Items

• 2020

  More Time

  I am submitting some personal thoughts that I’ve had while sitting at home during the pandemic. Before my life was constantly moving with school and work and friends and being out and about and when the pandemic hit it slowed everything down. With less time commuting between school I had more time at home to complete assignments to complete housework and still have time left over. I had time to think. I myself am an over thinker so when the pandemic hit and I found myself with all of this time all I could do his thing over and over and over again and play one scenario in my head 1000 times. And then I will go to sleep and I would wake up and think about the next thing over and over again. This pandemic gave me time to really dig within myself and find the things I don’t want to change because I had the time to think and organize. This also brought me into a bit of a dark place because with all this time to think I then began to look back at my experiences and even though they are lessons some of them are filled with regret and fear and anger and that brought me to a dark place. It also allowed me to grow and show me what I can do better, what I can incorporate in my daily life and how to be a better person for me. Even though it was as if the world was on pause my life said play. With all this time I could reorganize and re-prioritize myself and list out my goals and accomplish things that I haven’t had a chance to. It also allowed me to take an extra minute to look at how I’m treating myself and I thought let’s take some more time for personal care let’s take some more time for mental care to make sure that I am OK. Because I was granted more time.
• 
  2020-03

  The Pass

  summary
• 
  2021-04-04

  LIVE LIFE

  During this pandemic, being in quarantine in my house made me realize that life is really short and that you you cherish every moment you have, especially with your loved one. This showed that you should enjoy life and share it with the people around you.
• 
  2020-03-12

  Living with family during the pandemic

  December 2019, I moved to my cousin apartment in the city of New York I had just given birth to my son in September of 2019 and had my daughter who was eleven at the time. I was suppose to stay two weeks upon waiting for an apartment, however it didn't work out the way I had hope and I stayed at my cousin home three months prior to the covid -19 pandemic. My cousin and her mother decided since it's the pandemic and I can't go anywhere dur to the stay at home orders I had no other choice but to stay and pay rent. It wasn't easy because I felt that I wasn't in my own element and I felt like I was a teenager again. My own family talked to me like I was a kid and I was told what to do and what not to do. I had to sleep on my cousin pull out chair for several months during the pandemic. I questioned myself why did I came here. I consistently kept looking for an apartment, which It had turn into a year living with my cousin. Apartment hunting became very frustrating because of the demands which requires getting an apartment and no renters wanted anyone who was receiving unemployment. it's the year 2021 and I still live at my cousin apartment which is frustrating because I need my own. I ask everyone I know to keep an eye and ear open for me to get an apartment. My friend call me one day in March of 2021 and said he found an apartment for me and if I'm still interested? I am currently moving out of my cousin apartment, Thank God.
• 
  2020-03-13

  my covid experience

  My covid experience this year is probably a lot like others. I've lost family members to this pandemic my close friends lost loved ones as well. There are a plethora of people I know who have lost their jobs, gained severe diagnosis of anxiety and also depression. Being stuck in the house for all those months with family was a very strenuous task and it was also very debilitating as well. While the covid outbreak started my family and I were sent into a frenzy mentally and physically. My mother lost her job due to the pandemic and I had to pick up more hours at work and do other side jobs to somewhat help with the expenses as well also during this pandemic i was also in school. Attending Brooklyn College during the pandemic was a very difficult thing to do especially due to the fact that we had transitioned to online learning, something I or my teachers haven't really done in some time. The social distance learning that was implemented was a very difficult concept to grasp because one day we go from attending class everyday to the bombardment of information being thrown at us and us as students expected to keep up and also the teachers having to make sure they kept up with the requirements. School, going to work and worrying about the well being of others and myself put me into a state of worry at all times sort've giving me mild ptsd. I hope that this time next year this covid situation will be gone and we can go back to living the way we were.
• 
  2021-01-25

  My Covid-19 Reflection

  I caught COVID-19 in January 2021 after being around a family member who was positive. The trail of transmission could’ve been my aunt to my cousins to my mother then to me and my brother but it is still unclear. I firstly got a headache one night then went to bed. I woke and felt my throat feeling tight and dry and had a very bad headache, with congestion, fever and body aches/pain all over. I did not want to eat, just wanted to stay in bed and sleep. It was very difficult because it was also my brother and mother who were sick with the virus as well. I tried to make as many herbal remedies as possible for me and my family. I made teas that helped expel mucus from the lungs and throat as well as garlic, honey, elderberry, zinc and vitamin C, B-12 & D. The first two days that I was sick, my fever was over 100 degrees and I had to take Ibuprofen. To help with my body pains I tried to stay out of the bed and keep my body moving. I lost a lot of weight from not eating as much and my body working hard and using energy to recover. What was very interesting about this experience was that I would feel empty even after I ate food. This strange feeling lasted few days after my COVID symptoms were over. It was discouraging because I got my regular appetite back and could not smell or taste at 100%. Everything tasted very plain no matter the amount of flavor. During this experience I was not very worried. I just knew I would get better quickly and remained positive.
• 
  2020-03

  My 2020

  This is a story about how my life was during the pandemic in 2020. It tells the story of how isolated everyone was because of social distancing. A whole year just went by but I still felt like my life was a standing still. It was my first time being in the city since the lock down and it was scary to see how empty Times Square was.
• 
  2020-03-12

  Empty shelves during the beginning of the pandemic

  I am sharing a video I took at the beginning of the quarantine period. People were panic buying food and other necessities while leaving empty shelves for others. I remember entering whole foods to pick up some bread, pasta, beans, and non-dairy milk because I can't have dairy. As soon as my cousin and I entered Whole Foods— the baked goods were fully stocked but the non-perishable foods were almost gone. I remember turning to my cousin in shock because the fresh fruits and vegetables in the lower level were fully stocked. I asked an employee where the bread and non-dairy milk was and they said, "I don't think we have any more bread. I stocked it a couple of hours ago and when I went back o check there were a few bags left". The employee guided us to the bread section and it was indeed empty. I thanked them and decided to look through the other aisles and the aisle that was the most apparent was the one I recorded. There were people with professional cameras taking pictures of this aisle and others (such as myself) with our phones recording. So many people were just as taken aback by the lack of food in many of these aisles. I already knew that this virus was serious but when I saw the number of people buying food and toilet paper and paper towels in bulk, I felt worried and nervous. I knew from the media that people were stocking up on non-perishable foods and that supermarket lines were really long. But seeing it first hand and seeing people coming to the aisle expecting to see a can of beans available or a bag of bread, only for it to be empty. This is a moment that I won't forget and the overwhelming feeling that this virus could affect anyone.
• 
  2020-07-20

  Staying Fit & Eating Healthy During This Pandemic

  This pandemic has been one of the hardest things I ever had to go through. I think its safe to say that most individuals across the world have been negatively impacted by COVID-19. I personally found it very hard to eat healthy & remain fit. When COVID-19 began to grow to pandemic proportions, the world shut down. Communities full of small business that were once booming began to close down temporarily while others dissipated as the pandemic continued throughout the entire year. As the gym’s began to close and supermarkets became congested to apocalyptic proportions, I found myself inactive at home for weeks trying to eat whatever was most convenient at the time. This meant heavily modified and processed foods like cup noodles and mcdonalds through a delivery app. Overall, I found myself weighing about 20 plus in less than 3 months. As I looked at my body in the mirror, a fire lit inside of me and motivated me to do something about my current living situation before its too late. I began to workout at home shadow boxing while lifting a 60lbs sack of rice as well as cooking some of that same rice soon after. If there was no rice left, i’d use a huge cat litter sack. I believe that home cooked meals and home workouts has temporarily caused me to go back to the BMI I had before this pandemic took a toll on me as well as millions around the world. I look forward to becoming a Phys-Ed and Health teacher in the future because this pandemic has thought me how important being healthy is as well as how it may impact the wellbeing of millions around the world. If I can promote healthy behaviors that my potential students can follow for the rest of their lives, then I feel like my job is done. I support the idea that in 2020, In specific COVID-19 will go down in history as a tragic event much like the Spanish-flu. Millions were left without a job fighting to pay rent while balancing school as well as the wellbeing of their children. The homeless population and obesity increased. To me this is a crazy time we are living through but I will keep my head up and bare for what may come soon after since I'm confident this is not the last time we will go through a pandemic.
• 
  2020-06-11

  Taking Charge

  COVID has definitely impacted all of our lives. Despite all the damage it has caused, the virus had some positive consequences. Some of us developed closer relationships with our families. Many of us found new hobbies and developed new passions. For myself, I found a passion for healthcare. Hearing stories and watching news reports on the chaos occurring in our hospitals, made me feel impotent. So, after 3 semesters away from school, I decided to come back and focus on finishing my bachelors so i can enroll in a nursing program.
• 
  2021-02-12T12

  The Celebration of Chinese New Year

  I photographed this picture at the time of Chinese New Year. Even though we all live in Brooklyn, we reduce the time of visit because of the high infection rate. Finally, we got a moment to sit together and chat about the things that happened this past year (After making sure everyone is safe to attend this short and small dinner time).
• 
  2020-03-11

  just as you thought things will continue the way you want it to be for your entire life comes a new disease that could change everything within our daily lives especially students who are doing all that they can to reach that Goal for it to be accomplished. with covid 19 being the forefront of not only this country but around the world it can our sense of normal can be in danger.

  my experience when dealing with the pandemic is something new that i didn't think it can occur within a lifetime based on how it's being portrayed by not only in the media but how it's describe from doctors and experts within the health field in which in thend makes it confusing for the majority of individuals. because when covid 19 first hit the U.S last year that is when everything change especially with schools because instead of going to school in person which this is the place where we go to meet people face to face including professors and others in different departments we transitioned online. my experience with being transitioned to online was a bit challenging because this is something that i feel would take time to adjust to the new form of learning regardless of the circumstance that is not in my control especially since i'm a returning student at brooklyn college who is very used to doing it the old school way which is in person learning
• 
  2019-04-16

  The one where we were quarantined

  quarantine has truly been an experience like no other although there has been plenty bad there has also been some good I enjoyed being able to be home with my family more and get to bond on another level much like how we did when we are younger we got to do things like bake, tie dye and watch movies I do wish it was under different circumstances but none the less I am happy I was able to be with my family.
• 
  2020-04-09T13

  Adapting to New Life Style

  I was one of those people that when the warnings of a virus was coming I did not think much of it, and me being an only child, my parents were always concerned about my safety. They made me wake up early in hopes to catch a bus with less people to go to school, made sure I washed my hands for 20 seconds every time I came back home. I still always went out with my girlfriend and hanged out with friends. Luna Park was also reopening and I got an invite to work there again. I was really excited and then we hear the news that quarantine has begun. I decided to not take the offer even when they send the email that they promised great care for the staff. Most of friends and their parents got sick and I started to take it seriously when my best friend's father died. It was a big group of friends that knew each other for a long time so it was a very sad time for all of us. Later however my mother did get sick but she did recover quickly and me and my dad were lucky not to get sick. We were not able to return to work however our church did help us when it came to food and our landlord was very understanding and allowed everyone in the apartment to pay rent until 3 months. It was difficult to make that money. Things have progressively gotten better and I've always been much more careful outside especially with me having asthma effects of the virus could be much deadlier to me. These experiences made me learn to take the pandemic more seriously and take care of myself and my family
• 
  2020-07-04

  Podcast In a Pandemic

  During the pandemic, I've decided to create a podcast with my friends discussing relationships and social issues relating to men and women in their 20s. The idea came to us after we decided to turn our daily debates into content
• 
  2021-02-28

  When The Impossible Becomes Real

  The item I am submitting is about how I saw things changing during this pandemic and how it affected me.
• 
  2021-02-28

  Me Versus covid

  This is a short written by myself, it expresses the pain and emotion that emerged since the beginning of COVID-19. Although the poem contains a lot of humorism it captures raw expressions, raw emotions all the same time.
• 
  2020-12

  Black New Yorkers within the Pandemkic

  The piece is detailing the real experience of Black New Yorkers specifically Black immigrants within the pandemic and the lack of governmental support afforded to these marginalized groups.
• 
  2020-03-15

  Remorseful Disaster

  This story is an ongoing experience for me as my family and I try our best to continue bearing with the lockdown. I wanted to share how things are at home because not every family is taking this situation with the same positivity.
• 2020-03-13

  The Covid 19 College Experience : Procrastinators version

  My experience with Covid has been positive health wise. Mentally I feel the need to interact with my peers because that is what I enjoy doing in my free time other than sleeping. I thought I would be building memorable college relationships, talking to lifelong friends but it seems impossible and that saddens me. This pandemic has showed my how financially irresponsible I am! I have spent so much money on nonsense and now that I realized that, I see all the life altering things I could have done with it, but let's not focus on the negative. It isn't to late for change so all those things can still be achieved.
• 
  2020

  Places of Silence

  Places of Silence Artists’ Statement The cataclysmic situation caused by the Covid-19 has created a new reality for people. Society faces disastrous effects of unprecedent pandemic: losses of the human lives, loneliness, luck of personal interaction, anxiety, feeling hopeless. Visiting our favorite places, we were struck by the scarce silence of the streets, abandoned buildings, gardens. We saw the familiar places from entirely different perspective - they were silent. Spacious grounds, the ocean coast, paths in the sand were without the usual addition - a man. Our ongoing project “Places of Silence” reflects our personal experience in this new reality. Another aspect of the project is depicting the sublime beauty of landscapes surrounding us. We feel that looking at nature brings a balance and hope, as well as leads to the self-reflection, understanding oneself, and one's responsibility to other people. The project consists of ten large scale mixed media paintings on canvases and more then eighty works on paper. We have chosen paper as the integral material for the series. The origin of paper is directly related to nature. Its texture and brittleness reflect the amazing vitality and fragility of the nature. We applied black acrylic paint on the traditional oriental rice paper creating the palette of different hues and then attached small pieces of paper to the canvas the same way as if we would be using paint. Dense layers, lumps of liquid mass soaked in water, monochrome colors, an endless gradation from black to white allow us to create rich Earth like surface for our landscape works.
• 
  2020-11

  My Covid Experience

  The item that I am submitting is a collection of my experiences that I have with COVID-19, as well as starting off with an experience I had when I was younger before COVID-19. Then I write my experience present day from Thanksgiving, as well as giving it a short ending.
• 
  2020-12-05

  Media Impact on Outcomes of Criminal Court cases

  This is a good way of seeing if media changes the mind of people
• 
  2020-12-14

  Public Health Systems Tension with the Government during COVID-19 Pandemic

  Public Health Systems Tension with the Government during COVID-19 Pandemic
• 
  2020-12-14T22:05

  HOW SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTES TO HIGH COVID RATES

  We are submitting our group project from class which covers the affects Covid 19 has had on specific communities and groups of people.
• 
  2020-12-05

  Media Impact on Outcomes of Criminal Court cases

  This is important as you can see the how the 3 criminal cases play out and during the court
• 
  2020-12-14

  Media Impact on Outcomes of Criminal Court Cases

  This is important because it shows that media has an effect on outcomes in a lot of criminal court cases. We need to be aware of how media affected some of the most famous cases in the United States.
• 
  2020-12-10

  Burnout: A Sociological Analysis of the 24/7 Work Mentality and Its Impact on the City That Never Sleeps

  The item we are submitting is a reflection of society at large, something imperative as we have all been forced to self-reflect on a personal scale during this pandemic. Being forced to recharge and take a breath from the tech-fueled, on-the-go, culture we are entrenched in is a psychological challenge in and of itself. Therefore, starting a conversation as to why work is seen as a means to an end rather than as a self-fulfilling contribution to society and, consequently, something that leads to burnout is a conversation worth having before we enter into a society once again that causes severe stress and anxiety for most people. This is important because we must look at not just our personal lives, but the society we live in so that we can properly address the factors leading to major decline in the mental health of so many, as well as whether or not we want to re-commit to such a society once life returns to some sense of normalcy.
• 
  2020-05

  Police Brutality and BLM

  This presentation provides the history of police brutality towards POC, what led to the protests and the changes that being implemented
• 
  2020

  The Plague Year, From My Perspective

  The writings in this piece reflect my life during the pandemic.
• 
  2020-03

  Racism during COVID-19 for minorities

  The material presents racism during the Pandemic and how it has affected people from different racial communities like Hispanic Latinos, Asians, and African Americans.
• 
  2020-12-07

  The impact COVID 19 has had on workers in the service industry

  The Phenomenon our group is providing insight into is the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on workers in the service industry. We will discuss the number of jobs lost/created and look into the workers’ treatment in the service industry. We are focusing on the personal experiences of some of the members of our group and others who are working during COVID 19. Some of our group members work in the service industry and have to work during this difficult time. The essay will provide first-hand insight and shed light on the issues that essential works are currently facing.
• 
  2020-12-04

  Mass Incarceration & COVID-19

  It is important to know that even during a pandemic mass incarceration is still going on.
• 
  2020-11-14

  A Recollection of Feelings

  This was a short paper assignment from a professor for an English class and we had free range with it so I decided to write my feelings and experiences during COVID times and this was the result.
• 
  2020-11-06

  The Effects of Covid-19 on both a student and teacher

  In this video, I interview a former high school teacher of mine and I ask her questions about experiences she's had while battling this pandemic. I believe she's also attending Brooklyn College Graduate (Law) school.
• 
  2020

  Inside and Outside, At Home, Spring 2020 Semester, Brooklyn

  This submission interweaves the personal and professional experiences of an associate professor in the Brooklyn College Library with references to events happening in the larger society during the months of the COVID-19 pandemic through early October 2020.
• 
  2020-07-27

  "Hope to see you soon"

  Due to Covid-19 my uncle's birthday party was turned into a Zoom get together. The participants were asked to create a video and submit it before the event. Normally, I probably would have just said a simple hello but feeling isolated and full of stored creativity I decide to make song. Aiso, I had lost my job due to covid. The subject of the song was the wish we, I , have to interact with fellow humans at a time when we are not able to. Who even knew what Zoom was before Covid and would I have ever tried to create a song with a harmonica if i was not quarantined, probably not. I do not think I even said the word "quarantine" more than once a year, and then only for a crossword puzzle. I tried to create a song that expressed my feelings for the time and create a performance piece that was challenging for me to do. I think after the tenth take my lip muscles were cramped and I had actual lip abrasions from sliding the harmonica back and forth. The finished product was rough and maybe one of the other 30 takes would have been better but i was on a birthday dead line so it is what it is. Unfortunately, the video file proved too big or the sound too bad that when my video was played for the Zoom "party" most of the sound was lost. Hopefully, it was not edited out. This little video will always be my gateway memory of time spent during the Covid-19 lock down. Through this song I will remember everything that happened, which was and is a lot. During my time at Brooklyn college getting my MA in education there was a focus on different learning styles which I think is typified by my video.
• 
  2020-07

  #CancelRent And Eviction Blockades in Brooklyn: Black Queer Women and Femmes Fight for the Right to Housing

  Im submitting an auto-ethnogrpahy I completed this summer about the housing movement during covid.
• 
  2020-07-07

  Part of the blog that is used to teach on the impact of COVID-19 on energy use of Brooklyn College

  This blog is used as part of the class that learn how to calculate the impacts of students on the energy use and carbon footprints of Brooklyn College.
• 
  2020-04-01

  Jupinese JuJu Covid-19 video

  Since March 2020, the Hungry March Band, for which I have played tenor sax for about 20 years, has been on pause. We have not met, rehearsed, or done a gig this whole time. The only thing we have done is to create a few Covid-19 videos, in which everyone gets to have a different panel, since we can't all be together-then the editors mash everything together. This one is to the music of one of our oldest songs, Jupinese-JuJu. What I particularly love about the video is that we included shots of long time fans, emeritus members, and their families. I put in a couple of screen shots of me and my spouse (he's the pillow man) and a link to the video on Youtube.
• 
  2020-10-11

  The Justice for George Floyd Information Map

  As a librarian who works alot with maps, I am very impressed with this site: Justice for George Floyd. This is a way for anyone who wants to protest in the greater NYC area to keep track of upcoming and past events. You can also sign up and add your own events, which will then appear with a description link and an appropriate protesting icon on the map.
• 
  2020-09-18

  The Ruth Bader Ginsburg Catio

  I work at Brooklyn College, but since we have been working remotely, I have been staying in Maine. I have two cats, and perhaps foolishly, I was letting them go out into the great outdoors every day. It wasn't very long before they began hunting and killing little animals-fighting with other cats-even disappearing over night one time. I was getting very stressed out worrying about the cats-this also seemed a ridiculous concern to me in the middle of a terrible time when it has been a struggle to deal with bad news every day; people losing their work, their art, their friends and relatives. Some inspiring news as well, like the #blacklivesmatter #BLM protests, but always the good was in reaction to some atrocity. It seemed as if there was constantly some piece of toxic news as well as some dead animal from the cats every day. I'm not sure how I stood it so long; the whole summer, really. Finally, I woke up on the morning of September 18 to read that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died. I thought, there is absolutely nothing now to stop all of our civil rights from being curtailed, the environment from being ravaged, the election from being stolen; so many things that the world has had really for a very short time may well soon be taken away, all because RBG has passed before an election could wrest control from the vicious party in power. When I read the headline I think I screamed out, Oh, no! and started crying. I cried all day long; I had to leave my husband by himself and go for a long walk in the woods alone. I came home completely drained, but calm. The next day, when I let the cats out, they both returned in about 10 minutes, each with a dead animal clamped in their jaws. I thought, I've had enough. I made the decision in that moment not to let my cats out anymore. Since they are now indoor-outdoor cats, that has been very difficult. Yowling, door-dashing, vomiting, even peeing on things: they have done everything they could to make me change my mind. To make it possible for them to enjoy the outdoors, but without killing squirrels, chipmunks, voles, moles, snakes, baby gophers, field mice, and even the occasional bird, also to keep myself from going wild with grief and fear after RBG's death, I took a bunch of scrap lumber from the shed, bought netting and staples, and I built the "Catio" (an outdoor enclosure for cats). While I worked on it, I couldn't hear the miaows of woe from inside the house, and by the time it was finished my heart had poured out some of the bitterness that it holds, for the fact that a new, right wing, anti-liberal supreme court justice can be voted on at any moment. It's just a matter of how soon. I am no carpenter, so my hands were full of splinters and I was bone-weary when I was done. The cats went into their catio with excitement, and tested every corner of it to see if they could escape. I followed them with my stapler and my zip ties, tightening it up. They are not completely satisfied with the catio, but it is a whole lot better than nothing. I've started to supplement by taking them for walks on leashes in the front yard, and who knows, when the next really toxic news cycle comes around, I may well build a bigger, better catio. I want to be a responsible pet owner, and protect the environment-maybe I can't control the terrible big things that go wrong, but I can do just a little bit that I can in my own way.
• 
  2020-03-16

  Nightmare

  Covid 19 has been nothing but the worst ever since it started. The only tiny silver line i found is i was able to rest and heal my body from constantly working out and going to work. But then the situation for work changed as the schedule began to put in more hours for me and although i enjoyed learning new tasks for the job, having nothing but to do those new tasks for months was dreadful. Covid made a big impact on my relationship because it made me dependent and I constantly was on facetime with my girlfriend and now i have separation anxiety where i normal dont. I feel socially awkward as well since i barely was already going out to pretty much nothing at all. I hope i can get my own life back on track and hopefully everything returns to normal.
• 
  2020-05-06

  Golf in the Time of Corona

  A piece I wrote and submitted to my local paper, The East Hampton Star, about playing golf in the time of the virus. It was meant to capture the mood and anxieties of the time and also be humorous.
• 2020-10-02

  Growing Tired of This

  This might be long, but quarantine has been one of the worst experiences in my life. At first, I was kinda cool with the fact that I didn't have to go out. Not having to sit in classrooms for hours, not having to deal with hundreds of people at school, not having to deal with intense anxiety anymore! Life seemed pretty good for me at that time. Online classes during my last months in senior year of high school wasn't too bad. But when it came time for college, I was panicking. I mean, who wouldn't? Starting a brand new experience right in the middle of quarantine? That'd shake anybody in their boots. Like most things, it wasn't too bad at first. Sure, Zoom was pretty annoying to figure out, but things seemed to be running smoothly. However, in my opinion, trying to figure out Blackboard is a nightmare. That site is sooo not user friendly, it's such a complete mess. To this day, I'm STILL having trouble with it. The work load isn't too harsh, but trying to muster up the energy to do even anything during this pandemic is difficult. Everyday has started feeling the same: wake up, feel miserable, force myself to eat, try to do something productive (while feeling miserable), go to sleep, rinse and repeat. My depression has never hit this hard until starting college. On my worst days, I literally cannot bring myself to get out of bed and make myself food. I lie there with zero energy until the sun goes down. It'd be 6-8pm before I finally drag myself to the kitchen for a light meal (which is the same thing I've been eating for the past several months) or for a long, hot shower. I can hardly bring myself to focus on school work. As of writing this, it's currently 4:51 AM. My sleep schedule is an utter disaster. On most nights, I end up staying up till the sun rises. It's not too uncommon that I stay up for 20+ hours. Though this all comes crashing back to me when I end up sleeping through class Zoom calls, or even oversleeping and missing my classes entirely (it's happened twice so far and both times have spiraled me into a deep depressive episode that I won't be describing). Trying to be productive during quarantine is a joke. I have a lot of things around me that can entertain and distract me. How am I expected to focus when Twitter, YouTube, and Discord are in my reach 24/7, you know? During my classes, I just tune everything out. What's even the point of listening, when professors ramble on for a two hours about things you don't even care about, when all the assignments just consists of reading a bunch of articles that bore you to death and then having you write some response (that you can easily BS) to it? I never thought I'd say this, but I just want to be allowed to go out again. I'm tired of all of this. I'm so exhausted. Learning virtually is mentally draining. It can hardly be considered learning. I doubt anybody is really even absorbing any information being given to them during these virtual meetings, save for the few innocent souls that haven't been tainted by quarantine depression yet. I'm so sick of it all. I can't focus. I can't bring myself to do anything. I just can't anymore. (Also isn't it kinda stupid how they're letting literal children go back to school and yet campus won't be open? Okay sure, maybe it's because CUNY has way more students, but still. I wouldn't trust a 5 year old to properly wear a mask for the whole day and practice good hygiene. Kids are messy.)
• 2020

  New Challenges, New Hope

  Ever since the start of the pandemic and the shift towards remote learning, I’ve faced new challenges in places I did not expect. In my home, it was hard getting used to studying and going to class whilst living in a small apartment that I share with my family; I did not having adequate space to learn and read, but my family and I worked something out and now I could/can study with ease. Additionally, I could not talk to my friends and interact with them, even online, given how I had to focus 2x more on my studies but I realized that my friends were experiencing the same thing and we soon planned several days to just talk online and interact. With COVID-19 and police violence spreading like wildfire, I feared what was going to happen to my family, friends, professor, class colleagues and more. However, seeing how people got together, helped each other, protested, united and worked in solidarity, it showed me something: hope. That even in the hardest times in life, there is still hope.
• 
  2020-03-17

  “Life in the Time of Covid19 in a Hyper-Super-Gentrified Neighborhood: Making Things Visible”

  What did my neighborhood looked like during the first phase of the New York State lockdown. How my neighbors responded to the crisis
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  2020-03-10

  Living in the middle of a global pandemic

  My experience about the pandemic is that it was not easy. I am an essential worker. I work as a cashier at Whole Foods Market and a full time student so since the pandemic has started, we have taken precautionary steps moving forward at both work and school. School has been a little bit tougher because I have to maintain more discipline in getting my assignments done on time and I don't have the resources that I used to have such as being able to go to the library when I cannot focus at home.
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  2020-03

  Finding Me.

  I know people have mostly negative stories that correlate to Covid-19 but I am choosing to write about one of the positive things that happened to me during these harsh times. Before Covid-19 I never really had time for myself, it was always wake up, go to work and then go to school, then go home, then homework, shower and finally sleep (eating multiple times throughout the day). But I never really had time to do anything I liked. Back then when someone asked what my hobbies were, I had none. But Covid-19 was low-key a blessing in disguise for me, with all this free time with work and school being closed, I found myself. I started watching tv, picking up new hobbies and finding things that I loved but never really had time for. And now of course that everything is opened again, I gained some time management skills and am able to manage everything that I love in life.
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  2020-09-27

  How Does the Pandemic Covid-19 Change My Family’s and My Lifestyle?

  The story I have uploaded describes my precious experience that should be helpful for controlling the spread of the pandemic Covid-19 and my practical ways for eradicating my previous chronic condition. It is also important for me to keep on enriching my spirit’s need by reading more story books and academic articles, as well as watching news, public health and healthcare-related films throughout my life.