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2020-03-31
NPR report on coronavirus in Turkmenistan
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2020-03-25
Japan on the Record podcast by Tristan Grunow, talking with Dr. Eiko Maruko Siniawer about crises and toilet paper panic buying.
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2020-03-22
This was, for many of us, the first Passover that we could not celebrate together, in person, as a family. Various rabbinical authorities even authorized that it was okay to celebrate Passover over Zoom, even though all electronics are normally off-limits during the first two nights/days of the holiday.
Passover is, of course, a holiday which celebrates a story in which Ten Plagues brought down upon the Egyptian slavemasters by God, feature prominently. Many of us, particularly in the United States, have been privileged to never have to suffer from anything we might call a "plague." Most years, the Ten Plagues are a much more abstract concept - some families even joke around about the plagues, with a wide variety of children's toys available to help make the Passover Seder more tolerable / enjoyable for little ones. This year, I would imagine there was far less interest in making light of the Plagues.
*From Creator: Cheryl Rosen (https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1039073053139568&id=100011106495553)
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unkown
As of late February and into March, many parts of the world still had not yet seen major outbreaks. Many felt that their governments - in New York, Washington, Tokyo, and elsewhere - were not doing nearly enough to prepare for what was coming. People circulated memes and explanations about how exponential growth can sneak up, seeming small for a long time until suddenly it explodes into a crisis-level. This meme, drawing on a clip from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, makes fun of that process.
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2020-03-19
New York Post article on 1%ers "escaping" to the Hamptons and putting severe pressure on local communities.
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2020-03-15
As countries around the world began to institute travel bans, many universities began to urge their students studying abroad to come home. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology posted that "this applies especially if you are staying in a country with poorly developed health services and infrastructure and/or collective infrastructure, for example the USA."
The coronavirus pandemic has made all the more stark just how poor, how less than ideal, the health insurance system in the United States - and numerous other aspects of our infrastructure and structural systems - are. Though the Norwegian university later changed their post, their initial honesty about how many in Europe and elsewhere see the United States helped call this into stark relief.
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2020-03-11
Tweet by Prof. Louis Fishman highlighting suggestions by some in Turkey that Zionism could be behind the coronavirus.
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02/13/2020
Japan Times article on fears of the spread of coronavirus in Uyghur concentration camps in Xinjiang, China.
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2020-03-05
Online article about severe lockdown in Micronesia.
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2020-01-24
Japan Today article reporting the 2nd new infection, on Jan 24.
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2020-03-13
Prof. Louis Fishman shares a clip from Turkish television, in which an "expert" blames Israel for the coronavirus.
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05/12/2020
Daily Mail news article about Orthodox Jews being major source of plasma donations during the crisis.
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2020-05-13
A comic strip about the dangers to workers of reopening.
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2020-05-13
One of many Facebook posts by the organizers of Honolulu's annual Okinawan Festival, calling upon Honolulu residents to patronize local Okinawan-Americans' businesses, to help them stay in business despite lockdown.
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2020-05-10
CNN online article and video about coronavirus in Sioux reservations.
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2020-05-04
Japan Times article on the spread of coronavirus within asylum seekers' detention centers in Japan.
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2020-05-08
A podcast interview with Dr. David Slater (Sophia University) about coronavirus and asylum seekers' detention in Japan.
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2020-05-05
In Judaism, there are blessings to be said for nearly any action or occasion. For lighting candles, for waking up in the morning, for getting dressed. A blessing for wine, a different one for bread, a different one for fruits. This blessing can be said when putting on a facemask, and emphasizes the central and important place in Judaism of the divine commandment to protect life.
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2020-04-24
Article from Scientific American. Even though so many people all around the world are now staying at home, not driving, etc., the total drop in CO2 emissions hasn't dropped by all that much, showing that it really is industry, and not individual citizens, that needs to take drastic action to reduce carbon emissions if we want to escape the impending doom of climate change.
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04/13/2020
This image was a part of a Facebook post. It is evidently racist and indicates an underlying suspicion of the ‘Chinese’ community which has arisen out of the Covid-19 pandemic. Discussion of the cause of the Covid-19 outbreak, particularly regarding its supposed origins in a wet market, has contributed to a growth in anti-Chinese sentiment and ethnocentric thought in Tasmania. The image depicts a toy bat on a plate, with the caption describing it as a ‘Chinese meal’. This refers to the belief that bats are commonly eaten in China and that such practices caused the Covid-19 outbreak. The last line of the post is also evidently racist, with the name ‘Sum Ting Wong’ often being derogatively used by racist individuals to refer to Chinese and other ‘Asian’ people in Australia. It must be noted, however, that not all Tasmanians believe such horrid tropes. I immediately was horrified when I saw this post, and others I have showed it to have reacted in disgust. Nevertheless, it sadly still represents a faction of the community who have reacted to Covid-19 with suspicion and racism. From my personal experience, I feel as though this racism has reduced to some degree in the community, as the virus has spread throughout the world and beyond China.
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05/19/2020
New York Times article on the discussions and debates happening at US universities as to the many considerations involved in potentially reopening campuses for Fall 2020.
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2020-05-17
Facebook post by Dr. Michael Berry, translator of Fang Fang's Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City, as it was released (in English) on May 17.
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2020-04-17
As more meetings, classes, and social events moved to online video chat platforms like Zoom. This is one of many Facebook posts sharing images to use as one's virtual background on Zoom, placing oneself in the scene of a television show, or elsewhere, for humor value and in order to block the potentially unattractive actual view of one's home.
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04/24/2020
The very idea of staying home, wearing masks, etc. became politicized as some on the Right decided that stay-at-home orders and the like were undemocratic or authoritarian measures. This haiku encapsulates a kind, caring, non-politicized perspective on the reasons we are practicing self-isolation and social distancing as we are.
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2020-05-01
Soundscape recordings of pre-Covid New York City life, from the New York Public Library
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2020-04-08
A blog post by an American postdoctoral scholar living in Tokyo, about his experience of self-isolation and working from home.
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2020-03-24
A blog post by an American postdoctoral scholar living in Tokyo, about his experience of self-isolation and working from home.
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2020-03-27
A blog post by an American postdoctoral scholar living in Tokyo, about his experience of self-isolation and working from home.
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2020-04-08
A Facebook group promoting efforts to prevent the spread of Coronavirus in Okinawa.
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05/20/2020
Bloomberg news article on tight lockdown measures in Hawai'i, aimed at protecting the islands from infection by incoming visitors.
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05/23/2020
Journal of Elia Lara Coria
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2020-05-01
Journal of Hector Lopez
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2020-05-20
A short recap of what my weeks look like while taking online classes during the pandemic.
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04/20/2020
April 20, 2020
Day 15
That day I could not sleep, I was trying to sleep but every time I closed my eyes I just wanted to open them up again, so I started to watch The Office and then I realized that it was time to get ready for class. To be honest I was getting tire during class but I knew I had to be awake and the weird part was that when the class end I could not sleep. My friends were sending me messages about going out to eat since its been weeks when we last saw each other but they were not saying yes or no because we would get off track from the conservation. So I decided to sleep and I set my alarm around 3 PM then the next thing I had about 20 missed calls from them and it was 4 PM then started to get ready, it was funny. We went to eat Cane’s and just hanging out. I went back home and I ended my day with doing homework.
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05/21/2020
Beginning on May 16, 2020, Jewish communities in Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Bangkok teamed up to hold weekly Havdalah services over Zoom, allowing us all, even isolated in our homes all across East Asia, to join together.
Havdalah is a short service held every Saturday evening, marking the end of the Sabbath. A special candle is lit, and spices passed around and smelled, to remind us of the light and beauty of the Sabbath as we re-enter the regular week. Though we cannot experience the candle or the spices in the same way at a distance, and though reciting or singing prayers together over Zoom is difficult (given the lag time and so forth), it has been wonderful to have this opportunity for a sense of community and spirituality during this difficult time.
I cannot speak for anyone else, but for me personally, I am a rather secular person and generally just find myself too busy to take the time to go to synagogue on any regular basis at all. But during a time like this, one finds that one appreciates that human connection, and connection to community, identity, heritage, spirituality, comforting traditions, more than usual. And as with academic conferences, simply speaking with friends & family, and many other things we are now doing over Zoom - not only in religious life but in general - we are building connections we might not have built otherwise. I don't know if the various Jewish communities of Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Bangkok have ever done these sorts of online communal events before; it's a wonderful feeling to "meet" people from all across the region. I hope it might continue.
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05/23/2020
Front page of the official website of the Jewish Community of Japan (the primary Jewish community center and house of worship in Tokyo), reading:
"Dear Members and Guests of the JCJ
“The preservation of health is a mitzvah which overrides all other .”
We are in the midst of a global pandemic which requires caution and responsible action. Social distancing has been suggested as one of the best ways to prevent the quick spread of the virus.
It is for this reason that we have decided to cancel all Shabbat and festival services at the JCJ until further notice. "
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2020-05-20
A compilation of customers behaving disgustingly to essential workers and others.
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2020-05-22
[Curator's note] Journal entries submitted as part of a class for Dougherty Family College.
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2020-04-20
In April 2020, as the Japanese national government dragged its feet on declaring a state of emergency or taking other strong actions, Gov. Koike Yuriko of Tokyo began holding daily TV appearances in which she encouraged the people of Tokyo to take responsible steps, including closing shops, working from home, allowing your employees to work from home, wearing masks, etc, as well as to avoid "the three Mitsu," meaning places which are crowded, closed-in, and involve close interaction. Someone then made this video game, in which you play as Gov. Koike, going around Tokyo and telling people "Mitsu desu!" ("You're too close!", or more literally, "this is crowding!"), to try to break up crowds.
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2020-04-20
In April 2020, as the Japanese national government dragged its feet on declaring a state of emergency or taking other strong actions, Gov. Koike Yuriko of Tokyo began holding daily TV appearances in which he encouraged the people of Tokyo to take responsible steps, including closing shops, working from home, allowing your employees to work from home, wearing masks, etc, as well as to avoid "the three Mitsu," meaning places which are crowded, closed-in, and involve close interaction. A video game was then released in which you play as Gov. Koike, going around Tokyo and telling people "Mitsu desu!" ("You're too close!", or more literally, "this is crowding!"). This video remixes her statements into an amusing EDM soundtrack.
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2020-03-07
This was an email sent from the president of the school relaying the message that all face to face classes were canceled and we will have to finish off the semester from home.
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2020-05-15
A friend of mine studied a broad here in MN, I had the privilege to get to know her during her senior year as a college student. With the whole pandemic, she wasn’t able to go back to her home country it was unknown when she will be able to return back. A week ago, she found out that today will be her chance to leave. Although we are both happy that she is able to go back home, it was sad to know that we wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to each other due COVID-19. Although it seems like she is just going back to visit her family, it studently hits me that we are actually living in a time like this. I really wish I was able to send her off and give her one last hug since we don’t know when we will see each other again. It’s not a goodbye, it’s a see you soon.
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2020-05-22
On April 8, 2020, I had to have a root canal redone. I had been in self-isolation since March 17, and it was unnerving to leave the house to have this procedure done since I have asthma. Catching Covid-19 would not be suitable for me, so having to lay with my mouth wide open for an extended period was not ideal. Unfortunately, the procedure could not wait. When I arrived at the dentist's office, my temperature was checked before I was allowed to exit my car. I wore a cloth mask into the building where I was required to wash my hands before interacting with the staff. Once I was taken to the back, I had to rinse with alcohol-based mouth wash for no less than 30 seconds. During the procedure, the endodontist wore a face shield and mask. Air was circulated over my face and away from both the dental assistant and endodontist towards the open door. The procedure took about an hour since they chose to examine the failing root canal, refill it, and seal the crown all in the same day. Typically this would require two visits, one to check and refill the root canal and one to seal the crown. After the procedure was done, I was allowed to wash my hands before putting my mask back on and then rewash my hands before exiting the office. Once in my car, I used hand sanitizer before driving home. By far, the strangest visit I've had to the dentist, but they made sure to take every precaution they could to keep their patients safe.
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04/04/2020
What will the future look like for new college graduates amid a global pandemic? #ASU #HST580
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05/15/2020
Graduates practice social distancing during their ceremony. Even during the pandemic important events and social gatherings can happen, with proper precautions taken. #ASU #HST580
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05/16/2020
A family sits together while waiting for the graduation ceremony to start. Even during times of crisis, it is essential that celebrations and recognition of achievements continue.
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2020-05-22
This is my mask, I wear it when I go out to keep me safe as well as others.
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05/16/2020
Staging area for the Logan-Magnolia graduation ceremony. Family groups are allowed to sit together in groups smaller than 10, but groups must remain at least 6 feet apart.
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05/16/2020
Gymnasium being setup for a social distancing graduation. This photo speaks volumes to the importance of a graduation ceremony for these young adults and the drive to find a way to keep some resemblance of normalcy.
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2020-04-12
Teachers at Sem Yeto sent a message of support to students. Out of hundreds of students only a fraction of them have returned phone calls, turned in assignments or logged on to live classes. Trying to find ways to connect takes innovation.
