Items
Mediator is exactly
Mental Health
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2021-07-23
Boundaries Between Home and Office
It’s difficult to work from home and maintain a boundary between home and office. When your personal life is conflated with your professional life, it can be a struggle to keep your professional life from intruding on your personal life and vice versa. My friends have developed various rituals to establish a break between their working life and their home life. One friend gets into her car each morning, as she did formerly when she went into the office, and drives around the block. She then enters her house and goes directly to her desk and begins work. At the end of her workday, she reverses the process. I have a ritual to begin and end my workdays that is aligned with my yoga practice. I do a specific yoga sequence that is different from sequences I do at other times of the day as well as do meditation. This clears my mind and signals to me on a subconscious level that it’s time to work. At the end of the day, I do another unique yoga sequence and meditation to dispel the work energy and switch my mind and feelings towards personal matters. I’ve heard colleagues mention other “tricks” they use to differentiate their work life from their home life. Some change their clothes when they start work and then change them again at the end of the workday. Others take a walk outside before and after the workday, take all their work supplies and computers and put them away in a closet so that you don’t see your work while you’re focusing on your personal details, or take a shower to both begin and end the workday. The importance of these rituals can’t be overstated. When you’re working, whether at home or in an office, you should approach the situation in a professional manner. When you’re not working, for the sake of your mental health and happiness as well as the quality of your relationships with your friends and families, you need to leave the work behind and focus on personal matters. -
2021-07-08
COVID-19-related suicide
In Peru the pandemic is broiling, things are far from slowing down. Patients with COVID may go to the hospital only to find out that there are not enough ventilators or oxygen to go around. This story by the AP press describes a story of a COVID-related suicide. Although this topic is not widely covered in the U.S. media, it is a consistent storyline in Peru. [CN] I selected anonymous, but I didn't mean to, please curate as normal and add this to a curatorial note KKdP 07/19/2021 -
2021-07-15
Dr. Marissa Rhodes, Oral History, July 15, 2021
Curator for the JOPTY program, Angelica S Ramos interviews mother of three, Dr. Marissa Rhodes. In this interview she discusses her role as a professor and how COVID-19 halted all the plans she had for her classes. She also discusses her pregnancy with her third baby and the struggles that came with prenatal care and birth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Rhodes also relates her birthing experience and how different the pandemic made it from her first two pregnancies; she discusses the complications that she faced and the stresses she dealt with. Dr. Rhodes also discusses how her social life was impacted and the struggle to find a balance between work, children, virtual-learning and a new baby. Lastly, she reflects on her personal silver lining and the lessons that she hopes will be learned from this experience. -
2020-03
Riding the Covid Wave from Quito to Sydney
The pandemic was declared as I was en route to Ecuador. I was trapped in a strict lockdown isolated from any other travellers. My book describes my reactions and rescue. As a doctor I was not surprised that a pandemic was occurring as I knew that epidemiologists always say it is not an if but rather a when. -
2021-07-14
US Overdose Deaths Hit Record 93,000 in Pandemic Last Year
Overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government reported Wednesday. That estimate far eclipses the high of about 72,000 drug overdose deaths reached the previous year and amounts to a 29% increase. "This is a staggering loss of human life," said Brandon Marshall, a Brown University public health researcher who tracks overdose trends. The nation was already struggling with its worst overdose epidemic but clearly "COVID has greatly exacerbated the crisis," he added. Lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions isolated those with drug addictions and made treatment harder to get, experts said. -
2021-07-06
The Year the World Turned Upside Down
In the year of COVID-19, I did not want to leave my house. I was already an anxious person before COVID-19, so I was scared out of my mind when it hit. A lot of people do not talk about the mental effect that COVID-19 has had on teenagers. COVID-19 happened at the end of my sophomore year. Before COVID-19, I was such an outgoing person, and now I feel like I do not know how to talk to people without overthinking. My junior year of doing mostly virtual has crippled me in a way that few can understand. My social battery has never seemed to recover, and my anxiety is always on ten whenever I go out in public. It feels like during this pandemic, I have lost a part of me that I may never get back. I now struggle with talking to people and making friends at my new school. I was so stuck in my head during the pandemic, and now I do not know how to get out. I recognize my privilege in never getting COVID-19 and no one close to me dying. I just wanted to acknowledge the effects of COVID-19 on my mental health. I hope that I can work through the issues this pandemic has caused me and get to a better place mentally. -
2020-07-17
Study reveals gender inequality in telecommuting
This article discusses findings from the COVID Impact Survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. The data show gender inequality associated with working from home. The survey found that mothers working from home spend more time on housework and childcare than fathers working from home. Mothers also report increased levels of anxiety, loneliness, and depression. -
2020-06-19
Is Working Remote A Blessing Or Burden? Weighing The Pros And Cons
This article discusses the pros and cons of changes to productivity caused by the shift to teleworking during the pandemic in countries around the globe. Major themes are mental health and work-life balance. -
2021-06-02
COVID 19: An Influence for Positivity
The text document describes how COVID gave me an opportunity to reinvent myself. The live recreation of a famous meme is an example of how I tapped into my creativity, living a more fulfilling life -
2021-07-03
A Dog's Tale
This is Hannah aka Hannah Banana. My husband and I adopted her May 4, 2013 from a rescue in St. Catherine's, ON. We live just over the border in Buffalo, NY. Hannah is a purebred Sheltie (Shetland Sheepdog), but purebred gone wrong. She is what is called a double merle. That means an irresponsible breeder bred two merle coated dogs together, which results in 25% of the litter being born deaf, primarily white in color, and with eye problems or missing eyes altogether. Hannah was approximately 4 years old at the time. The previous owners who surrendered her had had her for 2 years. They had adopted her from a shelter that had picked her up as a stray. Hannah was our 2nd double merle (we also have an Aussie with the same problem), so we were used to the unique problems associated with deaf and vision impaired dogs, but Hannah came with many more from a history of abuse and neglect. One of her biggest issues was that she was absolutely terrified of people, particularly men, and she hated small children. We worked with a trainer, we did agility twice a week, and did barn hunt once a week. She broke out of her shell a lot, but did not lose her fear of people. In 2016 my husband and I had our first and only child, Charlotte. Hannah was very aggressive towards her. She would bark and snap at her. We had to keep her separated a lot, and we worried about what the future would bring. She got a bit better when Charlotte could walk, but not to a comfort level. Once Charlotte was about 3, Hannah accepted that she was a human in the house but wanted nothing to do with her. She didn't really want to have much to do with any of us or our other dog except for at agility class. She wouldn't play with us and only tolerated petting for a short while. Fast forward to 2020. While COVID-19 was cause fear, anxiety, and depression in people, for Hannah it was just what she needed. After a few months, she became a whole new dog. Having all three of her humans home 24/7 seemed to alleviate a lot of her fears and anxieties. She completely bonded with Charlotte. She actually plays with her and snuggles with her and sleeps in her bed. Who knew this 12-year-old dog just needed constant companionship to heal her old wounds. Luckily, my career path changed during the pandemic (I am going back to school to pursue a PhD) and so I will continue to be home a lot of the time. While COVID did bring devastation to people across the world, for one little dog it was just the medicine she needed. -
2020-07
Silence and Isolation
This is important because it speaks to the daily struggle of living through the pandemic. I was not touched by the disease itself, but my life was changed by it. My submission describes my sensory experiences of isolation during the pandemic as I moved to a new city for work. It expresses how the pandemic brought more than health issues but social issues to society as well. -
2020-09-30
The Sounds of What is Lost
This story speaks to the ever-changing sounds of the pandemic. Sensory history allows us to engage with the past in ways the invite the senses of the past back into the story. As my partner and I were navigating all the trials and tribulations conjured into existence by the events of the past year and a half, we noticed how silent our home full of sadness and confusion had been. Gone were the overhead aerial shows, the chatty neighbors, the rattling railway tracks... Now there was nothing. Our sense of sound changed dramatically and began to represent how fractured our connection to the world was. We had to be plugged in to tune each other out. We had to stare at a screen to see a familiar face. While most things felt, looked, and smelled different, there was nothing that sounded the same. -
2021-07-01
A New Normal
The COVID-19 pandemic came upon our lives in what seemed a very sudden fashion, forcing us into quarantine and changing our habits. Almost suddenly, the noisy, bustling streets became empty. The sounds of cars with people commuting to work disappeared. The friendly faces I’d see at work would be traded for a face on a screen. Remaining at home gave me both a sense of security and a feeling of isolation and loneliness. During brief outings to get necessities at the grocery store, it became odd to see each other with our faces covered. There was a feeling of unease as we made our way through the aisles, doing our best to remain six feet apart. Many times, I often felt disconnected, and initially a little wary of others. Were they infected or asymptomatic? Was I? I missed seeing my friends. I missed the shared meals we would have in a busy, noisy restaurant. I missed the smell of coffee brewing at my local coffee shop while I typed away on my laptop. So many experiences that we took for granted, disappeared in an instant. Over time, this way of living became our new normal. The scent of hand sanitizer and antibacterial cleaner became a regular part of my life. Hearing the regular news reports on the rising death toll was devastating. The feeling of the mask on my face as I made brief forays out into society gave me the comfort in knowing I was protecting others in case I was an asymptomatic carrier. I still shudder at those who express the sentiment that the masks were a form of oppression. I viewed it as a small sacrifice for the benefit of the many. As we appear to be a downslope to overcoming the virus, I recently remarked to a friend about how it now feels strange to think about “getting back to normal”. Our normal has undoubtably changed. And many of us have changed with it. -
2020-04
Clean Hands and Empty Spirits
This story is a small snapshot into how I felt mentally, and smelled, heard, and touched physically during April 2020. It talks about how the smells and noises around me at the time contributed to my worsening mental state and the feeling of hopelessness. This is important to me because it was this time that I learned that I am mentally stronger than I think and that I can get through rough patches with the help of my husband. It was not a fun experience, but I grew from it. -
2020-09-30
No Room for Activities
I am not overly social. Therefore, the COVID-19 pandemic’s stay-at-home orders were not a big deal to me. However, the mandate meant no after-school activities for my kids who had a very hard time with it. My ten-year-old son took it the hardest as it meant no soccer, no chess, and no playdates which also meant no touching, no tag, and absolutely no wrestling. After classes, I would pick them up and chauffeur the kids around town to all their activities. If we had time we would sometimes stop by the mall and grab a bite to eat. If we had an hour to kill, we would run into the arcade for a quick game or two of Mario Kart. But all that stopped once COVID struck. There was no room for the kids’ activities—no sports, no music lessons, no mall eateries, no more Sbarro on the run, no arcade—so in essence, no more fun. Due to COVID constraints, my boy developed a small case of depression from not being able to play with his friends and soccer buddies. Seeing my son miserable affected me, especially after reading some children were committing suicide due to these restrictions. I forgot just how much bonding with friends and socializing meant when you are ten and surrounded by thirty other kids for five days a week. While the pandemic gave parents like me a respite from all their children’s after-school extracurriculars, it was not worth seeing my son sad like that, and socializing was not the only aspect affected. My kids really missed getting their hands-on activities with other kids at the playground and soccer field. Kids simply love playing anywhere and touching everything, so not being able to do so hampers their growth through play and touch. Soccer was an outlet for all my son’s pent-up energy and once it and the other sessions were taken away, he felt trapped at home. We would play in the backyard, but it was not the same for him. Although he may complain about school now, he still needs his friends. Luckily, the pandemic is over, and soccer and their clubs are all back on. My son is back to his normal rambunctious self again. My children are back to being full-time kids again! -
2020-04-09
How pets help people cope during a pandemic
This article talks about the numerous health benefits that scientific studies have proven we get from pet ownership. During the pandemic, those health benefits are more important than ever. Given that there is no evidence that people can get COVID from their animal companions, interacting with your pet is a fun, easy, and safe way to stay healthy and happy during the pandemic. -
2020-11-24
Human–dog relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic
A study done in Israel looks at the relationship between humans and dogs during the pandemic. The study finds that, like in the United States, there was a significant increase in dog adoptions in Israel during the pandemic. They also found a direct correlation between the mental health of the owner and the perceived quality of the life of the dog. -
2020-10-28
Pierogis and Kielbasa: Sound and Smell During COVID-19
Before the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns began, hearing or seeing a loved one seemed almost a certainty. Although I worried for the safety of all my friends and family, I was most concerned with the well-being of my aging, immunocompromised grandmother. As a daughter of Eastern European immigrants, she was accustomed to eating ethnic Polish food. Throughout my childhood, she would kindly make pierogis and kielbasa sausage for me and my sister. The savory aroma of pierogis and kielbasa sausage cooking in sauerkraut inundated the senses. With the onset of the pandemic, however, my life, as with so many others, changed. Unfortunately, my grandmother is not accustomed to using video-chat services; however, hearing her voice over the phone or social-distancing on her porch allowed me to maintain contact, hear her voice, and smell the wonderful aroma of the food she always made for me as a child. Although momentary, the loss of hearing my grandmother’s voice as well as her delicious food made me realize how important it is to cherish the connections you have with your loved ones. During a time of uncertainty, tragedy, and disconnection, a loved one’s voice (as well as the food they make) can provide an emotional uplift. -
2021-06-19
Pet Adoption Comic NPR
This comic is fun, engaging, and informative. It talks about the increase in pet adoption during the pandemic and how pets helped a lot of people deal with emotional trauma. It cautions would-be pet owners not to jump blindly into adopting and to think about what will happen when life returns to normal. Separation anxiety can be difficult for pets to deal with, and owners need to have a plan for that. -
2021-07-01
Healing
Over the past year, I have made significant progress with my mental health. It wasn't until the world told me to stop and stay at home that I realized I wasn't living. I had to examine myself and face my feelings. I realized that my cup was empty and I didn't have the capacity to care for myself. Despite the fact that I still have a lot to do, I feel more optimistic about the future for the first time in a long time. For this, I am truly grateful. What I hope for myself and others is that we make peace with our pain and fears and that we can find the beauty in our struggle. -
2021-06-20
The Best-Laid Plans Go Awry but Mojitos Soften the Blow
The pandemic torpedoed a very important trip for me – a trip paid for by my place of business to attend a conference in London and give a presentation on an archival project and connect with fellow librarians. I intended to bracket my trip with a visit to Ireland, the home of my ancestors, and conduct some genealogical research. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I probably won’t be working at my current workplace when the next conference is held (once every three years), so I don’t expect to have the opportunity to get a free trip to a lovely part of the world from them in the future. And I need to have boots on the ground to conduct more research: following up on facts and documents my family has shared with me and which I wanted to confirm or debunk during my research in Ireland. So my genealogy work has stalled as well. There hopefully will be opportunities in the future to visit the UK, to conduct research in Ireland, and to attend conferences, but the perfect combination of all of these that had been arranged for summer 2020 is lost forever. Since I live in a very hot locale during the summer months, and count on getting out of town to maintain my sanity, I wasn’t able to create a staycation to counteract the lost of this trip and vacation—unless you count being huddled in the coolest room in my home with my feet in a kiddie pool sipping mojitos and reading travel and Irish history books to be an acceptable alternative. Although, come to think of it, those mojitos were pretty good. -
2021-06-13
COVID and My Mental State
I've never really felt like this before COVID, maybe at times but not as frequent. COVID has been a whole different experiences for me in many ways. I've never really felt so helpless even until now. Having nothing to do or being stuck at home, it took a toll on me. Many of the things I had a passion for or loved doing has made me lose motivation. I have been also slacking on my studies. COVID has also made me realized that I have no friends or personal relations outside of my family. Not going outside as also made me get terrible anxiety and talking to people has been difficult. But I have been working on it as of recently and working on myself little by little every day. -
2021-01-14
D.C. Kept Swimming Open During the Pandemic. It May Have Saved Me.
This is a story I wrote in Washington, D.C. in January 2021, during the pandemic, and in the immediate aftermath of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. I had taken up swimming during the pandemic because the city happened to keep some pools open for lap swimming. This new activity brought me solace and comfort during a very difficult time for our city, our nation, and for me personally. This story captures all of this and distills it into a single poignant and emotional moment of solitude and togetherness at the end of the story. -
2021-06-04
Truth during our COVID PANDEMIC
Through this Pandemic, I personally had to mature past the age I currently am. Now having to take on such a huge responsibility to be safe and avoid as many people as possible, it really took a toll on my social skills. Especially for someone who had problems with anxiety, I found some peace and salvation being around and talking with the people I liked. now having to avoid them? Well, that was one big change. Although it was hard at first, I encourage whoever sees and reads this to embrace change and curve it to your steering. After all, I overcame my anxiety through this quarantine. Some people may say COVID has affected them in ways they may not recover from but I just assume that it is all adults speaking. I have grown as a person and have actually realized the small little injustices that happened to students and the misleading nature of the "system'. At this time, this era, highlights of racial acts have now shown itself as if you sprayed insects with raid pesticide. Surprisingly, it was more common in Police Departments believe it or not. The people who swore to protect and serve justice were the ones who were at the epicenter of injustice. Schools no longer served students but rather misled them into thinking they were being helped. The first I would love to emphasize on is the fact that nothing they simply teach us in school relates to anyone's lifestyle. Sure if you went the technical route to want a specific occupation it was helpful, but other than that, it was absolutely useless. As a straight A student, I found myself in "unknown" territory when I was outside of school. Nothing of what we were taught is to be put in use. We don't solve x to make a U turn, we don't need to do an entire analysis on a red stop light to know that it says stop and we certainly didn't need to know that the rocks that we kick on our walks to home are sedimentary rock or igneous rocks. The education system is flawed in helping individuals learn what they need to know. Handing out 7 different subjects when your goal is to be a computer engineer? that doesn't seem right does it? I'm sure you said yes and you are now beginning to see my point. A few months back, February 14, 2021, information was leaked on the edu system. These tests that they give us, these regents and state exams.. it's all a cover up to their hunger for money. They lie to us that our performance on the tests dictates whether or not we pass but that's not the case. It actually dictates how well the school is funded and how much the teachers are paid. YOUR TESTS.. they aren't doing anything for you. The better you perform, the central host that funds schools, uses that information and says "oh wait.. this school performed well. Lets fund them more and pay the teachers better for their *HARD WORK*" These things don't help us. That is why America Continues to see their homeless individual growth rate increase every year. The people are conditioned to do good on selecting a, b , c or d but have no idea how to get a job, do their taxes, get a business loan in real life!!.This problematic system needed to be changed and for my time, it won't. I hope that someone in the future sees this and does a comparison and contrasts on how things have changed or if it has even changed at all. I apologize for the long rant on school at this time, it's just at the center of all the youths' problems currently. Back on track to injustices here present. If we were to take a step back and really look at the racial events partaking currently, we begin to see how one of the most notorious orgs that stands against racism is to be considered a terrorist org. That is the BLM foundation. Now you may have thought that they do good, but I assure you it isn't what it seems. Let's first analyze what makes an organization a terrorist foundation. 1) The people sway from the cause and place the blame on someone else 2) propaganda is at the forefront of the organization 3) they destroy and hurt lives more than they help. Let's compare al Queda to BLM. al queda, the organization that was behind the 9/11 incident is no less different from BLM. 1) Al Queda sole purpose was to send a message to the US saying that they will fight back at any US involvement in the Middle east. They swayed from that and blamed all their actions on the US including the beheading of innocents and the raping of innocent women. They blamed the US even though the US was not present in the Middle east. BLM was to stand and say that there is injustice to black lives but they swayed and pinned all their problems on the White people. 2) Al queda said they were to bring peace for the people they represented but they instead lied and used those peoples as their weapons. The BLM founder used all the funds to make a large property investment. 3) al Queda, destroyed buildings and hurt the innocent. BLM riot's and protests, destroyed small business, beat and killed innocent bystanders, robbed stores, robbed innocents of all their belongings, destroyed any from of mobile property and most importantly, went against peaceful protests and went against the law. BLM representatives also took part in Black on Asian crime. This is to evaluate the fact that COVID was not only a small problem but helped highlight the true concept of humanity and it's injustice that went on in the darkness. In many ways COVID 19 was bad indeed but in high alert, it showed us what people really are when the light is shined on them. -
2020-06-29
What should the school year of 2020-2021 mean for Cal High’s students?
This is a set of three articles from The Californian, the student newspaper of California High School, each one arguing in favor of a different stance regarding the reopening of San Ramon Valley Unified School District schools. In the articles one can see the concerns that motivated high school students (well, three students in one high school) to form opinions about various forms of learning during the pandemic. One article argues for fulltime in-person learning, one article argues for completely remote learning, and the third argues for hybrid learning, a mix of the two. An illustration also accompanies the set of articles. -
2021-06-02
'A Journal of the Plague Year' relevant 300 years after publication
During the pandemic, I took a graduate history course in which we read Daniel Defoe's 'A Journal of a Plague Year.' I had read the piece about 5 years before, but I missed so many of its nuances because it all seemed so foreign. It was striking to me both how much and how little has changed from 1665 to 2020/21. Quarantine, death tolls, travel bans, hoarding had all suddenly become commonplace occurrences that I could relate to. The centuries may have changed our technology drastically, but nothing seems to have changed about the human condition nor the human spirit. -
2021-05-27
Slower Pace of Life
It’s probably a bit tiresome for my best friend when I say “oh man, we haven’t been there in over a year” because for our family, that is everything. Every week, we open up a little more, cautiously, as our case rates continue to decline (under 50 new cases in our county today!) Disneyland, our go to hangout is still out of the question, so we returned to the beach. It’s crazy to think for over a year, it sat 20 minutes away, so close but so far. I feel like COVID not only has made us more appreciative but has also helped us embrace a slower pace of life. Two years ago, a weekday would have seen me at school AP reviews or department meetings, my mom and I coordinating pick up and drop offs for Kumon, gymnastics, piano lessons. I would have squeezed in a Pilates class before picking up my daughter from the gym. My husband wouldn’t be in the equation at all, April and May are full travel months - we barely see him. But here we are. Our pace of life is much slower. My husband is still working remotely, and will probably continue to for at least half the week for the rest of the foreseeable future. Kumon and piano seem simpler to do now that we’re all home. Even gymnastics seems less stressful. If everyone is home on a weekday at 3, why not hit the beach? I know our lives will inevitably speed up. That’s the rat race that is Orange County and I do love our lives. We like being busy, why else would someone live here? Yet, I hope the togetherness we’ve had in the past year and the realization that maybe we should just take more time to run around the beach, get excited at finding a Sea Hare, and just watch the waves without an agenda or a clock will last beyond this pandemic. -
2021-04-22
Bye Quarantine Hair!
In December 2010, my husband and I made a pact with our friends, all of us either brand new parents or weeks away from becoming parents, that we’d go on a Disney Cruise together in summer of 2020. Well by planning time 2019, our friends bailed, but we were still committed. For Christmas 2019, we gifted our two kids and my mom a 7 day Disney cruise to the Caribbean. The first week of March of 2020, I went to get my hair done. I considered chopping it to my shoulders, but I told my hair dresser that I wanted to wait until July and chop it right before the cruise. I’m sure you know where this is going. Clearly, the cruise was one of earliest events to be cancelled due to the pandemic and I never went back to my hair dresser in 2020. Throughout the school year, I lamented over my waist length quarantine hair, in desperate need of a cut. Over and over I told my students “when I get vaxxed, I’m getting this chopped off since you know, no cruise.” By the end of March both my mom and I were vaccinated, but were unsure about our hairdresser. She had lost her shop during Covid - had she retired? With case counts declining significantly, we reached out to her and not only was she still doing hair inside her house, (one household at the time), but was vaccinated as well. So farewell to my quarantine hair, cut away all the fear and panic and sleepless nights of the past year and let’s start fresh. (No cruise though, my short hair and I will just hit the beach). -
2021-05-01
"Hope Love Heal"
Art can create change. The 2020 pandemic year and all its struggles informed my mail art project. My hope was that this small art project would help others in a big way through creativity and connection to the community. My art piece titled "Hope Love Heal" is a direct response to the collective struggle. I am honored to be a part of the "We Rise" Campaign to help shed light on mental illness, mental awareness and mental well being. I hope my mail art project will touch others and let others know that they are not alone. And to remember...with a little "hope" and "love" we can "heal". -
2021-05
A Year to be Remembered
The start of quarantine was for me almost a blessing. A gate that locked us away from school for 2 weeks ironically gave me freedom. As these 14 days turned to weeks and weeks into a whole year, this “gate” that gave me freedom also locked me away from it. At first, I willingly mocked COVID because of how stupid it seemed. but reality struck as soon as one of my family members got it. It became a scary time in my life where both sides of the “gate” seemed like hell. I cried in the corner of my room and no one to reach out to as everyone in my family felt the same pain. As time was slowly ticking things I coped with my pain and things were looking brighter. This gate which kept me from reaching out to others was seemingly opening and I could feel like society going back to normal. It was only a matter of time when freedom unlocked this gate and give us a chance to be normal again. -
2021-04-07
covid questions
Have u been sick? Noooo!! Do u remember the ticks? Noooo!! What kinda question is this? Screening sir…. Can u recognize the meaning? Screaming: Noooo!! War time in the field, the ears? Yes. Palpitations, shortness of breath? Yes. Secret agent spray Vaguely the mist, but yes ma'am Are you okay? Noooo!! I'm here for my vaccination. -
2021-05-25
Stephanie Oral History, 2021/05/25
I am a victim of online pedophilia. My experience discusses how that has effected the switch to online school. -
2021-05-09
Fred O'Gorman Oral History, 2021/05/09
Interview conducted by a nephew with uncle regarding the COVID response as it occured in the Republic of Ireland. Interviewee Fred O'Gorman discussed topics ranging from business closure and government response to personal and communal attitudes and behaviors in relation to pandemic in Ireland. The discussion also discussed ongoing vaccine rollout in Ireland and the dynamics of mental health through the course of the pandemic. -
2019
Men In The Mirror
These are all doodles I made during the pandemic when I felt myself crashing, self-sabotaging, or just critical condition emotionally. The drawing on the left is the most recent drawing I made. It shows that I have a heart that is depressed and a mind that is rotting away with a confused face. In the background, you also see the word help radiate from me. This symbolizes how I feel about my education. I feel like, during the pandemic, I'm not able to bounce ideas back and forth on my own, so being alone, I get lost and overcrowded. The one on the top right also expresses my view of myself. It shows that I have a bright flame that either gets drowned with depression or fueled with anger. This relates to the pandemic because when everything got shut down, I Felt very divided with what I was doing and who I was. Lastly, the bottom right picture shows me at a table looking at my hands with a bowl of fruit and pills. This was drawn about halfway through my fall 2020 semester because I have focused on medication. Still, they made me also feel emotionless and more confused about my own personal identity and where my heart was with my art if I can't express it. After this drawing, I became numb and ended up not doing most of my finals and leaving me empty for a while during winter break. The only thing that got me out was seeing my family again after seven months of not really seeing anyone close to me. I also stopped taking meds and had a withdrawal effect at the begging of my spring semester. Now I'm just trying to keep my head up to return to normalcy and see my friends that closely monitored me before knowing how I get affected by certain things. -
2020-07-10
Emotional Dam and Educational Fall out
This shows that before the pandemic, I struggled to get the help I needed to deal with my stress, and the minute everything got shut down, so did I. I ended up not knowing what to do and failed my classes and explained to my family that I've had depression and anxiety issues. Im currently still trying to recover, and it truly feels like my college doesn't care because they take forever to respond, knowing I'm in danger of failing and having some personal struggles. -
2021-05-29
COVID-19 and Mental Health
I took this picture on May 29, 2020, at 10:35 am. Why I choose this picture? This picture reflected my feeling in 2020. After months without going outside, I was heading to Staten Island to visit my aunt. I remember that I had anxiety even to open the door of my apartment. Whenever I went outside, it was close to my apartment, and my skin started to itch for no reason. My family used to watch the news the whole day. I was tired of listening to the report. Besides, during COVID-19, I was having an awful time. A few months ago, one of my friends died, and It was depressing for me. Before she died, I let my ego break the relationship between us. I refused to call her or text her because I was tired of looking after her. I remember my father told me to call her because I did not know what was happening with her. I ignored him. Riding to Staten Island that morning made me remember the hard time that I was going through. The day that I went to Staten Island, it was cloudy and dark. I thought that the ferry would sink into the water. When I got to Staten Island, it started to rain, and I did not bring an umbrella. I was mad, but it was my fault for not checking the weather. I compare that dark and desperate day with the mourning of my friend and the pandemic. For months, I felt guilty and thought that I did not deserve anything good in my life. The worst of all of this is that I did not have anybody to talk to. I was in quarantine for months, and it affected my mental health. I had no desire to continue college and my business. I used to cry a lot, and all I wanted was to talk to someone about how the pandemic and the death of my friend affected me. I had desired to go to the Dominican Republic, but I could not go. I think that this source can help historians because they can get to know about different perspectives of people during the COVID-19 pandemic. They would notice the anxiety that not only I went through, but everybody around the world had been through. My neighborhood was affected significantly. Some of my neighbors got COVID and died from it. I know that many people saw themselves as the picture. They thought that everything around them was going to end. They thought that they would be stuck in the pandemic forever. -
2021-05-17
Stockdale Paradox: Ten Lessons to deal with COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed global havoc and has already resulted in millions of deaths. To deal with difficult scenario created by the pandemic, in this paper, inspiration is taken from “Stockdale Paradox” to derive ten lessons. These lessons are precious in the current scenario and discuss in detail the various issues and challenges with solutions. The lessons are useful for anyone in successfully dealing with brutal facts of pandemic and overcome the odds -
2021-04-24
Quarantine expiriences
For the last three or so years I have been deeply interested in photography. I enjoy photographing people and cars, though during the pandemic I have had less of a chance to go out and photograph people, that’s why I thought this would be a good chance for me to get back into the hobby and share some shots I had already captured during the pandemic. These photos have meaning behind them that remind me of all the parts of my life over the last year. A primary source is any document about a subject that was created by someone who was at the event or took part in whatever the subject is. The portfolio that I created is a primary source as it documents the first hand experiences I had while in the pandemic. It has the highs and the lows, and shows an account of one person's life in the United States of America during Covid-19. My experiences in the Pandemic were very mixed. Some parts stayed the same, some better, and some worse. Before Covid I had a small group of friends that I hung out with and when all the stay at home orders began I was able to still see them sometimes, and I never went out much so I had a very similar routine. Though one thing that I lost was car meets and races. Not only did mask ordinances make meets harder to plan but Eau Claire also began cracking down on car meets more and more. It was really tough missing out on the fun cameroudery of car meets. I work at a car audio shop and one great positive of the pandemic is that because of relief checks the shop has been constantly booked for the last 6-8 months. Another positive has been going on late night adventures with my friends. We are constantly repairing something or upgrading our cars and so when we get done it is usually late and in the last year we have begun to do fun things late at night when we get done with the daily project. The first photographs I chose was a representation of the many small businesses in the area that have been closed due to rough times during the pandemic. Many great local businesses have struggled to stay open or failed even failed to do so. The photo was taken at a storage facility for signs of businesses that have closed down in the last year or two. The photographs of cars are meant to represent the many new late night adventures that me and my friends have had during the pandemic. These trips were one of the main things that helped me cope with the pandemic and hold on to normal life just a little bit. The photo of the room is of my childhood room at my parents house. During this fall at UWEC I got a call from the school informing me I had possibly come into contact with someone and I had to quarantine for two weeks. At this same time my father contracted COVID and this meant that I was confined to this one room for my two weeks of waiting. The room became my very own jail cell, after just a few days and it was very difficult for me to pay attention in school during my quarantine. It was one of the roughest my mental health has been in my life -
2021-05-05
Covid-19 Lockdown
I decided to put together a collage of some of the paintings/drawings I have made since Covid-19 started. Most of these were from when the pandemic first started which was when we could not leave the house at all. Under the collage I added a little comment describing the word lockdown and what it meant to me. My artwork does not specifically show things like wearing masks, the number of cases we had, or schools shutting down but the artwork signifies the thing that kept me sane while the lockdown was happening and while doing remote learning I explained in my source that the artwork was basically my escape from the real word and the horrible pandemic we were experiencing. I chose to represent my experience in this way because the lockdown, not being able to see friends and families was a huge effect from Covid-19 and it was also one of the hardest things for many people to do. -
2021-04-14
Reconsidering Taking the Vaccine
I live in Bronx, New York. When the pandemic struck, it affected everyone tremendously whether you contracted the virus or not. New York is a densely populated place and it immediately required a shut down of all day to day activities due to the soaring virus. It was so impactful that my school had to be closed and I could not go out with my friends on the weekends anymore due to the fact that all business places were closed. Many people in New York contracted the virus which at one point had the highest Coronavirus cases. It made my family and I very depressed to be stuck at home all day and worrying if anyone of us would be the next person to be personally affected by the virus. During the pandemic, which is still current, the introduction of the vaccine made me feel very relieved. Even though it is not a cure for the virus but it would help to fight the virus if you do contract it, and it also lessens the likeliness that it is contracted. This was such good news to my ears. When I found out that there were different types of the vaccines I was very skeptical about it because I wondered to myself about the different component that each might have. Following this, there was word that the Johnson and Johnson vaccine was causing bloodclots. This made me extremely scared to take any of the vaccines overall even though I want to be secured from the virus but I worry that the vaccine would not agree well with my body. This was a mental battle within my family if we want to take the vaccine or not. -
2020-05-09
Through the Eyes of Assimilation: Immigrant Families, Mental Illness, and COVID-19
This story is about my partner's family, utilizing both of our perspectives to talk about how his mother, and subsequently my partner, was treated due to mental illness, ethnicity, and gender identity. -
2021-04-24
The Devastating Pandemic
I have been witness to some really traumatic life events. This has made me experience the pain and agony of individuals and their families during this pandemic. This has also made me grateful for keeping me and my family safe. -
2021-04-23
Difficulty set to hard
This is based on my personal experiences. I started off 2020 by having just separated from my wife, such that we were both looking for divorce. This can lead to many difficulties even in a normal setting, but it took the normal difficulty of the things I was going through and turned it up a few notches. I started the year off without a job, car, or place to live. I was able to move in with my mom and take care of the housing situation temporarily by living in her front room. I then had to start looking for jobs. I found a job through a temp agency to get me back on my feet. Eventually, it became time for my to find a more permanent job better suited to the path forward I wanted in life. My last day of work at the temp job was right before spring break. I had planned on taking care of life things during spring break, before looking for another job shortly thereafter. There were no jobs. So many businesses closed during and after spring break, that the number of people desperate to get money for rent and necessities, took all available jobs almost instantly. I spent nearly 2 months looking for another job. Eventually I was forced to cave, simply because what should have been adequate amounts of money while looking for a job, was used up in the wait. I not only had to take another temp job, but the only ones available were jobs with a high rate of people leaving them. So I worked at one of the worst jobs I have had the displeasure of working. In that process, there was an instance of covid starting to spread through the factory. So this factory with over 1000 workers, made a mandatory covid test for it's workers, and sent us all home for a week. Anyone who's test came back positive, had their id rejected at the turnstyle when we resumed work. Unfortunately my body couldn't take the hours required for this job. And so I was forced to leave it also. And in doing so, I was no longer able to stay with my mother. So for the second time in a year, I was jobless and homeless. And this time, the root cause was covid. I went to stay with my aunt. But my grandmother and grandfather are particularly elderly and vulnerable, so everyone there was on high alert and wary about covid. So I was quarantined for an entire week to one room so that I would be able to be monitored for any symptoms. Shortly thereafter I was back on the hunt for a job that would help me progress forward in life. But yet again, even in a completely different area of Oklahoma, there weren't any jobs to be had. I was only able to push myself like that for a month before I looked for another solution. I had a friend, who would lend me his couch even on a permanent basis if needed. So I took him up on that offer. And I moved from Oklahoma to California. That drive was more or less the most impactful part of covid to me. I had seen the roads get empty on my way to/from work as people had stopped non-essential travel. But Oklahoma didn't have an enforced mask mandate. We could still go to the store, or pay for gas for our car, without being required to wear a mask. Many businesses still had indoor dining even. But in that trip, the realization of the impact of covid, hit me. It was at the only gas station for 20 miles in either direction in the mojave. I walked up to the door to go in and pay for gas. And for the first time that year, I saw a sign saying masks were required to enter. After that, every other location I stopped at was the same. There were no more places I could go without a mask. Covid, was having a real and significant impact on other things in the world than just jobs, and people's financial struggles. After having made it to California, in a particularly populated area with plenty of jobs, I was still unable to find a job for two months, simply because of how the rest of the year had gone for me. Simply by requiring a stable work history, I was no longer able to apply for most jobs. Finally I did get a job. I got one in the food industry. And the impact of covid hit hard there too. After having finished my training, and worked for about a week, the state mandate came that closed both our indoor dining. A month later, outdoor dining followed suit. We weren't allowed to take drinks back to add things we may have forgotten, and instead had to remake them entirely, because of covid safety precautions. I've had my temperature taken every single work day since I started, which was unheard of in times before covid. Twice, we've shut down the store because a partner tested positive for covid, and everyone that worked with them was placed in a mandatory two week quarantine. The impact is so strong, that the company is even providing 2 hours paid time for both doses of the vaccine, as incentive to get vaccinated. It's clear to see, covid has had an incredibly strong impact on life, and turned the difficulty level of many peoples lives up beyond manageable levels. -
2021-04-23
The Dorbin Journey
This past year has brought many challenges with it for almost everybody. For me, and my family, this past year has brought equal challenges and blessings (although they usually appeared as blessings in disguise initially). Throughout the pandemic, I achieved great things at work, ended up quitting that job, started helping my family's business, experienced deep trauma after my wife was assaulted by a friend, navigated the legal system amid Covid-19 to seek justice, experienced justice being denied first-hand, worked through the grief caused by the denial, and then came out the other side of the trauma with an even stronger relationship, and I experienced a continued strain on all of my relationships caused by the distance required by quarantine. For me, this pandemic didn't greatly affect my work-life - I still had to physically work the entire time - but it changed the way all of the people around me lived. This was difficult, of course, because change is scary, but the change also became a catalyst for myself and others to change ourselves for the better. Personally, work got harder as tensions rose throughout the pandemic, and while dealing with the backlash of these tensions was difficult, this opened my eyes to the fact that I truly wasn't happy at work. I enjoyed the people I worked with, but I didn't enjoy the work or the product of my work. So, while I was grateful for the opportunity, the stress brought on by the quarantine woke me up to the realization that it was time for me to move on. There are many things that this pandemic brought, and while I wish I could elaborate on all of them, the short version of the long story, is that it was a traumatic event for everyone, but after working through the trauma, many of us found blessings in disguise or used the stress to give us the courage to change. -
2021-04-23
The COVID-19 Pandemic From An Introverts Point of View
The global pandemic that started in 2020 has been extremely hard on a lot of people, especially extroverted people that need social interaction to feel normal. I feel I am incredibly lucky in this regard as I enjoy my solitude without the hustle and bustle of social activities. When the pandemic started back in March 2020 and we all were advised to stay inside to help combat the virus it was the easiest task in the world for me. I personally practice social distancing in general since I don’t enjoy people being in my personal bubble and I also dislike being around large groups due to personal anxiety. So overall when this all started, I honestly did not notice a big change in my life. One thing I did notice was that people in my phone and on my friends lists through various platforms were suddenly super active in their messages being sent to me. I can empathize with others in this regard because even introverted people like to engage in social activities every now and then. Another big thing I noticed was all my favorite software got major updates and were revamped due to so many people now working from home many companies actually saw their productivity explode in 2020 while wonderful it is very sad to see companies not giving their workers more options to work from home now in 2021 despite seeing boosted productivity. I was also able to go shopping for groceries with less crowds which to me was a nice thing to not be surrounded by so many people as I would be in any other situation. I also really like wearing masks when its cold out because it keeps your face from being hit by harsh cold winds and you kind of feel like a Mortal Kombat character. Now that things are getting a bit more under control with more vaccines out in the public space and people going back to work, I hope people who need to socialize get the chance to do so. I will also remember 2020 because so many people globally did not live to see 2021, I feel fortunate that my family and I made it through 2020 in one piece. -
2021-04-23
My Chaotic Covid
For me, the pandemic has been the exhaustingly consistent cherry on top of everything that’s gone sideways in my life over the past year. Now, this isn’t meant to be a pessimistic rant about the past 12 months, but just a sequence of events that kept things spiraling out of control while I tried my best to stay on top of the chaos and maintain an energetic passion for life and hope for the future. These traits used to come super naturally, as I had been following my ten year plan pretty successfully as of last March, until the rest of the year, which I thought to be set in stone, was pulled out from under my feet. I was having the time of my life in Rocky Point over spring break when Covid started hitting the fan. ASU announced a ‘temporary’ switch to online classes while I was on the road coming back home, and I drove straight into midst of a sudden global pandemic. Luckily, I had gotten out of Mexico in time before the borders were closed down. I was working at Harkins Theaters at the time, and my last shift was one with a whole bunch of disposable gloves and excessive new sanitization rules in concessions. I left that night not realizing that that would be my last shift there. I was at least planning on being there for another few months, before I would start a summer job I was recently contracted for. I was going to go on tour as a videographer with the Cavaliers drum and bugle corps, filming professional marching band videos and cutting together rad highlight reels all while traveling the country and getting paid for it. That was canceled soon after I was furloughed from Harkins. I went back home to visit my dad and brother in the midst of it all, but I don’t think my brother was ready for that kind of personal contact. He wound up giving me a black eye after I ended up getting too close to him and intentions were misconstrued. Shortly after, while already recovering from a destroyed face, I came down with a long, rough sickness that was aligned with the known symptoms and assumed by everyone to be Coronavirus. Unfortunately Covid tests were far from accessible at that point, and I was never able to confirm if that was the case. Trying to get away from the bleak outlook of everything, I took a few of my friends up to my grandparent’s empty house in Sedona. My roommate proceeded to secretly bring alcohol, drank too much and fall off a ladder, leaving a large-man-sized hole in the wall of my grandparents’ expensive house. While staying in Sedona the following week on one of my trips to head up and fix the wall, I got a call from my dad that my mom had passed away. She had been suffering for the past twelve years from a stroke and aneurism she had when I was eight, and on April 6th she finally let go. So that was a lot of emotion to throw on top of everything. After spreading my mom’s ashes with my dad and brother, I came back to find a baby monitor camera had been hidden on a shelf in my bedroom. I didn’t know who put this camera there, hidden in a sock, but it had been filming my girlfriend and I for the past three days and had gotten some pretty personal stuff on camera. It wasn’t hard to put together that that was the whole point of the monitor. My roommate felt violated as well, as he said he thought it was one of his friends who had put it there, and was on board with the whole police investigation we launched after the fact. I trusted my roommate, and while he had gone through a bit of an alcoholic phase the month before, I thought he was doing better. He had been one of my best friends for over five years at this point, and I didn’t want the worst case to be possible. But a few weeks later, my girlfriend’s phone mysteriously went missing in my apartment for a night. The next day she found a monitoring app downloaded onto it. My roommate had taken her phone, copied off all of all her private, ‘personal’ images of herself, and installed a program to track her and check in on her camera and microphone without her knowledge. Luckily we found this evidence soon enough, but it wasn’t an enjoyable experience kicking my best friend out of our apartment. The police found evidence that he put up the camera soon after and he was arrested. Two counts of voyeurism, one count of lying to the police, and everything he had taken off my girlfriend’s phone. I haven’t talked to him since last May, I can’t legally, it’s currently April of ’21 and his trial has yet to reach sentencing. After all that had happened, Summer was not what I had initially thought it would be. But it wasn’t all that bad. People started wearing masks, I got a temporary job making dough at Little Caesars, I was able to hang with my actual friends and the worst of it looked to be over. And while that much was true, the pandemic itself was far from over and slowly the months of lost experiences and thoughts of unfulfillment and wasted potential began to sit in. I got a different apartment in August, but it was an older and more run-down first floor unit with unexplainably loud upstairs neighbors. I’ve spent the entire lease of that unit trapped inside and longing for a normal college experience. These were supposed to be the craziest years of my life, and I felt like I had missed out on countless memories. I was working as a video editor from home on top of online school, and the days blended together into hopeless rituals of helpless procrastination. The motivation to thrive while held up in the new apartment was hard to find. But I still made it. I didn’t give up on pushing forwards. I’d put things off and the passing of time ultimately became an illusion, but I kept making sure I stayed productive. I edited together a vlog series through the beginnings of the pandemic, worked on other personal projects, and was able to get a pretty sweet internship doing remote editing work for a television studio in LA that I ordinarily wouldn’t have been eligible for as in person work. I made it through the 2020-2021 school year, my junior year, with good grades and came out on the other side more hopeful than ever. I got fully vaccinated a few weeks ago, I’m beginning to live again, and the bright outlook of a fresh start in a soon to be newly reintegrated world gives me an unparalleled excitement. I am looking insanely forward to all the new people I’ll meet, memories I’ll make, and experience I’ll gain through my senior year being back in person. Everything’s coming back together, and as long as everyone can make an effort to get vaccinated and keep each other safe, calm, and hopeful, I’m more than prepared to cram 13 months of missed experiences into the best, jam-packed, fulfilling, productive and exciting year of my life. …Yet. -
2021-04-23
COVID-19 pandemic
It has been a tough year for everyone, the impact of COVID 19 changed our lives forever. As people across the world practice social distancing to help slow the spread of COVID-19, many things have changed. In one way or another, we have all been touched by this pandemic, whether that means working from home or transitioning to online classes. Personally, I felt like the pandemic was going to be my downfall when it came to school. I have always struggled to stay focused and concentrate on different tasks. Having to transition from in person classes to complete remote learning scared me. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to continue with my education. As weeks went by, having to be isolated from the world and it just being me and my computer was very difficult. I suffered from depression and anxiety but I didn't want to give up. Education has always been important to me but it was really affecting my health. With pandemic getting worse and having more restrictions it felt like I was trapped. Usually when I feel that way the only thing that would give me peace was going to church. That wasn't an option anymore. Due to everything being closed I couldn't even go to the one place where I would feel safe and at peace. This pandemic taught me to be strong, and even in the hardest moment have faith. Have faith that everything gets better, and that we are capable of more than we think. Even though I had some tough times in school now I'm doing a lot better and I'm proud of myself for overcoming those obstacles. I'm now more appreciative of things that I took for granted before the pandemic. Even the little things, like being able to go to church. Overall, the pandemic taught me many things about myself. I am stronger and happier than I was before. -
2020-06-08
A Balancing Act on Fire
Although the meme is meant to be comedic, I feel that it reflects the reality of the stressors many people faced during the pandemic. To begin, the anxiety that the coronavirus disease brought into the public severely affected the mental health of many individuals across the globe. During the mandated lockdowns, I , like many others around me, began experiencing a decline in my happy hormones. At the time the pandemic restrictions were being put into place, I was living on campus with three other roommates. With the fear of spreading the disease unintentionally, the three moved out of the dorm right away and I was left to be on my own due to personal housing issues taking place at the time. The lack of interaction with anyone took a toll on my mental health. I missed my friends and my mom, I just wanted to be around someone, but we could only have visitors if they were helping us move out. On top of personal mental health struggles, events taking place across the country were also scarring. Protests in response to racial injustice under an administration that made it hard to feel safe unless you were a white male in America only added to the helpless state of being. Watching cases upon cases of unjustifiable abuse made the environment only more threatening than it initially seemed when the pandemic was first reported. The election of November 2020 was suspenseful in terms of who would be elected could potentially determine vital living situations for people all across the United States, whether it be immigrant status, being a person of color, or not being able to afford paying for housing in general. Financial troubles took over the country and the stimulus checks were not enough to cover housing, food, home essentials, especially when some dependents and entire families were not able to receive help because of their citizenship or dependent status. Many tried to turn towards their faith, the keyword being “tried.” Although not all religions focus on gatherings or physical objects, many people were unable to get access to these common preferred forms of practice and felt that virtual gatherings seemed ingenuine or illegitimate. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic had many more severe effects on a global scale in all aspects of life. From concerns of the health of others, oneself, finances, practice of faith, and fear of safety in your own home, the negative effects are consistent as it seems that everything continues to pose a threat to daily living. I hope that everything eventually falls back into place and that justice is put in place so that people do not have to fear their own existence. -
2021-04-22
How Covid-19 has Affected My Life - Kyra Smith
The Submission that I uploaded is a reflection on how the pandemic affected my life. What I shared in this story is personal, and might seem choppy because I do not do well when expressing personal stories and feelings to others. I hope this helps someone to know that they are not alone. -
2021-04-20
JOTPY Exhibit: "Arizona's COVID-19 Pandemics" by James Rayroux
While working as a curatorial intern on ASU's 'A Journal of the Plague Year' COVID-19 archive, I created this exhibit on the pandemic experience within the state. In addition to obvious, overarching realities such as socioeconomic status and immediate access to healthcare systems, I initially believed one of the greatest deciding factors that determined one's experience in Arizona was an individual's residence in either predominantly urban or rural environments. The proposed exhibit had been originally titled "A Tale of Two Arizonas" to pay respect to Charles Dickens and the differing realities experienced here. To test my proposed hypothesis, I went about finding data, stories, and submissions that substantiated or disputed my premise. Within a short time, I had identified four distinct environmental drivers of personal pandemic experiences; to me, that indicated the existence of many more I hadn't yet found or had overlooked along the way. My evidence suggested a minimum of four pandemic locales: Urban, Rural, Border, and Tribal within the State of Arizona and its fifteen counties. The recorded health data and personal experiences demonstrated the naivete of my initial hypothesis, and I retitled the exhibit: "Arizona's COVID-19 Pandemics." The Exhibit Background section illustrates the vast dichotomies within Arizona in terms of population density and access to healthcare facilities. Given the virus's respiratory nature, these factors seemed especially relevant to driving diverse local experiences. I chose to include a flyer from the Coconino County Health and Human Services' "Face It! Masks Save Lives" campaign. The flyer included a specific line to "Stay Home When Sick" that seemed to illustrate a different public health paradigm than the broader "stay home" orders from Maricopa and Pima county. This section also features an image of Sedona's red rocks and a portion of The Wave to remind visitors of the wide-open rural areas accessible to all, as well as those with cultural significance to the Native American tribes and limited access to the general public. The next section asks a short, five-question survey in which visitors may participate. The Silver Linings piece features a short audio clip of a father and husband discussing some unexpected benefits of the pandemic. Visitors may explore additional Silver Linings stories and submit their own experience. The Tséhootsooí Medical Center piece seeks to illustrate the different pandemic experience on the state's tribal lands. I hoped to inspire some relevant emotional turmoil for the visitors through the piece's visual presentation. I wanted to create a series of waves with quotes from the medical center's healthcare workers. I hoped visitors' attention would be drawn to the large, bolded key words, and that they would first experience the segments out of sequence because of that. After potentially feeling a sense of chaos, they might settle themselves into a deliberate reading of the texts and find their own order within the experiences provided here. This piece allows further exploration of Native submissions and topics, a review of an additional related news article, and a submission prompt that invites visitors to offer guidance to hospital managers. The next piece illustrates the differences between mask mandates in communities across Arizona. In addition to hearing an audio clip of interviews with mayors and a public health official, visitors can explore additional submissions related to mask mandates and submit their thoughts on statewide mandates. The Arizona Department of Health Services provides zip-code specific infection data on its website, and the wide array of known case infections therein further illustrates potential dichotomies across the state. In working to include and represent this data in a consumable way, I encountered inconsistencies with tribal data. The nation's Indian tribes are overseen by Indian Health Services, a federal public health agency, and it does not collect or report data in the same manner as the State of Arizona or its counties. At first glance, the data would seem to suggest that tribal areas had less severe pandemic experiences than the rural and urban areas, which was not objectively true. I wanted to offer the unedited data to visitors, allow them to drawn their own conclusions, and invite them to offer their thoughts on what potential misunderstandings might emanate from these reporting differences. Visitors may also choose to review the foundational data from this piece, as well. I used the following two sections to offer submission prompts about the visitor's overall pandemic experience as a function of their location, as well as what they might have done if placed in charge of their city, county, or state during this pandemic. A diverse Search section allows visitors to explore additional topics of interest to them. 23 hyperlinks offer pre-defined search parameters. An Advanced Search link allows self-defined research, and a Join The Staff link connects visitors with opportunities to work within the JOTPY archive. A final section asks visitors to provide feedback on the exhibit, its content, and the pandemic in general. Both surveys within the exhibit will display overall results to visitors who participate in them. Through this process, I found incredible amounts and diversity of data outside the archive that spoke to these generally localized experiences, but not that much yet within the archive explained what Arizonans had experienced outside the state's urban environments. I created a call for submissions and delivered it to fifty rural entities that might help support the effort to collect and preserve more rural Arizona stories. Between all the local libraries, historical societies, museums, small-town mayors, and county health officials to whom I asked for help, I am optimistic the archive will better represent all Arizonans in the coming months and years. Despite the exhibit having been created, I ensured its internal search features would include future submissions and allow the exhibit to remain relevant long after its release.