feel that even though so many tragic things have occurred during this pandemic, it has allowed us to take a second to slow down life and focus on ourselves.
• 
  2020-03

  College Interrupted

  A lot has happened over the last year. It is crazy to think about just how much changed and just how quickly it all happened. March of 2020 everything had finally started to come together I was living with my friends at school and they were both happy. I was content with everything that was going on around me and I was finally starting to feel like myself again. People were starting to get worried about the spread of the Coronavirus especially with how bad it was in Italy. My friend and I were in a Philosophy class and for our spring break we got to go to Greece. A couple days before we left for Greece there was some confirmed cases in the country and other spring break trips were being cancelled. However, we were still able to enjoy a lovely week in Greece but when we got back everything changed. I had just got back to my apartment on campus and I got to see my friends and we had only gone a week without seeing each other and it felt like so much longer. We were all sitting on the couch playing games and having a good time when we received an email from the University. Now in this email they said that classes for the next week were cancelled and that the week after that everything would be online due to the Coronavirus. At the time we were like okay cool spring break part two but this time we get to be together, so my friend got up and wrote on my chalk calendar as a joke Corona week 1 and Corona week 2 across the two weeks that were the beginning of the lockdown in the United States. We went to the store and began preparing to hunker down in the apartment for however long we would be there. Some days later we got an email saying that classes would be online for the remainder of the semester and that we were all getting sent home. It was soul crushing. It felt awful having to just leave when none of us were prepared for such an event. It was so sudden and so many tears were shed we didn’t want to go home. We didn’t want the good times to end. Having to say goodbye and not knowing when or if we would get to see each other again was the hardest part. Of course, the transition to online classes was by no means easy but it hurt to leave. It only got harder the longer we spent apart. I was supposed to turn 21 in April and well like most college students I had planned to go out drinking with my friends that night but instead I turned 21 with my parents and it wasn’t what I would have expected as a 21st birthday. Maybe that’s for the best though. However, as I turned 21 and my mental state had plummeted severely maybe it would have been better to just have a normal 21st birthday. It was a few days after that when I got a text from my boss asking if I would be home for the summer and if I felt comfortable working during the pandemic. So, I worked at the little coffee shop during the summer and I washed my hands until they were raw and asked customers to wear their masks until my voice was horse. Until I was able to return to Duquesne for the fall semester to continue studying to teach history during a major historical event.
• 
  2021-02-07

  Canada's LGBTQ+ Community Struggles with Housing & Health (On Top of the Discrimination)

  Unfortunately, the LGBTQ+ community is no stranger to discrimination. From school, to work, to finding a safe place to stay. We have heard about campuses closing due to the pandemic, and thus left many in the community to reevaluate their housing options. Some have had to return to their family home, despite some of those homes being less than accepting of them. With everyone concerned over their health, it is only right to allow everyone to feel safe where they live, too. However, this does not only affect the youth populations. The older members of the community have also been struggling with housing and healthcare. As one of the linked articles wrote, there is a lack of data collection regarding the LGBTQ+ populations. Their needs and concerns cannot be tackled with if the data were never there to begin with. It seems to go downhill from here as health concerns increase while their mental health deteriorates. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-the-struggles-faced-by-lgbtq-youth-during-covid-19-lockdowns/ https://theconversation.com/lgbtq-canadian-baby-boomers-in-need-of-safer-housing-in-senior-years-151827 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/pandemic-mental-health-lgbtq-youth-1.5897660
• 
  2021-01-07

  As the pandemic puts strain on LGBTQ youth mental health, here's some advice

  A news article discussing the mental struggles of the LGBTQ+ youth, and how quarantine is negatively affecting their health, as well as some helpful tips.
• 
  2021-02-07

  Supporting Children with ADHD During A Pandemic

  ADHD is thankfully not as new of a topic to talk about, but I cannot deny that the stigma against mental health still exists today. While thinking about how so many children are now spending a year and an uncertain future indoors, learning from home, and some unable to grasp why, I thought about those with ADHD. A person’s home is supposed to be associated with comfort and otherwise relaxation from a day at out in the world – at school and work for guardians. Associations can be very powerful, and it can be rather disruptive for children with this big of a change. Half a child’s day is typically dedicated to academics and social connections and is especially important for children in their formative years. Due to the pandemic, they have been pulled from that environment they have already associated with learning, friends, and routine. The links provide some assistance for guardians who may be struggling with their child(ren), especially those diagnosed with ADHD. Concentration and routine seem to be the biggest obstacles, so I do hope the strategies provided may be of help to guardians and their dependents. https://childmind.org/article/giving-kids-with-adhd-support-and-structure-during-the-coronavirus-crisis/ https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/COVID-19/Pages/ADHD-and-Learning-During-COVID-19.aspx https://chadd.org/adhd-and-covid-19/
• 2020-10

  Quarantine Tattoo

  In August I got a tattoo that I did not want and did not like for seemingly no reason. Then in October I mentioned this to my psychiatrist and was promptly diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I had gotten my tattoo during a manic episode. The typical risk-taking behavior that I would do in my day to day life became more drastic and dramatic during COVID. When I am not manic I'm very careful with regard to the pandemic so the pandemic made my behavioral differences more pronounced and more obvious to a doctor. Due to the pandemic, I was able to receive a diagnosis and begin treatment. Had there not been a pandemic I likely would not have sought treatment as I would have continued to assume that these behaviors were just a normal part of my personality.
• 
  2020-06-26

  My new hobby

  During the summer of 2020, not a lot was going on in my life. I had just recently finished my undergraduate degree and had little to do on a daily basis, there were no jobs, no friends, not even family. Gradually, I got sick of just playing video games day in and out; however I wasn’t getting sick of the music of these games, many of which used the banjo. Some of these songs seemed pretty simple, and with my previous experience rudimentary experience with the guitar I figured I’d be able to some of these tunes. I started picking up my dad’s banjo, which is in the photo I provided on a daily basis; using YouTube tutorials I started to pick up the basics. In all honesty it was pretty easy to pick up, and just a relaxing experience, I even grew to like the feeling of developing callouses on my fingers? That’s a little weird but it felt like they were physical reminders of how much work I was putting into learning this new instrument. Recently I’ve kind of stopped playing, but I still love just plucking at it every now and then. My friends online similarly liked hearing me play every now and then, so in a sense it was a great coping mechanism to boredom and loneliness. However, I’ve really stopped even plucking at it, I don’t feel a drive to do much anymore; so I just kind of stare at it now every now and again, which is incredibly weird. This item maters to me as it helped me through the initial stages of the pandemic, and helped me stay mentally active during quarantine. However, as the pandemic has dragged on I kind of have lost the desire to play it, or do much of anything else really. I’d like to add this item to the collection of performing arts as it is a musical instrument, and I would perform for my friends on Discord every now and then (but then again I’m not a professional artist or performer so I don’t think it’d be appropriate for me to be in that collection) Mental health on the other hand is a way more accurate collection for this item, as it really helped me stay mentally active during the pandemic.
• 
  2021-02-05

  Getting Sick during a Pandemic

  I recently have struggled with a medical issue related to my back, quite possibly brought about by the stress of the pandemic. Getting sick during a pandemic is not only more common, due to stress, but also unnerving as you must go out to medical appointments, be around sick people, and worry about your sickness interfering with your body's work in fighting off the COVID-19 virus.
• 
  2021-02-05

  The Inhumanity of Zoom

  With the increase in teleworking due to the pandemic has come an increase in Zoom meetings. These meetings have proven to be almost inhumane in my mind, as it's very difficult to communicate with others without nonverbal cues and people use the impersonal nature of communicating over a screen rather than in person to be pushy, rude, and self-absorbed. Although the pandemic will end one day, Zoom meetings will probably still be prevalent and lessons must be learned about how to make these meetings polite, uplifting, and productive.
• 
  2020-03

  A Year Without Rowing

  The end of my freshman (2019-2020) spring semester of college was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic gradually growing more and more. Not being able to have a normal freshman year and sophomore year (2020-2021) was not what I was expecting going into college. I have always expected my college years to be full of fun times and rowing but instead they have been full of the COVID-19 pandemic and online school at home. Traveling has been cancelled due to the pandemic which is what stopped studying abroad chances in different countries around the world. Not only was my college years cut short but also my college rowing career as well. Freshman year the spring season was cancelled due to COVID-19 as well as my sophomore fall season and maybe spring. The spring break has been cancelled for the school due to the pandemic which meant the teams spring break training has been taken away which is where we get into racing sprint pieces on the water. Being able to race and perform in regattas at a collegiate level is something I have always looked forward to throughout my high school years. Not being able to have the chance to compete against other colleges especially in the main season of rowing which is spring is something that is upsetting to myself, the rest of the team, and the rowing community. Having limited rowing opportunities for practice such as small boat rowing, small group pods, and the location. Strict policies from the athletics department have been guiding what we can and cannot do for rowing. There are plans for my sophomore spring season of competing against other college rowing teams if the COVID-19 pandemic begins to decline. If the pandemic begins to decline it will lead to less policies enabling the team to practice as a whole team and in bigger boats like 8s and 4s. This will allow the teams to practice at a higher degree on and off the water to become ready to compete in the regattas. The picture that I have attached is from my fall season of freshman year when there was no pandemic going on. I picked this picture because it is special to me because my collegiate rowing season has only been a semester long. Wishing that my next two years of rowing will be COVID-19 free and full of races and regattas. Hopefully the vaccine will help fix the pandemic and move towards the future into a COVID-19 free life.
• 
  2020-05-28

  “Treated like a pariah': 11 COVID-19 survivors reveal what they want people to know

  This article presents the sometimes-unspoken stigma that accompanies having Covid-19. It invited survivors to share what they want people to know, because, according to the article, “for many people living through this, sharing their story is the only way they feel validated as they wait for researchers to wade through the unknowns.” The article expresses feelings of isolation from some who are avoided now that they have had Covid. Others share that there is a sense of blame thrust upon them, by those who feel as though they are at fault for getting sick. Still others disclose the subpar treatment by their health providers. Their lessons include: the disease can turn severe quickly, Covid-19 shouldn’t be about politics, don’t let your guard down, warn your friends and family, it is not just the flu, people need to have empathy, the suffering is real, be your own advocate, precautions aren’t foolproof, researchers and doctors are trying their best, and be grateful. Overall, these stories remind us that even when a person survives, they have healing yet to go.
• 
  2020-12-31

  The Luck of the COVID Draw

  Throughout the pandemic, my family and I have been extremely careful as to not catch the virus. My mother made sure my brother and I always had little bottles of hand sanitizer with us when we went to work or to the grocery store, my mom had multiple masks in the car for herself at all times, and my dad has been social distancing from people since he was born, so he was well prepared to sit in the house in social isolation. Being in PA, Gov. Tom Wolf had just about everything shut down from December 2020 to the first week of January 2021, but despite this and all of the precautions my mother had made sure we all took, my brother had brought it home from work without realizing it. We all realized we were probably going to get it when my brother was sent home from his new job after getting tested for COVID. Honestly, we were all a bit surprised it had not happened earlier, as he used to work at a hospital, but from there, we all started dropping like flies. My mother started getting symptoms around New Years Eve and my father followed suit days later. At this point, I was terrified. All I could think of is how my mother is immunocompromised and that she had it, and that I myself am immunocompromised and I would be next. Worst of all, when I am home from college, I sleep on the couch due to damage in my old bedroom, so keeping myself away from these other people in my house would prove to be near impossible (hence the meme saying “I need to get out of here”). Even if I would have been able to isolate myself, they all felt too sick to take care of themselves or one another, so that job fell upon me. At this point, I am running around the house, trying not to breathe around my family in the last few weeks that I would be able to spend time with them before heading back to school, while also stressing about having to go back to school, as well as having to quarantine for additional time after my family’s quarantine was over. A couple weeks in I start to feel the early signs of COVID, headaches, body aches, coughing, the works. I went to get tested in an absolute panic as to what this would mean for my own health and how it would affect me going back to school, only to get back a negative test. The headaches? I have migraines. The body aches? Well, I sleep on a couch where the cushions come out from under me while I sleep, so you tell me. The cough? I have a cat and a dog that I am fairly allergic to but refuse to stay away from because they are so precious. How I, out of all of my family, was able to avoid getting COVID despite being the college kid with a weakened immune system who played nurse to 3 COVID patients is beyond me. This experienced that COVID is really a gamble. You may have everything against you and not get it, or you may have done everything you could possibly do to avoid it and still catch it. Regardless, I will continue to err on the side of caution and wear my mask and carry my mother’s hand sanitizer with me.
• 2021-02-01

  Covid-19 in One Word VI: Exhausting

  This word comes from a peer, an over-worker overthinker, someone who lost much in the pandemic. Exhausting: extremely tiring Too much of anything is tiring. Too much of a bad thing is exhausting. It’s like never being able to shut your eyes and take a rest. There is no break from living in a pandemic. Leave the house for a break? Mask. Relax with friends? Social distance. Go out for a fun time? Entertainment closed. We are not living in a pandemic; we are living the pandemic. This means there are no breaks. There are no pauses. There are no escapes. Even when you get tired of living this way, you still have to do it. That makes things exhausting almost daily for some people. So where can people go for relief? When it all gets too much, how do you find rest? This is something many people have had to find the answer to during this time of isolation. Without a determined end in sight, it is crucial that people learn how to live in a world permanently changed. For some, this has taken a mental form in meditation, yoga, writing, art expression. For others, physical outlets such as running, lifting, creative ways to stay active, new sports, and more have helped give breaks from a crazy world. Most have tried many new hobbies with various successes and failures. On the other hand, for some, this has been the break. Without corporate ties and office hostages, people are finding themselves more relaxed now than they have been for years. Being home has opened families to more time together and opportunities to grow closer. Still, even these people, at times, find this new life exhausting. In all cases, too much of this pandemic is exhausting.
• 2021-02-01

  Covid-19 Statistics

  Over the pandemic, I've learned a lot of things about people and the world. The pandemic was a lonely time, but I think it's made me realize that you can't give up just because things get hard. I've heard a lot of teens and people my age became depressed instantaneously. Especially on social media, everyday people were only talking about how bad things have gotten instead of trying to keep their spirits up. 26.2 million people have gotten the virus, and 440K people have died, but all of us had to find a way to be happy. In our city(LA) especially, we have higher covid cases than any other place in the county. Even though things are hard now there still are a lot of exciting things to think about.
• 2021-02-01

  Are 85-year-olds superhuman?

  Many of the experiences shared in this archive come from younger, more computer savvy participants. But what of octogenarians? Sharing their struggles is important. Perhaps more than any other group, living with COVID carries a different and more existential weight for those in their 80s. My sister and brother-in-law are life-long New Yorkers both 86, still living on the same cavernous Upper West Side apartment they have lived in for the last 50 years. They represent a subset of New Yorkers who are determined to continue living as they have always lived until they die. They still go to work, go to openings, go to the theater, go to lectures, and eat out almost every night. They sit on Boards of Directors and attend galas on a regular basis. They are also incredibly vulnerable health-wise and so set in their ways that getting them to change their way of thinking is impossible. And so we--their families-- have struggled with getting them to appreciate their vulnerabilities. Are we more worried than they are? I wonder if they are more accepting of the inevitability of death as we grow more fearful. All I know is that I cringe every time I hear that my brother-in-law has summoned his enormous car from the parking garage and driven across town to visit a friend, parked in another garage, and then repeated the journey back. Or my sister, who refuses to believe that Instacart exists, wheeling her little cart to the Fairway market, with her mask soaked through with bright red lipstick. It will be interesting to gather and compare the experiences of the very old, to explore COVID through different eyes!
• 
  2021-01-31

  Distracting Myself with Latte Art

  At the moment, the only reasons I leave the house is to shop for essentials and for work. As a barista, my job can get fairly uncomfortable, as there is often a struggle between me and the customer, as they immediately want to remove their mask and take a sip of their drink instead of waiting until they are at a table or outside, or they don't want to wear one at all and refuse to comply when we ask. We also have pushback against limiting indoor seating and maximum capacity of the store, as we do have a small shop that makes it difficult to distance. It has led to tense interactions and anxiety leading up to shifts, and I have been struggling to find reasons to enjoy work. Because of this struggle, I turned towards improving my latte art as a way to both improve my craft and distract myself from the complications and uncomfortable interactions that have disrupted my workplace. It has brought me a sense of productivity and calm, despite the issues pervading the shop. This is my progress so far.
• 
  2021-01-31

  Spotify Called Out My Podcast Addiction

  Throughout the majority of 2020, I had very little social interaction. I wasn’t working a job for the majority of the year, I had moved away from most of my family and friends, and I grew so lonely very quickly. In response to the lack of social interaction, I turned to podcasts for a sense of conversation and connection. While my mental health did suffer and I continued to feel lonely, it gave me an outlet to focus on that was different than what was occurring in the world at the moment. For those who don’t know, Spotify records users' listening history through the end of October and presents it to you at the end of the year in what they called “Spotify Wrapped.” Mine presented this to me, that I had listened to 18,677 minutes, or about 311 hours, of podcasts by the end of October 2020. I am thankful to podcast creators for providing me with constant entertainment when I wanted to think about anything besides the pandemic.
• 
  2021-01-31

  Idk

  it’s been hard not able to go out, and trying to cope with school it feels like I have lost myself.
• 
  2021-01-31

  Art to be together

  These images and accompanying text express emotion of longing to be with loved ones and happiness at finding ways to feel together during prolonged times of separation because of COVID-19. The drawings and paintings were created as a means of spending time with others and creating things, both during quarantine (drawing together via video calls) and in public spaces (chalk painting in a driveway where neighbors passing by might see it). Some of the art was done for mental health, sense of family and community.
• 
  2021-01-30

  Mood Boards!

  Being a teacher in the K-12 arena I am always having to do lesson plans, grades, parent contacts, and more. Then here comes COVID-19 adding an extra layer which also adds its extra challenge to the problem. This includes thinking more about the student Social Emotional Learning (SEL) which mean doing more check-ins on how they are doing emotionally. So, I included one example I have done with my students which was dealing with emojis and which one they felt like that day and why. I received various answers and reasons which helped me see how my students felt physically and emotionally. I enjoyed this activity and so did my students. They love hearing which one I am and why as well.
• 
  2021-01-29

  Self Portrait

  I made a self portrait of myself with a mask on. I gave myself no facial features because I feel that when I have a mask on I feel invisible. During quarantine I have had lots of time to think and reflect on everything and that has helped me grow as a person. I have also had time to think about all the things that are happening externally like I have grown taller and have moved up 3 shoe sizes. I think in this isolation it has helped me grow, inside and out.
• 
  2021-01-29

  Computer

  covid sucks and its killed people in my family
• 2021-01-29

  A Covid interview

  it said how covid is impacting us. 1. How has the pandemic changed you? I have always known that humans are vulnerable but the pandemic has allowed me to feel each day how vulnerable we are and I am changed by this felt experience. Life has become more immediate and I think about safety in a more conscious way. 2. What has the pandemic brought with it? I don't understand this question... 3. Describe your experience over the past year in 3 words. Surprised, disciplined and curious. 4. What are some silver linings you have found in the past year? An abundance of family time, connecting with my cat, learning to paint, mastering pizza on the grill, deepening my yoga practice, less busy and alot less driving. 5. How has the pandemic emotionally impacted you? A whole range of emotions- sadness, grief, fear, disbelief, hope and concern.
• 
  2021-01-29

  Letter to future generations - Pandemic experience

  I submitted a letter or my experience of this pandemic. The reason why it’s important is because it tells my experience of the pandemic and describes what affect it had on me. It relates to the pandemic because it tells a story of how I feel during it.