Items

• 2021-07-12

  Working during the Covid-19 Pandemic

  I took a summer job in this pandemic working at a summer camp with young children. At first, I was skeptical because of the times we’re living in, and because kids just have poor habits that can cause the COVID-19 virus or any bacteria to spread. But then I just did it because it beats staying at home all day. There were many safety precautions and guidelines that took place to keep everyone safe and healthy. Any sick kids or staff were sent home and couldn’t come back until they were better. In addition, we had to check our temperatures every day, the staff had to fill out daily health surveys before arrival, we always had to have our masks on, disinfect each classroom after we use it, and wash our hands frequently. We went by a schedule, so there wouldn't be any confusion or unnecessary crowds. In terms of safety, the summer camp did a good job keeping everyone protected from the COVID-19 virus or any other sickness. Overall, the experience was different than the regular summer camp because we couldn’t do as much. But we made the best of it for both the staff and children.
• 
  2020-10

  Liberation School: the Mobilization of Back and Brown Parents, Healers and Educators

  Liberation School was a free, virtual online school that offered academic support courses, social-emotional support, healing centered practices, and political education courses to NYC public school families throughout the 2020-21 school year. Created by the NYC Coalition for Educational Justice, the city's largest parent organizing group, Liberation school was designed as a response to the failings of the Department of Education to adequately provide the resources and support needed for marginalized students. While many principals, teachers and school staff put their hearts and souls into supporting NYC children during this global pandemic, it was clear that families could not solely rely on City Hall and the Department of Education to deliver a safe, quality education to children finishing out the 2020 school year and going into the 2020-21 school year. Black and brown students and families in New York City have faced the harshest, most devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic racism. Previous inequities in the school system have revealed themselves and worsened. The Department of Education (DOE) and City Hall did not provide the necessary resources and support for parents and youth navigating remote and blended learning for the first time in a timely fashion or accessible to non-English monolingual families. While many white affluent families were hiring teachers to create learning pods, CEJ designed Liberation School for Black, Brown, Immigrant, and low-income families, who don’t have the financial resources to hire personal teachers or tutors. An important value that shaped the creation of Liberation Schools is the idea of what it truly means to be an ‘inclusive school’. Language Justice is also Educational Justice. CEJ created sessions accessible to the public in multiple languages. Through both multilingual instructors and simultaneous interpretations of English workshops, LS also offered sessions using commonly-used online platforms, outdoor spaces, and live streaming on social media. All courses that were culturally responsive in content and pedagogy and many were conducted in English and Spanish, and some workshops in, Bangla and Mandarin. CEJ was inspired by the tradition of Black Freedom Schools in the 1960s. After Brown v. Board, many schools were still segregated and led to many student movements organizing and fighting for true integration in Northern Cities like Chicago, Boston, and NYC. The first examples of Freedom Schooling were created in the North as an alternative space for students to go to during boycotts in 1963 and 1964. One of most prime examples of Freedom Schooling were the Freedom Schools created by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Mississippi. Freedom Schools provided an educational experience for young Black Mississippians to challenge the myths of society, find alternatives to the segregated and racist white supremacists society, to understand the conditions of their oppression, and to create directions for actions in the name of Freedom. There were three general areas for the curriculum of Freedom Schools. One was academic work, which centered around the needs/or interests of the students that incorporated their real life experiences and learning about Black History or understanding the structural institutions. There were also creative activities such as writing, journaling, or arts. The last area was on developing leadership skills and helping students be a part of the change in society.
• 
  2020-05-01

  The start of a pandemic that shock the medical field to its core

  I have worked as a NYC paramedic for several years before the pandemic Covid-19 hit the world. As a paramedic, we were trained to deal with most situations that would happen on an emergency basis. We dealt with any situation as simple as a cut on the arm, to as complex as running a mega code on a cardiac arrest patient. When Covid-19 hit NYC, I was unaware of how bad it was going to get. At first, we thought it was a virus that was weaker than influenza, which is something we deal with on a regular basis. At this time, we would get one call a day that was related to Covid-19. I thought that everyone was over exaggerating. Over time, Covid-19 patients became more frequent, and in the matter of a month, it was the only type of call we would get. It was as if every other medical problem that people had went away. But this was because everyone that wasn't infected with Covid-19 was too afraid to go to the hospital. In the month of May 2020, things started to take a turn for the worst. People were starting to get critical on each call, where my partner and I would need to resort to extreme measures like endotracheal Intubation to help them breath. Sometimes, even intubation wouldn’t be enough, and the patient would go into cardiac arrest from the lack of oxygen in the body. It was a very difficult time for me because I felt powerless to stop people from dying to his terrible disease. In June 2020, it got so bad that the hospitals did not have capacity to accept anymore patients that came in. People were put in hallways, next to nursing stations, and hospitals had to dedicate entire floors to Covid-19 patients as they came in. Then another problem started to rear its head. My Co-workers and friends started to get sick. Those of us with families had to also make a choice, either quit their job to protect their families or live apart from them until this was all over. We did not have enough EMT’s and Paramedics to staff the ambulances we had running on any given day. Those of us who were not sick picked up anywhere from 60-90 hours a week. This struggle continues now as well. All over the world, there are not enough emergency services personal to cope with the amount of call volume that we are given each day. Over time we got adjusted to the madness and medicine advanced enough to be able to treat patients so that most did not become critical. Also, the vaccine was made available to the public and things started to get better. I shared my story to show a side of the pandemic most don’t get to experience. It shows how unprepared we were, and how we were able to prevail overtime. I will also include a video to show some insight on the pandemic that was taken with one of the companies I work with.
• 2020-03-20

  The huge personal challenge

  The pandemic changed our lives completely. I believe that thanks to that we learned to value life more and especially personal and global hygiene. This challenge was enormous, the pandemic changed our perspective on things, this did not put us on a tightrope where no one knows what was going to happen where everything was uncertain. But I think we have overcome a large part although we are not free from anything.
• 2020-06-01

  Covid-19 Reflection [MISSING MEDIA]

  My days during the covid-19 pandemic.
• 2020-04-22

  Enjoy Every Second Life Presents to You

  I remember when the pandemic first started just like it was yesterday. It was a very frightening time to be alive. A couple months before the pandemic, I got my license. I couldn’t have done it without my driving instructor. He was a family friend that we’ve known for a very long time. He was full of charisma and always energetic. When he found out that I passed my driving test, he promised to take me out to a local restaurant and celebrate. Everytime we would schedule a time to go to the restaurant, something would either come up on my end or his end. We were always cancelling on each other. March came around, and I went to his driving school site to pick up some paperwork. We were talking about the pandemic not knowing how serious it really was. We scheduled our lunch towards the end of March. Everything was cancelled due to quarantine. I didn’t hear from him or see him for about a month. We found out that he had passed from Covid-19. That changed my whole perspective on the virus. I began taking it very seriously and took every precaution I could take against the virus. What they say is true about people not taking the virus seriously unless someone close to you gets affected by it. You wouldn’t expect someone with such a good heart to be taken off this earth so sudden.
• 
  2020-04-03

  Light to the Darkness

  This picture I'm submitting is a picture of the rosary I've had hanging on the headboard of my bed since when I had covid. On April 3, 2020 I woke up to have some banana pancakes and my tea and discovered I couldn't taste anything and then tried to smell my perfumes and couldn't smell anything either. I knew it was covid. I was afraid and at night I'd cry and be anxious to the point where my anxiety made it hard to breathe and would think it was because of the virus. It was then that I realized my faith lacked. I got out of bed and went to get that rosary hanging with the rest that my mom had and I started praying. For the next couple of days leading to Easter Sunday, I'd pray and feel comfort knowing I had my rosary there. It made my days with the virus, bearable. A year and a half later, I still have my rosary hanging there. It has helped make everyday bearable and reminds me to continue having faith.
• 2020-03-20

  The blurry year

  I just started at Brooklyn College as a transfer student from Citytech. The semester was only like 5 weeks in when we started seeing reports of the Covid 19. Then the school closed for a day and we were told it only be for a short amount of time, we all know how that went. I haven't been on campus since that last day. There was so much unknown at the time with everything. How long we were going to be away from school, what was the deal with Covid 19, how dangerous was it, and how we were going to survive. At that point, everything closed, and the city was so quiet for the first time in my life. I came out a different person after the lockdown. It was a scary time for a lot of people. It felt like everyone was struggling with something. My biggest thing was just trying to make the best of the situation. and that's what I still do to this day.
• 
  2020-03-25

  The life during pandemic

  The life difference before and during the pandemic
• 2020-01-01

  The real pandemic

  during the covid 19 pandemic everybody was panicking and worrying about getting a vaccine. i just moved here from another state and i left my mom and brother back home. they lived in a bad neighborhood so during the pandemic they was not only afraid of the covid pandemic but the violent pandemic that plagued the streets where they lived. during the pandemic i lost both my mom and brother to gun violence.
• 2020-02-14

  COVID-19: From Italy To New York

  In February of 2020, from the 14th to the 22nd, I was on a school trip in Italy. It's safe to say I was having the best time of my life, until I became ill towards the end of the trip. I felt extremely lethargic and fatigued, my nose and throat were as stuffed as could be, my voice was gone, and my body was consistently hot. It wasn't until I got home from my trip that I suspected my illness was COVID-19, because I was informed that the exact day I returned home from Italy, Venice went on lockdown. I had been in Venice at the beginning of my trip. My suspicions heightened once my mother, father, and sister all got COVID-19 several days later, yet I was healthy as a horse again. In the weeks I had been quarantined with them, I hadn't gotten sick again. Now, this is my earliest memory from quarantine, and quite frankly one of the only memories since the days began to mesh together. I remember time no longer felt real, and I tried to pass it with as many activities as possible. The family began solving puzzles and playing more board games. I was playing more of my instruments, including piano and ukulele. I listened to countless albums and new artists. But, in all of the good, there still remained some low points such as overeating and inactiveness. I'm sure everybody can find pros and cons in their quarantine experience, definitely more cons for some. But, I just wanted to share what I remembered from my own experience. It's the story we always told people when they asked if we ever got infected; I'd say I'm pretty sure I came home from the best trip in the world only to infect my family and almost immediately go into lockdown.
• 2020-04-10

  Good Friday

  It was early Friday morning and I could not fall back asleep. I kept hearing murmurs from the room next door. My stomach began rumbling and I began to worry. Something was definitely off. My feet touched the cold floor and my hands grazed the doorknob but someone else on the other side beat me to opening the door. My dad's face was covered in fear and worry. I asked him what was wrong and like parents do they shield you to protect you from bad news. He told me everything was fine and to go back to bed. Minutes passed but it seemed like hours and I still could not find sleep. My dad burst into the door and told me to call an ambulance for my mother because she was having trouble breathing. My hands began to shake, my body was trembling as I picked up my phone and dialled 911. I stood in my parents room watching over my mother and her saying her last goodbyes to my brother and I. I could not even manage the words out of my mouth as I spoke to the person over the phone. It all happened so fast. My younger brother and I were imploring my mom to hold on and that help was on the way. Within minutes the paramedics arrived. They checked her vital signs and determined my mother was fine and was having a panic attack. That was the day my life changed. Everyone in the world was going through this. Who would have thought we all would have been in a lockdown. My mother became overwhelmed with the situation. Everytime you would turn on the TV, Covid-19 was always headlining. Hearing ambulances come and go every so often right outside your apartment. Sometimes even hearing people cry at the top of their lungs because a family member had passed away. People losing jobs and not being able to work. It was hard hearing all of this. It became such a burden to her that she herself got ill. However, going through this experience helped my family appreciate one another even more. We helped each other out and we enjoyed the small things whether it was making a joke or watching a movie. Funny enough it happened right before Easter as well and my mother being religious and all saw it as a sign. In a way we did have a lot to be thankful for. A second chance to rebuild our family.
• 
  2021-09-27

  Unexpected

  It's a descriptive story of how covid has affected my life and its important to me because it has a long term affect.
• 2021-08-14

  Beware a Pandemic

  As we approached our second year of the Covid-19 pandemic things like mask and disinfecting door knobs just became a norm to me. Unconciously, I wouldn't think of Covid-19 as the virus Id just live life with the existence of COVID. I am known for my obsession of believing a single cough could mean I'm at a near death so mentally I was just exhausted. After some time I began to worry about my two year old daughter, she was starting school at a special needs program which I could not wait for. I knew my daughter's progression was one of my top priorities but what about her health and well being? I couldn't help but think "What if there is COVID in the school?" I kept my company very small as I lived alone with my daughter. The only time we were exposed to other people was when she visited her dad on the weekends, but he too was very cautious. A week into my daughters schooling I finally stoped worrying and celebrated my cousin's birthday with her. A day later my cousin had called me with the news that she was COVID positive. My mind raced as I graphically remembered my daughter sharing a bite of a burger with my cousin, it was almost no doubt in my head that we were infected. I got both of us tested that very day and we were negative but I had knowledge on this infection I still held my breath as I knew I had to retest in two to three days. After three days when I planned to get tested I woke up with soreness in my eyes and a headache, I explained my pain to my boyfriend and he had said that he felt that pain too. Minutes after I got tested and I was positive my daughter was already at her dads house so I told everyone to get tested and everyone else was fine. Two weeks, fourteen days in quarantine drove me mad. I suffer from depression and something about being completely alone triggered me. I could not eat my symptoms continued to change. I lost my taste and my sense of smell. I couldn't walk or stand for too long but honestly my common cold from a month back felt worst than this. The mental and emotional aspect of this situation is what really hurt me. I was so alone and worried I missed my child and her dad had to take off work for a week. I barely had any money and I just felt like I couldn't reach any type of human interaction even with my electronics it wasn't the same. On my tenth day of COVID I went to retest and I was negative. The after mass of Covid took a toll on me. I lost 16 pounds and I already had issues with my weight personally. My stomach felt faint and empty for weeks after the virus was gone and I felt like I did not want to go anywhere. I decided to still quarantine for the full fourteen days just to be safe and rest. My daughter's school (which she wasn't attending due to not being home) called and said someone tested positive and that school would be closed for two weeks. My mom whom I haven't seen in weeks also called on the tenth day to tell me that she had a fever and went to get tested, another positive. I felt trapped almost as if I couldn't breathe. Getting back into the real world without seeming like a hypochondriac was so tough but just like the virus things change and I was over my anxiety. All that's left now is to worry about the long term effects... Who knows what the future might hold.