Items
Date is exactly
2020-08-24
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2020-08-24
First Day of School Picture
The picture I chose to add to the archive is my first day of school on August 24, 2020. In this picture, I was laying in bed with my laptop because everything was online. If you were lucky, you got a professor that taught class on Zoom. That is the closest to being in a regular classroom as it got. You were able to see your classmates (if they turned their camera on), you could have discussions with everyone, ask the professor questions and get immediate answers. On the other hand, you could get stuck with a professor who chose to use youtube videos and websites instead of teaching. These were the worst, poor to almost no teacher-student interaction, just discussion boards and Google. It was impossible for me to learn like this, I felt like I was not being taught! It was always stressful when trying to do assignments for classes like this because I did not understand the curriculum. If I needed to contact my professor, I just had to send an email and hope they would email me back soon with answers. Sometimes, I would not get a response until days later, a few times I never got a response. After a while of this, I started to feel miserable, stressed, and depressed. My grades started getting lower and lower and knowing how much school costs, knowing that I was going to lose my grants and scholarships because I was failing, I started having anxiety attacks. In my head, I kept saying, “I cannot learn like this, I know I am going to fail, so why keep trying?” Things got to a point where I would open my laptop, look at my assignments, cry, and then just close my laptop back up. I lost all my motivation and I lost sight of my dreams to be an optometrist. I remember the day that I dropped out, the defeat that I felt, feeling like a complete failure. -
2020-08-24
Adventures in Virtual learning
I’m in grad school now for the second time. I got my B.A. in 2009, and since it was right after the recession and collapse of the loan market, I panicked about jobs and went straight to an M.A. program. It wasn’t the best fit for me professionally or academically, but I didn’t have the life experience to identify that at the time. However, it was still valuable, and I met some of my best friends and professional connections I maintain to this day. Starting in 2012, I left academia and worked in a variety of jobs and fields before realizing I wanted to engage with archives and public history academically again. I found out I got into my dream grad program in late January 2020, and I was elated! Almost a decade after leaving my first graduate program, I was ready to start the next step of my educational and professional career. The excitement of a new city, new colleagues and friends, and fresh intellectual challenges awaited. More than anything, I was thrilled that my program wasn’t online, as that is not my preferred mode of learning. I don’t remember the precise dates, but COVID-19 came onto my radar around then. I know I tracked its progression through Washington state and then its spread to the rest of the country. Finally, it came to my town, and everything shut down. I ended up moving cross-country during the pandemic (another story entirely). Then, horror of horrors, classes began—online. The classes I’d been so excited for were moved to Zoom, my new classmates and colleagues nothing more than little squares. Some of them had pets, which was exciting, but in many ways, it felt like a waste of a year in terms of networking and developing camaraderie. Shifting to what is essentially a virtual, full-time job was a unique challenge. I wore pajamas most days, which was fun. I read all the advice telling me to put on clothes that I’d wear to the office or to campus, but I struggled to summon the motivation to do so when I knew I wouldn’t be going outside. My schedule was interesting, at least until I got a teaching assistantship gig that required more set hours. (The sleep inversion that occurs when the only things you’re required to be at are evening classes is incredible.) However, the lack of oversight meant some really great things! For the first time in my life, I was able to develop a reading/writing schedule that worked well for me. I had to, so I did. I was also able to put Netflix on in the background or play podcasts while I worked. Most importantly, I conquered my unease with online education. While asynchronous courses are still not my preference, over a year of remote learning means that Zoom is old hat. I, an introvert, also have a much easier time reaching out to strangers or new acquaintances. As we’ve met in person over the last month, some of those people have become great friends! While virtual learning and teleworking still aren’t my ideal, I love the new possibilities they offer for more accessible work and educational opportunities. [cat pictures] My coworkers were pretty great, and they miss me a lot now that I’m back working and studying in person. I still see them, but it’s just not the same. -
2020-08-24
Aerobics Oz Style
During Melbourne stage 4 lockdown we were limited to only 1 hour of exercise outdoors each day. I usually do significantly more than this so was looking for activities to do in my very small apartment. Channel 10 released via their app a whole bunch of old Aerobics Oz Style videos from the 90s so I started doing those. This is a picture of Anton, who I remembered from watching the program occasionally as a child. -
2020-08-24
"In the Age of Information, Ignorance is a Choice"
This post ties the pandemic and protesting together--the protester is wearing a mask, and while her sign is most likely a reference to the ignorance of white supremacy, it also works for ignorance of anti-maskers or COVID conspiracy theorists. -
2020-08-24
Australian Health Worker quote on changes in responsibilities
The elevation of non-managers into the position of management caused quite a lot of concern. -
2020-08-24
ACLU of New Mexico Files Class-Action Lawsuit Against the State of New Mexico
The ACLU of New Mexico joined forces with both local and international law firms to file a class-action lawsuit against the state of New Mexico. The lawsuit states that the state of New Mexico has failed to protect the lives and constitutional rights of people held in the correctional system. HST580, ASU, New Mexico Narratives, New Mexico, lawsuit, constitutional right, correctional system, ACLU, incarceration, loss, death, safe practice -
2020-08-24
Moc Fire Evacuation Orders Lifted
Amidst the coronavirus pandemic many people in California have been evacuated to fairgrounds throughout the state. This article includes a photo showing the social distancing measures that still need to be observed by during this additional crisis. Evacuees sit on folding chairs distanced from each other and many people wear masks as they attend an information briefing at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds in Sonora. -
2020-08-24
What the Coronavirus Pandemic Means for the Future of Broadway
This article from the New Yorker touches on what the long-term effects on Broadway plays may be due to COVID-19. It touches on multiple issues facing Broadway actors, such as the recent deaths of Nick Cordero and Terrence McNally due to complications from COVID-19, the strain on the Actor's Fund due to the financial aid needed by unemployed actors, and how actors are continuing to try to perform during the pandemic. The end even touches on the Black Lives Matter movement and its possible implications on Broadway. -
2020-08-24
You Have to Pay for the Body
In California if your loved one dies from Covid-19 you have to pay to have their remains sent to you as this Tweet explains. -
2020-08-24
Monster
Over quarentine I collected monster cans next to my school desk. I probable spent close to three hundred dollars in all and collected almost all the cans. -
2020-08-24
Everybody has a plan until they don't
I am finally returning to college, but certainly not under the circumstances I anticipated. I am already adjusting from a different major, but could have never imagined the added stress that this pandemic has brought. My family works in healthcare, so I considered myself generally aware of virology and therefore healthy practices to keep myself safe. However, I had no idea the measures that needed to be taken to ensure minimal spread. This is especially true of a college campus, which I haven't found myself on in several years. There is absolutely no reason to politicize this, we are all in this together. -
2020-08-24
A Pandemic that got Old Quick
In my opinion, teens and students around the United States were excited to take a one-two week break from school, and experience what it's like learning at home. Many memes and jokes were posted, and at the beginning, they were interpreted as funny. However, as the situation got worse and when we went into full quarantine, the constant jokes and excitement of having a longer spring break started to not be funny anymore. What we thought was ok to laugh about soon became upsetting, especially for people like the class of 2020 who was missing out on Senior year activities and proms, and when people around the world were dying. -
2020-08-24
How I've Been Occupying My Time to Not Occupy Spaces
Like most people, I have discovered an interest in hobbies that I never really had the time to indulge in prior to the pandemic. I was living in San Francisco, beginning the end of my college years and looking forward to what the future held for me and my beautiful, and not at all expensive, B.A. in philosophy that I was to receive in December 2020. Most of my friends were graduating in the Spring and I was so envious... that was until the pandemic hit. Everything moved so quickly. I had only 3 days to move out of my apartment, say good-bye the the people closest to me, and leave the city I've had the privilege of living in for the last three years. A city where I've scattered memories all over the place, danced through the streets with kindred spirits I hadn't met before, and developed a fierce love for my first home as an independent young woman. All stripped away from the palms of my hands, and in a matter of days it was the end of an era. It was the beginning of a global pandemic, something barely anybody had experienced before. The world seemed to only inhibit negativity and death, a cocktail very few people could take, and that's including a chaser. Sadness filled the air and polluted social media platforms. We all felt uncertain, scared, and alone. These feelings crept up, and leeched onto us. But one thing was absolutely certain, I had all the time in the world. There I was, 22 with no job and nowhere to go. There was nowhere I could go. So I did what any ordinary person would do in this situation, and I taught myself how to function the way humans did before social media and the internet. I learned to do some of the things that were once taught to young women in school with the intention of making them a qualified wife, but I called them hobbies. I learned to knit, embroider, sew by hand and by sewing machine, thoroughly clean a bathroom, and I also mastered the art of Mediterranean cooking. In the photo I have a attached I am showing off a scarf that I made in the first couple of weeks in quarantine. I playfully boasted my finished craft to my philosophy of nature class, and we all had a laugh. I miss that group of people. I do, however, find some happiness in being able to take a step back and slow down. The only reason I was able to do so was because I didn't have a choice in the matter. The world was crashing down right before my eyes and I couldn't do anything to stop it aside from staying home and staying away from others. What I think this narrative has to say about the pandemic is that people actually have the capacity to entertain themselves outside of the internet. Growing up I was always using the internet. I went from selecting my Top 8 on MySpace to watching prank videos on youtube to having class virtually. I have become sick of screen time that I have no choice but to pick something up to stay interested in the ordinary day to day. I've developed skills that could help me out in the future, if I could be so brave to assume there is a future of course. It is important for me to find some light, to find some joy. I giggled before this global pandemic, I've giggled during, and I will giggle after. Heck, I giggled while writing this personal narrative called an assignment. I have to giggle, it keeps me young and alive. It is important to find some light in all the darkness, and I think that's one of the most important things I've truly learned through all of this: To be the light you so desperately want to see. I've called that scarf my quarantine sqarf, and I can't wait to wear it for the rest of my time and then gift it to someone I love one day when I am old and saggy, if I am so lucky to get there. Stay safe and wash your hands. -
2020-08-24
San Francisco Stays Home
The eerie and empty streets of downtown San Francisco shows social fears and ultimately the decisions to stay home amid the pandemic. -
2020-08-24
Golden Opportunity
I created this sweet (as in cool) poster to promote the JOTPY Internship and recruit more participants for the fall semester. I love the imagery of hand sanitizer as liquid gold. The fact that it a public mural makes it even more compelling. I started off with 9 students enrolled in the fall internship. This internship is open to ASU history graduate students. Yet, slowly that number dropped down to four. I’m not sure why. I don’t think that there’s a better opportunity out there right now. Nowhere else can you complete a remote internship on the scale of the COVID-19 archive. This archive is magnanimous, it’s important now, but it will be remembered as a watershed moment in public history projects. I do recognize that people are busy, and the fact that the internship goes beyond the normal 7.5 week session is an extra piece to juggle, but in my mind anyone who wants to do public history or gain a serious skill set needs to be part of this project. I hope I can convince more people to join. -
2020-08-24
Life in Covid
At the age of 18, never did I expect that the end of my senior year of high school would be plagued by a global pandemic that has tested this world's ability to adapt and innovate on the go. On March 12th, 2020, was the last day of high school for me at Westwood High School in Westwood, MA. My fellow students were aware that Covid-19 had begun to take its toll on America. We heard rumors that the school administration was planning on taking a one week breaks to assess the situation at hand. I remember some students being excited that they would have a one week "vacation" and others being more aware that this one week break was really just a way for the school to say that school would be conducted remotely for the rest of the year. As I returned home that Thursday, I received an email from the school announcing that there would at least be a two week hiatus to deeply clean the school and plan for the future. At that moment, I knew my school year, spring sports season, final prom, and my summer were seriously altered. It is what it is. I am not a selfish person, so yes I was upset, but I knew these changers were for the better. -
2020-08-24
Sticking through it.
I typically play Dungeons & Dragons with a few people every other week. As things have been a constant roller coaster for many conflicts are always on the rise. Having to change everything from in-person games to fully online was quite time consuming in the beginning. Unfortunately, quite a few people had to drop out entirely due to having to find new jobs. I have been told that they look forward to the games and feel everything isn’t as crazy when they can spend a few hours hanging out and enjoying time playing together. I found myself with a lot more time on my hands recently with everything still dragging along and put in a lot of work to make sure the games are still available if the group finds they will be able to participate. -
2020-08-24
health code
It is the health code that is required for every Chinese citizens to enter public buildings and use public transportations. It proves that you have not encountered any one who has been tested positive nor did you traveled to a high-risk area in the last 14 days; you would only be allowed to go into the public if the health code is green. It has become a daily essential for me, like face masks and hand sanitizes.