Items
Provenance is exactly
From 03/2020 until 11/2022 we redacted information revealing covid and vaccination status of those other than the contributor but discontinued that practice on 11/14/2022. This note was bulk added to any item with the word "redacted" or "redact" in curatorial notes, so may not apply to all on which it appears. Erin Craft 12/29/2022
-
06/27/2021
Rodrigo Hernández Cordero Oral History, 2021/06/27
En esta entrevista Rodrigo Hernández Cordero es entrevistado por Carmen Kordick Coury concerniente al covid-19 en Costa Rica. Para empezar, hablaron de los cambios que pasaron desde el ano anterior. Rodrigo es dueño de tienda, hablan de su negocio, de las vacunas y de su deseo de no vacunarse. Hablan del gobierno, del uso de mascarillas y su familia. De allí, hablan de La Caja, el sistema médico y hospitales privados. Rodrigo habla de cruzando fronteras y comparando para su tienda. También de la corrupción del gobierno, vida familiar, salud mental y de los funerales. Para terminar, hablan de la esperanza para el futuro, fuentes principales de noticias y noticias falsas. -
2022-04-29
My Experience of The COVID-19 Pandemic
Give a written account of how the COVID-19 pandemic affected my mental health, religious beliefs and personal relationships. -
2022-04-29
Pregnancy through Covid, a letter
This text was meant to capture the feelings surrounding my life while pregnant during Covid. It is a bit unstructured, but so was the Covid-19 experience. -
2022-01-10
Journal from an NAU student
My journal is a week by week deptiction of my everyday life going to college during an pandemic -
2022-04-20
Pandemic Privilege
This story is important for me to share because it highlights my change in perspective that culminated through the pandemic. -
2022-04-19
GB Oral History, 2022/04/19
The interviewee discusses vaccine hesitancy and life during the pandemic without having received the vaccine. -
2022-02
Ripple Affect from COVID 19
My personal experience with COVID 19 -
05/21/2020
José Pablo Enriquez Arcia Oral History, 2020/05/21
En esta entrevista José Pablo Enriquez Arcia es entrevistado por Carmen Kordick Coury concerniente al covid-19 en Costa Rica. José Pablo es estudiante y trabajador social, tiene 28 años y vive en San José. Habla del momento que escucho del virus del covid por primera vez, el reflexiona sobre cómo era un día normal para el antes de la pandemia y como cambio. Habla de su salud mental y como a veces se siente solo en su uso de mascarilla y el cuidado que tiene con lavarse las manos y mantener distancia. José Pablo habla de su trabajo y los adolescentes de Costa Rico con quien en trabaja. También habla de su familia y su hogar. Toca el tema de la xenofobia en contra de Nicaragüenses y como la pandemia ha aumentado esos sentimientos. Habla de su comunidad, el gobierno y las formas en que la pandemia ha formado sus pensamientos sobre su familia, sus amigos y la comunidad. -
05/12/2020
Carmen Caamaño Morua Oral History, 2020/05/12
En esta entrevista Carmen Caamaño Morua es entrevistada por Carmen Kordick Coury concerniente al covid-19 en Costa Rica. Carmen es profesora en la Universidad de Costa Rica, tiene 58 años y vive en San José. Habla del momento que escucho del virus del covid por primera vez y como ha cambiado su vida desde ese momento. Habla de su trabajo como profesora universitaria y como ella ya estaba acostumbrada enseñar virtualmente. Ella también estaba acostumbrada a trabajar de su casa, habla más de los cambios fisco sociales. Para Carmen al requerido más preparación para hacer cosas que eran simples como ir al supermercado. Carmen después habla de sus estudiantes y como se les ha sido difícil no verlos. Ella habla de los estudiantes que no tienen acceso a computadoras ni el Internet. Aunque Carmen vive sola ella es muy cercana a su familia, habla de cómo ha cambiado sus relaciones familiar especialmente con su mamá que es mayor de edad. Habla de su comunidad y sus amistades. Comenta que recién le ha gustado mucho la música clásica y pintar. Para terminar, ella habla del Ministerio de Salud, fuentes principales de noticias y la respuesta del gobierno. -
05/13/2020
Christopher May Oral History, 2020/05/13
En esta entrevista Christopher May es entrevistado por Carmen Kordick Coury concerniente al covid-19 en Costa Rica. Christopher es jefe de policía, tiene 42 años y vive en Heredia. Habla del momento que escucho del virus del covid por primera vez y como ha cambiado su vida desde ese momento. Habla de su trabajo como policía y los cambios que enfrentaron, del uso de la mascarilla y de la transición al trabajo remoto. Christopher también habla del crimen y la violencia doméstica. También habla de su hogar y dinamica familiar. De cómo era un día normal para ellos y como había cambiado por la pandemia. Habla se sus padres y suegros y como les ha afectado la pandemia. Habla de la salud mental de su familia y de sentirse aislado. Habla de la economía, el turismo y el gobierno. Para terminar, habla del capitalismo, las noticias, y el desempleo. -
05/20/2021
Javier Echeverria Hernández Oral History, 2021/05/20
En esta segunda entrevista de Javier Hernández Echeverria con Carmen Kordick Coury, hablan de todo lo que ha ocurrido ya que paso un año desde la primera entrevista que tuvieron. Javier habla de sus opiniones sobre el turismo y las personas que viajan para vacunarse, sus opiniones de la Ministra de Salud y el cuidado que han dado a la gente de Costa Rica, Javier también da su opinión de que pudo causar que el numero de muertos subieron tan rápido en el pais. También hablan del uso de mascarillas y de las personas que no creen el la pandemia y la falta de uso de las mascarillas. Hablan de la corrupción de la gente que se están provechando de la situación, el efecto de la vacuna, y la economía. Javier también habla de salidas a los restaurantes con su esposa y la cooperación con el distanciamiento. Habla de amigos y familiares que han muerto al resultado de la pandemia, las ideas que tiene sobre la información falsa que el ha visto. Esta entrevista termina con sus deseos del futuro y sus opiniones de donde y porque origino esta pandemia. -
12/08/2020
Jackie Weber Oral History, 2020/12/08
Jackie Weber was born in West Bend, Wisconsin. She now lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and works as an occupational therapist in one of the major Milwaukee hospital systems. In this interview she dives deep into the affect that Covid-19 has had on her workplace such as staffing issues, equipment shortages, and burnout. She also talks about the emotional weight of working in such a stressful situation and not being able to help people in the same ways as pre-pandemic. She also speaks on the ways in which hospitals are changing how they treat Covid and often cites an ever-changing set of policies. Throughout the interview she intertwines her views on policy proposals, and anti-maskers into her strong points about safety. -
12/09/2021
SL and S Oral History, 2021/12/09
[SL] and [S] (Last name unknown) take turns interviewing each other on the topics of covid-19 and how it relates to past pandemics in history. -
03/19/2021
Jeff Litsey Oral History, 2021/03/19
Jeff Litsey is a resident of the Fountain Square Neighborhood in Indianapolis with his wife and two children. Jeff discusses how the pandemic has affected his family life and schedule while also discussing how the neighborhood dynamics have evolved during the pandemic. Jeff talks about the challenges of running a small, locally owned, coffee shop during the pandemic in the Fletcher Place neighborhood of Indianapolis. This includes revenue, business plan evolution, government assistance, adjusting employee’s hours and pay, and helping employees and customers feel safe during the pandemic. He also illustrates how the neighborhood community helped his employees through tips that rolled into a community employee assistance plan. Additionally, Jeff discusses his anxiety that increased during the pandemic from running a business and worrying about how his shop could affect others and himself. This extended to worrying about his family. He discusses how the hobbies of art, hiking, and birdwatching helped him feel better. The interview ends with his hopes for all people to have healthcare and a home. -
04/25/2021
Tamara Harris Oral History, 2021/04/25
Tamara Harris was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and raised in Black River Falls, Wisconsin and is now a retired teacher of the Chippewa Falls Middle School living in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. In this interview, Tamara describes how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected her daily life, relationships with long-distance family, and participation with the community. Tamara also describes how attitudes have changed during the pandemic and how she has dealt with these changes. Tamara has 7 adult children, 9 grandchildren, as well as many other family members spread throughout the Midwest. -
11/30/2020
Brent Lameyer Oral History, 2020/11/30
C19OH -
05/12/2021
Roxanne Kirby Oral History, 2021/05/12
C19OH -
04/18/2021
Morgan Ward Oral History, 2021/04/18
C19OH -
2020-04-29
Taylor Hubbard Oral History, 2020/04/29
C19OH -
2021-07-24
COVID Test in Djibouti
I travel a lot for my job, which means I have had to get a lot of covid tests. This photograph is the receipt I received from Djiboutian Airport after paying $30 for a covid screening. Even though I landed in Djibouti with a negative covid test, they still required every person to complete an antigen test as they processed customs. Every country is different and we had to remain flexible traveling during the height of the pandemic. -
2021-10-05
PTA during Covid-19
I have been volunteering in the PTA for the last 13 years. Two of these years occurred when I was the PTA president at my daughter's middle school during the Covid-19 pandemic. Once the pandemic started and Utah moved all schools to online in March 2020, PTA had to adjust. We cancelled all of our meetings and delivered the end-of-year teacher gifts to the teachers’ and staff’s homes. The next school year (2020-2021), the students returned to school but had to wear masks and large group activities were cancelled. PTA held our monthly meetings outside or via Zoom (once it became too cold to hold them outside) and we cancelled our assemblies. The school district required PTA to individually wrap treats/food that we provided for the teachers. Rather than the potluck-style lunches that we had always provided, we needed to cater the lunches which tripled our costs. We went from a budget of $700 for teacher lunches/treats/gifts to $2200. We made significant cuts in other areas in order to make this adjustment. The pictures above show treats for the teachers from 2021 that are individually wrapped and a partial list of teacher addresses and driving times when the PTA delivered presents to the homes of teachers and staff in 2020 because they were working from home. It took about eight volunteers, each with a 1 1/2 to 2 hour route, to get everything delivered. -
2021-10-05
Masks in Puerto Rico with Five High Schoolers
This summer (2021) my husband and I were lucky enough to take our two high schoolers along with three of their friends to Puerto Rico. It was a way to escape the boredom of Utah as well as its high Covid rate. Of course we wore masks in the airport and the airplanes and continued to wear them in all public places in Puerto Rico, even outside. The teenagers were resistant to wearing masks because Utah had stopped wearing them in March 2021. I explained to them that not only was the Puerto Rican government asking us to wear masks, but the local culture was expecting them too. I realize that this picture shows them not wearing masks but they wore them indoors and when we were near people outdoors – but almost never for pictures! -
2021-02
Because I can... thats why...
At the beginning of the year, my workplace began offering free Covid vaccines and time from work to get them. I signed up because I know how important it is. Arguments about whether the vaccine should be mandatory aside, I got it because I can, and there are those that can't and this is my way of helping them too. -
2021-10-04
My experience and how COVID-19 affected me.
The essay outlines what I had initially known about COVID-19, what I experienced, what close family or friends experienced, and how I saw the world change as a result. The purpose being to share my thoughts to not only get it off my own chest, but to help others feel comfortable in sharing their own. -
2020-08-01
THE PANDEMIC
The Pandemic change my life for better. -
2021-09-17
MA, AP and JK Oral History, 2021/09/17
This is a casual interview about the effects of COVID on mental health, academics, family life, etc. We discuss the biggest impact COVID had on us, our experience with the pandemic, what we did over quarantine, and much more, from the perspective of college freshmen. -
2021-09-20
Benjamin Zakharov and Leia Hockstein Oral History, 2021/09/20
Our interview tell our experiences with the pandemic both personally and in relation to our surroundings from the perspective of a high school senior. -
2020-09-18
MO and LC Oral History, 2021/09/18
Basic interviews between two college students looking back on the start of the pandemic. -
2021-09-18
Claire and AJ Oral History, 2021/09/18
Explains our experiences within the COVID-19 high school years, our two years of upperclassmen experience. It's important to us because it happened to us during the most formative years of our lives, and we're reflecting back on it. -
2021-09-15
CT and LG Oral History, 2021/09/15
Two college students recall how their final years of high school were changed by COVID-19, discussing how sports were cancelled and classes went online. -
2020-06-23
SRVUSD Budget and Reopening Protest Photographs
These are unpublished photographs I took while reporting for my school's newspaper, The Californian. These photographs show the people who attended the protest, including a mixture of students and parents. There are also a variety of signs showing various motivations for protesting. This entry is connected to the "San Ramon community protests SRVUSD spending and issues with remote learning" submission. -
2021-04-13
The Last Day of School (but in March)
The Last Day Of School (but in March) By Taylor S. Remember how public toilets were gross not unsafe? Remember when we were packed on planes, flying to places with more people? Remember when playdates weren’t virtual? Remember when the only masks we saw were in doctor movies? And when we went to REAL LIFE SCHOOL!! Lunch in the Cafeteria and rushing to get the best handball. Learning in person and then setting off to do a mountain of homework. Hanging out with your friends, real P.E, real assemblies. The experience of school. I miss it so much. Just sitting at a real desk with a teacher in front of you. I haven’t been to school in 7 months. An extra long summer break? No, A world wide pandemic. But that Thursday in March, The last day of real school, I remember like yesterday. The rain feeds the starving grass, it pounds on dusty roofs, and my mom’s car gets a much needed wash. Me, well I’m sleeping unaware of what’s to come. “Taylor Wake up,” My mom whispers, she slaps on the lights and throws a laundry basket in the middle of my room. “Ugg,” I groaned, “5 more minutes please!!” “You have school” My mom says. I unwillingly role out of my bed and onto my floor, but it's not really a floor. It's a mountain of junk, with books, clothes and who-knows-what else. I stand up and zombie walk over to my window. I peek out and see rain. “OOOHHH!!!!” I yell. (I’m amused that it's raining, but I’m yelling for the main reason to see if my sister is up.) I hear footsteps down the hallway. Sydney walks up, “What is it?” Sydney asks. “Just rain.” “Then why did you wake me up!” “Cause I wanted to.” “That's mean.” “Your mean.” “Can I borrow your rain jacket?” Sydney begs. “No I’m wearing it.” She sticks her tongue out at me and leaves. I lazily slap on some clothes, and hide my rain jacket in my tornado closet and stumble to the kitchen. My mom was sitting at the couch worryful glancing at the news. Her old computer was on her lap as she packed the amazon cart with toilet paper and clorox wipes. “Governor Newsom just banned gatherings over 50 people.” My mom says glancing at her phone. “But P.E is more than 50 people.” I say. “So we don’t have school.” I start to get my hopes up. “Too late to cancel now.” My mom utters. “Just enjoy school, Ok Taylor.” “I would rather be sleeping.” I mumble. After 1 lazy bowl of cereal it's about 8:05 and time to go to school. “We are going to walk.” My mom mumbles, “We need to get outside more.” I am about to argue but getting wet doesn't sound too bad. After blocks of wetness we are at school. “Race you to the front office.” Sydney yells. “Ok….” I start. “Hey Scarlett!” Sydney cheers and runs off with her. I make my way through the confusion of kids, parents, backpacks, and umbrellas. I wipe my feet in the sea of people in the entrance. I skid down the hallway out the door to Ms. Grafton’s classroom. Beyond that is normal classroom stuff. Math lesson ?, storyworks packet, indoor recess. All I wanted was to be in my bed. I opened up my book and started whispering to my friend during my snack indoor recess. I had no clue that 7 months later I’m a 5th grade Zoom student….... “Ok everyone, put away that math book and time to watch a movie!” Ms. Grafton cheered. Excitement flooded the room, we were finally doing something fun! Not long division. After Ms. Grafton heated up the popcorn that had been sitting in the corner of the classroom for weeks. “Everyone line up.” Ms. Grafton instructed. So after that everybody raced to get to the front of the line. No social distancing, no masks, imagine that! While watching the movie I imagined being home in my own bed. I just want school to end. I want it to close and be at home. But Taylor you heard the news, and that Covid-19 is dangerous. In the future if you're at home you’ll be looking back on this day, saying “I wished Taylor enjoyed that,” Just enjoy School. Just eat popcorn and enjoy. So I did enjoy myself and appreciated school. After 3 servings of popcorn, and the evil guy in Kung-Fu-Panda 2 destroying a fortress, Ms. Grafton abruptly stops the film. “This most likely won’t happen, but we may not go back to school. Gather up you Math Book, Writers Notebook, also…….” Ms. Grafton started. Of course I didn't listen. I shoved all the contents of my desk into my hands, and carried them out to my backpack. It took me 2 trips. (And in the end I forgot my favorite galaxy water bottle!) As the clock ticked closer to 3. The classroom started to look emptier. The desks were stripped of all contents and shoved into backpacks. “Ms. Grafton..” A girl in my class begained. “What?” Ms. Grafton responded. “You know how you said that we probably will come to school tomorrow, but we are taking a lot of our stuff out of our desks. Won’t it be hard to put it all back?” “It’s better to be safe than sorry.” “BING!!” the 3:00 bell had rung. I walked out the door to the front office, where my mom would be to pick me up. I looked back at the classroom, unsure if or when we would come back to it. I walked along the hallway with one of my good friends. We joked like normal, but would this be the last time? I walked out the commotion of the front office to my mom and sister. As we walked to my mom’s grocery filled car, I looked back at Franklin. When would I come back? I already missed school, the classroom, the cafeteria, the yard. That was the last time I got picked up in 7 months. At first we were sure to be back by the end of Spring Break. Nope. Cases too high. What about the start of next year? Nope. Now we are hoping for an after winter break reopening. But who knows? I think back to all the times throughout 4th grade, that I just wanted to be home, sleeping. Turns out that wish came true. Now all I want is to be back in the classroom. (And I still don’t have that water bottle back!) -
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. -
2021-04-19
Rollercoaster Fun
Safe activities outside including amusement parks. -
2020-03-15
Daycares empty during the Pandemic
For my primary source I selected a picture of a daycare. This daycare is where my kids used to go. Before the pandemic started, I used to take them there because I have to go to work. One of them was 7 months old and the other one was 5 years old. I used to take them to the daycare six days a week except Sunday, then go to work and when I finish working, pick them up in the daycare around 5pm. I selected this source because I want Historians of the future to know how the pandemic hit ‘’daycares’’. This photograph was before the pandemic. I took it in the daycare in a birthday party that we did for my son. There is the babysitter, her assistant and other kids that used to go to the day care. I feel Historians will learn how difficult was the life for mothers who have to go to work and leave their kids in daycare and what happened to me when the day care was closed. Everything was normal until I heard about COVID 19.I have been working in a hospital and in march 15 2020 my Babysitter told me that in 3 days the daycare was going to close for undefined time because of the covid 19.I was scared to go to work because I did not want that nothing happened to my kids. I had to go to work in the hospital, but I did not want to because I know that I was going to be more exposed to the virus and I may bring it to my kids. But the other reason was that I don’t have nobody to take care of my kids after they close the daycare. In addition, my Babysitter also told me that she was desperate because she was not making money in the daycare. I decided to stay at home with my kids. I remember that the school also was closed. But I was not getting pay when I stay at home. It was a very difficult time for me because I had bills to pay, including the rent. I was feeling bad because I have some savings, but 2 months after march I realized that I did not have money to pay the rent. I realized that I need to go back to work, even thought I was thinking that I was going to be on risk to get the COVID, I found somebody to watch my kids and then I went back to work. I pray God for protection every day, in the bus, streets and the train. In august the daycare opened again, the Babysitter was happy because she was going to work again, but I was scared because I did not know if anybody in the day care could be sick and get my kids sick. I have to take my kids to the daycare, but it was not like before that Babysitter had many kids in the daycare, only my two kids were in the daycare. Today, my son is back to school and the other one is still going to the day care, but every day I pray for theme because I know that other kids are with them, and I don’t know who may be sick and they are always on risk, but I don’t have other choice because I need to work to get money to pay my bills as I say before. When I arrived home, I leave my shoes on the front door, go straight to wash my hands, take clothes of, take a shower and them pick them up in the daycare. Every day my kids are on risk, but I am also on risk at work. The situation is difficult, but we have to continue our lives, be wise and do our best to keep our family safe all times. -
2021-04-12
Lizza Weir Oral History, 2021/04/12
Toddlers are natural explorers who run, touch and sniff as they learn about the world. But these behaviors can be dangerous during a pandemic. Parents of toddlers need to weigh the risks of catching Covid against their children’s developmental needs. Lizza Weir, whose daughter Simone was 16 months when Covid first arrived in New York, talks about the hard choices she’s been facing. -
2021-03-13
Friday the 13th...my last day at work
This is a reflection of the first day that Covid affected me. -
2021-03-20
Michele Gable Oral History, 2021/03/21
Michele Gable is a wife and mother living in a small suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. In her oral history, Michele reflects upon life before COVID-19 and shares how the pandemic has affected both her home and work life. She highlights her experience contracting a severe case of COVID-19 and how she navigated being around her family throughout her sickness. As an insurance underwriter, Michele describes the advantages of working from home while being ill and how her company handled her sick leave after the virus evolved into COVID-19 pneumonia. She shares the ongoing medical issues she still suffers from months after initially recovering as well as her thoughts on the COVID-19 vaccine as well as wearing masks. -
2021-03-20
Virus Diary 2020-2021
A roughly week-by week account of the pandemic's effects on my family, community, workplace and nation. -
03/13/2021
Margaret Geddes Oral History, 2021/03/03
Interviwee Name: Margaret Geddes Interviewer name: Padraic Cohen Date of Interview: 3/13/2021 Location: Cochrane, Alberta Canada. Transcriber: Otter.ai + edits from Padraic Cohen Abstract: In this oral history, I interviewed my grandmother, Margaret Geddes on her pandemic experience as a senior. In particular, Margaret spoke about her youth growing up in rural southern Alberta, Calgary. Margaret grew up from a Roman Catholic family and she reflects on how religion changed for her throughout the course of the pandemic, as she was unable to goto in person masses; ultimately she believes her faith had been strengthened due to the pandemic. She also spoke about her experience with a prominent polio outbreak in Calgary in the 1950s and draws some interesting comparisons to the current pandemic. Margaret also goes onto speak about her experience with the COVID-19 vaccination, and shares her thoughts on the what it was like to sign up, receive and prepare for her next vaccination . She also spoke about how long she believes the pandemic will go on for, and how she will remain masking in public as a result of the pandemic skeptics out there. -
2021-03-17
A Reminder of the Realities of the Asian Women in My Life
On my way out to work today, my sister told me she loved me. It was an "I love you" filled with fear and uncertainty. I felt her words echo in my chest and I still feel them ringing in me as I write this post. Every Asian woman that I know and care about has experienced being undermined, fetishized, and harassed for being an Asian woman. For several of my close friends, this has led to sexual violence. I think that is why yesterday’s mass shooting targeting Asian massage parlors hit so hard for me. In his own words, he wanted to “eliminate the source of his temptations.” It takes a lot more than " being at the end of your rope" or “having a really bad day” for someone to commit such a heinous crime. Believing Asian women are submissive and hyper-sexual, calling covid “kung-flu” or the “china virus”, and taunting Asian women with “me love you long time” has real consequences. It dehumanizes Asian women and makes them objects. Objects are easier to harass, sexually assault, and kill. We can not dismiss racism, misogyny, and xenophobia against Asians anymore. Lives are at stake. -
03/12/2021
Anonymous Marine Oral History, 2021/03/12
Interview with a Marine that details going through Basic Training during COVID-19. -
2021-02-25
Jewish Melbourne
As a Yiddish teacher the plague year was marked by a shift to online teaching. Of course this involved inconveniences and accomodations but mostly I was so grateful to have a job that meant I got to stay in contact with people throughout 2020. In classes I worked hard to support students in a difficult time, but also found myself energised and reassured by the regular social contact they provided. I've chose two pictures of my classes - one, a kids class featuring members of my family and the other, a screenshot from one of my long running classes at the Kadimah. The kids class was often fairly chaotic on zoom, marked by kids disappearing, scribbling on the screen or more interested in making faces in the camera than anything else. But it still represented a weekly engagement with Yiddishkayt for these kids, who all live in the North of Melbourne and attend state schools. The image I chose of one of my adults class is from a night when there was a blackout in my street - all the lights went off and my connection cut out. I realised though that I could teach using my phone for internet - it just meant sitting in the dark! I remember a strong feeling of "the show must go on" in a time when so much else was uncertain it was important to me that every Monday evening was the same - Yiddish class with my longtime students. Throughout lockdown students have been so patient and understanding of everything that has had to change and even now as I am extremely over teaching online I am honestly so grateful for what they've given me - meaninful, interesting, engaging work and social contact! We should all be so lucky. -
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. -
2019-04-05
Pesach mutual aid, care packages for solitary seders!
When we went into lockdown in Naarm (Melbourne), many Jewish people realised this meant doing their seders solo or over zoom. Restrictions on number of guests meant that a seder with the family wasn't possible. Whilst at most seders you would usually have multiple people who had divided the seder night responsibilities (someone on charoset, matzah ball soup, gefilte fish, kosher wine, boiled eggs and each item for the seder plate), this night was different from all other nights. Our seders suddenly felt bare with the looming responsibility to create an entire seder's worth of food, for one. For those of us who lived away from our families and the bagel belt, there were additional challenges. For the queer jews who left their south-eastern homes for the cramped share houses of the inner north, finding Kosher and seder specific ingredients was near impossible at our local Piedemontes. I called my closest Woolworths and asked if they had ingredients for passover, "You could try the international food aisle?" they suggested, I knew that wouldn't suffice. I was grieving the loss of my most important cultural holiday of the year and the foods that came with it, when I decided I would drive to Southside, and collect ingredients from there. Knowing it would be useless to cook for one (and that I still haven't learnt the skills to do so) I decided to buy enough that I could make up care packages for other Jewish people doing their seders alone. The buba of the northside, giving just enough of everything for a table of one. 3 matzah balls, a jar of broth, enough matzah to break, hide and dip in charoset, etc. Other Jewish people contributed ingredients or made gefilte fish to distribute too. I managed to distribute over 25 packages to people joining their seders via zoom. For me, it was such an important way for me to feel connected to community despite distance, and honour pesach at a challenging time. -
2020-12-19
COVID Birthday
This is a photo of my sisters birthday party late last year. She is a nurse at St. Josephs Hospital and for the safety of her friends she decided that a Zoom birthday party would be best. At the time she was working in the ICU on the COVID unit; the heart of all the action. She has since been moved back to her normal position but for quiet a while she wasn't able to see or interact with anyone outside the hospital. Her birthday was fun and we got to see family that we hadn't seen in what seemed like years. It was also really fun teaching my older family members how to use Zoom. Putting filters and funny backgrounds was hilarious. It is definitely something I'll remember about living through this pandemic. -
2020-06
A College Student Surviving the Pandemic
I chose my Target employee card from when I worked there over the past summer in my hometown, Venice, FL. I chose this object because it represents to me the pandemic when everyone was at their worst, during all the main lockdowns. I keep it in my wallet because I still somehow have an employee discount. But every time I pull it out, I am reminded of that scary summer of when no one knew what was going on or what was going to happen. -
2021-01-22
A Covid Experience
I learn about myself through the stories of others; this account is both a recounting of my friend Stephanie’s story, a conversation we had after she contracted Covid19, and my own introspection about the different impact that written and spoken stories have. -
2021-01-10
COVID-19 Possible Symptoms
[REDACTED] Covid-19 has been a thing for quite a while now, and the vaccines for he virus had come out. On Thursday, when my _________ teacher, ______________, did his daily COVID-19 test, he came up negative for COVID-19, but on Friday, he came up positive, making anyone who was in his class on Friday need to stay at their homes for a week and a half. On the Zoom Room that he used to come into the class without actually being there, he discussed he had a light fever, and he coughed excessively. It was nothing bad in his case, and he will be able to survive it just fine, despite his age. -
2021-01-21
symptoms
My REDACTED teacher came down with the covid 19 virus. He said that he had a fever, chills, and felt really sick. So, he went to the doctors office and got tested, he was positive. He called the school and said he couldn't come because he was sick. We were all worried for him but he is doing just fine now. My family has been spared from covid, non of our family members have had it thankfully.