Items

• 2021-10-15

  The Love of Candles

  Before 2020, I hardly ever burned a candle. My parents had forbid it, convinced me or my siblings were going to forget about it and burn the house down. My dorm room had extremely strict (and understandable) rules about open flames and heat sources. It wasn’t until I had graduated college and moved back into and then out of my parents’ house that I was free of these regulations. Even then, though, it never occurred to me to buy candles. My favorite scents were often nature-based and could easily be experienced by visiting the ocean, or the forest, or the occasional bakery. It wasn’t until the pandemic, when I was living in Ohio without being comfortable traveling to the ocean, or to the forest, or in public at all, that I turned to candles. Soon one impulse purchase of a sea salt and balsam scented candle turned into a constant hunt for all of my favorite scents, to bring me to places I didn’t feel safe or responsible traveling to. My collection grew rapidly, and for the past year or so I’ve had a candle lit in my home almost every day. I never thought something a simple as a $7 candle I found at TJ Maxx or Bath & Body Works could bring me so much peace, calming my need to return to my favorite far-off places until it is once again safe to do so. Don’t get me wrong, candles still can’t compare to the real smells I adore, but even a weak imitation is better than a scent-less longing. Even though I’m currently residing in Ohio, I can use candles to feel connected to my home state of California, or my favorite places to visit, bringing comfort and familiarity in a time that is anything but comfort and familiar. My bank account may not be happy with me given this new habit, but it’s a price I am willing to pay.
• 
  07/22/21

  COVID-19 specimen collection site

  Banner Health team members collect samples from patients to test for COVID-19. More information available at http://bannerhealth.mediaroom.com/COVID-19info.
• 
  2020-09-30

  "Staying Strong During COVID-19" New Acquisitions Exhibit

  This exhibit was installed by the Medical Artifact Collection at Western University. It features several COVID-19 related artifacts that were recently donated to the collection in 2020. The exhibit was curated and installed by the collection's research assistant Kat Bezaire.
• 
  2021-03-09

  Police1 Promotes Law Enforcement Submissions to the JOTPY COVID-19 Archive

  I wrote this article for Police1 to promote law enforcement submissions to the JOTPY COVID-19 archive. At the time of this publication, Police1 enjoys approximately three million unique visits per month to its website. The site published my article on 03/09/2021, and I intend to use this article to encourage further promotion of the archive's Law Enforcement collection.
• 
  2021-03-10

  What are we going to do with all these masks?

  In looking through my "mask basket", I see I have about 23 masks. What am I going to do with all these when the pandemic is over? What are you going to do? I know a lot of people want to have a "burning party", but I don't think it's a great idea to set fire to all of our masks, collectively. Will we throw them away, contributing new tonnage to the landfills? Or save them just in case we find ourselves in another terrible situation where we need them? Can we create a collective where we send them in and they are cleaned and stockpiled for a day in the future that they are called upon again? Something to thing about...
• 
  2021-03-10

  A Lot More Time at Home

  An interesting consequence from being locked inside day in and day out for almost a year. My collection of books has grown considerably, to the point of needing yet another bookshelf.
• 
  2021-01-25

  A Year of COVID-19 in Canada

  This is a collection of photographs for the anniversary of the first COVID-19 case in Canada. The photographs depict the changes the country underwent in the last 12 months.
• 
  2021-02-27

  Pandemic Fashion

  Since the beginning of the pandemic, I wore a mask. I think I went one place without one on Friday, March 13, as the world fell apart and I was driving home to Phoenix from my mother’s house in San Diego County. But since then, I have been collecting masks the way I would collect graphic and band tees as a teenager and young adult. I have developed “criteria” for what I like, prefer, and even need in a mask. I think about it when I pick one each day. If I am wearing patterns, I grab a solid mask in a complementary color. Solid outfits open up the gates to lots of options. Very quickly, I realized I needed a way to manage these masks. The two hooks that hang near our front door for stocking at Christmas promptly became something else. A bin of clean masks hangs on one hook and a lingerie bag on another. The routine is simple, grab a mask from the container as you leave, come home and drop it in the bag. When the bag is full, zip it up and drop it in the wash. Done! So here are some of my favorites: • Baby Yoda • Disneyland Spirit Jersey style • Old Navy, Old Navy, Old Navy – they come in five packs, available for every season and holiday, prints and solids, easy to grab, cannot say enough • And, of course – the true hero of the pandemic, masks made with love. My coworkers and I have chosen the raccoon for our library mascot. My boss’ mom had this beaver fabric just sitting around, so she made one for each of us (bonus points, this one has a nose wire), and finally, the same wonderful ex-co-worker of our department who made us all the raccoon masks made school-themed ones for us, the Desert Vista Thunder, one with lightning bolts and one with the school colors in the plaid. • Our other library theme is rainbows and all things equality – down to the matching rainbow Apple Watch bands we have to pair perfectly with this rainbow hearts mask from the Human Rights Campaign. I am not ready to give up wearing masks. I have both doses of Pfizer, and it has been two weeks, but I still think masks are a good idea and something that I will for sure be wearing when I feel any kind of sick post-pandemic if that ever happens. It’s the responsible thing to do, and frankly, I have too much invested into my masks and management system to say goodbye to it anytime soon.
• 
  2021-01-22

  Growing Book Collection

  With the pandemic going on, there are limited options on ways to entertain oneself. Over the course of qurantine, I have collected many books, including Dante's Divine Comedies and Volumes 1-6 of a collection of Shakepeare's plays. Reading is one pf my favorite past times, and I enjoy getting more books to enjoy.
• 2020-08-24

  Monster

  Over quarentine I collected monster cans next to my school desk. I probable spent close to three hundred dollars in all and collected almost all the cans.
• 
  2020-05-08

  Physically Distanced Line-up outside LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario)

  A line of people queue using tape lines on the sidewalk 2 meters apart in front of the LCBO location at the Ottawa Trainyards. Those retail spaces allowed to open are limited in the number of people they can hold at one time to permit physical distancing, meaning any additional shoppers must wait outside for other customers to leave. Despite some backlash liquor stores were listed as essential businesses by the province of Ontario from the beginning of the state of emergency in late March. This was in acknowledgement of that fact that there are those within Ontario society with a physical dependency on alcohol and if their access was restricted it might result in an unnecessary strain on the health care system. Not only would time and resources be used if an individual required medical assistance due to withdrawal, they might also be unnecessarily exposed to the virus while seeking treatment. Some industry services have been limited, however; the Beer Store, the only store which buys back empty bottles, is no longer doing so. This is a blow to those who collect bottles on the street or from recycling bins as an income.
• 
  2020-04-15

  NYT Story on the COVID 19 Archive

  Sherri Denney was in the fourth day of quarantine in her home in Springboro, Ohio, when she thought about the toll the coronavirus was taking. She sat in her recliner chair and cried as the state’s governor checked off the number of dead and sickened, knowing there would be more the next day. Overwhelmed, Ms. Denney, 55, tried to put her feelings into words. “Wow,” she began writing on an old sketch pad, quickly realizing the precise words would not come easy. “That’s all I can say. My emotions are ranging from sadness to fear to anger.” The week before, a woman in Nevada turned to her own version of journaling. Mimi J. Premo recorded a video on her cellphone, giving voice to a kind of stunned weariness so many Americans are feeling. And in Indianapolis, in an interview recorded by two university research assistants, a man who is diabetic and H.I.V. positive talked about how the speed and unclear ways of transmission “freaks me out.” The three accounts, snapshots of intimate moments during the pandemic, are a response to a call from historians and archivists across the country to document this extraordinary moment in history. Universities, archives and historical societies, ranging from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History to a tiny college radio station in Pennsylvania, are rushing to collect and curate the personal accounts of how people are experiencing this sprawling public health crisis as told in letters and journals, audio and video oral histories, and on social media. They are inviting people such as Ms. Denney and Ms. Premo to share stories and material from the 2020 coronavirus and its aftermath in real time. The idea is to bridge communal history and offer a fully realized look at the outbreak that can help the public, researchers and policymakers better understand how the pandemic permeated our lives. ImageA journal entry by Sherri Denney. It was one of the first submissions to the coronavirus public memory project set up by Wright State University. A journal entry by Sherri Denney. It was one of the first submissions to the coronavirus public memory project set up by Wright State University.Credit...Wright State University Whether a somber handwritten journal or an endearing Instagram post, the contributions will offer a look at a nation attacked by a virus coast to coast. The stories document sickness and death. The profound disruption of American rhythms and rituals, evidenced by empty shelves and streets. The gnawing restlessness of sheltering in place. The ways people showed resilience and managed to still find joy. “What we as contributors record is what the future generations will remember,” said Mark Tebeau, one of the project directors of a virtual archive founded at Arizona State University. The team of historians and artists started A Journal of the Plague Year: An Archive of Covid-19 on March 13, two days after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic. The name was inspired by Daniel Defoe’s novel “A Journal of the Plague Year,” which chronicles the bubonic plague in 1665 London through the lens of one man. Latest Updates: Coronavirus Outbreak in the U.S. The California State University system will not hold classes on campuses this fall. Top health experts testify that the U.S. is not ‘out of the woods’ and warn against reopening too fast. Testing becomes a flash point in the Senate hearing. See more updates Updated 9m ago More live coverage: Global Markets New York With the help of graduate students and scholars from about 20 universities, the archive has amassed more than 1,400 entries from 500 contributors across the world, including Australia, Peru and China. Mr. Tebeau, a public and digital historian who heads the university’s public history program, said they are also reaching out to marginalized communities to ensure the project is inclusive. One of the first entries came from Ms. Premo, 36, a customer service representative who lives near Las Vegas. She had not left her home for nearly a week in mid-March when she submitted the video. In the clip, just over two minutes, she wonders who might be stricken with Covid-19 next. A neighbor? A friend? A family member? “No matter how many Skype meetings I have, no matter how much I am on Facebook, no matter how much I write in my journal and try to laugh through the tears, it feels so different,” Ms. Premo said. “Living with this uncertainty is,” she added, pausing in the video, “it’s unsettling but I feel that no matter what happens, I guess it’s hope that keeps my spirits up.” Video Mimi J. Premo shared her thoughts in a video diary to Arizona State University. Last week, the Library of Congress received its first Covid-19 collection: street scenes from New York, New Jersey and California by the photographer Camilo Jose Vergara. In addition to documenting stay-at-home life, mask styles, health care workers, the economic impact and how people are helping one another. The Library of Congress is also collecting web content, data and maps. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History deployed a Rapid Response Collecting Task Force to chronicle the pandemic. “Museum staff is working to formulate a plan that achieves a balance between the urgency to document the ephemeral aspects of the historic turning points as they happen,” the museum said in a statement, “and the need to provide a long-term historical perspective.” In response to the pandemic shutdown, StoryCorps, the story-sharing nonprofit, moved its platform online for the first time. Interviews that used to be recorded in a physical studio can now be done using video conference technology. The audio and a photo from each interview will be preserved in the StoryCorps Archive and with the Library of Congress. And students at Neumann University in Pennsylvania set up a series called the Coronavirus Diaries on the school’s radio station, WNUW-FM. Listeners record themselves sharing pandemic stories using a voice memo app or by leaving a phone message at the station. The diaries air hourly. Local archives are also calling for oral histories and materials. The Atlanta History Center, for example, is asking the city’s residents for digital files and physical artifacts (the latter would be collected once the center reopens). The project, called Corona Collective, lays out how seemingly mundane items — a no-frills furlough notice, a handmade banner thanking emergency medical workers — help tell the story of how daily life in Atlanta changed. Image “Goodbye,” a drawing submitted to “A Journal of the Plague Year,” an archive of the coronavirus pandemic created by Arizona State University. “Goodbye,” a drawing submitted to “A Journal of the Plague Year,” an archive of the coronavirus pandemic created by Arizona State University.Credit...Jeffrey M. Davis Similar efforts are cropping up in big cities and small towns. Sometime during spring break in March, Jason Kelly, a professor at the Indianapolis campus of Indiana University, realized the coronavirus was likely to be the defining event for generations. For a professor who teaches digital public history, it meant something else, too: How people experienced the outbreak needed to be captured and organized in a searchable database. That was the seed of what is now the Covid-19 Oral History Project, based at the Arts and Humanities Institute on the Indianapolis campus. Mr. Kelly turned to the 19 graduate students in his digital public history class and asked if they would put other coursework on hold to focus on the project, which uses “rapid response collecting” for Covid-19 lived experiences. Eventually the project will merge with the larger Plague archive Such efforts to collect memories in real time was also used by groups after the Sept. 11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the Pulse nightclub massacre. The page from Ms. Denney’s diary became one of the first submissions to the coronavirus public memory project set up by Wright State University. “All of a sudden the pandemic was right here and personal,” said Dawne Dewey, head of special collections and archives at the university. “We put the call out because we need stories to help future generations understand this moment in history.” The archive, partly housed on the fourth floor of the school library, includes the journals of survivors of the 1918 flu pandemic. One was written by Donald McKinney Wallace, a farmer who served in the Army. Mr. McKinney was sickened with the flu in the fall of 1918. He was quarantined in barracks, separated from others by blankets hung from a wire. He wrote about the daily meal of soft boiled eggs and cold toast, feeling weak, a stubborn fever, isolation and the deaths of fellow soldiers — an account that could have been written today. “A century ago, people told their stories in written journals,” said Ms. Dewey. “Now, we are capturing people’s thoughts and experiences through social media posts, email, audio and photographs.”
• 
  2020-04-01

  The 2020 Self-Quarantining Exhibition

  An Online Collection of Photos from around the world that are meant to demonstrate life during the quarantine, that were curated by an art collective in LA area *04/01/2020 publishing date Contributor: *Aline Smithson, Director of LenScratch, along with a variety of contributors from all over the world