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2020-03-17
Every day I woke up at about 7:45 am and school started at 8 am. I brushed my hair and brushed my teeth, put a sweatshirt on, and joined my zoom class. The benefits of this online learning were that I could get up a lot later than I normally would have for in-person school. I usually wake up at 6:45 am for in-person school. I also got to leave classes early when I finished my assignment and it was very nice. All of my assignments were usually finished by 3 pm that day. I had lots of problems with wifi though and it wouldn't let me access tests/quizzes and homework assignments. Also whenever I used OneNote, it deleted all of the work that I had written in.
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2020-03-13
When COVID_19 started to hit California I was in my second semester of 7th grade. On March 13, 2020 my school announced that we were closing down and switching to online learning. That last day of normal school we prepared our zoom meetings, schedules, and we said our goodbyes. At first everyone thought we were shutting down for two weeks, like and extended spring break. Who knew it would go on for 11 months. My first online school day was wake up 10 minutes before my first class, eat breakfast, and log on at 8am. Simple right? No my wifi decided to shut off and I couldn't attend my first zoom meeting. I email my teacher and got it figured out. I have 3 more classes that day and by the end it felt weird. That same feeling went on for about 4 months. I would facetime my friends every night and talk about our computer issues. Then it started to become normal. The last day of 7th grade I pressed "End meeting" and said wow that was really 7th grade. It felt like something was missing. Summer came and it was very boring, I was excited to even go on a walk. 8th grade rolled around and we were still online. It was my new normal and so I didn't mind it. I was missing my friends more than ever though. I got through the semester and I went to Colorado for winter break. After I got home my school announced we were going back. I was very excited. I thought everything was going to go back to normal besides wearing masks. The first day was very weird we stayed 6 feet apart, my dance class was outside, my hands were dry from hand sanitizer. It was very crazy, but overall I am very thankful to be back and school and have human interaction again.
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2021-01-14
While virtual learning from home my experience was very interesting it wasn't fun but it was also really boring sometimes. My routine would be to wake up grab breakfast grab my computer and started zooming online. I once did school in Utah which was pretty fun. The benefits of being online were probably being able to wear sweatpants all day and eating food when I wanted to and also probably not waking up as early and the obstacles of being online where I felt like I didn't get the full feel of being at school because we were virtual learning and also I couldn't see any of my friends.
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2021-01-14
Quarantine makes people stay at home, especially for students. During this particular time, schools provided us remote learnings. We discovered many technologies online, and it also made turning in assignments easier. On the other hand, students spent too much time on electronics during remote learning, and collaboration is always difficult.
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2021-01-14
When I first started online school in march I thought we would be off-campus for 3 or 4 weeks, and then we would go back. I didn't know much about covid-19, so though I would still be able to see my friends. We had plans to do online school at each other's house, and hang out all the time. We went into a state-wide lockdown 2 days after and I wasn't allowed to go anywhere or hang out with anyone. It was fun at first, we watched shows, we did puzzles, we cooked a lot. But once we hit late may and I still hadn't seen my friends, I was getting really sad. As for online school. I thought it was nice because I didn't have to get up so early. The first week or so, we got up I got dressed, I did my hair, but they somewhere along the way. I rolled out of bed, still in my pajamas, and turned my video off. During classes, I was always so bored because school wasn't really interesting because we weren't learning as much. I was fine with online it was just the fact that I wasn't eating lunch with my friends anymore, or that I couldn't talk to them during passing periods, but I did love being able to eat in class or getting a snack whenever I wanted. It was also hard in the fact you couldn't really get one on one help with the teacher.
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2021-01-14
During the quarantine, we still had to go to school, so we switched to remote learning. Using a meeting application called Zoom, we could talk to each other and continue our classes. We would start every day at 8:00 and end every day at 2:45. Our classes were divided into A days and B days. Half our classes were on A days, and the other classes on B days. We would get breaks between classes which was a total plus. However, we also had to adapt to something new and strange. It was hard but a great learning experience. Overall, online learning was hard to get used to, but it will be a useful skill to know in the future.
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2020-12-04
It has been a few months now since I 1st started Online Learning. How it would work is all the students would enter a ZOOM Room online with a provided URL. (ZOOM does not mean anything in particular, other than it being a company name) We had the ability to mute our mics so others in the room would not be able to hear us, we could turn off our cameras to not be able to be seen, and other small things which barely anyone used. Every day that I would need to enter a ZOOM Room for educational purposes, I would create a routine. I wake up 7:00 AM PST (Pacific South Time), relax and make sure any and all work that needs to be done is complete, eat breakfast, change (if needed), and went onto my computer to enter the room at the given time. Whenever I had a break, I would relax and take a snack if I felt hungry and waited for the next given time. This worked wonders, and felt super relaxing for a Monday. Although Virtual learning through ZOOM is far more relaxing and free, you can't learn as well, since there are most likely more distractions around you, you can't ask questions nearly a easily, and being in the classroom zones you into the lesson more.
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2020
This year because of covid most of the students had to do virtual learning. I personally love doing online school, because I'm a lazy person. When you wake up everyday, you only need to open up your computer and login on to zoom. But for regular school I had to wake up at 6 every single day because I live far away from my school, this isn’t fun at all. And another thing l love for online school is that you can eat during classes and on one will see it, at school if you got caught eating during class, you will definitely get in trouble.
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2020-04-11
Doing school online was a crazy experience that I will not forget. I did all of my class on my apple laptop on zoom. I was able to go on zoom in different places such as Utah, Arizona, friends houses, and just different room in my house. It was fun because i could wake up and just go to my computer, i wouldn't have to get ready for school. It also sucked cause i couldn't see my friends and it was hard to learn and pay attention online. That was about everything that happened during online school.
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2021-01-14
Learning virtually was definitely a change. It was hard to get used to at first. There are sone benefits of learning online. All your classes are right infront of you and with a click of a button your are in your class. Also, all of your supplies are on your desk, so you dont have to carry any books or anything to class. But, there were also some downsides. Not being able to see my teachers and friends was hard. Teaching a class online is also definitely harder and there are many distractions when it comes to online school. Changing to the block schedule was also difficult. We used to have all 7 periods in 1 day, but now we have 3-4 classes a day and they are twice as longer. It is hard sitting on a chair for an hour and a half for each period.
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2021-01-14
When I got the news that my school would be shutting down on March 6, 2020, I thought it would be only for a few weeks. Little did I know that it would be months before even being able to see friends. Looking back, zooming in to classes in 7th grade was crazier than 8th grade, as I was learning the routine. I remember not knowing how to go to Gallery view, so whenever someone spoke I would have a massive head on my screen. It always made me laugh. After about a month, I started to get the hang of things, and I was even enjoying it! I had a routine. 7:30: wake up, shower, get dressed. 7:50, sit in my chair and watch Youtube until class started. I noticed that my grades were increasing, and I had better sleep schedules! I also was getting better lunches than I did at school, although school lunches at my school are amazing! I remember I asked my dad if he could do a Meatball Sandwich, and it was the best thing I ever ate while in Science! To be honest, I enjoyed online school more than in person school, but now, in the month of January 2021, I am missing seeing friends and teachers in person.
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2021-01-14
I personally enjoyed virtual learning because I got to be at home. Virtual learning has lots of pros and cons. The pros being that you get to be at home and be more comfortable. But the cons being its more difficult to focus and you don't get to see your friends
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2020-04-27
I worked at a daycare in Hoover, Alabama for 5 years that provided care to over 200 children. When the state went on lockdown, our numbers dwindled down to 60 as we were only allowing children of first responders to stay. All other children were either left to their parents, babysitters, family, friends, etc. I was a lead infant teacher for babies 6-12 months. I normally have about 10 but on my first day of work after lockdown was initiated, I only had 2 and that instantly meant less noise. I have a schedule I keep but each activity lasted half the time it normally does. It gave the babies more time to play and explore but for me, I had to begin the process of deep cleaning. We were issued new cleaning products and if there was a time when you weren't busy with children, you had to clean. We kept our masks on all day for the children's sake but it limited my breathing since I wasn't used to wearing one. Add that to new, stronger cleaning products and it makes for a difficult day. I experienced the normal smells of infant care that I have for the last 5 years but the new, stronger cleaning smells altered my olfactory system. I was worried how the babies and I would react to it after we've been exposed to the chemicals for a long period of time. We weren't allowed to open our doors or windows so the smell stayed with us all day. It gave me headaches and made my babies cranky. It was a learning process with the new sanitizing methods and we all finally got a rhythm down and requested that we be allowed to open our windows and doors while cleaning. It helped us keep our kids and ourselves healthier and more conscientious about our cleaning habits. With less children around, we were able to clean thoroughly and get everything in order but it felt less like a daycare without all the noise. We worked diligently so that when lockdown was over, we could welcome back our loud and crazy kids to a new, sanitized environment.
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2021-01-14
While I am not currently working from home, I am studying from home and staying home as much as I possibly can, which can feel extremely stifling. I would sit at my small desk in my bedroom for hours at a time, longing for the setting of a library or cafe to do my work in, and would soon grow bored and unfocused, failing at being productive. After a week or two of some distracted study sessions in which it felt like I got nothing done, I was fed up and frustrated, so I decided to try out a few changes to refresh my study space. Here are my hacks to creating a comfortable study-from-home (or work-from-home!) space without investing in new furniture or risking exposure to Covid-19.
1) Move your desk. My previous desk location blocked my window, leading my little office area to feel dark and closed off. By moving my desk, I now sit adjacent to the window. This allows more natural light to shine, raising my mood, and it allows me to people watch when I need a break from staring at my screen all day.
2) Clean your workspace. I am definitely guilty of having a cluttered, messy workspace, with papers all over my desk and books all over the floor. I recently reorganized so only the absolute essentials were in my workspace, and it feels so streamlined. It really is true that a cluttered space leads to a cluttered mind, and clearing it out has given me more mental clarity when working.
3) Go outside! I don't have a huge backyard, but I have enough space for a small patio table and chair that has provided a great change of scenery when I'm feeling cooped up. Now, I do work on a desktop computer, so I can't do all of my work outside, but I try to go out there as often as possible when I'm working on readings or using my tablet for school instead of my computer. The fresh air is so necessary, and the sunlight gives me some vitamin D while also raising my spirits.
4) Drink tea. While this isn't really a pandemic-specific hack, I found that a cup of tea serves as a great timer for working on schoolwork. I make a fresh cup of tea right before I start working, sip it throughout my study session, and take a break when I finish the cup. A cup will usually last me 30 minutes to an hour, and I typically take a few minutes to stretch and walk around before making another cup and starting the process over again. It is both relaxing and hydrating, and serves as my own little form of the pomodoro technique.
So, there ya go. My little tips and "hacks" to make at-home studying or working just a little more bearable. While I definitely look forward to the day that I can study in public again, I have gotten more comfortable with my home set-up, and will continue with this routine while staying at home is the safest option.
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2021-01-14
Covid-19 reset everything for me. School, weekends, shopping, restaurants and so much more. So I had to take a step back and recreate my routine for school to follow the new normals for me during Covid-19. I started off from the first thing I do everyday. Getting ready for school. Now that I don't have to drive or pack my bag anymore I now allocated this time as extra/backup time for homework. For the most part things should be the same material wise but I need to make new home for my books so I can stay organized with all my class. The last thing I need to recreate for School is what should is what I should during my break and lunch. I thought of some ideas that did not do with electronics and came up just talking with m y family or working ahead on homework. In conclusion, I think recreating my routine was very substantial and don't regret one bit of it.
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2021-01-14
When my school shut down in March, I welcomed remote learning. My life had become so busy and stressful and I never got enough sleep. I would be a nice two week break before I went back to school for the last two months of school. I had no idea how wrong I was. Within 4 days, the novelty had worn off. The long hours (5 1/2) on Zoom were horrible. English was the worst. We were reading Shakespeare (in 7th grade!) and it move so slowly. Being the fast reader that I was it was my worst nightmare reading at this slow, slow pace. We had 80 minutes of class. We spent all of those 80 minutes reading and only got through 5 pages. We had a block schedule. Four classes one day and three the next with chapel. For the last three months of seventh grade, I sat at a picnic table in my parent's room. I got one half and my brother got the other. During these three months I was miserable. Three days after the end of school I got a new bed for my room. It was a loft and it had a desk underneath. All summer I would do something educational at this desk for three hours, eat lunch, workout, and go outside to hang out. All that summer, all the kids in the neighborhood wanted to do was Nerf war. I was lucky that the summer before I had received a pink and purple strongarm with pink and white bullets. These six bullets were quickly lost in the grass and replaced with some of my friend's classic orange and blue ones. When summer was over I had to go back to my desk for those 5 1/2 hours a day, except this time I would have homework. The previous year the teacher had done their best to make sure that we didn't have to do work outside of class (my English teacher of course made no effort to do this). Now I was in 8th grade with one of the hardest possible course loads. I was taking Geometry, Conceptual Physics, Spanish 2, and all of the other required classes. I would regularly work for an hour and an half after school before working out. I would do yoga or a random HIIT or strength class I found on Peloton. During all of my breaks I would walk my dog (a yellow lab puppy). In October, we got a Peloton stationary bike and my brother got to go to school to do his Zoom classes (weird, I know). Now I would be home alone from 9am to 11:30am every day. My schedule looked like this.
6:45 - get up and get ready for school
8 - go to my first class
9 - walk my dog and practice piano
9:45 - go to my next 2 classes
12:35 - lunch
1:25 - my last class
4 - workout
I was glad when it was over. Now that I think about it, I didn't actually list any benefits.
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2021-01-14
Virtual learning was easy for me, but I did not like it. I do not like having to do things on my computer, and I did not learn as well as I did previously. However, I learned many things that I usually would not have learned such as keyboard shortcuts, ways to access things on my computer more quickly, and many other computer skills. I learned how to type more quickly, I learned the better ways to take pictures for a clearer image, and I got into a few fields of learning that I never would have tried. Even though 2020 was a difficult year, it taught me many good skills and lessons. After 2020, I have become a much more well-rounded person.
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2021-01-14T08:53:10
routines before Covid were easy because they where every day. routines during covid were different because. the world closed down most off the sports programs, and restaurants and even grocer stores. people had to stay ind=side other wise they would be fined a lot of money. our family had to shop from Amazon for the first couple months. I play a lot of sports, like baseball, football, tennis, golf, and swimming sports. all those sports were canceled due to covid. then after that you have nothing to do.
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2021-01-14
This is how my life was during online learning. I normally would wake up at around 7:50, I feel tired and exhausted and not motivated to do anything, I just want to go back to sleep. I do my first class and then have breakfast. My breakfast gives me some energy but not that much. I then just finish the rest of my classes and then have lunch and do homework. When i was going online school it just felt that life was on repeat, like there was no other thing I could do. I wouldn’t see any friends which made me feel that I had to talk to people a lot so I would video call people all the time after class, but I wouldn’t see them in person like normal. I never was motivated to do online school and only did it since it was school. I just felt tired, I was annoyed that I couldn't see any of my friends and I just felt constrained to my computer, as if I was locked in my room and I had nowhere else to go. Some of the benefits of online learning was the fact that I would be able to travel to another state and then still be able to do school like everyone else. Also I was able to make my schedule however I wanted it to be since I was online. I also liked the fact that I could get closer with my family since I was with them stuck in the house for a long time. So there are a good amount of benefits of online learning, but going to school on campus is way better, believe me.
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2021-01-14
For my routine, I would usually wake up about 5 minutes before class had actually started. Between classes I just laid on my bed, doing whatever on my computer like games, youtube, but never homework until the next class. Then at lunch I would go downstairs to eat whatever was ready or anything my dad or mom had gotten. Eating lunch would usually take me about 15 minutes and then afterwards I went back upstairs to take a nap for the remainder of the time. Everything felt so slow and so boring and I felt like I wasted my time. The benefits of virtual learning are only not having to wake up at 6:30 and being able to stay home. The cons were it was boring, I had no motivation for anything, and probably just everything mentally and emotionally sucked. I just did whatever I was supposed to, and then maybe baseball practice after school. That was mostly all I did.
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2021-01-14
When remote learning started due to COVID-19 and having to quarantine, I didn't think much of it. I figured we'd be back in school within months and it wouldn't be very different online. . . little did I know how much I was missing. Now that I am back in school after winter break, I'm realizing what it's like at school with friends and being able to see people. Materials aren't easily accessible, internet connections can be unstable, and there are a lot more distractions at home than at school in-person, but there are benefits, as well. I can work on my own time at my own pace, I am more organized as I am at home, I don't have to get ready before school, allowing me to sleep in, and I can eat whenever I'm hungry. There's a slight luxury with remote learning, but it doesn't compare to being at school in-person.
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2021-01-14
My experience with remote learning is better than I thought it would be. In the beginning, when everyone was adjusting to going to zoom meetings for every class and have to get supplies from school to do at home. I feel like I used my printer more in the past month than the past year, printing out papers and sheet music that would usually be handed in class. But I enjoyed working at home in some parts. For example, everything I needed was right there next to me and I didn’t have to worry about losing it (for the most part). Online learning also made me rely on myself and remembering all of my assignments and their due dates. I feel like my self-control improved a lot in the past few months. Online classes are not the best, but I am glad that everyone made them work.
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2021-01-14
In the beginning, I got up earlier for school at 7:15 because school started at 8. In the end, I got up at 7:50, because I got so bored of looking at my computer and didn't want to get up. It was good because I could hang out with my mom or sisters during the day. That was also the worse too, I got so sick of seeing the same people everyday. I think that the worst part of online school was that you didn't interact with anyone. I also didn't like being on my computer/zoom all day, because it got so boring. Also if you had a question about homework you had to email your teachers and sometimes they didn't reply until after the homework was due. I have to admit that our school made it very easy, but stilll had us engaged the whole time. It had its pros and cons.
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2021-01
So basically my routine is to do school. My experience doing online is absolutely horrible. I’m pretty sure my laptop is cursed. I wake up around 7:50 I get on my laptop and get on Axis. Then I hop on zoom and not even 10 minutes in I get kicked off. It’s so bad we had to get an Ethernet cable for school. And it was still bad!! Overall online school had its ups and downs. I was pist that zoom kept crashing but I was happy that I was working out of the comfort of my own home.
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2021-01-14
Learning remotely was a lot different than learning at an actual school. I didn't like learning virtual very much and I like learning at school much better. However, there were some benefits like sleeping in and having longer breaks. I did not like doing everything on my laptop because it is not good for your brain and it makes your eyes really tired. My days were very boring and I didn't get to socialize with my friends. I stayed home all day and most of my day was spending time on my laptop or phone. On a normal day, I would wake up and then get ready and then get on my laptop and do school and eat lunch and then stay home for the rest of the day.
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2021-01-14
Remote learning was not that bad. I got to work with my own comfort. I would wake up, go to class and then at break I would eat breakfast. On breaks I could also watch TV. The only downsides to it was that I couldn't see my friends that much, or if I had a question, it was hard to get to a teacher. I had plenty of good routines that I enjoyed.
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2021-01-14
When it was March, i first heard about this Virtual learning and i was very confused on how that would work. For the first 3 months of quarantine, i was at my dads in Northern California and thats where i started virtual learning and ended 7th grade. Virtual learning in the beginning was actually really fun. but as it progressed, it started to be emotionally and mentally draining. i wasnt taking care of myself and it became too much. so at the beginning of 8th grade, i decided to try and get myself back together. learning online was sometimes a struggle, like when we needed a paper we would have to print it or we would have to write everything down. it was often that i didn't really learn anything. it was a lot harder to learn online then i expected. although it was nice being home everyday, i found myself often in my bed and turning off my camera. yes, there are some negatives to virtual learning but, there are a lot of positives also. i stayed healthy. i didn't get sick which was the best positive that i could get. my grades werent as bad as i thought they were. i just needed to slow down and pay attention.
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2020-06-17
This story is about how I "hacked" a pandemic experience: wearing a mask as a young child. I was having trouble finding a mask that my youngest child felt comfortable wearing, so I made one from a pajama shirt she had outgrown! It fit comfortably and brought new life to an old piece of clothing that carries special memories from years past.
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2021-01-13
At the start of the pandemic, I was in an anxiety spiral. I was worried about everything from the health of family and friends to the possibility of nuclear warfare, and it resulted in some fairly agoraphobic, unhealthy coping mechanisms. I had recently moved to a new state, so I didn't even know the way around my neighborhood. I would stay in my room for days at a time, only socializing with the villagers on my Animal Crossing island. I was afraid to leave my house, afraid to grocery shop, afraid to pass someone too closely on the sidewalk. After several months of this behavior, and countless episodes of reality television, I recognized that I needed help.
I began the process with a simple google search. "Online therapy options." After some trial and error, I found a therapist that helped me break out of my depressive, anxious cycle, in a way that was both gradual and socially distant. Through my work with her and some self-reflection, I found several things that help me cope with the current reality, allowing me to enjoy small joys throughout the day, and here they are:
1) Trails! I was a hiker in college, but fell out of the habit after graduating due to moving around a bit. Since I had moved during the winter, I hadn't had a chance to explore any trails near my new home. With some recommendations from both my therapist and the internet, I slowly began to venture into the outdoors. I started with a trail that was a 10-minute walk from my house, and eventually worked my way up to a state park about an hour away. It allowed me to feel comfortable leaving the house again in a way that was still Covid-friendly, and I gained a better awareness and appreciation of my surroundings. As an added bonus, I was able to experience Ohio autumn in all it's red-yellow-orange beauty. After a hot, humid, sad summer, some beautiful fall colors along some incredible trails were a perfect way to reset.
2) Books. I read more during the first few months of the pandemic than I had in the past several years combined. I was able to tackle books that had seemed too long and daunting in the past, as there was little to keep me from them, and it provided a sense of much-needed escapism. I rekindled my love of reading, worked through some of my "to-be-read" list, and incorporated reading into my daily routine, giving me something to look forward to and work towards during a time that felt stagnant.
3) Podcasts. I've been a regular listener of podcasts for years. I have the weekly release schedule of my favorite podcasts memorized, and at this point I turn to those for car rides before music. But, similar to books, I had put off some of the podcasts that require more attentive, prolonged listening; these were often podcasts that told a story over many episodes, both fictional and non-fictional. With stay-at-home orders in place, it seemed that all I had was time, and one can only spend so much time listening to the news, so I turned to podcasts. I listened to them when cleaning, when walking on the trails, when cooking, and even when I was just laying around. According to my Spotify Wrapped from 2020, I spent much more time listening to podcasts than music, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
4) Succulents. I have my mom to thank for this one! I had collected a large variety of succulents over the past few years, but had to leave them behind with my sister when moving at the beginning of 2020. With plant-shopping being extremely non-essential, I hadn't had the chance to start a new collection prior to isolation, and I had just accepted that I was no longer the plant-parent I once was. My mother, being the incredible woman that she is, decided that was unacceptable, and signed me up for a monthly succulent subscription for my birthday, in which I receive two baby succulents a month. So far I have eight little succulents, and they are thriving!
5) Cold brew. As an extreme coffee lover and addict, and as a barista, I couldn't make a list of my favorite things without including some form of caffeine. My favorite place in the world is a comfy coffee shop, but that obviously is not the safest setting to relax at the moment. I used this time at home to perfect my cold brew recipe, as well as play with all the different ways to enjoy coffee at home. While I still miss the atmosphere of a cafe, and will be back as soon as it's safe and smart to do so, I have had fun crafting new drinks at home.
While I have had a variety of small enjoyments here and there throughout the last nine or ten months, these are truly the things bringing me joy and peace in this lonely, frightening time. Even when this pandemic is officially over, I plan to continue these practices, as they have become essential to my daily routines.
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2021-01-11
Holidays were really hard for a lot of people. While I don't feel like mine were effected too much, I think my story is still worth sharing!
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2021-01-13
It is important to understand how our society has dealt with this pandemic, and my entry covers what I enjoyed during the pandemic. Things that got me through and kept me sane!
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2020-12-24
My family had been fortunate to avoid COVID 19 for ten months. However, in December 2020, that changed. My symptoms began with a minor headache which, on day two, morphed into a minor cough. I was fortunate to never be hospitalized, but on day three, my experience underwent a strange and unexpected change. I began to smell the strong smell, of what could only be described as ammonia. I was once a cat person, and remember the smell of cat urine on a carpet or furniture if left untreated. This smelled exactly like that. My first reaction was to inquire of my family, and no one could smell it but I, which only served to make the experience all the more strange. When everyone can smell the same smell, it’s one thing but when only you can smell it you begin to questions your sanity. The smell of ammonia was strongest outside and somewhat subdued when indoors. It lasted for one day and was gone the next but it was strong to the point of discomfort.
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2021-01-13
If you've ever set foot in a deli - a real life, New York style deli or in my case a real life Texas deli, then you know about the powerful and delightful smells that can attack your senses upon entry. In my restaurant, the traditional odors of hot corned beef and pastrami mixed with sauerkraut, bacon and horseradish combine with the popular fragrance of Texas brisket layered in a spicy bar-b-que sauce and the undeniable fragrance of apple and pecan pie. Homemade beef stew, French Onion soup and Texas chili are reducing in the kitchen while the entire restaurant fills with the aroma of good food. There is nothing quite like a deli kitchen prepping, baking, grilling and cooking in the morning. These are the distinctive smells of my life before COVID-19.
Shortly after March of last year, the city of San Antonio shut down all dine-in operations throughout the city and instantly took away our morning routines and systems, forcing our restaurant to evolve just to survive. Overnight, we became a grocery store with a curbside service selling raw products like eggs, tomatoes, cold cuts and sliced cheeses. The great morning aromas of the deli were replaced with the stale, cold odors of bleach and sanitizer. Sales dipped by seventy percent and even when dine-in was reopened to fifty percent capacity, we were forced to cut our menu by half. Now, as we keep paying for our holiday gatherings, the business has come back by half but it just doesn't seem the same or at least the smells do not. We are more of a to-go business now with items packaged and tagged in sugar cane boxes and biodegradable containers. The sweet mixture of multiple savory recipes and meats cooking side by side has been replaced by vacuum sealed soups and cold cuts prepared in a sanitized and disinfected central kitchen.
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2020-01-13
I am teaching HST 643 Global History at Arizona State University during the Spring A semester of 2021. For the second time, I am asking enrolled students to submit a sensory history story related to the pandemic. The students were instructed to read at least the introduction of Melanie Kiechle's Smell Detectives before posting their story. This way, they would have a better understanding of what sensory history is and why it matters. I revised the instructions this time to push students toward non-visual stories.
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2021-01-10
Two downtown bars in Windsor, Ontario, are offering live music alongside food delivery. Customers can choose from multiple "Gravy Train" packages which offer food and performance from a local musician.
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2020-09-08
Upon news of COVID-19 spreading in the United States, my parents and I made the decision that we were going shelter in place at home. While a lot of things remained the same, my parents began watching Clinton Kelly's 3H show that he did over his Instagram story. During one of Kelly's 3H shows my mom watched him make a lemon sauce. Since I am a huge fan of anything lemon, my mom decided to make it for my family one day and I fell in love with it. The sauce can be described as creamy, lemony, and cheese-y with a lemony smell. Since making the recipe for the first time, it has become my new favorite sauce. This story is specific to the pandemic since my mom would not have watched Clinton Kelly's 3H show otherwise.
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2021-01-11
An internet animator posted this art and I resonated with it quite a bit. The colors are nice and reminds me of the current thought process of this whole pandemic.
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2021-01-10
A piece of art done during the pandemic, done traditionally.
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2021-01-12
So basically, I was in school on Friday March 13th 2020. I remember very vaguely but in my last class I think it was, there was a huge announcement on the tvs. it said "Covid 19 outbreak" and I just remember what I was thinking what this was. I honestly had no clue what it was and where it came from. The joy of every kids having no school on March 13th. Little did we know, it was the start of the end of the world.
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2021-01-12
To be honest, this Christmas break i didn't do much. I normally hang out with friends and go on bike rides and just have fun. This time though, i didn't do that. I really just played video games with friends and spent time with family. Although I went to get my haircut and I did see David Price. (A former Dodgers Pitcher). So ya, thats my break, not too interesting.
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2021-01-12
I'm not exactly sure how the coronavirus started, however I believe it has been spread by an animal such as mosquitoes and yellow fever. I'm certainly not the most qualified person to ask but I do believe that it is a worthy theory because many other diseases and viruses are spread through animals.
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2021-01-12
My Christmas looked very different this year. I still got to see some of my family but most of them did not feel comfortable traveling. We had a zoom call for some of our family on the east coast and in England and they got to watch us open presents on Christmas morning.
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2021-01-12
In Hawaii, especially on the island of Kauai there were so many tourist that near the roads and tourist shops and restaurants you most heard traffic or people, and in the evenings live entertainment for tourists. Now, in the mornings you can hear birds and at night the crickets.
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2021-01-11
Lockdown restrictions to indoor dining at restaurants, which prevents friends from gathering and socializing in familiar locations.
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2021-01-12
In my line of work, which is construction management and execution, communication is key. Often, this begins and ends with emails, phone calls, and the occasional zoom chat to set a project up. However, once work commences, field superintendents meet daily with clients to discuss progress, delays, opportunities for improvement, and at times, complaining. Morning meetings are at the heart of the daily communications, and have always taken place at 7:30 am, with fifteen to twenty people present.
From January 2020 thru the middle of March 2020, morning meeting went as they had in the past. At times, with so many in the room, expressing their ideas, it can be difficult to keep track of what is being talked about. In my role, I attend one or more of these meetings, at different jobsites, throughout the week.
As Covid safety precautions took hold towards the end of March, I noticed that the meetings I attended were quieter. This was partially due to masks being worn. Whenever someone chose to speak, their voice, which had been loud a week or so prior, was now muffled and subdued. Additionally, people spoke no more than was necessary, the meetings were shorter than they had been. Gradually, power points were introduced on a screen each day so that talking was not necessary. Instead, the bosses laid out the schedule, expectations, and those in the room simply took notes.
By the end of April, the morning meeting changed over to Zoom Chat, with everyone in their office, staring at a screen which displayed those same power points, saying very little or nothing at all. By this point, with social distancing in full-force, there was no need to speak. Notes were made by a Project Engineer containing key points and emailed to attendees after the conclusion of the daily Zoom.
Suddenly, there was no face to face conversation, fewer phone calls, and increased emails. With masks across our faces, everyone continued their work in an eerie silence. The robust workplace, full of ideas and plans which must be heard, faded into blank stares saying nothing.
With the New Year, I did not expect any change. It would be difficult to say when practices that existed only a year ago might return. This morning, I logged into Zoom for a pre-construction meeting, I was met with the same silence I heard just before the Thanksgiving holiday.
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2021-01-12
When Covid was new, no one really knew much about it. When it came out they were a lot of rumors talking about how dangerous the virus was. Also talking about how the virus was created. The biggest rumor was that a man in china decided that he would eat a bat and because of that he got covid from eating the bat, then he spread it to a lot of people, this is how it was said covid was spread all around the world. When is started I didn't really think about it that much, I felt like people were over exaggerating it (and I still do). I honestly wasn't sure if the virus was even real and it may have been a hoax. Now that we have had covid for about a year these are my thoughts about it. I am honestly not sure how the virus was created, people say it was still from china, other people say it was created in a lab by the government so it's hard to say what is truth and what is false. I understand that for people that have underlying conditions this virus can be deadly but I honestly think and flu or cold can be deadly in various levels. I do think it is good to wear a mask and to say social distance for peoples protections but I do feel like shutting down economy was something that wasn't needed as it has closed down many restaurants and stores, etc. Those are my thoughts about covid one year ago and my thoughts about covid now.
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2021-01-12
This is a 'pandemic hacks' upload for my HST 580 internship with ASU
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2021-01-12
From the beginning of this pandemic it has been said that bats were the cause of this virus. This is similar to other coronavirus sicknesses. With more and more research of Covid-19 I have learned more about the novel coronavirus. I learned more about the efficacy of different masks and how they protect against the airborne travel of the virus. My understanding of how the disease spreads grew during the course of the pandemic. The information about the cause remained the same.
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2021-01-12
This document contains several of my favorite things that have helped me get through the pandemic, such as video games, music, my banjo, cooking and my dog Dobbs! I submitted this from the ASU HST 580 internship course.
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2019-03-17
I have uploaded a story of scent. During the first part of the stay-at-home order in Washington state, March 2019, I baked fresh bread daily to help my family during the food shortages. The amazing aroma of bread filled my home and brought hope to my family that everything would be well.
