Items

• 
  2021-01-22

  you good?

  At the beginning of the shut down, I got an email from a friend who asked "you good?". I didn't know how to answer that; I wondered if anyone was "good". Over the next few months I worked on a photographic piece for a show at the Museum of Art and History in Lancaster that opened in January. I had a neon sign made for the title. The museum then had glowin the dark pins made to sell in their store. It seemed to hit a nerve because it sold out in few weeks and they have to reorder. I have a fantasy of everyone walking around with these pins: you good?
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  2021-01-22

  Construction on Line 3 Pipeline

  As Minnesota Governor Walz continues to allow construction on the Line 3 pipeline while simultaneously pushing for carbon-free energy in the state by 2040, pressure is building on President Biden to end construction of it. Immediately after his inauguration, Biden revoked a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline which was meant to carry crude oil from Canada to the U.S. Rescinding this permit delivered a victory to anti-pipeline activists who challenged its development for over 12 years.
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  2021-01-22

  HERMIT HERALD, ISSUE 94

  Biden as the great unifier?
• 
  2021-01-22

  Prisoner Vaccinations

  Prisoners are currently at the top of the list to receive the COVID-19 vaccine with outcry from the public. People believe that prisoners should not be receiving the vaccine and are upset that they are ahead of those who they deem more "deserving." One reason prisoners are getting the vaccine ahead of others is that they have a communal living situation and cannot socially distance which is a stipulation stated in phase 1 of the vaccine distribution. The outrage further reveals people don't view prisoners as human or even deserving of basic human rights or decency. It is also interesting that there isn't as much public outcry over politicians who downplayed the vaccine or elders who may not have been adhering to COVID guidelines receiving the vaccine first.
• 
  2021-01-22

  Symptoms

  Covid-19 has a lot of symptoms that range from common to severe and life threatening. Some common ones consist of: coughing, loss of smell or taste, sore throat, fever and more. A severe one is: blueish lips and face. Coronavirus can be commonly mistaken for a fever or a common cold and anyone showing symptoms should be tested.
• 
  2021-01-22

  Night Sprints

  We have a balance beam upstairs. Since quarantine, we’ve added a trampoline and a tumble trak. All the years of vowing to have my daughter only due gymnastics at the gym has ended because she hasn’t set foot in the gym since March 2020. Even a few months ago, we were talking about having her return in the fall, but with the spike that started in October, there was no way. I want to support her the best I can, because she is passionate about her sport. Even though she is never going to be an Olympian or collegiate gymnast, she does well at our local and state meets and continuing to practice everyday (even on the days she complains) gives her that light she needs at the end of the tunnel. The knowledge that when this ends, she can return to the world of competitive gymnastics and all her friends on her team is one of the things that keeps her going. But I’m not a gymnastics coach. Until quarantine, I didn’t know what half the skills were. And we have no bars, and no vault. But there is one thing I can do - run. I figure the practice videos, (thanks Paul Hamm and Amanda Borden), the twice a week live zoom practices (thank you Kazio Acrobatics & Gymnastics, who, though not being my daughter’s gym and being 400 miles away, graciously extended their online classes to anyone in the country when this all began), and the at home training schedule of conditioning and skills her gym sent in March takes care of the floor and the beam. Bars is a lost cause, I hope some muscle memory remains for her. But the vault, which is her highest scoring event, is powered by running. I love running, and her coach used to tell me that gymnasts notoriously hate running, but it is a skill that really helps with vaulting. I figured I may not be able to do a back handspring, but I can teach my kid to run. So three times a week, I make her run. She is NOT a fan of the mile on the treadmill, but she seems to genuinely enjoy sprinting. On Friday, she was bummed because it got dark before she could make it out to sprint. So to make it fun, we figured we’d just sprint in the dark with lights. Was I secretly trying to train her to hold a baton? Maybe. Or maybe I’m just trying to keep hope alive for the kid. She’s 10, and before Covid, the longest stretches she has had from the gym is two weeks, and that is only when we go on vacation. So she basically has lived at that gym since the summer before she was 3. If she wants to continue competing, I will do anything I can to keep those muscles in shape so she can return. And if I end up training a new running partner in the process, what a win.
• 
  2021-01-22

  Vaccine Rollout Complications

  People want the vaccine, and they want it now, but the process of clinics and hospitals giving the vaccine is a major process. To start, the vial must be pulled up all at once, and all five doses have to be given within a short time period, or they are ruined. Another complicated problem is the social distancing guidelines. Doctor’s offices are not generally large offices, and patients have to be there for at least fifteen minutes for observation, making drive thru vaccinations improbable. In addition, planning a day to give out vaccines is hard to do in advance, because medical centers have no idea when they will receive the vaccine. The state has control, and currently there seems to be insufficient communication and organization in many states.
• 
  2021-01-22

  Navajo Nation COVID-19 Vaccine

  Navajo Department of Health directive on Vaccine roll-out.
• 
  2021-01-22

  My Quarantine Experience

  During the pandemic, I got really into music and started practicing daily for many hours since it was so enjoyable. It was also convenient since the pandemic has been here for a while, so it passed a lot of time. This experience is important to me because I've become extremely passionate about music, and I really want to dive deep into vocals and be able to sing well. I believe that music is a way to really express myself especially at a time of a pandemic.
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  2021-01-22

  Fish Out of Water

  Since March 2020, my life has taken a complete turn. For my past high school years, I’ve constantly been in the pool playing water polo or swimming. In an odd way, I have built a connection with the water. It’s become a part of my day, a part of my life, and I took it for granted. I thought I would get to feel the adrenaline and the nervous wreak on game days when our season came, but it never did. As someone who was always in the water and active throughout the week, it was a change of scenery when we had to stay home because of the severity of the pandemic in California. Not being able to play my sports represents my high school experience as a junior because everything feels out of place. Most of my days used to revolve around practices and games, and not being able to attend these felt strange. This might be a minor inconvenience, but this little change threw me off guard. I had to find other ways to adapt to the situation and learn how to organize my days so that they could resemble one similar to before everything happened. I’m sure there are also many others who feel very unmotivated during this time of unrest. I, too, fell into a hole where I lost motivation because there was nothing to look forward to and I feared that things would never go back to normal, but I eventually adapted to this new reality because I realized that I could not predict the future. In a way, the lockdown was an opportunity for me to improve myself and take on new hobbies I have always been interested in. I started to cook more and even tried baking!
• 
  2021-01-22

  Anxiety of the Bed

  I guess anyone in pre- or post-Covid-19 pandemic would find me crazy when I say I would like to try and sleep in the street given the chance. One thing I take out from this pandemic is that even though I can’t leave it, I absolutely despise my bed. Oh yes, I am talking about my bed, the object that shoulders my tiredness; and the sheets that keep me warm and cozy at night. But also because of that warmth and coziness, that I had been late to my 0 period class three times in just one semester. For the record, in my entire life in America, I had never once skipped or arrived late to any class, even when I had to wake up an extra hour and bike along the freezing cold mornings to get to school. Now I understand what my family means about the danger that lurks behind idleness. It is not common for me to be at ease in the mind, especially when time is not on my side. But when my mind tells the alarm clock to snooze for another 15 minutes or so because I can quickly get up five minutes before class instead of 2 hours back in the old regular pre-pandemic school day, now that is trouble. Flashback to being in my Medical Core class and studying the histories of pandemic at the time, I somewhat already know we were going into quarantine very well soon because well, let just say, humanity never learns from history mistakes and also because the United States’s healthcare is already a dead end. I’m not going to further criticize the horrible leadership of our soon-to-be-impeached-twice president. But remembering back to the life before the pandemic, I proudly shake hands with my past-self for knowing how to enjoy every moment in life. That day when our school principal sent an urgent quarantine message, I was on my way home carrying a bag of snacks that probably lasted me for a week after hanging out with my friends on our usual Friday afternoon, before being cooped up in the room for more than a year, possibly more. It’s laughable now that I remember the exciting and joyful reactions of spam messages from my friends in all different group chats and compare them to how desperate we all want to escape to hellish quarantine and return to school. My friend was joking around on how I was different and I was because I was never fond of the idea of being stuck at home and knowing that a fluid borne, respiratory disease was sticking around for some time caused me to have anxiety. I hate being at home, not because I’m an extrovert but because that place frightens me, but I am not going any further into that. I am so used to my bed and huge four walls surrounding my rooms, along with family members that I’m so sick of everything. Being on my bed in exchange for those motivational times that I spend walking or biking home or playing sports in my school means that I gain weight despite skipping meals, being non proactive, being tired out by every small thing and being distracted from school. Being on my bed also means that all my free time is spent contemplating life, which is good but mostly bad. In a way, in these uneasy times, it always brings out the worst in people’s mentality, unfortunately, not excluding me. I guess all those extracurricular activities, school works and all the sporting things I do are ways that keep me distracted from my innermost thoughts. But when I lay on my bed to think, those thoughts surface and they give me anxiety and depression in ways that others feel ridiculous but to me, they take me into deep sleep with tears. I quarreled more often with my family and with the limitations of my room and no human interaction with my friends on online conversations, it did make me feel really lonely and melancholic. I did try to find new hobbies but I’m limited to my room only. Both me and my foster family members never see each other as family so there was never any reason to join the dinner table. There was no way of getting out and being alone aside from the going to school for certain businesses. I’m honestly emotionally and physically drained, even when I’m not using much energy to move around the house. Now, how I wish for everything to return to normal. I hope that people who read this will remember to learn how to appreciate their life in every moment and way possible and that they never give up given any situation that follows their way.
• 
  2021-01-22

  The Feels Zone

  My last six months of quarantine have mostly been what this shows, especially the first months. Me, in my messy room, holed up, doing school and homework, playing games, eating, sleeping. Many days were so similar they started to muddle together and I would forget what day or time it was. My only escapes were YouTube, video games, or anime. That is what most of my days consisted of, and still do. Of course I have my parents with me, which is always a plus, but they're always working as well. Also, they can only entertain me for so long. Then I’m bored again. The only things that were consistently fun were playing games and watching anime. But even that got boring after a while. I tried working out at first, and drawing, but eventually just stopped for no real reason besides unmotivation. There were a great deal of days where I just skipped meals or slept in for the same reason. After so long, going out to see friends was so refreshing, and one day of seeing friends was enough to make my week. Besides that though, quarantine was just really boring. Not being able to see friends at school, or go out is what made quarantine especially boring. This quarantine got me feeling ways I have never felt before; lonely and depressed. Other than that, quarantine has been just bland.
• 
  2021-01-22

  Redecorating

  Before the pandemic, my room was very unorganized and had just a bed and a table with a tv on it. Being in my room for months straight without leaving my house and having nothing to do or having anything to occupy my mind was getting to me. I realized that I was probably going to spend more months in my small boring room. I decided to use my money I had to redo my whole room and add some furniture. I built most of my furniture with the help of my dad. I bought a desk, to finally have a place where I could do my work, and a dresser, to replace my old table with my tv on it and put some clothes in it. I did some DIY things like that mirror on my desk as shown in the picture and added plants and other things. Having a better environment to work in and having a goal I could work on improved my attitude toward spending all day in my room. apart from having this project I Facetimed a lot with my friends and played games like Minecraft. Finding little, or big, fun things to do while staying safe could really help you stay sane during these times.
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  2021-01-22

  How I (Barely) Get/Got Through Quarantine

  I was expecting junior year to be absolutely terrible since I was in eighth grade. I did nit think it would be spent in quarantine; making it almost twenty times worse. In my opinion, emailing questions and online tutoring cannot compete against in-person education. However, I do not want to risk others lives for selfish reasons. It is quite frustrating, seeing that our 45th president was incompetent. People seem to be more and more selfish everyday; valuing their comfort and fun over others’ lives. I hope we can go back to school before senior year starts. It is would be quite depressing to have freshman year be your only full year of high school. It is also quite depressing to have (almost since not quite) spent two birthdays in quarantine. In a little over a year, I will be a legal adult and will have spent my last teen years in quarantine. I am bitter. However, there were some happy times spent in quarantine. I was able to form a (better) relationship with my family. I was able to bake and exercise more and my mental health became *slightly* more stable. BTS are my favorite artists. I could write whole essays on why. However, if this ever gets onto an AP test in the future, I don’t want to be that person that makes you want to cry. I would know. Simply put, BTS has touched and saved millions of lives all over the world. They have broken millions of language barriers and stereotypes. They challenged the concept of masculinity and have stayed humble throughout. Coming from lowly beginnings, they have evolved and become brilliant people, artists, and role models. They are special to many. They also receive a lot of hate; this is not new. All of it stems from jealousy, racism, and xenophobia. How have BTS affected me? They helped me choose to live. They helped me realize that I was the one that had to save myself. You will hear many stories about them. They helped me love myself. In an era of unrealistic beauty standards pushed upon us through social media, it is almost impossible and kills. They released a single “Dynamite” and an album “BE” with an title track “Life Goes On” in quarantine. In “Dynamite”, their first all English song, they cheered us up and made us smile. They also proved that they were capable of getting Western radio plays and big awards (Grammy nominated); the Western media and industry was just too xenophobic to acknowledge their towering success over a good number of Western artists. In BE, the composed and wrote songs relating to us about how it felt like being in quarantine and encouraging us to keep going. Their title track speaks of the world seeming like it was passing us by as our life feels like it came to a standstill. You should give it a listen. To wrap it all up, I got through quarantine thanks to BTS. It’s like a butterfly reaction. Loving myself leads to confidence which leads to better mental health which leads to more happiness. Of course we still have sad and bad days but much less.
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  2021-01-22

  The Push For Fitness

  If there’s anything I learned in the last 8 months, it’s that the world is a very uncertain and chaotic place. A week before quarantine, spending a quiet week alone for Spring break, was all I wanted in life. 9 months later and another quiet week could potentially be lethal. Even though life has been crazy and online school drives people mad, one thing I’ve managed to pick up and get into the habit of is working out. Everyday, no matter what it is, I set aside an hour and a half to at least stand and go on a run or do any form of exercise. Not only is this good for my body, it’s a great stress reliever from a long unstable day of online school, a great time of reflection and a great way to clear my head from the day. Even in the most chaotic of days, and even on days where I have a lot of work to finish, I spend an hour to clear my head, and most times, after a workout and warm shower, I become more productive than ever. I enjoy working out as it is a great way for me to have something to control when the world around me is changing in the blink of an eye. Me four years ago would’ve never expected or predicted that, I would enjoy losing my breath and being sore from my neck down on a daily basis. Not only does it feel like I have control over my life, but working out has become a hobby of mine, acting as a goal I can achieve in the background subtly while dealing with school and life as a 17 year old.
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  2021-01-22

  The Push For Fitness

  If there’s anything I learned in the last 8 months, it’s that the world is a very uncertain and chaotic place. A week before quarantine, spending a quiet week alone for Spring break, was all I wanted in life. 9 months later and another quiet week could potentially be lethal. Even though life has been crazy and online school drives people mad, one thing I’ve managed to pick up and get into the habit of is working out. Everyday, no matter what it is, I set aside an hour and a half to at least stand and go on a run or do any form of exercise. Not only is this good for my body, it’s a great stress reliever from a long unstable day of online school, a great time of reflection and a great way to clear my head from the day. Even in the most chaotic of days, and even on days where I have a lot of work to finish, I spend an hour to clear my head, and most times, after a workout and warm shower, I become more productive than ever. I enjoy working out as it is a great way for me to have something to control when the world around me is changing in the blink of an eye. Me four years ago would’ve never expected or predicted that, I would enjoy losing my breath and being sore from my neck down on a daily basis. Not only does it feel like I have control over my life, but working out has become a hobby of mine, acting as a goal I can achieve in the background subtly while dealing with school and life as a 17 year old.
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  2021-01-22

  My Messy Desk

  I choose to use this as my picture because over the past 7 months I’ve spent a lot of time on my desk, this year I’ve spent more time on my desk then I have outside, usually I’m a really athletic person who enjoys a good game of basketball, soccer or of tennis. But this year, we haven’t really gotten to go anywhere, I haven’t gotten to see my teammates in person since late April. My desk is really messy because it’s been awhile since I’ve cleaned it, but also because I kind of live on my desk.
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  2021-01-22

  anime v kdrama race in quarantine

  staying at home made me binge more dramas and animes. they help with de-stressing from school and it's really entertaining. my friends and I would anticipate every week for the newly released episodes of "the promised neverland", "true beauty", "jujutsu kaisen" and many more... i think these shows became the symbol of my quarantine because they make this whole chaos a little more fun. I get to have this little getaway from reality every time I get into these shows that are so unlike reality. i started to listen to the korean boy-band ASTRO because of cha eun-woo and that resulted in stanning other boy-bands, I find it more unique than our American pop songs. even though i enjoy staying at home, i hope our journey of " 6 feet apart" ends soon because i think seeing familiar faces at school motivates me to work harder in school :))
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  2021-01-22

  Growing Book Collection

  As an avid reader, I used to have a small collection of books for myself, to open up when I get bored. When the pandemic hit and there was little to do besides read or stare at a screen all day in this house, more and more books joined the shelves.
• 2021-01-22

  Covid-19 Symptoms

  Though I have not encountered a close relative or really anyone with Covid-19, symptoms such as a fever, coughing, shortness of breath or fatigue are the most common symptoms of someone who has Covid, and those people should be stayed away from for up to fourteen days.
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  2021-01-22

  New Found Art

  During quarantine I’ve had a lot of spare time, but wasn't completely sure how to spend it. Most of the time, when I’m not busy with school work, I’d watch Netflix, but that got pretty boring after a while. Recently, however, I’ve picked up a paint brush, a canvas, and some paint and have started painting. I’ve always loved art but constantly found myself making up excuses and never setting aside time to actually paint. These past months have helped me reflect on myself and realize there are more things to do than just sit around and be sad about the current situations in which I have no control over. It's important during these hard times to find something that makes you happy, even if you are not the best at it, so that life in quarantine is a little easier. Even if I would have never thought in a million years the majority of my junior year in high school would be spent inside my house I consider myself lucky as my family and I are healthy and safe. Despite not being able to see my extended family and celebrate holidays or birthdays with them there's always a way to make the most with the people you have. For my mom's birthday, since I couldn’t go out to buy her anything and don’t own a credit card to buy something online, I had to figure out how to give her a special gift during a pandemic. My new found happiness from painting was that special thing, and so I decided to paint my mom a scene from one of her favorite movies “The Karate Kid”. Finding something I enjoy really helped me cope with the instability and unexpected changes during this pandemic. It gave me both a hobby and goal, as I’m motivated to get better at painting.
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  2021-01-22

  The Biggie Chungus

  Funny meme that has two songs to go along with it.
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  2021-01-22

  A Covid Experience

  I learn about myself through the stories of others; this account is both a recounting of my friend Stephanie’s story, a conversation we had after she contracted Covid19, and my own introspection about the different impact that written and spoken stories have.
• 2021-01-22

  Covid Symptoms

  Covid presents with tons of symptoms and although I haven't seen any of them first hand I have heard a story of my friend who had Covid when it first started and even though she is now negative, she still can't taste certain foods. It is different for everyone and some people are even A-symptomatic meaning they are carriers. My family members have had some Covid scares including my grandparents which was very scary considering its very dangerous for them to get it. One person happened to stop by their house who had Covid and didn't know it and nearly gave it to them.
• 2021-01-22

  How covid has affected me

  Even though I don't know a lot of people who have been infected by COVID that doesn't mean it hasn't affected me. The best example of this is with my teacher who has recently caught COVID. This has affected some of the classes I've been in. Making it so I don't have a teacher.
• 2021-01-22

  Personal story about how someone you know got covid and has effected you.

  Covid is annoying cause it causes everything to go off and on and kind of pauses the world at times. I was sort of effected by covid in a way that my sister was hanging out with her friend that got covid. Before we knew that her friend tested positive, I was hanging out with her. She after that was in her room for about 9-10 days in quarantine. So I haven't been effected by covid much at all.
• 2021-01-22

  Cases of Cvid

  We as a family have only known one person that has had covid and luckily we were never near them when they had it. It was a cousin that lucky couldn't make it to our home for Thanksgiving dinner. After they were in the hospital we got updates about their health almost every day and visited them (with masks) after they tested negative and feel much better. I personally would never want to get it because I heard it could cause damage permanently and you could be in the hospital for weeks. So I guess we were very lucky to not have someone with covid at our dinner table for Thanksgiving this year.
• 2021-01-22

  My Experience with COVID Symptoms

  When COVID-19 had just started I had heard a lot of people had gotten sick, but no one that I had known. Fast forward a couple of months into the pandemic I get the news that my friend had gotten COVID when I had just seen her a couple of days ago. She has five siblings, one of them was a toddler, her older sister who had a one-year-old was staying with them, and she was pregnant for the second time. Thank god everyone ended up all right including the baby who had not even been born yet. Out of the 9 people that were living in their house at the time only two of them got it bad. The second oldest siblings along with her mom had body aches, a fever, a headache, lost their sense of taste, had a couch, stuffed nose, and couldn't get out of bed for a week. The rest of them only had a cough and a stuffed nose. Lucky they weren't infectious yet when we saw them so my family did not contract the virus from them. Another time this happened, my dad had a business meeting with his co-worker. Three days late his co-worker had tested positive for coronavirus. Once again our minds filled with worry. My grandma was staying with us at the time and because of her age, she was high risk so we sent her along with my uncle to a hotel nearby our house. We waited till we reached the five-day mark and my parents went and got tested. Luckily they tested negative and my grandma and uncle came back home and we celebrated the New Year all together with some negative COVID tests.
• 2021-01-22

  Covid Positives that Effected Me

  One Covid positive that effected me was my nanny. She lives with us and one day she visited her mom. When she came back, she had covid. She had to go stay with her mom while she quarantined, and my whole family had to get tested. Although we were negative, we still had to quarantine for a week. I didn't get to do any sports or hang out with any friends.
• 2021-01-22

  Covid Exposure

  We have a night nurse (NCS) come over to take care of my 3 month old sister. One night we were eating food when the night nurse came down and said that she had bad news. She said that she tested positive for Covid but still decided not to wear a mask when telling us and came really close to us. We had to tell her to put on a mask and go because she asked if she should stay regardless of having Covid. This was a week before Christmas so of course it ruined all of our plans and didn't have anyone over. A couple days later after she confirmed she had Covid, we went to get a rapid test, and a normal test in both of my nostrils with a total of 4 swabs and i was very much against it. They all tested negative. We then got tested again a week later with again another 4 swabs. We had a total of 9 swabs so far because i also got one in early quarantine. They felt like they were stabbing at my brain and one time gave me a gushing bloody nose. Luckily we still tested negative but Christmas wasn't as good all because our night nurse didn't tell us that she had an exposure (which she new about for days before telling us). After a couple weeks she tested negative and came back.
• 2021-01-22

  Symptoms

  Pretty much the symptoms of having Covid vary. Some of them are simple coughing, no sense in smell nor taste, and sore throat. Some more severe symptoms include not being able to breathe clearly, nausea of vomiting, fever or chills, and many others. It honestly depends on your health state and if you have a strong immune system or not.
• 2021-01-22

  Symptoms of COVID

  In Quarantine I have had numerous friends who have had or experienced symptoms related to COVID-19. I myself have also had my fair share of symptoms. The weekend before quarantine, me and my family went on a long awaited trip to Disneyland. COVID-19 had made it's way to the USA but it had not yet become an international crisis. When I came home from Disneyland, I felt fine and went to school. On the third day of the week I felt very sick and stayed home. It was the day that it was announced school would shut down so I didn't have a chance to retrieve any of my things from my locker. My entire family got sick and my friend brought my stuff that I would need from school. We all experienced a bad cough and other symptoms related to the coronavirus. Sadly however, due to there being no testing for COVID available, we never knew if we really had COVID or not.
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  2021-01-22

  More Espresso, Less Depresso

  The item that I have chosen that connects to the pandemic was a Starbucks Coffee. The reason why I decided to choose this item is that there are days that learning over zoom is quite a challenge and that it gives so much pressure on me to be able to adapt to this kind of style of learning. With coffee on my hand, I can focus on class more and it makes me more energetic. When I drink coffee during my zoom classes, I tend to be able to participate more. I love caffeine, it encourages me to also be a positive person during these times because, without any coffee, I wouldn’t be able to learn anything from a monitor screen. Coffee best represents my current experience as a junior in high school because there are days that are sad and depressing, and there are days that are happy and bright. Online learning is a cycle, wake up and learn, after that you rest. I have been doing this since MARCH. Again, this is me with coffee because without any coffee, I am really tired and not energetic. When I have my coffee, I am always feeling refreshed and active! Online learning is something that I am not used to and I fear how with the difficulty of learning online, I am not able to understand the lesson which can lead me to bad grades. Hopefully, I will be able to accomplish my goals by staying determined and dedicated to online learning, resulting in a better grade for my classes, (with coffee of course). One word to describe my 2020 year is a challenge. It’s a challenge because there are things I have been through, like losing my grandpa who sadly passed away due to a heart attack and not being able to visit him because of COVID. COVID was mainly the reason why my 2020 was a challenge because I have to figure out new ways to keep myself happy and motivating. Online classes have made me less motivated because it didn’t feel the same and that everything was quite last minute last year. I wasn’t able to keep up with lessons, which discouraged me to continue and of course my grandpa’s sudden death. As from my experiences, the various holidays looked the same for me this year. Christmas and Thanksgiving were the same because I usually hang out with my family. When I do my online classes, I usually have a workspace. Since I know for a fact I am going to sit in one place for the next 9 hours, I have my coffee next to me to keep me up, I have my water, some chapstick, a big monitor screen, my textbooks, and my journals. I also have an office chair with a pad seat cushion for me to be comfortable! Even though those were the basic items on my quarantine workspace, I like to keep things simplistic. I only have things that are essential for me to use for working online, so I am not bothered by that. The three things that I would include in my quarantine survival kit would be some energy drinks, chapstick, and a pen with a journal. The reason why I chose these items is that for the first two, I cannot do anything without them! It’s great to have a lot of energy to do tasks, and some chapstick to have my lips not chapped. I also wanted to bring a pen and journal to describe my experiences in quarantine. I would also use that journal to write down things that bother me and things that I am appreciative of. Words do mean a lot, so I love to express my feelings in a journal to remind me that overall in time, things can get better.
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  2021-01-22

  Reliving my Life as a 6 Year Old

  You know, I don’t see much difference between the lifestyle I’m living right now and to the one I was living 10 years ago. 6 year old Me’s daily routine: Wake up: check Do school work at my desk: check Mope around the house: check Annoy my siblings: check Attempt and fail at anything in the kitchen: check Look outside my bedroom window and daydream: check Draw and doodle endlessly: check Want to see my friends: check Think about what I want to be in the future: check Sleep without expecting much the next day: check This year was horrible. There is, of course, covid happening and political events and natural disasters and death. The world and society is constantly changing and shaping due to the actions of people, possibly in the worst way possible, while all I’m doing is sitting in my room, looking out to the vast blue sky. And I have a confession: I feel like I’m missing out on everything. I KNOW I SHOULDN’T BE SAYING I’M MISSING OUT ON CONTRIBUTING TO THE WORST YEAR POSSIBLE, but I just miss the other not-so-horrible things in life such as experiencing highschool (debatable though), meeting new people (also very debatable), going out for the day, traveling to see family and friends; you know, making memories, having fun, the things that make life worth living. For the past few years of my life, like any teen going through adolescence, I’ve met hardships, failures, tears, but during this lockdown, I’ve haven’t felt any of those things in a while. The same goes for the successes, the excitement, and the joy-- it’s been a while since I’ve felt those too. My life at the moment has reached a straight. Life is supposed to have its bumps - its highs and lows-- a road with unprecedented surprises, but I’ve been going through life as if I’ve pressed autopilot, set to one direction. Time is passing all around me and I’ve been on this one way road, destined to who knows where, and I haven’t done much to enjoy life for what it truly is. However, my situation hasn’t been nearly as bad as others though and I’m truly grateful for that. One thing I won’t ever regret doing is resisting the urge to go out. I’ve been tempted a few times, but I’ve stayed quarantined from others-- you know the one thing that we all should be doing. I’m glad to say that I haven’t put my family, my friends, my neighbors, heck, random strangers’ lives at danger and I’m going to keep doing this until things finally boil down. The last thing I want to do is change someone’s life for the worst. Though it sounds like I’m all gloomy and what not, I don’t think quarantine was a complete waste of time. I’ve been able to sit and reflect in my own thoughts-- the one thing I’ve been trying to avoid. Like I said in the beginning, the life I’m living now is nostalgic of my 6 year old self. Not like the goldfish crackers and PBS kids TV shows kind of way, but the experiences I’m reliving. The last years of my life have been hectic and I’ve been striving for self improvement. I haven’t really sat down and let those experiences marinate. I’ve been doing, doing, doing, but I haven’t asked myself the true reasons for my actions. Self improvement, development of my character, blah, blah, blah, everyone says that stuff, but I’ve asked myself what DO I truly aim for: an end goal? A life goal? Why did I do the things I did back then, and how would they affect me now and later. Thus I revert back to my 6 year old self-- curious about what I want to be in the future and learning what it is to be a good person. I’ve come to realize my many flaws and rethink my mistakes and actions I’ve acted in the past. I’ve come to realize some of the things I did back then and the things I do now aren’t very nice-- for others and myself. Sometimes I’m too judgemental, I overthink things, I’m brash, I take things for granted, I do things for my own benefit-- heck, I can keep listing. To say the least, I’ve become more self-aware. Things aren’t all rosey posey and sunshine and rainbows-- quarantine helped me back down to earth and analyze my own character. I’ve also begun to realize the small things. Not my patience, but the things that give me joy. The nature in my backyard, windy days, my favorite nail polish, hot meals. I’ve been on this 1 track mind for so long that quarantine has made me stop and find joy, even the slightest bit of it, in things I would normally overlook-- the things my 6 year old self would smile for the brim for. I guess it hasn’t been all that bad. Could be better since I miss seeing people THAT aren’t constantly nagging my name to do the dishes, but hey, at least I’ve got my family to entertain me. I don’t know if we’re going out of quarantine anytime soon, but we did just get out of 2020. Cheers to 2021- maybe it’ll get better, maybe it’ll get worse, but hey it’s going to be quite a ride. Hope you enjoyed reading my brain dump and wish me luck as I try to tackle my kitchen; I am very determined to make both something at least edible and some new memories I can look back on.
• 2021-01-22

  Symptoms of COVID-19

  Having been in a year of the corona virus pandemic actually was very helpful in learning about health and disease although it is a terrible disease. We have seen many symptoms with COVID such as loss of smell and taste as well as other flu symptoms. Fever or chills and coughing or shortness of breath are the most annoying symptoms I have seen. One of my friends had the corona virus and had no symptoms in other words asymptomatic. Fatigue and muscle or body aches are another flu like symptom that is very common. So over all I have learned that through COVID we should learn to stay healthy and clean and wash our hands.
• 2021-01-22

  Covid-19 symptoms

  The different types of COVID-19 symptoms are Fever or chill, Cough, Shortness of breath, or difficulty breathing, Fatigue, Muscle or body aches, Headache, New loss of taste or smell, Sore throat, Congestion, or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and Diarrhea. I do not know anyone close that has had COVID19 but it is hard for other families not to know what will happen.
• 2021-01-22

  Symptoms

  The symptoms that I heard about very frequently earlier during this pandemic were coughing, shortness of breath, fever and fatigue. These symptoms are all common symptoms of the virus. Other symptoms are headache, sore throat and chills. A lot of symptoms are symptoms that are seen with other sicknesses like influenza. One of the symptoms that is not associated with influenza is loss of taste or smell. One of my cousins experienced mild symptoms of Covid-19 such as sore throat, fever and fatigue.
• 2021-01-22

  Some COVID-19 procedures and rules that I have to follow.

  Some rules are to wear a mask and stay six feet apart. These are smart rules that are definitely helping. Wearing a face mask is irritating and bothersome because I have to wear it all day at school. But staying six feet apart is easy and not as bad as it seems. Obeying these rules are the only way you can leave your house and go places so I will do so without complaining.
• 
  2021-01-22

  Covid is HELL

  I have The VID (coronavirus) It was horrible. I was in my bed for about a week and ate soup alot. I mean I got to play videogames a lot so that was good. Otherwise DO NOT GET THE VID!!!
• 2021-01-22

  Corona friend

  Corona for me, has not affected my life much at all, but I do have a friend who's dad got corona. It affected me by me not being able to hang out with that friend. They did this just to make sure there was no risk of it spreading. Even though no one was really sick we wanted to make sure we could stay in school. The friend's father was completely fine and the rest of his family tested negative. I also had another friend that tested positive but had no symptoms and never got sick. These two cases are the only ones that have affected my life, but they didn't affect it a lot. I was only not allowed to hang out with them because of their parents, mine were completely fine with it because they know the virus is not going to kill anyone.
• 2021-01-22

  Journal

  It was about a year ago we where in New Orleans and visiting our distant cousins a day after Mardi Gras my was feeling terrible and he slept almost all day and had many of the covid symptoms we thought he just was tired. so the next day came around and he was fine but my brother was sick with it. He had it for about three days. After that we lifted New Orleans and about last summer we found out that they both had it my dad and my brother so that's it.
• 2021-01-22

  Tested Positive

  In my close circle I haven't had anyone that has been tested positive for Covid-19. In the big circle, there have been a few though. All of them were school related. Some student in school were sent home for a week because one of their students got sick, and one of the teachers in my grade also got sick, but since I was indirectly related I didn't get affected. Most of the times where someone remotely close to me got Covid, I wasn't effected in any way.
• 2021-01-22

  Covid-19 Symptoms

  So far, I have only know two people that have had Covid-19. One of them was my uncle who lives in New Jersey, and the other was a friend of mine who is my age. My family from NJ came to visit us two weeks ago(which included my uncle), and my uncle told us that a few months he had covid-19. He said that he had no symptoms at all, the only way he even knew he had it was because he had to get tested to go back to work. The test came back positive, but he still had not even one symptom. I also have a friend who had covid-19 over winter break. He said that he had no symptoms except for he lost his taste and smell for three days. Those are the only people that I've know who have had covid-19.
• 2021-01-22

  Symptoms

  Personally I don't know anyone that has gotten Covid 19 and I would prefer not to start now. I have heard however that the symptoms in everyone are different depending on your blood type, if you have asthma, diabetes, or any other immune disorder. The symptoms in a healthy person is just like an extended common cold. There is coughing, fatigue, light headedness, and fever. But, once it hits people who have asthma that could be a problem considering that Covid 19 attacks the lungs. It could damage their lungs even more which could potentially lead to death. Other than that the symptoms are pretty much the same. The thing that makes this particular virus dangerous is that no one shows symptoms for at least 2 weeks. So before you know its there, there is already a couple billion little virus cells in your body making you sick or worse. This disease mainly affects the elderly and is hard to control. it spreads quickly because it is an airborne disease. Some other symptoms are nausea and diarrhea. By now it is very well known about by now mostly because an insane 3.12 million people have died around the world because of it.
• 2021-01-22

  My grandma and grandpa having Covid-19.

  My grandma and grandpa had Covid in November, before thanksgiving. My grandma got it from a nurse that had it from her work and then she got it and passed it on to my grandpa. My grandma had it for 3-4 weeks. She had a fever, cough, lost of taste, shortness of breath, body aches. My grandpa had it for about 2 weeks. He had body aches, headaches and a slight cough. My grandma has to go to the Los Robles Hospital because she had shortness of breath. The doctors helped her by giving her some oxygen, some antibiotics, steroids, plasma with with antibodies, Vitamin D and C, and Zinc. My grandpa did not have to go to the hospital. They are all fine now but that was a little scary when my grandma had to go to the hospital.
• 2021-01-22

  Symptoms of COVID-19

  As you've probably already heard, many people have caught COVID. I don't know anyone in my family that has caught it, but I do have a family friend that caught it. I know that sympotoms and how the virus attacks your immune system can differ, but in this case it wasn't too bad. Some of the symptoms my friend is experiencing are tiredness, fatigue, fever, runny nose, and pain all over the body. Again, I've heard of others going to the hospital because they weren't able to breath. This friend, caught is a few days ago, so he is isolated in his home and sadly the rest of his family has caught it. As of now, they are doing fine and hope to have a swift recovery.
• 2021-01-22

  Covid-19 Symptoms

  I've heard many different things about Covid-19. I only know one person who got the virus but my family know a few. The person I know said that it wasn't bad. They just had a cough and a fever. I've also heard some other people say that Covid was really bad. As far as I know the main symptoms of Covid are a cough, fever, and runny nose. I haven't met anyone who had Covid and said it was really bad.
• 2021-01-22

  The Silver Lining of Pandemic Community Building

  I have a busier schedule now than I did when I left the house for more than grocery runs and work. I spend a lot of my time on Zoom, as we all do, but doing things I was not doing before. In April, quickly after Friday the 13th, my #twitterstorian dreams came true when Dr. Joanne Freeman launched History Matters…. And So Does Coffee with the National Council for History Education. A couple of months later, The Gilder Lehrman Institute launched a weekly series talking with a historian about their book called Book Breaks. I could never attend conferences like the Southern Historical Association annual meeting, and now they were available to me virtually. The Western History Association annual meeting was online in October 2020 and was one of the best conferences and online meeting experiences that I think is possible given the circumstances. I have seen Joanne Freeman and Dr. Heather Cox Richardson speak together frequently over the last few months, and each experience is just as fun as the previous. I am on the board of the Arizona Technology in Education Association. The ability to host events and PD without needing to secure locations and catering has increased the number of events that we host by what feels like tenfold. I also started my Ph.D. in history at ASU, and with those added time blocks to my schedule expanded my little world with cohort and classmates. The pandemic has forced us to come together in new ways. By trying to carry on, those components of our lives shifted to the internet and thus actually made them more accessible to our larger communities than they were before. It has prompted even more of the existing conversations about virtual conferencing from an economic and environmental perspective. Don’t get me wrong, I am eagerly awaiting my 2nd vaccine and the days when I can travel for conferencing, community, and research again, but I think I will frame my plans around a different question. I don’t believe that I will have to ask myself to choose what to attend and not attend. Instead, it will be what things do I want to engage with in person (and what things can I) and what things I will still attend, but from afar. We are closing in on a year in this pandemic, and with the new year, I think it is essential to try and find some kind of silver lining – and it is that I think the communities that we have built over the last year and continue to build will be larger and stronger. Now I suppose I need to mull over the ramifications of overscheduling, burnout, and prioritization.
• 2021-01-22

  My Covid Experience

  In December of 2019, I believe I had COVID-19. For a few weeks I was coughing uncontrollably, like hyperventilating but coughing. It was terrible, once I started coughing it felt like it never stopped. I had to take Sudafed's, cough drops, and NyQuil even just to fall asleep. It was terrible. I got my whole entire family sick, even my mom! Which was odd because she never, I mean never gets sick. My parents decided to take me to urgent care, where they swabbed my throat. Tested the swab and nothing came back positive. So they decided to do a chest x-ray, and I did not have pneumonia. After all of these tests and x-rays, they just said, we have no idea what she has but she has something. It was kind of scary to hear that. After the next week or so I finally recovered. It was a really rough few weeks and probably the worst cold I had ever had. To wrap up, I believe I had COVID-19 in December 2019.
• 2021-01-22

  No more sports

  I woke up one day got ready for school put my water polo stuff in my bag and I was out the door. I was excited to train so I could get ready for a big tournament coming up. I ask my dad, what time is practice. HE said people in the high school got Covid so practice is canceled for a couple of weeks. A couple of weeks I said. Then I won't be able to train for the tournament. He said yeah I know we are just going to have to figure out another way. So I had to find out a way to practice without a pool.