Items
Date is exactly
2020-01
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2020-01
Plague ? Diary
This is day by day account of the early stages of the pandemic. -
2020-01
The First Mask
This is the first mask my father gave me at the end of January 2020. We didn't think COVID-19 would be a big deal, and it was more of a precaution than anything else. When everything started shutting down, I got more masks, and lost track of this one while moving out of my college dorm. I found it in again in September of 2020, and it reminds me of just how much the world has changed. I've had two pandemic birthdays, caught COVID-19, and got my vaccines, all while trying to be a college student. Looking at this mask reminds me of how much everything has changed, and the good and bad that I've seen go along with it. -
2020-01
Fortune Teller
Towards the end of 2019 if some sort of fortune teller warned me that the COVID-19 pandemic was on its way and the faces of the world would become covered with masks indefinitely, I would tell them that they are crazy. The spring semester was picking up and the coronavirus had become public news in China for a month or two. One of my closest friends Zach was very interested in Chinese politics and current events. Ever since the first cases were being reported he had warned me that the world was going to change. (He was that fortune teller figure.) I remember us taking a trip to Aldi’s so he could stock up on the regular number of weekly groceries. However, he had quite a few cans and non-perishable goods in his cart. He told me he was stocking up for the lockdown that was about to come. Today he’s known as the man who saw it coming all along. After that night my fear of the unknown began to grow. I began telling my friends/classmates at Duquesne casually saying the word “coronavirus.” They thought I made it up or it was a prank. I explained to them that this outbreak may hit the U.S and affect the entire world. Classes were still in session but as cases started rising in the U.S, the fear of school closing became closer to a reality. Fast-forward to the first couple days of lockdown. I was becoming extremely overwhelmed adjusting to a new format of learning. I wanted nothing more than to see my friends and have them tell me that everything was going to be okay face to face. The days started merging together and my sense of time was gone. I tried my best to look for the positives but there really are none when the entire world is faced with a potentially life-threatening illness. As months started passing by, I had started to realize that the only thing that would keep me going is patience and a good attitude. Even in the current moment I still long to go to concerts or have big group gatherings with friends or family. A habit I started picking up is whenever I would watch movies or tv shows was pointing out that people were not wearing masks. That’s a scary thought knowing that masks have become an external part of our identity. Let’s look at the positives though! I became a lot closer with my best friend by playing Xbox with her. This was one of the only things that I looked forward to, so I played games with her almost every day. I also started playing the piano again after stopping when coming to college. A new hobby I picked up was making meals for my family which was something I found relaxing. I even dyed the front strands of my hair pink from the TikTok trend! All of these hobbies were new beginnings that I don’t think I would’ve initiated if it were not for being in quarantine. As each day goes by, I can only hope that we are closer to “normal” and that the coronavirus can be a thing of the past. I am blessed that my family and friends are in good health and that they stay in good health until the end of the pandemic is in sight. -
2020-01
Doggy Love for Patient!
The photo shows me and my dog while I was in the hospital doing chemotherapy for Testicular Cancer. By that point, I had been in the hospital for three weeks and we had got a prescription for me to be able to bring my dogs in order to cheer me up. My husband brought me our dogs Little Man (Miniature Dauschuand) and Lady (Whippet Terrier Mix). I was so happy to see them that I cried. The fur babies were so happy to see me that they just jumped on me and began licking me. This shows how lonely the covid-19 had made me and how the doctors were able to allow my furbabies to come to visit me which cheered me up. -
2020-01
Chinese Doctors in WuHan during the Covid-19
I want the world see the effort of those doctors, they shouldn't be nameless. -
2020-01
Lan Wangji The Forklift
The coronavirus outbreak is a very serious situation, but fandom is managing to find cute ways to be both helpful and entertaining during the health crisis. Lan Wangji is a major character of a Chinese novel, cartoons and TV dramas. And now he’s being honored with a forklift named after him. The forklift is helping build the temporary hospitals intended to house people with the coronavirus. -
2020-01
A Prophetic Proposal
I'm a Public History MA student at Northeastern University taking a course about museums. As part of the course, our final project was to design an exhibit about some element of Boston history. Planning for this project began in late January. Trying to think of some element of Boston history that was relevant to today, I came up with the idea of the 1919-20 flu pandemic. It was 100 years since the pandemic. Boston was the first hit city in the US, and I had seen news about the coronavirus spreading in China, so it felt very topical. Little did I know how topical the project would become.