Items

• 
  2020-12-01

  Carpark Run

  To return to New Zealand in late 2020 I had to complete 14 days of hotel quarantine. Luckily, my hotel had a fenced off area of the carpark that we were able to use for exercise for an hour each day. This strava activity shows a run I did around the very small carpark (one of six during the two weeks), which involved running in my mask and staying a few meters from the other people in the space. Without these bursts of activity, two weeks in a hotel room would have been much less bearable.
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  2020-12-01

  Pandemic logic

  A comic strip about Covid-19
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  2020-12-01

  Jeff Stutler II Oral History, 2020/12/01

  This is an audio recording about my family's challenges in being with my father when he had a stroke in December of 2020. Forced distancing during family emergencies can be quite a scary experience.
• 
  2020-12-01

  How history got me through lockdown

  A story I wrote about using history to keep a sense of perspective and gratitude through Melbourne's long lockdown in 2020. Coming against a background of university job losses and policies disfavouring humanities degrees I also wanted to let historians know that their work is important and has relevance.
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  2020-12-01

  St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne newsletter 2020 review issue focussed on the response to the year's two COVID waves

  The stories illustrate both swift adaptation of clinical practice (e.g. in the shift to telehealth consultations), the enormous efforts put in, and the outpouring of community support which helped sustain patients and staff in the difficult conditions of lockdown.
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  2020-12-01

  Five Experts Reflect on the Health Equity Implications of the Pandemic

  The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Blog published this article which contains the words of 5 different experts on health inequity during the pandemic.
• 
  2020-12-01

  My Day

  December 1, 2020 Over Thanksgiving break, I went to Saint Francisville and went hunting and had fun with my cousins. On the day before Thanksgiving, I shot my third deer and it was a doe that weighed 122 pounds and I was very excited. On Thanksgiving, we went to my grandmother’s house in Saint Francisville, which is about 10 minutes from our property. I ate turkey and ham and rice and gravy for lunch, and then I went and played with my little cousins. Later, we had a very good ice cream pie and then went home that night. On Saturday, we watched the Iron Bowl and watched Alabama beat Auburn 42-13, but it should’ve been 49-6. Then right after that we switched over to the Egg Bowl and watched Ole Miss beat Mississippi State. Yesterday we had basketball practice, and when I got home, my basketball shoes finally came in. They’re blue Kyrie low 3s. After school, I got a ride home with a friend because my sister had already left. I went to my friend’s house and just stayed there for a little while and more of my friends came there too. We played Madden and I beat my friend 35-8, and it was only the third quarter when he quit. At about 5:30, we walked to Circle K for snacks and it was so cold outside. I got a Rice Krispy Treat, Funyuns, and a drink, and then I went home and laid in bed and ate my snacks and had dinner and went to bed.
• 
  2020-12-01

  Wildlife activists during the pandemic

  This is an instagram post made by Leonardo Dicaprio. Leonardo Dicaprio is a very big activist for wildlife conservation and has donated millions of dollars over the years to help wildlife. This post specifically is talking about how the last year has had a hard impact on wildlife with COVID being one of the biggest factors. This post explains how he will be helping even more than he already has and how he will be helping and how others can help too. He explains in the post how important wildlife is to the planet as a whole and how we need to take action before it is too late.
• 
  2020-12-01

  Hannah Rand Illustration Wear a Mask

  The best gift you could give this season is wearing a mask • • • • #ladieswhodesign #girlsmakingmagic #creativewomen #womenwhodraw #creativeasswomen #typingfeminism #letteringcommunity #letteringlove #femaleartist #womenofdesign #typetopia #womenofillustration #justgirlproject #femmetype #goodtype #typeyeah #editorialillustration #beautyillustration #fashionillustration #feministjazzy #womenoftype #typeoftheday #wearamask #wearyourmask #staysafe #stayhome #holidayseason
• 
  2020-12-01

  Senior Year mixed with Covid-19

  In 2020, I was a senior in high school receiving my high school diploma and my associates degree. I worked so hard for 4 years, taking so many college courses and pushing myself so hard at a young age to get both degrees. I was very upset when I had my senior year taken away from me. It was like I didn't know what hit me. March 13, 2020 was any normal day until we find out that was the last day of high school and seeing our friends for a while. I still tried to make the best out of the situation. My year was ruined and to top it all off I couldn't even enjoy time with my friends due to lockdown. Up until the summer if 2020, everyone was very cautious, but then people acted like the outbreak didn't exist. Sadly, I fell under that category of people. My friends and I decided that a good way to celebrate graduation would be going on vacation to Mexico. Of course with my luck guess what gift I came back to NYC with? YUP, covid! I'm not going to lie it was the scariest days of my life. I never took anything so seriously until after I had it. I was apart of the lucky people who had slim to none symptoms and only for 2 weeks. Ever since then I have been extremely cautious and paranoid of getting sick again, even going to the supermarket I'm paranoid. This was covid-19 experience so far and hopefully epidemiologists can put an end to this outbreak soon.
• 
  2020-12-01

  Tea Time Together

  I am very close with my mom, and used to regularly visit my grandmother, but I moved across the country right before Covid-19 and was unable to visit this year. I was feeling extremely homesick during the fall, as my grandmother and I have birthdays near each other and usually celebrate together but we were unable to do so this year. While my grandmother and I did send letters and cards to each other and I facetime with my mom fairly often, I was still experiencing a feeling of loss and a lack of connection. To bring us together, my mom proposed that the three of us all use the same tea advent calendar to celebrate the holidays. We all got the same mug, the same tea set, and spent the month of December enjoying tea from three different places, which allowed us to feel a sense of togetherness, even when we are apart.
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  2020-12-01

  The Covid Quilt

  This is my Covid Quilt. When the lock down started I ordered a bunch of different fabrics to make masks with. The fabric size that seemed to have the most value was called a fat quarter. After making my family a bunch of bright colored masks, I had so many squares of fabric left over I decided to save them. I was not sure why I was saving them though. By the end of this summer I had hundreds of squares and decided to make a quilt. This is my Covid quilt. You can see a years worth of colorful masks represented in it. I really wish I knew how to do embroidery. I would embroider the words, "Covid Quilt 2020" into it. I am not even a sewer. I took a class in high school over twenty years ago. Defiantly imperfect just like the year 2020. But it is warm and thick. I think I will try my best to take care of it.
• 
  2020-12-01

  Funny, First dose of vaccine side effects

  @vivi.karkasi enters her home after getting her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. She notices some funny side effects.
• 2020-12-01

  Journaling Through COVID

  It was probably late March this year when I realized the pandemic was much bigger than anyone could have predicted. On the 16th, when my school district and the whole of the country went into emergency lockdown for three weeks, it just felt surreal, as if there was no way any of this was actually happening. Still as cases started rising day by day, I’d watch the graph as it went up and down, counting the COVID cases as they happened. I’d track the global progress in dealing with the pandemic, taking in every new piece of information about it, my mind buzzing and eventually pounding with everything happening around me. To say the least, it wasn’t long before I quickly became overwhelmed with the weight of everything around me, beginning April. It was around that time when I found my journal, a small navy colored book, probably costing about a dollar, yet worth so much more. Before the pandemic began, I rarely used a journal or any physical book to organize my thoughts; I’d just sometimes use the notes app on my phone. But, as the pandemic snowballed into what it is now, and I felt my relationship with the world around me changing, I quickly realized I needed an outlet specifically designed to help me process my thoughts. A new news story in this crazy year would pop up. I wrote something down. I graduated high school in a cramped car packed with my family in a traffic line of people I couldn’t really recognize, instead of a crowded stadium with everyone I’ve known since I was eleven. I wrote something down. I celebrated my 18th birthday in a socially-distanced way, instead of going out with my friends. I wrote something down. Starting college, two states away from my school, beginning what’s supposed to be one of the best experiences, alone. I wrote something down. And, yet, feeling guilty, writing all of this, knowing and understanding that I am still incredibly fortunate and lucky to be surrounded by those who love me, and I them. I write something down. Whether I realized it or not at the time, journaling really became a therapy to calm my already anxious mind from overthinking, as it slowed me down enough to process the surrounding changes. My journal was one of the few things, one of the few spaces in this new lifestyle, that I felt I had complete control over. No matter what was going on outside, and as much as I’m trying to learn more about everything that comes up this year, taking it in while still also taking care of my mental health, I suddenly found this space where I could just think, say, and write what I feel. More than just a place to process my thoughts, which is what I usually take from writing, my journal just became an extension of myself, a comfort that I didn’t know I needed, as I was able to take things one step at a time. In a world of judgement and chaos, I could return to a place where there was order, and I could say what I wanted, how I really felt about so many things changing at once, all out of my grasp. I’m safe there. And, when I wasn’t writing what I was feeling or thinking at that moment, but still needed an escape, I'd use this journal, alongside my sketchbook, adding in aimless doodles or spending time actually sketching. In the same way one reads books to learn a new truth or escape reality, I did so too for just long enough to gain control of my feelings before diving back into a world too big to understand. It was, and still is, the middle ground connecting my quarantine space with the world around me. But, perhaps one of the biggest advantages of documenting this journey is that now I have this time capsule of what I was feeling, what I’m still feeling about this entire crisis and how I’ve been dealing with it. It’s a piece of me that will always reflect my own perspective amongst everyone else’s voices and stories throughout all of this chaos, and I get to hold onto it forever. So going forwards, journaling is something that I hope I can always return to, especially in times of stress or anxiety, for the value and journey of reflecting on self-identity is one that will always remain priceless.
• 
  2020-12-01

  Nintendo Switch

  Ever since I was a child I have always had a love for Nintendo and their many consoles and games they’ve made throughout the years. As a child I played on the DS and 3DS and have wonderful memories with those consoles in particular. Before Covid, I didn’t think much of the Nintendo Switch. I always thought about buying a Nintendo Switch but never went ahead to make the purchase. I thought of it as an unnecessary console and thought I could just stick with playing on the 3DS when I felt the need to play a video game. I always loved the dual screen aspect of the DS and 3DS, something the Nintendo Switch lacked. Everything changed sometime in February when the Special Edition Animal Crossing Nintendo Switch was announced. Animal Crossing was one of the franchises which I had a lot of history with, playing ever since I was little. When I heard they were releasing an Animal Crossing themed Switch, I knew I had to buy it. Little did I know what world the Nintendo Switch would open me up to during a time of isolation, loneliness and chaos. I preordered the Nintendo Switch only a month or two before the pandemic broke out, it was as if I knew something huge was going to happen and I had to stock up supplies. I’d like to think I knew what was coming, and I was doing a favor for myself. By the time my Switch was delivered lock down had already ensued and all of America was going into quarantine. It was March 17th when it arrived, and the Nintendo Switch from then on, has been very special to me. For many people, the release of Animal Crossing New Horizons alongside the themed switch was a bright light in the darkness that is the pandemic. Through escapism, millions of people were able to escape to a deserted island they could build up to their wildest dreams through this game and I was one of those people. This game helped me think about other things than the pandemic, it gave me some joy in these trying times. I played many other games when I first got my switch besides Animal Crossing including Fire Emblem Three Houses and Rune Factory 4 Special. All these games gave me a place to escape to, and for me, having a place to escape to during the pandemic was the best thing that I could’ve done. The best part was I could share this joy with others. It’s not only the games themselves that brought me some joy during the pandemic, but also the communities along with it. I made countless online friends through these games, ones that I’m very close with. Through Discord, I joined a Rune Factory server and made many close friends through it. I felt a belonging during such an isolating period in our lives. I saw how others struggled, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t let that happen to myself. I’ve always been the introvert type but even now and then I get bored only spending time to myself. These video game communities helped me form friendships and bonds during a time that was thought of as impossible. Through Rune Factory 4 I especially made friends I’m still very close with even now. If I never had bought the Nintendo Switch, I would’ve never found these communities filled with wonderful people who were just like me, looking for belonging, looking for a friend, an escape from reality. Not only can I share my love for these games with these people, but I can share my Nintendo Switch with my family as well. While I’m quarantined with my family we would bond by playing games together on my Nintendo Switch. I never get to hang out with my older brother much since he has a full-time job, but I was able to get him to play with me and my sister, it was a heartwarming and fun moment I will keep as a good memory even during the pandemic. The Nintendo switch is a mediator between my quarantined space and the outside world through the internet. I can play online games with my friends and meet people through online gaming communities. I can see when my friends are online and see what they are playing. This day and age, with technology it’s so easy to connect with the outside world from your own bedroom, and so I did it with my Nintendo Switch. The possibilities of the Nintendo Switch are endless. Even when the pandemic ends, the Switch will never lose its value to me. I have made so many good memories with this Nintendo Switch over the past months I’ve had it, and I plan to make many more. There are many games coming to the Switch in the future such as Rune Factory 5 which I’m looking forward to. This time I have many friends who play the games I play, so when I start new games they’ll be by my side, and we can bond while playing the games together.
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  2020-12-01

  COVID in the Navajo Nation

  When I was originally planning my trip, I hoped to visit Antelope Canyon, as well as a few other parks on the Navajo Reservation, but the Navajo Nation has been one of the hardest-hit regions in the country, so by the time I was in the area, the parks were closed, and even if they had been open, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable visiting and spreading it more, even if I would have been outside and away from people. Because of that experience I wanted to take this space to try to amplify their experience. This Instagram account records the experience of an organization providing relief to members of the tribe. There are only 45 search results for Navajo in the archive, which I would constitute as an archival silence considering that many cities with comparable populations have hundreds of entries. I know that taking a screenshot of a website can only tell you so much, but it is the best way I could come up with of elevating the voices of the Navajo Nation, which is an important practice to engage within the context of archival work.
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  2020-12-01

  Growth in Quarantine

  The week before the national quarantine guidelines were announced, I was on a choir trip to the Southern Division ACDA competition in Alabama. This trip was the beginning of my final high school plans, the beginning of the end. I was expecting to come home and tell my friends all about it, to plan for my next choir trip to New York City in a few short weeks, to soak up my last moments of high school, and, of course, to finally walk across the stage and graduate. It is kind of ironic that I was dreading the spotlight on me when I was handed my diploma and doing the awkward tassel flip, but now I wish I could have anything close to that experience. When I left that day for Alabama, I did not expect to never see a majority of those people from school ever again. The feelings of hopelessness and of worthlessness were shared among many globally, including myself, leaving me in a state of prolonged stagnance. Immediately after I got off the bus home from Alabama, I was sent on a train to my dad’s new house in rural upstate New York. I did not get to go home and get my things or say hi to my family. The next few months of my life consisted of my duffel bag packed for one week, random Amazon orders, and an endless forest. At first, I still had school to keep me occupied and feel normal, but eventually, that ended and I had nothing to fill up the days. My dad was barely home, as he had just started a new job, and there was no other human within several miles, not that I could talk to them anyway, but the thought would have been nice. I was completely isolated. I tried painting, baking, video games, and dying my hair, but nothing filled the emptiness I was feeling. I felt extremely unproductive, like I was just wasting away where no one could find me. Eventually, I decided to take advantage of the nothingness surrounding me. I ventured into the woods and saw a whole world that kept continuing amidst the pandemic. I was reminded that life kept going, and while it seemed like mine was completely frozen, that it would start up again one day. I started spending more and more time in the woods, watching saplings develop, the fawns growing older, and the stream carve its way through the rough earth. In order to keep a piece of that life closer to home, I created biospheres in glass jars so that I could feel the hope for life when I didn’t want to go outside. Through those months, I did a lot of reflection on the pandemic and what it meant for myself and others. I realized that my life will continue, I will continue to live one day, but some people will not if we are not in isolation, so suddenly all the pain of the things I missed was worth it. Eventually, I had to leave New York and come to Washington. I moved into my mom’s two bedroom apartment shared by her boyfriend and my little brother a few months prior to school starting. I began to experience those same things I did when in New York at first, but the difference was that here, I did not have a vast forest to walk into. I had approximately 1,200 square feet and a shared bedroom with a five year old boy to wander around. I had to learn to cope all over again. I turned to one of my favorite things, even before the pandemic: plants. A simple succulent now carried so much more weight than before, reminding me of life, similar to the forest in New York. I have since expanded my plant collection in my dorm room, reminding myself everyday that even when it doesn’t feel like it, I am continuing to grow and one day life will be back to normal. Once the pandemic ends, I will continue to care for and expand my collection of plants. I think that one day it will be cool to show people my “pandemic plants.” It will be a symbol of my growth through quarantine, a symbol that I made it. I never thought that something so simple would make such a big difference in my life. Everyone lost something during this time, but I believe everyone gained something too, and I gained some very valuable life lessons and insight. While the pandemic is still blazing forward and so many things are changing, I will try my best to stay inspired by life and inspire those around me as well.
• 
  2020-12-01

  Family Board Game Night

  While in quarantine during this pandemic, my family and I were forced to spend much time together. We often wondered what we could do to make the time pass while most of us were out of work because of Covid-19. My family members and I, as well as my neighbors who we were quarantining with, decided that it would be a fun idea to start playing board games. These games consisted of Monopoly, What Do You Meme, and Cards Against Humanity. Playing these games brought my family closer together while fighting through a tough time in life.
• 
  2020-12-01

  Behind the Scenes of a COVID-19 Nurse

  This photograph went viral on Instagram, with many people I know sharing the post on their stories in order to spread awareness about how hard nurses and other healthcare employees are working. I think this photo is really important because it shows a side of the pandemic that no one is really thinking about. It shows how healthcare workers are unable to see their families because they are tirelessly working with COVID-19 patients and don’t want to infect their families. This shows a marginalized group of people, healthcare workers, who haven’t really had their voices heard or cared about enough through the pandemic. Healthcare workers have not been appreciated enough for all the hard work and sacrifices they have made for their patients during 2020. In addition, this post gives voices to women who have often been silenced, allowing Syndi Lane to share her story with the world, encouraging others to follow.
• 
  2020-12-01

  Melrose Wakefield Hospital COVID precautions

  One of my coworkers tested positive for COVID-19, so all the employees got tested to ensure we were all being safe at work. I think the photos I captured at Melrose Wakefield Hospital tells a story about all the precautions to stay safe and healthy in an unprecedented time. These photos respond to the needs and considerations of an ethical archive because it shows what precautions are being taken both inside and outside a hospital. In The Ethical Archivist, the author wrote about the ethics of acquisition, which documents have permanent or evidentiary value. I think these pictures may be seemingly unimportant to most people, but to historians this is data that shows what types of mandates and precautions were put in place during a worldwide pandemic.
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  2020-12-01

  Nova Scotia government has spent $580M so far responding to the pandemic

  This article details how much money the government of Nova Scotia allocated to different sectors of the Nova Scotian economy during the pandemic.
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  2020-12-01

  Local Restaurant Staying Safe During The Pandemic

  The last few months of the pandemic has gotten out of control to a point where I do not even like to go out to eat. I mostly have home cooked meals or order food to be delivered to my house. The 1st of December was my brother's birthday and we decided we were going to have a nice meal for him. He chose where he wanted to eat and he chose Kona Grill. When arriving there we had to be put on a waitlist to get seated. They did not allow us to wait in the restaurant but outside to enforce social distancing. When we were being seated I was looking around and they had followed the CDC recommendations and had tables six feet apart and had a reduced capacity. During dinner I had to use the bathroom and there was a sign saying any person experiencing symptoms were not allowed in the restaurant, employees were mandated to wear masks at all times and customers were asked to wear masks when possible. Within the restaurant it is known that when you are at your table a mask is not required but when not at your table a mask is highly suggested to be worn.
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  2020-12-01

  Wet'suwet'en women urge B.C. to declare oil and gas work non-essential amid COVID

  Article discussing the Wet'suwet'en women petitioning for the oil and gas industry to not be considered "essential"
• 
  2020-12-01

  Graduation pack

  Since the graduation has been canceled due to COVID-19, the graduation package had to be shipped to students and let us keep it until it is safe to hold the actual ceremony on campus. I received mine on Dec. 1st, the ceremony was supposed to be hold on Dec. 12 online. I don’t know if the ceremony will be hold in the near future, but I believe that it won’t be what we’ve imagined it. I won’t be able to see all my friends together again, some of us graduated and went to other countries because of the unfriendly policy to international students, and I don’t even know if I will ever see them again.
• 2020-12-01

  Having a Baby in a Pandemic

  Having a baby is always a joyful, if not stressful, time, and having a baby in the middle of a global pandemic simply amplifies both of these emotions. My son was born on September 30, 2020, which means we found out about the pregnancy at the same time we found out about the COVID-19 global pandemic. Going through the initial lockdown, all of the information and misinformation, while knowing that we had a baby on the way made everything that much scarier. The joyful part came when he was born, a couple of weeks early, but a totally healthy baby boy. The joy of a new baby joining the family allowed us to take a break from the daily grind of living through a pandemic. And while no one was able to visit at the hospital, or meet him until quarantining for 14 days, and all had to hold him while wearing a mask, the joy definitely outweighed the stress. Our covid baby, and the journey to him joining our family, will be a bright spot in our family in an otherwise very dark year.
• 
  2020-12-01

  Interview with a Cat

  During the pandemic, I have been home much more than I ever thought I would. It has given me a lot of free time, that I don't know what to do with, but my cats could not be happier to have their people around more. It has allowed us to gain a better understanding of each other and the things that they help me with emotionally during this time. My cats, Waffles and Hugh, are very special to me. I adopted Waffles from a humane society three years ago, and Hugh from the side of the road 2 years ago. They have been very helpful to me as emotional support animals through a lot of my college career, and they are both very sweet boys. During the pandemic, they have each gotten a little closer to my heart because their personalities have really started to shine through because I am able to be home and watch and interact with them more. Waffles is a 14lb grey and white longhair, and Hugh is a 10lb black and white short hair. Hugh is rambunctious. Waffles is not. It has been heartwarming to watch how they each take care of each other, and piss each other off a bit (as brothers and all family do) and it has made me realize how important my cats are to me. When I have bad days, they are so much more responsive to me. They come cuddle and bug me so that I get out of bed and start doing things, rather than lay there and wallow as we so often want to do. It really makes me wonder what is going on in their heads. My cats have been my saviors through this whole thing, they have been a constant that doesn't change. They have been sources of comfort and entertainment, and I could not imagine getting through this without them.
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  2020-12-01

  Anti-gay Hungarian MEP resigns after being found at a 25-man orgy

  I hate to be the one to perpetuate the closeted homophobe stereotype, however, how could you not talk about an anti-gay politician that was found with bloodied-form running from police and a 25-man orgy, violating social distancing laws, while on drugs? Sounds like an adult-comedy bit that would make a quarter of the audience give a light chuckle to the comedian on stage! After this fiasco, they quickly resigned from their position as MEP in Hungary where he spent years writing bills and documents to actively harm the LGBTQ+ community.
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  2020-12-01

  Beetle Husbandry

  In this pandemic, there has been no shortage of people sharing stories of being in quarantine with their pets and companions, however too saturated are stories of cats and kittens, dogs and puppies, and all those other lovely mammalian companions. Invertebrates truly are unique to raise and care for and this pet owner has their beetle perusing the pages of a Japanese-English encyclopedia on itself.
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  2020-12-01

  Just A Number

  Coronavirus is a global pandemic that has disrupted all of our lives. I was just ending my senior year of high school, and i felt i had gotten everything taken away from me. As the numbers spiked, it became really scary and I realized how serious this really was. I want to show how serious this pandemic is in a poem i wrote.
• 
  2020-12-01

  Involuntarily Online

  The easiest way to explain the feeling is exhaustion. As somebody who doesn't learn well independently nor online, this year has been hard in so many ways. Entering my third, yes THIRD (fourth if we're going to count spring 2020), fully online semester, I can only express what I feel as exhaustion. Mentally, physically, and emotionally, it feels as though there is not that light at the end of the tunnel everybody is talking about. While I know my troubles are surface level compared to the tragedy faced by many this last year, the turmoil I've experienced as a result is truly starting to hit home. I'm not the best online learner, I never have been, which is why in my time in college I have specifically designed my classes to fit into in person lectures only. My University has begun to transition into on campus classes again, although I am one of the few I know who have yet to have an in person option. While life isn't ever fair, it is difficult to continue to believe in a system that is providing resources and in person education to some, with no clear indicator of why they were chosen, and leaves others to continue to try our best. I love my school, I would not want to be anywhere else hands down, and I do believe that they are doing what is best for not only the student body, but our surround community as well. But gosh, am I exhausted.
• 2020-12-01

  I've Taken the COVID-19 Test Twice in as Many Months

  I have always gotten sick during the fall semester; it's just how my immune system has always been with my allergies and all of the normal sicknesses that go around this time of year. This year the fall semester and my normal sicknesses during it have been a source of stress for me on top of my classes. I am currently attending Florida Gulf Coast University and we have to fill out a daily health screening app that puts case investigators in contact with us if we report any symptom that might be related to COVID-19. This semester I have been in contact with case investigators twice. The first time was sometime around October 26 when I got my first COVID-19 test. I had a cough, a sore throat, and was experiencing fatigue but no fever. Just to be sure, I scheduled a test at a local CVS. The test at CVS you have to administer yourself and was unpleasant to say the least. My results came back negative on October 29, I told my case investigator, and returned to class. I missed my zoom class that Monday as well as my on-campus class that Tuesday. The following month, I developed a fever that reached 103.8 at its highest but I had no other symptoms except a cough after my fever passed. I tested on November 17 at another local CVS. It was the same self-administered test. I attended my class the Monday before, my temperature during which was between 102.8 and 103. I missed my class that Tuesday and got my results on November 20. It was once again negative, and I was able to return to my on-campus classes once my cough stopped. Like many other students, this pandemic has interrupted my normal school life and has added stress to an already stressful semester. In addition to this, not being able to attend class while I was waiting on my test results like has impacted my grades though I would not have attended those classes anyway if I were allowed to while waiting on my results.
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  2020-12-01

  How Covid Affected Me

  A personal story about how Airlines suck mostly.
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  2020-12-01

  Teaching...during a pandemic

  The story is about how COVID-19 has affected the educational system.
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  2020-12-01

  Transportation Troubles

  The decision to stay safe or risk quarantine has always been available to people, however with the small-scale reopening of schools among Boston's Colleges of the Fenway bordering the green line it is made more apparent. With the increase of people returning to some semblance of normal by using public transit, there has been discussion of an increase in prices for using such services due to the lack of financial stability. With this, there has been no massive shift yet, but there are noticeable increases being made that the public is wary of. Interestingly enough, this is restarting another conversation in the practicality of marketing public transportation. This in part references the lesson I was made aware of in my Boston History class, which talked of the backlash the greenline originally faced as it made its way into the unknown and potentially dangerous waters of underground transit. There was also discourse over charging for using such means of travel as it seemingly only affected the lower class that it served in majority as the middle to upper classes could travel independently.
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  2020-12-01

  College Daily Screening App

  This a screenshot from the Veoci App. At Florida Gulf Coast University, students are required to fill out a survey each morning before coming onto campus. The questions in the survey are presented as followed: 1. Do you intend to come to campus today? 2. Are you a student-athlete? 3. Are you experiencing any NEW symptoms that are causing you to feel unwell today? (If yes, a list of symptoms is then displayed) 4. Have you tested for Covid-19 and/or received results that you have not yet reported to FGCU? 5. Have you been in close contact with someone who has confirmed positive for Covid-19 or with someone who is awaiting results for Covid-19? After filling out the survey, based on the student's answers they will either receive a big green checkmark that indicates that they are permitted onto campus, a yellow caution sign and warning that if you are not feeling well enough to then stay home, or a red circle with a line through it and a message that the student is not allowed on campus and must quarantine.
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  2020-12-01

  From Lively to Eerie

  When I think of Boston, I think of a bustling, never silent city. I picture many people walking on sidewalks, the T packed full, and stores and restaurants filled. Since COVID hit the city, it has completely changed. The city is much quieter than it used to be. The sidewalks are scattered with few pedestrians. The stores have fewer shoppers and close earlier, fewer people ride the T, and restaurants serve fewer sit-down meals. People just grab a meal and go back home. When my mom and I were driving through the city to drop me back off at school one day, she said how ghostly the city was now. I completely agree. The city is a ghost of itself; nobody was out that day. Nobody is out a lot of days. We saw nobody walking on the sidewalk. There was no car traffic, and all the restaurants were empty. The definition of a ghost is “a faint shadowy trace.” Boston right now seems like a faint shadowy trace of the city I met as a freshman.
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  2020-12-01

  Exercise in a Pandemic

  When COVID struck my hometown, I thought it would not affect many things. I thought we would still be able to hang out in our local park doing our normal activities, including playing basketball at the courts. Although things started to close earlier and COVID started affecting our daily lives, we were still able to play for a few weeks. It was a surprise when one day my friends were playing basketball at the park and a sheriff pulled up to the courts to tell everyone they needed to leave the courts. My friends grabbed their stuff and left. We didn’t think much about it and went back to the courts to play again, but when we got there we found that both courts had yellow tape around them and that the basketball hoops had the rims removed so nobody could use them anymore. This was a big shock to me because I never thought that would happen. Basketball is a huge part of my life and was one of the ways I could get some exercise and hang out with my friends as restrictions on gatherings grew stricter. What is even crazier is that they still have not put the rims back up on the hoops even though the restrictions in my town have become less strict. Soccer games are happening at the school. People are working out in gyms and dining inside. The backboards remain bare. The local courts are silent.
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  2020-12-01

  Pandemic to Historians

  The pandemic of 2020 has brought to light the flaws of American history.
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  2020-12-01

  At home work during the Pandemic

  Adaptation to the work enviroment