Items

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  2020-03-16

  A Year of Workspaces

  When lockdown started, I was quarantining with my husband, our 2.5 year old daughter, and our elderly cat, Floofy. This series of images captures a year of my workspaces (March 16, 2020 to March 15, 2021). I worked all over our house. The living room when I was on kid duty. The porch when the weather was warm enough. A brand new desk when the porch got too hot. The bedroom when my husband, who had been laid of in March 2020, needed the desk to job hunt and eventually began doing off and on temporary work in December 2020. I returned to the office some of the time in September 2021. My husband is now fully employed again. Our daughter returned to pre-school in September 2020. Floofy died in January 2022. She had attended every work meeting with me.
• 2020-03-16

  Rubber Gloves, Isopropyl Alcohol and the Arizona Heat

  Arizona State University employees, myself included, were sent home mid-March of 2020 due to the rising concerns of Covid-19. I recall driving home that initial day thinking that a sea change was upon us and that uncertainty lay ahead. How would I balance my concerns about this unknown virus yet help keep the peace in my house with my wife and our young boys as the country learned how to live with our new, unwelcome guest? Little did I know the biggest changes in our lives would be the small changes in our daily routines. In looking back at those first days, one scene that was routinely repeated in particular plays out in my memory. We quickly shifted our grocery shopping from in-person purchases to ordering on-line and picking up food curbside outside of the store. Before bringing the food inside our house, my wife and I had agreed that we would wipe down our new food packages with paper towels soaked in isopropyl alcohol. At the time it was unclear if the virus survived on packaging for long periods so we thought it best to disinfect the food. Looking back on it now, it seems silly but the scene still plays out in my memory: I can still smell the latex of the rubber gloves I would put on so as not to completely dry out or burn my hands. When pouring the alcohol onto the paper towels, the smell would sting my nose and a tingling sensation would pervade my nasal passages. When wiping the plastic packaging of say, frozen vegetables, I would hear the crinkling sound of the bag and it would resonate through my ears. To compound the smells and sounds of this process, I would be remiss to not include the fact that this was all taking place in our garage during one of the hottest Arizona springs and summers on record. The heat was oppressive that season, enough to identify with that 'oven blast' description we use in this region and I would be dripping with sweat by the time the task was complete. To say the least, it was a surreal experience; one where if you had told me two weeks earlier, I would be wiping down groceries in a stifling garage to prevent a possible infection of an unknown virus, I would have laughed at you but, alas, I was there and the senses surrounding the scenario were real.
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  2020-03-16

  A Warm Hug

  This personal item is a jacket I received from a customer back during the Spring of 2020. I was an essential worker at Lowe's at the time and quarantine had just been mandated. It was an extremely cold and rainy day; cold to the point of where the wind was blowing the doors to-and-fro and I could not ring up a customer without stopping to put my hands in my pockets. As I worked, a middle-age guest, comes up to register and noticed that I was shivering nonstop. She paused as she got ready to hand me her payment and asked if I needed another jacket. I smiled and told her “No, I’m okay,” but she persisted and asked again. I reassured her that I was okay and she nodded and smiled sweetly and told me “thank you” and to have a bless day. After she left, I did not think much about the encounter besides the fact that she was genuinely a sweet and kind woman. About 30 minutes later, the same woman approached me in my line again, but this time with a Target bag in her hand and jacket in the other. With a sweet smile again, she told me that she used the last bit of her cash she had on her to go buy me something warm so I would not freeze the rest of my shift. While it was a small act, it meant a lot to me considering that she was stranger and was willing to go that far to make sure I was okay. I was not able to give the woman a hug after the exchange (we actually gave each other a "COVID fist bump" out of solidarity,) but it honestly felt all the same. Her act showed me that despite race, gender, age, or orientation, we were all one in the same in that moment and that we were all going through the same trials, worries, and circumstances. To this day, I still have the jacket in my closet and I always wear it at home or outside when I need a warm hug. Whether there is an pandemic a war, or any crisis, going on in the world that experience taught me that it does not cost anything to be nice to another human being. Although there were many more hardships I experienced that year, I always looked back to moment for comfort and remembered that there was a sweet lady out there giving me love and endurance.
• 2020-03-16

  March 16th, 2020

  On the morning of March 16th, myself along with millions of other people around the world woke up to go to school and work like any other day. There had been talks in the news recently of some new disease in Asia, but us Americans weren't too worried. As the day progressed, whispers and talks around campus began to swirl, with the rumor that we would be getting a free week off of school to see what affects COVID-19 will have as a few cases began to spurt up around the country. Me and my friends were just excited to be getting a 2 week spring break, but what we didn't know was that this would be the last time at school for awhile, and this would change our lives forever. After that first week had passed, it was announced we would not be returning to campus in person for the remainder of the school year. Fear of the unknown began to sink in. What had life become? How will I live my every day life now? Will I survive? People always learn about history in the classroom and on the internet, and now I was living through a part of history that will be talked about and remembered forever.
• 2020-03-16

  March 16th, 2020

  On March 16th, 2020, I along with millions of other people around the world woke up to go to school and work as if it was any other day. There had been talks on the news of some new disease in Asia, and we all thought this would be over in the next two weeks. This would be the last time I went to school in person for a very long time. At the end of the school day, we were told that we would have a week off of school in efforts to analyze and evaluate what COVID-19 was and how deadly it could be. Myself along with my fellow classmates were only thinking about the fact that we were getting an extended spring break. It never crossed our minds that this would consume our lives for the next two years and drastically change human history. Looking back on it now, it amazes me how one minor inconvenience like can put an immediate halt to every day life, and how I was living through what would now be talked about for many many years to come.
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  2020-03-16

  Focusing on Physical Health During the Pandemic

  The COVID pandemic of 2020 affected many lives including my own. For me, it greatly affected my ability to focus on my physical health. When we were all sent home from school to finish our semester online, the gyms closed. This drove a wedge between me and where I wanted to be physically. While I could still do calisthenics at my house, I was unable to do the heavy weight training that I had grown so accustomed to. This caused me to lose some of the muscle mass I had spent so much time trying to gain. Not only that, I also lost the one place I could go to be alone with my thoughts. While I’m at the gym, I can focus on problems inside my mind while also making myself stronger. I don’t have to deal with any unnecessary external interactions with others while I’m at the gym. While I was at home, I would sometimes find myself being irritated by my family with nowhere to go. During these times, I would end up going outside or locking myself away in my room. Since I had nowhere to blow off the steam, I could only sit there and let the irritation manifest into anger. While calisthenics were good for my physical shape, they did not help me the same way heavy weights did. To fix that issue, I took up boxing with two gloves and a small yoga mat. I put the mat up against the wall and began teaching myself how to box. This was helping. While I had to deal with the occasional interruption by my family, I finally found an activity that helped me effectively blow off steam. Still, I always knew that none of this was going to last. I knew I needed to get back into the gym in order to feel like myself again. Much like many others, I waited until the day when mine reopened again. When my gym reopened, I considered the pandemic to finally be over in my eyes.
• 2020-03-16

  From Unheard of to Unheard

  This excerpt outlines how the start of the pandemic affected the noise level of an undergraduate college campus.
• 2020-03-16

  My life with COVID

  The COVID pandemic has affected everyone around the world. Going into march of 2020, I had a lot of pressure put on me by my parents to either quit my job, or take time off because they didn't know how serious the virus was and wanted me to take no chances. I also have an autistic brother who cannot speak so I didn't want to risk giving COVID to him. At the time, nobody knew how severe the virus was, but as time passed I witnessed first hand how serious it was. When I got back to work after taking time off, I saw what I thought was a joke. Shelves of foods completely empty, and all toilet paper sold out as well other cleaning products. This went on for about a month before people stopped buying a lot of things in fear. There would be lines outside of my job because too many people were coming and we didn't want to have a lot of people gathered in one place for safety reasons. More time passed and things sort of went back to normal but people now wore masks and practiced social distancing. Now over a year later, things are more calm and people are finally doing the right thing and wearing masks to prevent the spread of the virus and end this pandemic.
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  2020-03-16

  Banner Health’s chief clinical officer available to speak with media about COVID-19

  A press release from Banner Health announcing that Dr. Marjorie Bessel is leading Banner’s COVID-19 system preparedness efforts and is available to speak with the media.
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  2020-03-16

  Love in The Time of Corona: Pobel

  Our headline comes from adapting the title of a novel by the Nobel prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, replacing the infectious Corona for the infectious Cholera. In his love-triangle story, he speaks of the lessons learned from a particular woman, but he may as well have been speaking about the now-global crisis we humans are facing: “(she) stood him on his head, tossed him up and threw him down, made him as good as new, shattered all his virtuous theories, and taught him the only thing he had to learn about love: that nobody teaches life anything.”
• 
  2020-03-16

  First Vaccine Jab

  My arm hurt but I have received the jab, the initial injection was painless but the site of injection is mildly sore and it is hard to type or focus on other things. I want to get good rest and relax but sadly I still have obligations I must complete despite the discomfort.
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  2020-03-16

  9 Biggest Social Justice Issues of 2020

  This advertisement/article discusses nine different social justice issues North America is facing: voting rights, climate justice, healthcare, refugee crisis, racial injustice, income gap, gun violence, hunger, food insecurity, equality and how the Yeshiva University located in New York can help prepare people for the social work that can improve these issues. The article talks about how access to vital treatment during Covid-19 has impacted communities.
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  2020-03-16

  Switching Lanes: Autoparts manufacturers turn to making vital PPE

  A news article about the possibility of car parts manufacturers switching to making PPE in the early days of the pandemic
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  2020-03-16

  COVID-19 baking post, clementine cardamom pound cake

  This blog post not only contains a recipe for pound cake, but it includes how one Canadian baker felt about visiting the grocery store and afterward, baking during the start of lockdown.
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  2020-03-16

  Art class moves online in the wake of St. Mary's University's decision to move online for the rest of Spring 2020

  In March 2020 while on spring break we got an email sent from the Office of the President saying that spring break would be extended an extra week to allow staff to transition class to fully online/virtual. When I heard this news I was worried about how my art class would continue. When Dr. Joffe sent this email it felt reassuring that our professors were acting fast to create plans for the class.
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  2020-03-16

  First Day Distance Learning

  This is a photograph of my son on his first day of distance learning. He set up his learning space himself and was quite excited. At this time we believed that distance learning would only last two weeks so it was more of an adventure at this point. By Day 7, he was frustrated, depressed, and lonely. This picture shows him hopeful and happy.
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  2020-03-16

  Virtual Campus

  I first heard my university would be transitioning to online teaching through the uni magazine's Facebook page on the 16th of March, an email from the uni following soon after. This felt appropriate for a time when decisions were being made in a seemingly hectic fashion and there was still so much speculation about how worried we needed to be and what measures needed to be taken. There had been 14 new cases of COVID-19 in Victoria on that date and the total number of cases in the state was 71. The photograph is of the deserted University of Melbourne campus in September when we were into our second semester of online teaching and Victoria was in it's second wave of the pandemic. It was eerie to see this area of the campus, usually filled with students socialising on the grass, so empty. (HIST30060)
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  2020-03-16

  As Coronavirus Deepens Inequality, Inequality Worsens its Spread

  The main point of the news article is to explain why people with lower incomes and people who live in poverty are at higher risk of contracting COVID 19. Additionally, the article highlights the struggles that people who have to work during the pandemic face, like their company not taking enough safety precautions for their workers. I chose this article because it is important that people are aware of the communities that are the most at risk and most impacted by the pandemic. It is important that each country addresses this issue and makes steps to protect and help these people with their situation, especially during a pandemic. This news article reveals the communities of people that were at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. It shows how this pandemic impacted and further harmed impoverished communities. This news article is important because it highlights a large group of people who are being put at risk. The article calls attention to all countries that people that are impoverished or have a lower income are more likely now to struggle. Additionally the article warns that there could be a larger set back in these communities, since it is more likely that these people will contract COVID-19. The article is very non-bias. I was surprised when reading this article that it was not biased, because this article could have easily included an opinion about the U.S. government's stance on free health care and how that could improve the situation for those at risk, but it did not. The responsibility of the media during the COVID-19 pandemic is to inform the public on ways to stay safe, new updates (deaths, infected, vaccine, etc), state and country precautions being taken, and ways to help. Especially during a pandemic the public turns to the media to stay informed, so it is important that the media provides the public with a lot of information to ease their minds possibly.
• 2020-03-16

  Silence at School, March 2020

  This is a true anecdote about my experience as teacher during the pandemic, and the sensory experience by which I recall these events. I am a teacher at a middle school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In winter of 2019, I was aware of the coronavirus, which was something my students often joked about. For instance, if a child was out sick one day, the students would say the he or she had coronavirus, and everyone would laugh about it. It was funny to them at this time, because the virus was something that was mostly contained to places outside of the United States, and everyone thought it was preposterous that there was so much speculation about it on the news. My students engaged in speculation as well, and many of them concluded that it was actually a big cover-up for a zombie plague, and they would try to determine if I or their peers were also zombies in disguise. I recall hearing them laugh about it in the class, and I especially recall the return of one of our students to class after she had been out from the flu. I remember them asking her if she was a zombie, or if she had eaten bats before she got sick (remember, these are middle-school kids). Winter passed pretty much as usual, and cases began to occur in the US early in 2020. It was still seen as no big deal, generally. In March, we started to hear news stories about the virus in Winston-Salem. Some people claimed to know people who knew people who were related to someone with the disease in Greensboro. More and more cases began to appear, but it still seemed like something distant to us. Gradually, the sickness moved from Greensboro to Winston-Salem. I caught a cold in March, and by the end of the day on a Wednesday, I was feeling pretty bad. I told my many bosses that I would be out of work on Thursday, and on Thursday evening, I called out again. The first day that I was out sick, the school district had decided to close down the schools until further notice, starting the next day. I never got the chance to tell my kids goodbye, which was very painful, as we were all close and we had such a good experience in my class. Today, in October of 2020, I still haven’t seen any of them, as my school district is currently closed for in-person school. I wish very badly that I had the opportunity to say goodbye to them. Those are the events as they occurred chronologically. I will now recall the sounds that constitute my memory of the time. To begin with, my school is loud—our students are beyond unruly. I can recall the sounds of the end of a regular school day: raucous laughter, shouting, cursing, threats, insults, loud rap music, and the sound of me flipping the switch to cut off the overhead lights as we prepared to exit the classroom and make our way to the school buses. Then comes the sound of the announcements overhead, which no one can hear over the students, then the prolonged loud and dull tone of the "bell" which signals the beginning of the stampede to the buses. A chorus of shouts raises immediately—a proclamation of victory and freedom. It is exuberant. What follows is hundreds of footsteps on linoleum tiles, backpacks shuffling as kids adjust them on their backs, more yelling, screaming, and swearing, the sounds of an occasional "runner," who knocks the other students down to get to the buses, a teacher shrilly, piercingly yelling at him to go back and "try again", and reminding him that "you will not go up these stairs unless you can walk up them!," a muttered "f---you, b----," from a male voice that is just about to begin deepening as he turns around to try again, and so on until we get to the buses, load those kids up, and ship them out. Going to my car every day after work is over, my ears ring as I sit in the silence of my car with the doors shut before starting the engine and making my way home. I often sit for just a minute or two and enjoy the silence before departing, but the ringing in my ears gets uncomfortably loud, and I finally turn the car on and leave. When I go back to school on the Monday following my sick leave, the difference is remarkable. The school district has instructed us to come in safely, get whatever we need from our classroom that we require to work at home, and leave as soon as possible. Teachers are strictly instructed to only walk directly to and from their classrooms to their vehicles, not to visit with their friends, etc. Everyone is in their classroom, working quietly. The only sounds I hear as I walk down the halls to my room are the hum of overhead fluorescent lighting and my heels striking the linoleum tiles, echoing off the walls and rows of lockers. I hear my key turn in the lock of my classroom door, the flick of the switch to on, more humming fluorescent lights. Shuffling papers and sliding metal desk drawers and file cabinets come next. With a handful of papers in my arms (I travel light), I cut off the lights—the humming stops—and my heels strike the linoleum tiles until I open the exit door, walk across the parking lot, and leave. This time, the silence of my car is nothing extraordinary. Gone are the shouts, the yelled jokes, the subsequent laughter, the retaliatory swearing. Also gone are the kids coming up to me to just say "hey," do one of the complex handshake rituals we have worked out, and to ask me if they can have a dollar for a cookie in the cafeteria, which is a request that I have obliged so often that I will count it as a charitable donation on this year's tax return. On that last day in the school building, there was no sound of a kid coming up to me to tell me how well he did in last night's basketball game, and how poorly his best friend did by comparison, or a girl walking up to tell me that an unpopular teacher has once again worn ugly clothes to work, and that her shoes don't match either—middle school students pay a lot of attention to these things. Put simply, those are all happy sounds. They are the sounds of kids doing what kids do in 2020, saying the things that they say, and teachers managing the best they can. The sound of kids coming up to me to talk are the sounds of acceptance—acceptance of a teacher into their lives, who is usually the categorical enemy of the student. I'm glad to be an exception. These are the pre-Covid sounds. What follows conveys emptiness. The sound of echoing footsteps rebounding from the walls demonstrates how vacant the hallways are. The fact that I can hear the overhead lights hum is amazing in its novelty. The chatter of students is all gone, the desks, empty. For a teacher who loves his students, the sounds that follow the March arrival of the pandemic are the sounds of loneliness.
• 
  2020-03-16

  The Beginning of the Decline

  My six year old (shown here) and my ten year old began distance learning March 16, 2020. This photographs captures my kindergartner's first day of distance learning. She found it new and exciting but that feeling did not last long. This photograph is entitled "The Beginning of the Decline" as it was the last photograph I snapped of her before she would be diagnosed with anxiety. Arizona State University, HST485
• 
  2020-03-16

  Nightmare

  Covid 19 has been nothing but the worst ever since it started. The only tiny silver line i found is i was able to rest and heal my body from constantly working out and going to work. But then the situation for work changed as the schedule began to put in more hours for me and although i enjoyed learning new tasks for the job, having nothing but to do those new tasks for months was dreadful. Covid made a big impact on my relationship because it made me dependent and I constantly was on facetime with my girlfriend and now i have separation anxiety where i normal dont. I feel socially awkward as well since i barely was already going out to pretty much nothing at all. I hope i can get my own life back on track and hopefully everything returns to normal.
• 
  2020-03-16

  Jewish Melbourne: 'Melbourne’s Jewish Community’s Takes Aggressive COVID-19 Precautions'

  Article by Yosi Wolf published in Hamodia, looking at the way that Jewish organisations, businesses, and shuls responded in the early days of Melbourne's lockdown
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  2020-03-16

  Europe Covid Shutdown

  This article is from March 16, very early on in the pandemic. Its around the time all of the shutdowns started to occur. Its really Important to look at this because its a important part of the timeline of covid-19. I had a vacation planed the month after next to Paris. I live in the United States and had no chance of be able to go there during June.
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  2020-03-16

  Batingaw - Kalagayan ng Health Workers

  Marami ang naglabas ng panawagan na tulungan natin ang mga fronliners natin sa iba’t ibang pagamutan dahil kapos na kapos na sila sa gamit at sila mismo’y naka salang na sa peligro ng COVID19. Maraming mga health workers ang napabalitang kinakikitaan na ng sintomas ng COVID19, ngunit patuloy pa rin sa pagganap sa kanilang tungkulin.
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  2020-03-16

  Access Inc - Celebrating Ability In Our Community during Crisis (Jewish Melbourne)

  Access Online refers to the suite of virtual programs created specially by Access in response to the 2020 Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic. These virtual programs are different to Access’ regular physical programming, however, they retain a link to our regular learning streams and are intended to provide participants with low intensity skill development, social connection and purposeful engagement. The programs have also been carefully put together to ensure they remain committed to Access’ values and mission and suit these different times.
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  2020-03-16

  my cell phone

  my phone has all my features, it is where i can talk to my friends through these rough times or even watch my favorite tv show, my phone is like my personal guide.
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  2020-03-16

  All Set with Nothing to Do

  During quarantine, many people were bored. All we could do was stay home.
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  2020-03-16

  Sign of Things to Come

  The images were all taken in the morning of March 16, the first working day after the community quarantine was announced. Lots of people were shocked at the sudden scarcity of public vehicles, since they had to comply with physical distancing rules. This caused people to find various ways to get to their places of employment or for some (like me), just went back home. I waited three hours for a bus to take me from Coastal Mall to Philcoa in QC, but can't find any. I was supposed to go to my place of work at UP Diliman to fetch as much documents as I can before I start working from home. Tried waiting for a bus at PITX but seeing the long queues outside, I decided to tell my supervisor that I can't make it because of the public transport situation, then flagged down a minibus back to my home in Cavite. Then the conductor told me that I have to wear a mask, else I would have to get off. Luckily I had one. Later when I arrived home (note: I did not pass through the supposed-to-be checkpoints to and from Cavite), I saw at the news that the government was surprised that this would happen, as if they never expected that reduced passenger capacity due to physical distancing measures would cause longer waiting times for commuters. Similar chaos for commuters later that day (now returning to their homes from work) would happen since they had to get home before the start of the stricter ECQ at midnight of March 17. This lack of foresight and preparation in implementing rules and mitigation measures, as well as the difficulties of the people would be seen a lot later during the ECQ up to this day.
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  2020-03-16

  New York Cuomo Brothers Banter

  Who doesn't like to see a little brotherly competition? Here are the Cuomo brothers from New York. Andrew is the governor of the state and his younger brother, Chris, is a television journalist. During the COVID period, Andrew showed strong leadership and become something of a folk hero and many people watched his daily briefings where he scolded his citizens for misbehaving and also praised them for doing well when they were following the quarantine rules. The brothers often engaged in competitive banter and it was always entertaining to watch. This clip is about calling Mom and who is Mom's favorite son.
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  2020-03-16

  Governor's Executive Orders: The Island of Guam

  Ranging in date from March 16 to April 10, 2020, these executive orders proclaimed by the Governor of Guam detail that island's reaction to COVID-19's appearance there. These documents cover topics such as road accessibility for essential businesses and public health emergency operations, social distancing/isolation and clarifications of what is an essential and non-essential business, as well as telehealth expansion, and eviction/price gouging prohibitions during the public health emergency.
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  2020-03-16

  Starkey, Inc During the Pandemic: How a Kansas Special Needs Community Responded to COVID-19

  This series of emails from March through May of 2020 details the measures taken by Starkey, a Wichita, Kansas, adult special needs community living program, to safeguard their vulnerable residents from infection. Among the topics covered in this set are protective measures, social distancing, day program closures, containment of COVID outbreaks in the residencies, and Starkey's phased plan for gradually returning their community members (known as "persons-served" in the documents) to a semblance of normalcy. Moreover, these emails provide a glimpse into how individual businesses and essential services reacted and adjusted to Kansas's statewide directives.
• 2020-03-16

  First week of lockdown

  As a historian, the past three months have seemed more of an interesting project than reality, but I've not been sick. I know a few friends who were ill, and one mural friend who died, sadly, due to COVID19. I wonder what the future historians will say about this period in global history. I'm very glad it's not as deadly as Ebola, or as easy to contract as first believed. I took these photos on March 16, the day before things closed in TX. It was amazing to see so many things shut down so quickly, and my home state, Michigan, was really hard hit so I've been mostly concerned for family there. Now that it's the middle of June I'm less concerned and just trying to do one day at a time, although it has been nice to find toilet paper again. I even created a post for the historic site where I work discussing historic toilet paper, or lack thereof, to make history a bit more relevant. The post got quite a lot of attention. It's odd times but I feel a bit closer to the people we talk about since their fear of disease has become more understandable now.
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  2020-03-16

  COVID-19 Extracts from Personal Journal

  Mid-March. Thinking about all the things that have previously worried me this year that now seem mild and hilarious: moving alone to Tasmania; starting my PhD at a new university and finally meeting my supervisors; turning 28 (haha, actually). Now: Global pandemic; getting really sick; my loved ones getting really sick; state borders closing and being unable to return home even if I want to; my loved ones getting sick and not being able to travel to see them; the economy is destroyed, again. Late-March. It is what it is. What a rollercoaster this year has been, and we're not yet three months in. I've been staying home in self-quarantine for a few weeks now. The days are distinct for twenty-four hours; in the mornings I can recall the previous mornings; the afternoons, the afternoons. Every day I wake around 10am, at some point I paint, make food, drink coffee, stand on the balcony and gaze at the view. At the dining table J plays Catan ("it's your turn"; maniacal laughter; the sound of sawing) while I read. B set up the gym in the spare room and is continually showing me exercises effortlessly, while I struggle on a single push up. We stack wood in the woodshed, B and I come up with names for movies replacing words with toilet paper in one of a million Facebook challenges to bubble up during a time when all we have is time, and after weeks of watching the PM’s announcements as a house, we have all gradually stopped paying attention to the news. What is happening in Tasmania? That's all we care about anymore. I call home and [my parents] are cheery, full of house-plans and routine amidst the uncertainty. Recently J and I were discussing how we have different word associations - prior to all this I saw virus as being inherently technological, a computer term; he saw it as a verb, something penetrating and spreading. He said he felt concerned that we all use the same term but we might all be meaning different things, so how can anyone authentically communicate? I feel that inherently at the moment. I have a wonderful Zoom call with D and D and they are jovial, laughing, but also patient and understanding with my PhD fog. (Sometimes I have to remind myself that I am doing one at all, and it zips back into consciousness with surprise: wait, you're doing it? Now? All you do is sit in your house.) University is at least some kind of consistency. I write to M and A, I paint zealous red gouache flowers on the envelopes, I run to the post box and hold my hand out in the air after touching the handle as though drenched with invisible miasma. J and I collect pine cones at the Domain. When strangers approach from a distance every part of me screams stay away! They seem to walk directly towards us, magnetised, a collision course, and it is always our job to duck and weave to avoid crashing. Crashing means ‘breathing near’. Mid-April. I ask J how many weeks it has been not leaving the house. "I don't know", he says."Four? Five?" We count backwards. I was free on my birthday; the last time I went out for anything was a week after that, Me Wah. J remembers. "At least you got to sit in a restaurant", he says. He remembers mine and B's conversation to the word. I sense his mind is doing backflips in the emptiness, while mine is hazy and soft, a kaleidoscope of dreaming and staring into the flickering flames of our fire, looking at the soft Ghibli rain over the city, staring into never-ending mugs of steaming tea. There’s no need to ever be fully awake. We watch movies B picks out on Netflix (Psychokinesis; A Quiet Place), sip homemade cherry liqueur. We share treats. Occasionally we leave the house in an anxious flurry. People either look nervously as we pass them in the aisle, or not at all; oblivious, they bang into other people, walk aggressively, lean too close. J is frustrated and rattled. "I'm really grumpy", he says, roaring his car into the street. B and I silently look for teddy bears in the windows of people's houses. In our neighbour’s window is a brightly painted sign, ‘Thank you health care workers!’ One particularly cagey afternoon (of golden sun licking the garden in early April, flecked summer shadows, all a warm 20 degrees) I walk. I walk around the Domain and lip sync to repetitive pop songs and take photos of the trees and a fat rainbow parrot, and I move into the dirt to avoid people, always watching, mapping trajectories and walking speed in space. I get home sunburnt and make a fluffy coffee, drink it in the sun on the deck while J pulls up our kale and spinach and gives it to me to munch, pops the heads of tiny caterpillars with his thumbnail. He leaves one for me to do and when I squish it green blood splashes like a poorly made film crime scene pool, obnoxiously overflowing. There are many places I could be during all this that would be worse than here. Mid-May. This is new. The pressure has completely released. I don’t feel on-edge for a millisecond, instead deeply slow and content and watchful. Given-up and exhausted. When I was deeply drunk I looked around my room tearfully (a clear theme these days) and touched my hand to the wall and thanked the spirits of this old house, whether they were listening or not, the echoes and shadows and fingerprints and DNA of those who came before, for having me, and for their care during this time. After the months I have spent within this house I can’t not anthropomorphize the walls. It was a wider gratitude - for the dappled sunlight on the plants on the ledge in the kitchen, for the depths of the crackling fire, watching it lick and munch at the dry logs, for the deep sea breeze coming up our street, for the view of the houses and the stone church and the pines and the mountain drifting beyond the clouds, for the thick fat roses persevering deep into the late autumn, for the brass-golden sun burning my skin lightly in the late afternoon, for everything delicate and rare and wonderful I have been contained with on this property. While coronavirus is rapidly disappearing in Tasmania (knock on wood, we say, tapping our knuckles on the table, and then on our own heads) the rest of the world is gripped in it. Domestic travel is looking possible by July, at the earliest - international not until 2023, so likely after my PhD is concluded. For now, the directive is clear: stay put and stay healthy and don’t spread. Inspired by the frontliners M is considering doing a two-year intensive nursing degree, so by the time we’re both finished perhaps the world will be opened and we can move around and see it. Who knows what the future will bring - and this year, more than any other, the year the word ‘unprecedented’ was thrown around frantically, this holds true. Late-May. Today was nice. I walked aimlessly around the city, bought a coffee from Two Folks and waited eagerly in the alley for it to be ready since only one person could stand in front of the register on the X-marked tape at any given time (the childish thrill of in-person commerce); bought soap from Lush and laughed with the girl with sky-blue ombre hair behind the plexiglass - “Thank you for keeping me in a job!”, she said. People on the street seemed ready to smile at the slightest glance. There is a relieved, selfish joy in the air. At night I drank a bottle of wine and watched It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and as I always have laughed at every dark moment, and things felt preciously safe in this tiny pocket of the world.
• 
  2020-03-16

  All Set With Nothing to Do

  This is a humorous statement about the facts of life during quarantine, especially during the beginning phase. Many of us couldn’t work, we couldn’t go out—the “non-essential” stores, movie theaters, malls, restaurants, and bars were all closed, so there was nowhere to go anyway. This is funny because the author was very well-rested and all set to take on the day, but there was really no day to “take on.” He or she expresses our quandary well. We’re up, ready to go, but there is nowhere to go and nothing to do.
• 
  2020-03-16

  True German

  Original description: "Videos of Italian citizens singing and dancing from balconies during lockdown have been shared widely on global social media and have inspired many in the world. One German tried to imitate and sang from his own balcony to boost morale amid the pandemic, and it turned out … differently." It is a funny video showing german stereotype, but it shows how people react when they are stuck in their homes during this pandemic. Also, I will put a link to another video that compares German and Italian.
• 
  2020-03-16

  End Violence

  This picture if relevant to what is happening to Asian Americans, they face hate crimes almost everyday ever since the outbreak of COVID-19. As a young student who is proud to be an Asian, living in America suddenly sounds like a scary reality that we don't want to face, afraid to be suddenly attack by people who believe Asians are the reason there is a global pandemic.
• 
  2020-03-16

  Food Hoarding Then and Now Thoughts

  A post in which a university student reflects on the historical precedents and potential of current events. The accompanying caption reads: "As a History student, I can’t help but think that we will look back at what is currently happening in the world and we will feel gravely disappointed in ourselves for the selfishness many seem to have during this pandemic. For those who know me, you know I love to study propaganda and food has always played an extremely important role in propaganda and I couldn’t help but think of these two posters while hearing about everything that is happening right now. The authors of @humansofny have compared COVID-19 to a world war, calling it this generation’s world war. This will be the defining conflict of our generation and we have the power to determine how we appear one hundred years from now. We can choose to hoard essentials that everyone needs, or we can try to make sure everyone gets enough. Please. Be responsible when you shop. Be selfless during times like this. We are only as strong as our weakest link and in times like these we must do everything to protect that weak link in our society. Be kind. Be patient. We can get through this together."
• 
  2020-03-16

  Hate and Assault Against Asians

  This was found on a website called talent recap.com, “Hate Crimes and Racist Assaults Against Asians In American Escalates due to Coronavirus”. It introduces the viewers to several events that had happened during the coronavirus and how many asian descents are discriminated for “being the cause of the coronavirus”. During this pandemic I have noticed how so many people are being assaulted from other ignorant people about how they started this virus and that they should be tortured or blamed for the things that has happened. This is important to me because one time when I was in public with my sister to get some groceries, we came with gloves and masks on because we know we have a weak immune system and we also tend to get sick easily so we came protected, but when we went in the meat isle to get steak, a couple was standing there with no gloves on or masks stared at us and walked by saying “Go back to your homeland you chink” while i was speaking in Vietnamese to my mom. I was so angry at that time but I remained calm because we were in public at that time, however it angers me that in events like the one on the website shows how a father and his kids were attacked, in this case stabbed, because they were asians that were seen in public. And it sucks that so many innocent asian people are harmed so much because of others being prejudice based on their ancestry of being an Asian.
• 
  2020-03-16

  Patty Cooks

  A website dedicated to cooking, many posts starting 3/16/2020 are pandemic related
• 
  2020-03-16

  Coronavirus meme

  The image depicts a meme regarding the apparent link between the reasons behind the beginning of COVID-19 and the eventual cancellation of the majority of first year university exams for British students
• 
  2020-03-16

  Meme about a lightning strike in Egypt

  Covid19 meme posted on Facebook which ironically describes a lighting strike on the pyramids in Egypt.
• 
  2020-03-16

  Bay Mills Indian Community Announces Changes to Enterprise Operations

  Announcement on changes to tribal business operations during quarantine. “We recognize this will have an impact on our workers and this was a difficult decision,” said Bryan Newland, Bay Mills tribal chairman. “Despite the economic impact, we must consider the health of our employees and the public’s health during this time.”
• 
  2020-03-16

  Day Trip to Sedona before Quarantine

  My friends and I took a trip to Sedona for the day in order to celebrate senior year before the lockdowns and stay at home orders were issued #cshsecon
• 
  2020-03-16

  Sedona Day Trip before Quarantine

  My friends and I took a day trip to Sedona before all lock downs and stay in place orders were set in place
• 
  2020-03-16

  Sign posted at Suffolk University's Sawyer Library Reference Desk, at the end of our last day of in-person service.

  It is a sign left at the Reference Desk at the end of the last day of in-person Reference service. There were still 175 students who remained on campus, as well as a few faculty. On March 18th all library service moved online, and the physical space of the library was closed.
• 
  2020-03-16

  Suffolk University Instagram March 16, 2020

  Suffolk University Interfaith Center Online Programming During Pandemic
• 
  2020-03-16

  Daily Calendar for First Three Weeks of High School Closure

  Daily calendar for students, posted by their AP US History teacher. The calendar was supposed to cover the three weeks of school closure, with the assumption that school would resume on April 13, which did not happen.
• 
  2020-03-16

  Into the Wild Competitive Trail Run Cancellation

  Into the WIld OC Trail runs was planning to hold their first race of season as late as March 14. However, with the closure of public parking lots and trails on March 16 by OC Parks, and inability to social distance on narrow trails, the race was postponed indefinitely.
• 
  2020-03-16

  Corona Clap by Dee-1, New Orleans, LA

  New Orleans rapper Dee-1 released the song "Corona Clap," a remix of the New Orleans classic "Nolia Clap" by UTP (rappers Juvenile, Wacko and Skip) in March 2020. Lyrics include references to handwashing, cheap flights, NBA cancellations, school and church closures, and toilet paper shortages. The song includes a sound bite from New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell.
• 
  2020-03-05

  REL Plane Itinerary

  This is a screenshot of my trip itinerary for my Spring Break in March. I felt that this was a good contribution because this was the start of the uproar of the pandemic. Once I came back on the 14th everything changed. Business shut down, traveling limited, and school moved to online for the rest of the semester. This was a very significant time for me.