Items

• 
  2021-05-21

  Quarantine Enjoyment

  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.
• 
  2020-03-13

  My UC SmashBubble

  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.
• 
  2020-08-04

  Twitter Social Interaction/ Art Culture

  It shows that people are in some communities turning to the arts, and nostalgia to get them through a difficult time. Furthermore, its shows people are reflecting on what life once was before the virus. It also shows the leaps and bounds in civil rights activism for the popular culture.
• 
  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

  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 :))
• 
  2021-01-16

  Falling Back On My Escapism

  As the title suggests, this is a description of my favorite things that helped me through the pandemic. I think it's important to capture the pleasures we've fallen back on despite all the negatives.
• 
  2021-01-04

  A present

  This is a drawing of my friend and her favorite Genshin Impact character. I made this right before Christmas for an early Christmas present. It made them so happy they started to cry. It just shows how much a small gift can change someone's day.
• 
  09/29/2020

  Shivaun Lindsey Oral History, 2020/09/29

  An interview given with Shivaun by her wife, Camden regarding COVID-19.
• 
  2020-03-26

  The day it all went south

  From the beginning of quarantine till now the simple, everyday things I used to do has now become a difficult. Such examples would be going to the bodega or going to my therapy appointments or even going to work. There’s now so many extra steps and protocols as if my job wasn’t already stressful enough. While I personally haven’t been affected by corona virus in terms of health, I can still say that it has turned everything upside down. I still can hang out with friends but I’ve missed so many events that I was looking forward to. Anime event to birthday event, all of those experiences missed. The biggest thing about COVID for me was that it showed me just how selfish and ignorant others are by not only people refusing to wear masks but some even denying it’s existence.
• 
  2020-03-15

  Covid-19 Memes from the Anime Community

  I like anime and have been feeling depressed during the pandemic. Silly memes like these make me smile. (For reference, "weeb" is a shortened version of "weeaboo", which is someone who really likes anime). A lot of people who have nerdy hobbies like watching anime have spent much of quarantine inside indulging in their hobbies but many are wanting to go back to normal life. Some things from normal life that have been canceled due to COVID-19 is the ability to go to anime conventions and bookstores, where many weebs can hangout and meet with each other. The frustration from the "anti-mask" movement and the lack of decline in coronavirus cases has spawned many anime memes promoting mask wearing and proper handwashing during the pandemic. (The image of Unit 01 (the purple robot) "washing" their hands is currently hanging on my bathroom door at home).
• 
  2020-01

  Lan Wangji The Forklift

  The coronavirus outbreak is a very serious situation, but fandom is managing to find cute ways to be both helpful and entertaining during the health crisis. Lan Wangji is a major character of a Chinese novel, cartoons and TV dramas. And now he’s being honored with a forklift named after him. The forklift is helping build the temporary hospitals intended to house people with the coronavirus.