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2021-01-01
This past year was a crazy one. Since it’s now 2021, for the first time, I’m really looking back on 2020 and reflecting on my memories and moments. The year started off normal, and simpler. I had just made friends with a group that I liked a lot in December of 2019, I’m still with them, so that was pretty important. I imagine my life would be different, and I wouldn’t have many of the memories I have today. I don’t remember much about January or February itself, but I do remember Mardi Gras. At the time, the USA wasn’t really concerned about COVID-19, so being with friends during Mardi Gras were some of the best and last moments of large gatherings and celebrations I’ve seen in a while. After the 2 weeks of festivities, March rolled around, a month that stands out for everyone when looking back at 2020. Halfway through the month, we learned that we got out of school for 2 weeks. I was in media arts and my friends and I got super excited. The tone dialed down quickly though, as my entire math period following the announcement was Mr. Milling answering questions from kids about the virus and explaining the CLP. My friends and I hung out one final time that night on March 13th. After that, we split up and resorted to talking through phones and headsets as a communication system. In April we started meeting up again at Audubon Park for bike rides, and that continued through June. Then it seemed like school came fast, and all of a sudden, we were back in person, and things felt just a little bit normal.
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2021-05-24
MISINFORMATION REIGNS
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2021-05-09
Interview conducted by a nephew with uncle regarding the COVID response as it occured in the Republic of Ireland. Interviewee Fred O'Gorman discussed topics ranging from business closure and government response to personal and communal attitudes and behaviors in relation to pandemic in Ireland. The discussion also discussed ongoing vaccine rollout in Ireland and the dynamics of mental health through the course of the pandemic.
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2021-05-22
See file uploaded "Post-Pandemic Vision"
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2020-11-30
Andrew Brandt
Date: 11/30/21
New Orleans, LA
Only 2020
Article 1: California surpasses 18,000 coronavirus deaths, nears 1 million cases
It feels like it was not long ago, March 13, 2020. On March 13th, 7 people in the United States had died. Now, just in California, 18,000 people have died. On March 13th, 536 people contracted COVID-19. Now, just in California, we have 1,000,000 cases. We got here by the government and the president downplaying the coronavirus since it first entered the United States. “It will disappear when it gets warmer.” - Donald Trump. It did not disappear when it got warmer, it got worse. Over 250,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. This was a complete failure on the part of our government and our health agencies. Hospitals will be overrun by the end of December. America is now averaging twice the amount of total cases in China a day. China was the epicenter of the disease. America is the laughing stock of the world right now.
Article 2: Experts say you shouldn't expect a coronavirus vaccine before December
Pfizer announced encouraging news today, but we should not get our hopes up. Most scientists say that a vaccine will not be available to the general public until April-May of next year. This would mean that this entire school year would be plagued by the pandemic. We will be in these masks for a while longer. I hope that the vaccine will come sooner, but it seems unlikely that a vaccine will be approved, much less distributed by the end of December. At least my first year of high school will be semi-normal, but from now on, nothing will ever be normal again.
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2021-05-23
This story details the way life felt during COVID, just a blur, a mix of days where they all felt the same, except for maybe one or two. It explains how COVID changed school for me, what my habits became, and the sort of things I had to deal with. This is important to me because it's the only time I've ever explained what the last year has made me feel, and it's very raw. It's not some grand essay, just exactly how I've felt, and the issues COVID has caused me.
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2021-05-17
“Everything I learned about love” is a journal of the year 2020 by graphic designer Juddelis Villar where she compiles photographs, journal entries, and poetry she made during the year of the pandemic. Through her little archive of the year, she tells us the story of how finding love in the middle of chaos helped her survive one of the most challenging years in history.
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2021-05-21
This website represents the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. It's a pretty remarkable approach to thinking about how we will live in the future. A quotation on the site, from Buckminster Fuller, is a perfect inspiration for the call #SMhopes: an Archive of Hopes and Dreams: "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
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2021-05-21
It's just about how I experienced COVID and how I made it through
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2021-05-21
Crypto currency and the stock market are still trending because of stocks/crypto like Dogecoin and Bitcoin and more. People on the internet were investing in crypto and people I knew also invested in crypto. Dogecoin was so popular Elon Musk invested in it and also tweeted about it. Stocks for these currencies/stocks were making people rich super fast, people I knew that invested in stocks cashed out in the high hundred thousands, some even made millions. The stock market right now would maybe even be called a digital “gold rush”.
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2021-05-21
During the first few months of the pandemic, I got to relax and sleep in with basically little homework. After school ended, I got to spend more time with my sisters inside and I found new hobbies. Hobbies that I picked up during quarantine are embroidery, volleyball, and badminton.
When we had to return back to school, I didn’t have to go to in-person school and got to wake up a little later than usual. During quarantine, I spent most of my time with my family, so we went over to my cousin’s house weekly. My cousin got two new Yorkie puppies named Mochi and Matcha. Since we went there often, I got to spend more time with the puppies. Quarantine was also a great time for me to binge animes and read manga. Even though some of the new and ongoing animes were delayed, I was able to finish animes I was currently watching quickly without distractions. I usually watched animes and TV shows with my sisters whenever we were all available, which was most of the time.
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2021-04-15
This picture represents motivation to not do anything because of Covid. When covid first started out, I was in 8th grade. I didn’t have any motivation to complete any of my schoolwork because of covid, and that led to me getting all Fs. After my parents checked my online gradebook, I felt ashamed of dropping down so low.
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2021-05-18
This upload involving interviewing one of my highschool teachers a series of questions involving their experience during COVID-19 is intended to display how this pandemic has affected the lives of other people and how they have coped with the time spent adjusting to these new conditions. I myself find this aspect of learning from another person and their experience of these grand pandemic important as it allows others, myself included, to experience a different point of view towards a situation which ended up effecting nearly everyone across the globe in order to compare and contrast how others may have adapted to a new life style.
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2021-05-09
We have preserved in this short film a selection of Theatre Workshop students' authentic experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and we want to share these stories with you.
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2021-03-30
March 30, 2021
Over the weekend, I went to my house in St. Francisville with my dad and sister. We made a last minute decision to go on Friday evening instead of on Saturday morning, which turned out to be a great decision because we woke up early on Saturday morning around 5:30 in the morning to go turkey hunting. Within about 30 minutes, I had shot my first turkey. My dad was so happy for me because I had been trying to kill my first turkey for so long, as it is just about the only animal we have on our property that I had not shot yet. After shooting it, we brought it to our cousin for him to breast it and take off the tail feathers. After that, my dad took me to Burger King, which is one of my favorite fast food places. I got my usual order, but just like it almost always is, the ice cream machine was broken, so I could not get a milkshake. Then we went to our house and at night we watched Alabama play our Sweet 16 game against UCLA. the game was very close all the way through, but with four seconds left, UCLA scored to put them up by three, and we inbounded it and our point guard Jahvon Quinerly sprinted up the court and passed the ball to our center Alex Reese who was standing almost on the mid-court logo, and he drained a deep three as time expired to tie the game and send it to overtime. Sadly Alabama followed up that great shot, probably one of the best shots in bama history, with one of our worst performances ever in overtime, as UCLA pulled away to win the game, and I was very frustrated because of how poorly we played in overtime.
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2021-01-18
January 18, 2021
I have been in quarantine for 12 days now, and it was originally supposed to end on Wednesday, but after about my fourth day of quarantine, my sister tested positive so I was exposed again, extending my quarantine to the 25th, meaning 19 days of quarantine. It was not so bad at first because I had about 6 friends who were quarantined also, but they are going back to school, so I will be alone for about the last week of quarantine. It is not so bad though because I am in St. Francisville, and after school I can play basketball, drive the Polaris, fish, or even hunt. Online school has been boring but not too bad because I can sleep later and eat basically anything I want for lunch. Also, I am very happy because Alabama’s 2021 recruiting class for football is now ranked the highest class of all time, and our basketball team is also doing amazing. I just went to the Alabama-LSU basketball game, and Alabama won by a lot and set the SEC record for most threes in a game, and I think we had 22 or 23, but the previous was also held by us, which we set last year. This was my first Alabama basketball game, and only my third college basketball game. My first one was a long time ago and was a Tulane game, and my second was a few years ago and was an LSU basketball game, and I went because it was after Bob Pettit’s statue unveiling, and my family got to go because my grandmother is Bob Pettit’s first cousin.
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2020-12-01
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.
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2021-04-17
Recently CNBC has released an article on my story in the Pfizer Vaccine Trial. I got interviewed about a week ago, and I helped in the making of the article. It is on a division of CNBC called CNBC Make It. CNBC Make It is a section of CNBC that specializes in money, wellness, and heartwarming stories. I have gotten to know the writer, Cory Stieg, well and it was great working with her. The article goes into detail about how the trial works and my experience with the trial. This experience has been amazing from both ends, Pfizer and CNBC. I hope that I inspired others to make a change in the world and to try and pursue your passions.
Link to article in description
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2021-05-07T10:15
I decided to share her story because we wrote a paper in school that I thought was good.
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2021-05-21
This is about the COVID-19 pandemic. It shares my moms personal experience, and it is important to me because I spent a ton of time on it. Also because this was one of our final projects in school.
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2021-02-18
It was hard
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2020-03-20
The meme was from the beginning of the pandemic, where people were stocking up. The stores were empty and people were rushing to get important thongs, such as toilet paper, water bottles, etc.
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2020-09-18
In order to work on a television show in 2020-2021 during a global pandemic, we have to get a Covid-19 test every single day and receive a temperature check before stepping into the sets. Here is a photo of my wrist with the bracelets we receive every day whenever we complete the protocols to enter stage.
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2021-04-28
Working on NBCs Chicago MED full time during a pandemic was not hard, but we were lucky to be able to incorporate Covid 19 into our story lines in order to keep masks on and people safer. Here is a photo of our background nurses posing with their masks on before heading in to set!
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2021-01-27
Throughout 2020, there was a new election and stakes were extremely high. While working on the set of NBC’s Chicago MED, crew members tried to keep spirits up as much as possible. One of the ways we did that was by printing out a cardboard cut out of Bernie Sanders and leaving him around the sets to make people laugh.
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2020-03-12
COVID 19
I decided to choose as a source an image related to the COVID 19 virus. The image belongs to https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/coronavirus-countries-cross-100-covid-19-world-update/. This website provides information about the virus and was last updated on March 12, 2020. The image shows the virus spread around the planet earth. This image helps me explain what the virus is and how it spread. I select this type of source because I consider that it expresses a simple but concise message. I consider that it is something that everyone can understand and from which they can learn. By looking at the image people can get an idea of what the spread of the virus really meant. They can observe that its spread was not in a specific area, but rather that it spread around the entire world.
Since the virus made its first appearance in Wuhan China, everything has turned into a catastrophe. The virus began to spread rapidly around the world. People were really not prepared for the COVID 19 virus. Many people died from this virus and those who were infected and survived did not have a good time. The virus isolated everyone and everything stopped being what it always was. People could no longer visit their loved ones or spend time with them. Many businesses closed, and as a result many people lost their jobs. Now everyone had to wear masks, they had to keep their distance from each other, and they also had to constantly wash their hands. This was somewhat frustrating, as people searched for gloves, masks, and disinfectants in stores. However, because everyone was looking for the same items there was a shortage of them. Sometimes when people found such items they could only buy one per person, especially alcohol and disinfectants. People really felt desperate. Things had changed a lot. Now many people had to work from home. The same thing happened with the students. Students had to take classes from home through a computer. This was something that didn't seem right to everyone. Many students lost interest.
I consider that both historians and everyone in the future should be aware of what the COVID 19 virus was. Although the COVID 19 virus is a new virus that arose suddenly, it is not the first time that humanity experiences something like this. Previously around a hundred years ago something similar had happened with the Spanish flu. The Spanish flu like COVID 19 had also become a pandemic. Because of this, millions of people died. However, this was something that remained in the past as no one spoke of this event. I consider that people could have learned something from the history of the Spanish flu and applied that knowledge during COVID. However, few people are aware of what the Spanish flu was. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account everything related to COVID 19. Although it is likely that the appearance of a new virus cannot be prevented, at least people will know how to protect themselves and thus prevent the spread. The virus spread around the world rapidly for various reasons. However, one of these reasons was that people had no idea how to react to the virus. If people had had an idea of how to protect themselves at that time, perhaps the virus would not have spread the way it did. I believe that acquiring the necessary knowledge about the virus will be of great help in the future.
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2021-05-19
Nina Simone’s iconic version of "Feeling Good" plays as I put the last touches on my final painting for the We Rise L.A. project.
Nina sings:
“It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good I'm feeling good”
My gouache (opaque watercolor) and ink artworks on paper, explore morning light, morning life, and the hope engendered by the dawn of a new day. Sourced from my memories of travel, these paintings reflect morning journeys, rituals, and routines.
This series was created in partnership with We Rise LA for Mental Health Awareness and 18th Street Arts. My 41 works of art were created as messages of hope, beauty, wellbeing, and self-compassion.
Nina sings:
“Oh, freedom is mine And I know how I feel It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life”
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2021-05-19
The collected works of Professor Katherine Culkin's History (HIS 20) classes.
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2020-10-05
The past year was a very hectic one. Many things changed over 2020 and overall it was a whirlwind of a year. While there are many bad things to point out about it there are some silver linings too. Due to the coronavirus, we had to quarantine for a while. This forced me to spend a lot of time with my family, but I am very thankful for this now. My brothers are 4 and 1, but I am 14. This means that in 4 ½ years when I leave for college they are going to be 5 and 9, so I need to spend as much time with them as possible before I leave and start a new life away from them. 2020 showed me how important family really is and I will no longer take it for granted. Another silver lining of 2020 was learning that I have a love for baking. When quarantine started in March I would be extremely bored because I had to stay home. I was tired of staring at a screen for so long, so I knew I had to find something to do. This is how I stumbled upon baking. I made sugar cookies for my family one time and I knew I had to continue baking. I fell in love with it. Now I use it to help me calm myself. Being in control of everything I’m doing makes me feel grounded, so even when I’m stressed about something going on in my life, baking makes me feel in control so that I can handle the situation correctly. From the outside 2020 might have been bad, but if you look for the silver linings you realize it might’ve been just the year you needed.
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2021-04-19
Safe activities outside including amusement parks.
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2020-10-05
I didn’t do very much of anything today, but I’ll give a record of it anyway because maybe it was more interesting than I thought. First things first, I woke up at 6:40 am and didn’t move out of bed until 6:50 am when my dad yelled for me to get up. Then I got ready for school, helped get my two little brothers ready for school, and drank a smoothie for breakfast. We left kind of late today, so the older of my two younger brothers was almost late for school. Then, to make sure my youngest brother was on time and so was I, my dad dropped me off at my brother's drop-off spot and I had to walk the rest of the way to school. I had advisory and the assembly first, so nothing too exciting. Next, I had science where we went over our last experiment and the homework, had a mini in-class quiz, and then we got to finish The Martian. Once science was over I had English where we just worked on our papers that are due Thursday. Thankfully, after that was lunch and recess which were a nice reprieve from schoolwork. After lunch, I had math where we learned about linear systems of inequalities. My last class of the day was PE where I am currently doing volleyball. It was pretty fun, except for my arms were sore after because the coach had us using the heavy balls to practice setting. I went home after PE, had some nut mix for a snack, and went on my phone for a while before starting my homework. I took a break from that at around 5 and went on a walk with my family before coming home and eating dinner. I finished up my homework a little after that and spent some time with my family before going to work out and shower. After I showered I went to bed, and that was my day!
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2020-05-02
The photo highlights a peaceful protest that involved the participation of medical faculty. The health care workers included in this photograph included doctors, nurses, admin, security guards and handful of maintenance. This was demonstration to support the Black Lives Matter Movement after the killing of a George Floyd at the hands of a police officer. The individuals in this photo can all be seen taking a knee similar to the protest method used by Colin Kaepernick.
National Football League, player Colin Kaepernick took his first knee on September 1, 2016. The taking of the knee went against the tradition of standing during the signing of the National Anthem. Kaepernick said at the time: “I am not going up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color”. The people in this picture felt the same exact sentiments as Kaepernick.
I chose this source because I wanted historians to understand the impact of the pandemic and the unity it created amongst individuals of different races. As a health care worker, I faced the challenges of Covid-19 directly. The fear of transmitting COVID-19 led to months of isolation from my loved ones. This feeling of loneliness contributed to the decline of mental health for me and many of my co-workers. On May 25, 2021, when George was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer over a suspicion of a counterfeit $20 bill my feeling of loneliness grew tremendously. Being an African American man in the united states was now just as dangerous as the virus killing thousands in New York. When the members of my staff came up the idea of protesting for the rights of African Americans, my feeling of loneliness begin to fade. Kneeling on the ground next to coworkers of all different races reminded of the inclusiveness and unity that we all needed in life. This was a moment in a history that will never be forgotten.
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2021-05-01
This is a breakdown of facts and my opinions on the India Coronavirus situation.
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2021-05-15
I got my Pfizer vaccine! It's actually surreal to me to think that I got a vaccine because I was quite pessimistic about Covid in 2020. I think there was a voice in my head telling me that we're going to be in “this” for so long, and that it's going to be so bad but when I wrote my second Coronavirus journal entry, I said “I think we might get a vaccine by 2021 but I don't think it will be distributed to the public quickly until mid 2021” and I hit it right on the nail with that. I guess my prediction was pretty lucky.
The progress that the United States has made with vaccines has been outstanding to be honest. I think it might be regarded as one of the most successful events in modern US history. A couple months back it was crazy for me to see that juniors in my French class we're being taken out to get the vaccine. At the time I was hearing about how Canada was lagging behind in vaccines. Even more crazy to me is that this Friday, my school opened up the gym for students 12-15 years old to get vaccinated so students in my grade got vaccinated at PE. Interestingly enough a classmate of mine was in the trial for under 15 year old kids. I'm sure that he documented his experience, but my experience with him being in the trial was that we teased him in Science class after he got his first dose. We said “oh you got the microchip” and “I bet your cellular connectivity got better”. He of course laughed it off.
A lot of my humor is sarcasm, irony, and pretending to be dumb so when I said “oh you got the microchip” and “I bet your cellular connectivity got better”, it was meant (and taken) as a joke. But of course in humor, lies some truth. There are people that believe those things. There are people that are believing this misinformation from the internet. There are “Karen's” on the internet saying stupid things. There have been campaigns to fight misinformation about the vaccine and I think they've been successful, but there will always be dumb people. I think there are some famous people that are not using their influence for good, which is terrible as I think they have an obligation to support the vaccine. Someone I think that embodies this is LeBron James. I don't think he's gotten enough blow back for his comments. He is one of the most influential people in the world and his comments are damaging. His comments could indirectly be killing people. There is also some irony in his actions and his comments. It's well-known that he spends over 1.5 million dollars a year to keep his body in Tip-Top shape but he won't take a free vaccine.
Anyways my experience getting the vaccine was pretty standard. I went into the hospital at 10:30, got my vaccine card (and an extra to archive), got pricked (it didn’t even hurt), waited 15 minutes and went home. Now 2 hours after I'm writing this, I haven't had any side effects other than some pain in the arm that I got it in. My dad got some bad side effects after his first dose, but not after his second, which seems to be odd because most people get worse side effects after the second dose. I’ll have to see if I get bad side effects from the first or second dose. Also if you’re reading this 50 years from now, check out if they have my vaccine card.
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2021-04-27
Should the US Share Covid 19 Vaccines and Supplies? + American Patriotism
I think countries should try to share supplies when they're able to. It's for the greater good but I also understand that countries just don't and won't adopt this policy. Every country in the world is a "_____ country first” country. I think it's unrealistic to assume that countries will donate covid-19 supplies while they are still dealing with it. I think the only countries that might do this are the Nordic countries that everyone points at and goes that is the favorite Child of the entire world. I think in the future it will be interesting to see what country is the favorite child as I put it.
I also think that there's an interesting argument that goes along the lines of this, the United States is the controlling superpower and if they themselves are not able to be stable they aren't able to help the world to be stable. Yes, I understand this logic that I proposed is a little bit prideful coming from an American, because I think Americans have a tendency to use “the USA number one” mode of thinking and they also think that without the United States, the world would crumple. People who use this logic also mention the Marshall Plan and some of the other work that was done in the Asia post World War II. But I think nowadays, consensus with Americans is “what has the US done recently”. I agree with the “what has the US done lately” logic and I think it exists as a purposeful counter to the flag waving and patriotism that we see in so many Americans today.
I think because of this we have created the “Ashamed American”. I would describe the ashamed American as being disgusted by those flag wavers. I describe them as disgusted with the right and disgusted with Donald Trump. I think these ashamed Americans look at the flag waving and they say “why?”. They say “why are we waving this flag for this country that has so many problems, that has done so much bad.” They don't believe that there was ever a Great America. They believe it's always been a flawed America and they look at these socialist countries that seem to be so happy yet they think why does America have so many problems while they are so happy. I think this is sort of interesting to document for the future because I'm not sure if it's always been this way. I think this might have arised with 2020 politics though I think I can't even say that.
You must also understand that the reaction to the European trying to “diss” the US is often “Shut up you bidet-loving European. USA is number one! Number one, number one. Did y'all invent the hamburger? Did y’all invent French fries? I don't think so go back to your country with stupid free healthcare and play some stupid soccer.” and as the Europeans walks away, a group forms that begins to sing the national anthem. Even those “ashamed Americans” won’t let those darn Europeans speak badly on the US of A.
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2021-05-11
This was when it was a 3 day weekend and everything that I did during that weekend because it was one of the best weekends I have had a year and I wanted to tell you all what is a fun weekend to me and how to spend a 3 day weekend with your friends and family. I hope that you like the Coronavirus journal.
This weekend was so fun because it was a 3 day weekend and on top of that I got to hang out with my friends and we did a lot of fun stuff like going to Surge the trampoline park and we also went to Walmart and that was really fun to just mess around and make jokes and play with stuff there. We did not break anything but we did get a basketball and play with one of the goals that were not blocked off. And we got the bikes and we rode them around to see which was the best. And at Surge, we had so much fun like for instance we played dodgeball with people and we got to meet a lot of nice and cool people that were on my team and I was given a nickname of the ninja because I could doge every ball and catch them and I was last almost every game it was really fun trying to dodge the adults because they would throw it very hard and you had to have a good reaction time to dodge them. But after Surge, we then went to my friends’ house and went on his trampoline and then we went to Audubon Park and messed around there and we also went to the baseball fields at the fly and avenger and we played a football game, baseball game, and a kickball game and we where there for a couple of hours and it was so hot but just so fun and I can not wait until we do it again someday.
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2021-02-07
Me:
Could you give me a brief overview of your experience with COVID?
Interviewee:
Uh yeah, I mean, I guess I just experienced the same thing that every, you know, United States high-schooler experienced, it was just a random Friday in the middle of March and we went home and from there I've spent, I guess a month and a half in quarantine, you know, strict quarantine. And then of course I've been distancing from friends since then.
Me:
Do you remember your thoughts at the beginning of the pandemic and even prior to the pandemic and hearing news about it?
Interviewee:
Yeah. I mean, hearing news about it, you always think, Oh, that's, half a world away, what difference does it make? But I think when it started to set in for me was when there was a document released saying that the United States was statistically about seven days behind Italy in terms of contracting the virus and the virus's effects. And I remember there was this one week in Italy where their grocery stores were completely sold out, even the pasta which when you're looking in the United States, it actually did happen, I think a little bit on a smaller scale, but it definitely, in terms of toilet paper and paper towels, those were out of stock along with a lot of other necessities and cleaning supplies. So I would say those were my first thoughts.
Me:
What did you find to be the hardest part about the quarantining experience?
Interviewee:
I mean, I think there's just a sense of loneliness. I was at my previous school because I just transitioned to another school for high school and I kind of felt cheated out of those last few months of summer with my friends back at home and now I've been cheated out of all of winter term staying here at home. So in that sense, I've just felt a lot of frustration, but then also like a lot of loneliness in terms of quarantining.
Me:
Yeah. I think I understand that. Were you optimistic for 2020, at the beginning of the year? Did you have high hopes for the year? Did you say this is going to be Eleanor's year?
Interviewee:
Um no. I kind of find that whole thing cringy. I hate new year's resolutions personally, just because statistically the majority of people do not stay with them. I set goals every new year, but I don't really think of them as resolutions because, what am I resolving a part of my identity or something like? I don't really believe in that. So I wouldn't say I had high hopes for 2020, but I would say I had a lot of goals specifically in terms of my education and personal/social lives that were not able to come into fruition because of the virus.
Me:
Hmm. Are you optimistic for 2021? Knock on wood.
Interviewee:
Yeah, no. I'd say the same thing of course, going into the year it is like “Oh, new year, clean slate”, and then, you know, in the political world, there's so much going on too, especially with the violence at the Capitol and the inauguration. So I think in general, it's hard to have hopes for your 2021 but I think that it's always important to look at the good news. And you know, if you look at it, right, the vaccine is coming out. We had a pretty peaceful inauguration, so stuff like that, I think there are things to be hopeful for and to look forward to.
Me:
Do you think some people believe that everything was going to miraculously, you know, clear up at the beginning of 2021?
Interviewee:
I don't think anyone genuinely believed that, you know, I think if someone were to sit down and really think, or not even really think halfway think they would kind of realize that this virus isn't going anywhere the second it turns from 2020 to 2021. I think people have a lot of hope for 2021, as we should. But I don't think that anyone truly believes that the new year would make everything perfect.
Me:
Yeah. How do you think 2020 compares to other years of your life?
Interviewee:
Um I think it had, it ties in highs and lows like every year. For me the virus, I was fortunate that it didn't impact a lot of my life, my personal life. I don't have family members who have contracted the virus. But in my personal/social and educational lives, I would say a lot has changed. So I think the virus was responsible for a lot of that.
Me:
I know you're pretty experienced with online schooling through Zoom and other various platforms. What were your thoughts on that?
Interviewee:
Um it's awful cause I think the biggest thing about school is you have little interactions with people throughout the day and even with the teachers. For me, I work really well in visual and auditory learning, which of course through zoom and online platforms, you have auditory learning, but the visual component is a lot harder. And you just, a lot of times you don't have that same one-on-one interaction. And even if you go to conference periods or set up one-on-one meetings with your teachers, it's just not the same feeling. And unless you deliberately set aside time in your day to connect with your peers and to maintain and build upon those friendships, it's so easy to lose them online.
Me:
How do you think this year will be taught in history books and to the students of the future?
Interviewee:
Poor kids in 2050.
Me:
Remember that the me-me I saw of kids learning about 2020 in the future.
Interviewee:
Um yeah, I've seen a lot of Memes,
Me:
You mean Me-mes?
Interviewee:
Yes. Suuuure. Okay. But anyways, I feel like kids will have maybe a better understanding of the impacts of the virus because there is so much documentation on it. I feel like for us, if you're looking back in history, maybe one of the biggest things that every single person in the world learns about I would say it's probably World War II, right? That's something that, you know, you ask any kid already age, they probably have some sort of idea of what world war two was hopefully. So I feel like in that sense, the virus will go down as one of those things. And I think for us, World War II has some sort of impact because it was our grandparents who were fighting in the war and you know, Whereas I feel like future generations might feel a little bit more separation from World War II, however, I think that they might experience the same feelings of coronavirus as we feel about World War II, if that makes any sense.
Me:
Do you think you'll be telling kids of the future that you had to quarantine for 18 months straight and couldn't see light and couldn't talk to anyone?
Interviewee:
Totally. I turned into a vampire too.
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2019
These are all doodles I made during the pandemic when I felt myself crashing, self-sabotaging, or just critical condition emotionally. The drawing on the left is the most recent drawing I made. It shows that I have a heart that is depressed and a mind that is rotting away with a confused face. In the background, you also see the word help radiate from me. This symbolizes how I feel about my education. I feel like, during the pandemic, I'm not able to bounce ideas back and forth on my own, so being alone, I get lost and overcrowded. The one on the top right also expresses my view of myself. It shows that I have a bright flame that either gets drowned with depression or fueled with anger. This relates to the pandemic because when everything got shut down, I Felt very divided with what I was doing and who I was. Lastly, the bottom right picture shows me at a table looking at my hands with a bowl of fruit and pills. This was drawn about halfway through my fall 2020 semester because I have focused on medication. Still, they made me also feel emotionless and more confused about my own personal identity and where my heart was with my art if I can't express it. After this drawing, I became numb and ended up not doing most of my finals and leaving me empty for a while during winter break. The only thing that got me out was seeing my family again after seven months of not really seeing anyone close to me. I also stopped taking meds and had a withdrawal effect at the begging of my spring semester. Now I'm just trying to keep my head up to return to normalcy and see my friends that closely monitored me before knowing how I get affected by certain things.
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2020-07-10
This shows that before the pandemic, I struggled to get the help I needed to deal with my stress, and the minute everything got shut down, so did I. I ended up not knowing what to do and failed my classes and explained to my family that I've had depression and anxiety issues. Im currently still trying to recover, and it truly feels like my college doesn't care because they take forever to respond, knowing I'm in danger of failing and having some personal struggles.
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2021-04-17
Recently CNBC has released an article on my story in the Pfizer Vaccine Trial. I got interviewed about a week ago, and I helped in the making of the article. It is on a division of CNBC called CNBC Make It. CNBC Make It is a section of CNBC that specializes in money, wellness, and heartwarming stories. I have gotten to know the writer, Cory Stieg, well and it was great working with her. The article goes into detail about how the trial works and my experience with the trial. This experience has been amazing from both ends, Pfizer and CNBC. I hope that I inspired others to make a change in the world and to try and pursue your passions.
Link to Article in Description
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2021-05-18
Observations and lessons learned and learning during this Pandemic.
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2020-09-17
I’m doing great! This is definitely a hard time for everyone during this pandemic, but we are all slowly getting used to it. It stinks not to be able to hang out with a big group of people, but I’d much rather prevent this virus from affecting people. I’m worried for my family because I don’t want them to get sick especially since they are all older than me. I hope it will all be over soon, and that the vaccine will come soon too. One thing I really wish was school could go back to normal. I don’t like having to wear a mask all day and wish I could see people’s faces. Also, I wish we could do group projects because they’re always so much fun. Along with going to lunch and being able to eat in the cafeteria. School is definitely the biggest change throughout the pandemic for me. Otherwise, I’m adjusting pretty well so that’s good!
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2021-05-19
It's a personal essay about race in America and the need for white ownership.
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2020-04-09
As my primary source I decided to choose a picture from the NY Daily News, and it was published on Apr 09, 2020 at 1:17 pm by Gardiner Anderson. I selected this picture, because in my opinion it has the ability to show how badly the Corona virus affected New York city and the entire world. This image documents how there were so many people dying from the Covid-19 virus and how there was not enough space in the morgue to keep the bodies. The situation was so horrible that people were dying alone in the hospitals without their family members in their bed side. Let’s stop for a minute and think how difficult it is to know your family member is in the hospital dying alone, and you cannot go to the hospital and hold their hand for them not to feel alone while they take their last breath. This was never seen before, at least not in the United States. Historians will have the chance to see how Covid-19 did not just affect the economical part of my community and the entire world, but how it also affected the people in a psychological level. While a lot of people was died during Covid- 19. A lot of people lost their jobs, and they did not have money to buy food. Also, a lot of people did not have money to pay their rental or bills. While this people were going through a financial crisis, maybe member of their family was in the morgue or hospital or maybe they were in quarantine because they had Covid-19.
What it means for this picture to be in the newspapers is how big was the impact of Covid-19. It shows how bad the situation was at the moment. Millions of hospitals did not have space in the morgue. Therefore, it connects to the picture because it shows how they had to deposit the corpses in the refrigerated trucks. I selected this source because I want historians of the future to understand what was going on at the time. The readers are going have the chance to see with their own eyes what was going on at the time. They can see how horrible the virus was. In other words, this picture will explain and demonstrate what was going on at the time.
For me to see this image during the pandemic was very hard and traumatizing because I felt so bad to see how they deposited corpses in the trucks. When I saw this image, I thought about my father and my friend because they had Covid-19, and they were in the hospital. I was nervous because I did not know what was going on with them if they were going to die or survive. At the same time, I was nervous because the economy was falling, and my family and others were being affected. My family was forced to reduce the amount of food we were eating. While my father and friend were at the hospital and my sister and brother were not working. Just my mother and me were working. We needed to pay the rent, buy food, and pay bills while my sister and brother were waiting for unemployment. My mother and I were forced to continue working during the pandemic to support our family. Every time I went to work, I was extremely scared about getting the virus and getting my family sick, especially my sister was pregnant at the moment. In the other hand I was worried about my father and friend who were fighting to survive Covid-19. Sadly, my friend died, but my father survived, and I am grateful he was able to survive this horrible virus. I just do not want to focus on how my family was affected, but how this virus affected the entire world. A lot of people died, some people did not have enough money and were waiting for unemployment, other were not even able to get unemployment and other people were not able to visit their family members who were sick in the hospital. This pandemic was catastrophic.
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2020-03-19
Had to move out of my dorm 2 months early, a few weeks after classes were cancelled. The roommate was from Colombia, had to leave behind half of his stuff to get on a flight home.
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2020-05-06
I knew Cinco De Mayo in quarantine wasn't going to be as fun, but I wasn't expecting a really concentrated stomach ache after eating my mom's steak nachos. I was slogging through a now fully online spring semester of college and adapting my school's live sketch show FreqOut to be live-streamed instead over Zoom, so I had plenty on my plate. The next day, the pain increased to the point that I could no longer get comfortable in any position. My mom, after plying me with painkillers and crackers for a few days, decided to call in a family friend and registered nurse to check on me. She poked my stomach and said it was probably appendicitis and that I had to go to the hospital. I hadn't been to the hospital since I was carried out in my mom's arms and, this time, nobody was allowed to go in with me. I stumbled through telling people my symptoms as I had many more nurses and doctors poke me in that same spot and wheel me into different rooms. My poor mom was woken up around midnight by a call from my surgeon saying that my appendix was very sick but that I wouldn't have to worry about it since it was no longer in my body. Falling asleep in a hospital bed to the dulcet tones of a terrible HGTV show was the best sleep I'd had all year. They asked if I wanted to bring my appendix home with me, to which I responded "If I wanted to keep it, I wouldn't have paid you all that money to pull it out of me."
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2020-03-13
I was a college freshman only a few weeks into my spring semester when COVID got real. On March 13th, the entire school received an email that academics would be halted and that no guests would be allowed in any of the dorms. In essence, Columbia College Chicago was on lockdown. There was no leaving the dorms because there was no reason to leave. Any comedy gigs that I had were cancelled as theatres began to shut down, school assignments were postponed as schools struggled to find solutions, and most of my friends living in the other dorm buildings were far away. I had washed and sanitized my hands so manically that they were chapped and burning. I was too afraid to go to the pharmacy across the street because I didn't have a mask. The grey walls of a dorm feel a lot more grey when they're the only things you see. I was scared and alone when I heard a ruckus coming from the dorm I shared a bathroom with. One of my suitemates had gathered some friends to play Super Smash Brothers. I had played with him and my roommate in the past, but he was entertaining a group of people I had only seen in passing glances in the hall. I picked up a controller and, for the next two weeks, they were my only friends. We did everything together, played games, ate together, watched TV (turns out they like to watch Wheel Of Fortune, a game that I've won many times from the comfort of my couch), they even persuaded me to watch a little of the anime they all enjoyed. After a few terrible days of thinking only about my problems and what this pandemic meant for my future, a fun, tight-knit group of friends was just what the doctor ordered. I made a lot of fantastic memories with them and, if it wasn't for COVID, they would have remained passing faces in the hallway.
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2020-03-26
As an international student from China, one of my most impressive experiences about COVID-19 was the long journey when my friends and I returned home from Denver to Beijing. We knew this journey home is bound to be challenging since it happened at such a particular time.
The first challenge we faced is to make preparation for the flight. Getting on a flight successfully is largely a matter of luck, as you never know if your flight will be canceled just before the departure date. Due to changing flight policies, our tickets were canceled three times. At that time, my friends and I felt deep powerlessness in the unstable situation. Fortunately, after the fourth flight adjustment, we successfully boarded the journey home.
To prevent being infected by coronavirus at the crowded airport, we armed ourselves to the teeth. We wore medical gloves and masks, raincoats (because protective suits were sold out), and we even prepared ski goggles since the safety goggles were sold out too. During the 18 hours on the plane, we just ate a few bars of chocolate and drank some water. And that was the second challenge we faced. However, thanks to the company and encouragement of my two friends that made our time on the plane less stressful and depressed.
When we arrived wearily in Guangzhou, we found out a new policy just published that requires returnees to be quarantined as soon as they got off the plane. Therefore, we had to cancel the ticket from Guangzhou to Beijing. As soon as we got off the plane we were taken to a local hotel where we are going to be quarantined for 14 days.
During the quarantine, I went through an experience I never had before. Food is delivered to us every day by staff wearing protective suits. And we measured our body temperature at regular intervals every day. In order to overcome the loneliness during the 14 days, my friends and I created an online meeting room, which made us feel that we are eating and studying together.
Finally, 16 days after leaving Denver, my friends and I returned to our hometown Beijing. For me, there is nothing happier than seeing my parents in person and eating food cooked by them! My friends and I grew up a lot after going through this experience. This long way home taught us the importance of adjusting mood and supporting each other in times of crisis.
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2021-03-17
As my primary source I chose a picture that I took on March 17, 2021 at 8:39pm, it was the end of my shift in my retail job. This picture was taken one year later since they first closed down the city. I work in Macy’s Inc. at Bay Plaza, and the store was closed during the pandemic until the end of June. When the store first reopened, big crowds of people came to the store every single day without caring about the pandemic. It is understandable that all they wanted was to shop, and also get out of their houses to distract themselves. This picture is just a small representation of what retail workers have to deal with during times like this. It got to a point, where it was very frustrating seen so many people at the store walking around trying to shop. Many people did not care about the 6ft social distancing, and others did not want to wear a mask because it was too hot, or they couldn’t breathe.
There was a limit of 600 people in the whole store, but in days like this I know for sure that it was more than that. The women shoes department was always full of people, there was always a long line, people were right next to each other, and others were screaming or talking too loudly. People were getting into arguments with each other, many were getting frustrated because they wanted to get a shoe size right away. Others were just sitting on the couch sleeping, you could hear babies crying, and kids running or playing around dropping shoes on the floor. I remember I was in the register during my whole shift taking customer after customer, some were really nice but others very rude. As my job, I have to ask every customer if they want to open a Macy’s credit card with us, but their answer was always, “I can’t afford it, this virus has made me broke” yet, they were still out shopping. On this day, I had a disagreement with a customer because I told her to put her mask on about 3 times, and she just ignored me. She then, approaches me to pay for a shirt, and I told her very kindly once again, “can you please put your mask on? Thank you!”. Her reaction was priceless because she was furious and asked me if it wasn’t enough with the plexiglass that was between us, I felt very frustrated because she didn’t seem to understand how serious this virus is. I told her no, and refuse to ring her out she then, proceeded to another register very furious and still with no mask on.
We are not essential workers but working in a retail store during this pandemic has been very overwhelming. The company benefits from all of this because they reach their sales goals every day. When I think about it, we as employees should be happy that there are sales because it means the store won’t close down, and we can keep our jobs. The customers do not seem to have any type of consideration for any of us as retail workers. It upsets me because now more than ever, everyone should be thankful for still being alive after what we just went through this whole year. We need to appreciate each other, and respect one another because we don’t know what everyone is going through. Always be kind to everyone!
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2021-05-18
Quarantine was a hard time on us all; it hit most of us out of nowhere and left us locked inside our homes for what an eternity and for most people, they had to spend that time alone. I did not go out a lot during this time so I went online and chose the pictures that I believe best represent what mine and many others felt their quarantine was like. Jose’ Manuel Ballester, a Spanish artist recreated iconic historical paintings and removed the most pivotal part in each of them; the people. Dubbed “Hidden Spaces”, Ballester recreates a series of works in which he is able to present an angle of how the world is like during quarantine. Iconic masterpieces like the Last Supper is left to just an empty table. Ballester is able to show the loneliness and emptiness that quarantine has left people in, by removing the people from the paintings Ballester thus leaving the audience with a certain feeling of discomfort reminiscent of the lack of company and interaction leaves us feeling when we are quarantined and I really resonated with these photos because that is how I felt during this quarantine.
