Items

• 
  2020-12-03

  Massachusetts Contact Tracing Log

  At the restaurant that I work at, the host plays a larger role than just taking people to their tables. There is a designated “sanitation specialist” that clears the tables and wipes down the tables with peroxide and another liquid so that we can seat guests in an orderly manner. There is also the job of the main host to take down people’s phone numbers in case a coworker reports having COVID symptoms so that those in the restaurant can get tested for the virus. This connects to the civic purpose of history as this was one of the new contributions to the people in order to keep them, hopefully, safe from the pandemic and a need to reform how we think about our information in public spheres. I think that this item is something that “ helps illustrate something particularly significant about the year 2020”. This is through the tracking log as we’ve often seen people protest the government having our information as seen with the microchip scare with the vaccine, but this has become something of a norm at work. Every so often, there is that person that will give me a fake number or protest their information being leaked because “they will call us”, our only defense is that we get rid of the paper after a month before getting our manager. The blurb at the top does a better job at explaining than I do.
• 
  2020-12-11

  A New Path

  During quarantine, another way that I tried to spend my time was reading books that focused on the religion of Wicca as someone that is interested in the practice. In this photo are the two newest books which focus on Paganism and Tarot, mainly an introduction to both as someone just starting back in November. I like to complain that I haven’t read anything this year but forget about the four different books on Wicca and witchcraft in general I’ve found, along with various articles. This ties into an item that “demonstrates something significant about your generation” since the rise of TikTok and quarantine have created the perfect launching pad to spread the word. Before, it was mainly a niche group on Tumblr that needed specific search terms to find. With this growing popularity, much of my time is spent double checking information and making sure that the author is a trusted resource in the community, especially since many authors often leave out the trans and non-binary community because of the stereotype only women can be witches. There is also the need to educate me on close practices like Voodoo and the different types of sages to avoid using the endangered white sage that was illegal for natives until the 1970s.
• 
  2020-03-19

  Text Messages between my Mother and I.

  This is a small conversation between my mom and I when she went back to work during the beginning of quarantine. She works as a medical secretary at a local doctor’s office and works closely with sharing phones, computers, and other spaces. It was not until recently that there was a COVID scare following Thanksgiving, but, she tested negative since they are from a different department. This item connects to the week focusing on historical thinking on and off the web as this was never something that I would have considered sharing beyond my close group of friends since it feel mundane now. I think that this is an “Item of interest to future historians that helps illustrate something particularly significant about the year 2020” as we see her in full gear. While the precautions no longer have the dress or hair mask, she still wears the medical-grade mask with her gloves and face shield each day. Seeing people in action will humanize the pandemic and make it seem like something that truly happened than just another historical moment with accounts like this.
• 
  2020-12-02

  A Messy Study Station

  During the pandemic, my mental health as been at an all time low and that is often showcased by the condition of my bedroom. As seen here, there is the desk is pretty messy highlighting my though process at the time. I was taking a small break in this moment as I tried to complete the embroidery from another post and move onto something else that I wanted create. This study space is often passed up for the comfort of my own bed, but, having it often helps with productivity and is the first place that I start when trying to clean my room with the little victories. This connects to the week on Growing Up Digital as my laptop is showing something, never letting me escape from the almost addiction that I have with the device since receiving it last summer. I think that this is something that “demonstrates something significant about your generation” as many of us stayed home for the semester and needed to find a way to battle relax time and study time within the confines of our small rooms. Redecorating helped a little bit as my desk now is much larger than the one I had before, but, there is still that mix of working from my bed that makes it hard to fall asleep and keep myself engaged with the task in front of me.
• 
  2020-12-12

  Unfinished Projects Part 453.

  During quarantine, trying to keep myself busy as been the ultimate goal these past few months. Right before the semester started, I got into embroidery as these patterns often take hours to complete. Many of my patterns have been bought off of Etsy to support small businesses, but when I started, I bought a few kits off of Amazon since I was only working a few times a week. This connects to the idea that of something that “demonstrates something significant about your generation under Covid”. My friends and I have all been struggling to keep busy with just the things that we have so niche hobbies like embroidery, reading, and home workouts have become something of the norm. Being able to distract ourselves for a few moments from this crazy world is the goal and I think that it will be more documented than it has been before with social media. A major way that this has impacted Gen Z is “regressing” back into the interests of our younger years. For me, I’ve begun listening to Taylor Swift and One Direction almost religiously again and revisiting some of my favorite book series from childhood for that spark of dopamine.
• 
  2020-09-20

  Coronacation

  In September 2020, myself and three friends took a mini-vacation to Derry, New Hampshire in order to get out of our small town of Middleboro, MA. We rented this house and mainly did our homework and hung around playing games. From this trip, it was interesting to see the difference between Massachuttes and New Hampshire as we saw people leaving restaurants without masks and it felt more “laissez-faire” in a way. This picture connects to “the needs and considerations of an ethical archival collection”. This is because I wanted to show that I, like most people, was not a saint during quarantine and broke the rules at some points. We made sure the house was safe by disinfecting when we got there and other safety measures in order to not get sick. By acknowledging this moment, I wanted to show what I was really like during this time period, not an idealized version of myself that could do no wrong. I know that I haven’t always been the safest and it will help with my credibility.
• 
  2020-12-09

  Personal Instagram Story (December 9, 2020)

  Since the unfair deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor back in May 2020, I have been posting on my Instagram story in the hopes of educating someone. While I try to defend it as activism, there is a level of performatism since I was not allowed to visit an protests with my mom’s health and seeing how the Boston police were handling the situation. It is easy to just post a picture of something that you agree with and not show yourself doing anything that will really hope. Recently I have been trying to read more books focused on theory in order to educate myself more and this has been a major focal point of my time lately. Along with this, I have also attempted to find more petitions to sign and donating more since my job has become more stable. This item connects to the criteria of “something significant about your generation”. This comes from the fact Gen Z has always had the internet as a major component in their life and many of us find our personal worth on social media apps such as TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. Being able to see these posts everyday keeps us engaged with the world around us, however, with Instagram’s policy of random posts, not everything is being seen and it leads to certain topics not getting the same exposure. I think that while social media is good in terms of activism, there is a major need for protesters still as they are the ones that get the most change done. There is also the importance of filling the archival silence as the larger topics are being discussed. As a white woman in 2020, educating myself and making sure the voices of minorities are heard before mine. I would rather post these little infographics than about my life because educating the masses is more important than my second time visiting Michaels each week. Giving even the smallest platform to these stories is important as many of my friends have said that they have learned something new from these. It sometimes feels like I’m posting into the void, but, I hope to get the larger message across anyway that I can.
• 
  2020-06-30

  2020 Goals from June 30

  This item was created in June when I had fully decided to stay home for the semester rather than renting an apartment close to campus. It was another ploy to create some kind of hope that this lockdown would be over in the next few months. There are four major sections divided into my dream room since I was allowed to remodel it (spoiler: the only thing that changed was my new bed and shifting the furniture), clothing, places that I was hoping to visit, and random photos that I wanted for my ‘aesthetic’. The only one I came even close to completing was the clothing with my four pairs of plaid pants and mountain of sweaters. Out of all the criteria listed, I think that this “item of interest to future historians that helps illustrate something particularly significant about the year 2020”. During the beginning of lockdown, self-improvement was a topic that many people in my generation along with others were attempting to tackle with this time at home. For this photo, it highlights my personal life and the things I thought was important during this time. I connected this with the Social Dilemma documentary because I did post it to Instagram for a reaction, showing the importance of social media and my computer through Photoshop is important for my life.
• 
  2020-09-21

  Visiting Derry, NH

  This photo is from the three days that my friends and I spent in Derry, New Hampshire at the end of September. Because all of us were home for either the year or for the semester, we all realized that being at home was getting a bit restless, so, the four of us decided to pay a visit to my friend Michaela's house up in Derry and visit. There was a weird sense of deja vu for me since I was born there and there were places that I could still remember going to with my family. This photo was taken in the sunroom, a place where two of us often did homework, while the sun was rising on our second day. Right after this, we went back to sleep until our classes stop and Abbie, despite having the idea, did not make it out of bed for this.