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2020-07-02
Yemen is a country in a state of war. The Saudi coalition vs the Houthi Rebels. Saudi bombing raids have been destroying hospitals in a country with an already weak healthcare system. Humanitarian aid had been dwindiling since the Covid pandemic started. Now with a Covid crisis and humanitarian crisis how can the Yemeni people cope.
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2020-10-01
The President of the United States gets covid. As an old man this is tense, but we all know he gets the best medical treatment. I wonder how this will develop over the next few days and week!
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2020-09-02
Translation of Photo: I know that many are afraid of losing friends, of being judged, but I will not give up. I want to save the freedom and the life of my children - Chantal, Conspiracy Theorist and Anti Masker.
Translation of Title: Quebecer(female) Conspiracy Theorist
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2020
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.
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2020-07-17
As COVID-19 began to spread across the Southwest in March, lawyers representing incarcerated Arizonans reported “unsanitary conditions,” “inadequate medical staffing and treatment” and a “failure to take strong and sensible precautionary measures” in state prisons.
The combination left prisoners “highly vulnerable to outbreaks,” the attorneys wrote in a letter to the state before asking a federal judge to intervene. The judge did by issuing an order for officials to release more information, but prison advocates say it hasn’t been enough.
Nearly four months later, complaints of insufficient safety measures and subpar medical care continue to plague Arizona prisons. At least 569 prisoners at 13 of the state’s 16 prison complexes had tested positive for COVID-19 as of July 15, according to the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, and at least 371 staffers have reported positive results.
Justice reform advocates and others with ties to the correctional system worry the state is running out of time to prevent an even more dangerous surge in cases. COVID-19 can spread swiftly in crowded indoor spaces and among individuals with chronic health problems.
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2020-09-14
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, students are adjusting to their new normal when it comes to online classes, virtual events and social distancing to prevent the spread of the disease.
But for deaf and hard of hearing students in Arizona public schools, as well as for many more enrolled in private schools, these adjustments introduce new barriers to communication and learning. Last year, according to the Arizona Department of Education, 1,622 deaf or hard of hearing students were in public schools.
Sequoia Deaf School, part of the Edkey Inc. charter school group in Mesa, had 52 students enrolled in grades K through 12 for the 2020-21 school year. Its experience navigating the pandemic illustrates some of the challenges deaf students face, such as difficulty reading lips and faces behind masks, the shorter attention spans of young deaf students and the loss of their nurturing school community.
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2020-09-21
PHOENIX – Civil rights marches. Anti-war protests. Rallies against gun violence.
Public demonstrations historically have involved the “mass mobilization of bodies,” according to Tiera Rainey, program director for the Tucson Second Chance Community Bail Fund and an organizer with Black Lives Matter Tucson.
But when the novel coronavirus struck, prompting warnings against crowds and close contact, Arizona’s new reality of social distancing forced organizers to rethink that framework.
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2020-10-01
I've lived in my current residence for nearly a year and a half now. Since moving in, every night and sometimes throughout the day, I hear and feel the train moving past my house. The tracks are just behind the alley that backs up to my backyard. I spent a lot of time in my backyard, but until the pandemic took over I never actually saw the train. One night in October 2019, my friends and I sat in my backyard waiting for the train to come and it never did. I don't think I ever saw it because when it would come during the day I would be at either work or school and I would not spend too much time in my backyard at night. Now I see it all the time. I still remember seeing it pass for the first time and thinking "Wow! It's literally right there." Just another funny thing I would have never noticed.
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2020-10-01
As this Tweet from journalist, Sara Tardiff, explains prisons are closed as a precaution to slowing the spread of Covid-19. This means one of our only windows into what is actually happening behind bars is coming from incarcerated persons using contraband cell phones.
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2020-10-01
I wanted to share a bit about my life during COVID. My brother is currently incarcerated, and I would travel at least once a month to visit him. Once COVID hit, visitations were canceled, and my family was forced to rely on phone calls or snail mail. My brother would call us about once a week for his own sanity and ours as well. Several things have happened these past few months, which made our situation as a family more complicated. A phone call to my brother used to cost him (or us) 40 cents a minute. When COVID hit the private company used by the prison to facilitate calls, decided to take advantage of our reliance on phone calls and upcharge their prices. Phone calls now cost over a dollar a minute. Thankfully my family does ok and phone calls are not something we are willing to let go of, but I feel for families who have to choose between food, bills or funding their calling account. I know it sounds like an extreme situation, but there are families that have lost all contact with their loved ones who are incarcerated because of COVID, and these companies are taking advantage of the pandemic. Were now paying almost twenty dollars for every ten minute conversation, trust me it adds up real quick. The worst part is that these companies have contracts with the prisons, and we (the families on the outside) have no choice or say as far as what company we are able to go through to talk to those incarcerated. As if COVID and social distancing weren't enough, I'm now missing and worrying about my brother more than usual.
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2020-07-15
As of early July, 87 workers and 58 family members, 23 of them children, had tested positive for the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to data compiled by United Farm Workers, a labor union. Many more are awaiting results.
“I don’t want to go back,” Bertha said. She feels she has only two options: Accept the working conditions, or quit.
The pandemic has forced agricultural workers throughout the Southwest to make a similar choice between their health and their incomes. Though industry representatives say farms are doing everything they can do to protect their employees, worker advocates argue a lack of industry protections – and the “invisibility” of much of the work done by day laborers – have made farmworkers especially vulnerable to exploitation.
“It just shows the contradiction in calling somebody an ‘essential worker’ but only for what you need them for, not to care for them as human beings that also are afraid of getting sick,” said Juanita Valdez-Cox, a migrant-rights advocate in Texas.
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2020-09-02
PHOENIX – For more than three decades, André House just west of downtown has provided food, showers, temporary housing and other services to Arizonans experiencing homelessness or poverty.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of families seeking such services has almost doubled, said Ash Uss, the faith-based nonprofit’s coordinator of advocacy and partnerships.
“We have had families who show up and say, ‘I was just evicted,’ or ‘I’m about to be evicted,’ or ‘We’re living out of our car,’” Uss said. “The need is greater than it ever was.”
On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention implemented a nationwide temporary eviction moratorium through the end of the year to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Under the order, landlords cannot evict renters who meet certain conditions: “exhausted their best efforts to pay rent, seek Government rental assistance, and are likely to become homeless due to eviction,” according to a statement from the White House.
However, the latest efforts may have little impact for those already struggling to secure housing. A July report from University of Arizona researchers suggests the spike in people seeking homeless services at André House and elsewhere in metro Phoenix may be just the beginning. Researchers found the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic shutdown could increase the state’s homeless population – about 11,000 as of January – by 16% to 42%.
“I think everybody needs to take this very seriously,” said Claudia Powell, associate director of the university’s Southwest Institute for Research on Women and co-author of the report, which put the number of at-risk renters at 365,000.
“It will be a bigger crisis than we can imagine if we don’t act soon.”
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2020-06
Like other countries, Japanese people were hoarding masks during March. In June, Uniqulo made a mask using their technology “Airism”. Airism is a popular technology which allows less humidity and dries sweat fast and is very smooth to skin. The Airism mask has three layers, with the outside with UV cut layer, the middle with the filter layer, and inside with Airism layer. When this mask came out, a lot of people waited in line and crowded a lot of stores around Japan. This caused clusters and became news. The mask sold out very quickly and was only limited to one set per person. One set included one small mask for kids, one medium size for women, and one large size for men. They had only one color, which was white, but they now have gray. Recently all stores in Japan have masks, but all of the stocks are from China. Japanese made mask are still very low in stock and is very popular. This is an image from Uniqlo website, which shows the structure of the mask.
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2020-09
The "Go To Travel Campaign" is a campaign that the government made to support up to half of the price when making a domestic travel reservation within the campaign period through a travel agency or travel reservation site. The maximum amount of support is planned to be up to 20,000 yen per person per night, and up to 10,000 yen for a day trip. (Not applicable to overseas travel) 70% of the amount of support will be given as a discount on travel expenses, and the remaining 30% will be given as a "regional common coupon" that can be used when purchasing local food and drinks, tourist facilities, and local souvenirs. This campaign was so that local restaurants and travel areas can start functioning and have the economy back. However, this campaign had a lot of flaws. First, we were still in a Pandemic and the government was urging traveling within Japan. Second, Tokyo residents were not allowed to travel outside, but people from outside of Tokyo can use the campaign and use Tokyo as a place for transportation. Tokyo residents were not allowed to use the campaign due to the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Japan, and yet they are allowing people outside to use Tokyo. Recently, the Governor of Tokyo is thinking of adding Tokyo residents to the campaign as well. This is image of one of the posters of the campaign.
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2020-02
Between the end of February to the beginning of March, people started to hoard toilet papers. This was caused by an SNS post, which was fake, stating “Toilet paper is made mainly in China, and due to the COVID -19, the importation of toilet paper will be very limited and the stock will be gone”. This post itself did not cause a huge hoarding situation. What caused the hoarding was the feeling of fear and anxiety. Because of COVID-19, people were put into a different situation than so-called normal, and on TV, there were people lining up to buy toilet papers where you can see that the store is having limited stock left caused people to think “I need to get some too”. However, the reality was that most of the toilet papers that are sold in Japan are made in Japan, and if everyone does not hoard, then there will be more than enough for everyone. Even though the news said that all toilet was made in Japan, people still were hoarding because other people were and felt like if they do not buy one, they will not get the toilet paper for a while. My mother was also hoarding a lot of toilet papers, and now we probably have a stock that will last for months. The image is an example of how stores looked like in the toilet paper section, where there were no toilet papers.
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2020-07
I decided to put this photo and caption in because I believe it is a great representation of the United States during the pandemic.
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2020-08
These photos are some of the things around the city where I live. I decided to put them in here because I think it is important to see how different cities around the world have reacted to the pandemic.
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2020-05-17
My sister has been working so hard for the past two years; late nights and difficult early morning labs. She earned the title nurse practitioner. The pandemic hit a few months before her graduation and she would work the front lines while taking the last push towards graduation. As expected her graduation was cancelled and she was mailed her practitioner license. My family and I thought that her hard work deserved a proper celebration so we planned a way for our family to get together but follow all the proper precautions. We saw those drive by celebrations and planned one of our own. My grandmother demanded to be apart of the crowd at home to be closer to her granddaughter and no could tell her any different. This is one of the pictures from the celebration.
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2020-09-30
Who will win the vaccine race? With so much money on the line. Watching these events unfold live as tensions with United States and Russia are flagarant, have been interesting. The US denounces Russias vaccine yet, Egypt trusts it enought to purchase 25 million doses. Will the vaccine cause problems? Is the race to a vaccine truly about saving people? Perhaps the race for the vaccine is all about monetary gain?
As the race for a vaccine continues, it is interesting to watch national debates and alliances crafted and dismantled.
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2020-09-30
This was mine and my family's first trip we took during the pandemic. We had been quarantining since March and we were both essential workers so we also had been going into work everyday while so many other people were being laid off or furloughed. It was stressful because it is a pandemic and there is always worry about catching the virus and getting sick. We were also traveling with our 9-month-old son, which added even more worry to an already stressful time. This photo is important because it shows the new restrictions when it comes to flying. A mask is to be worn at all times or risk getting escorted off the plane and banned from flying with the airline again. It involved an endless amount of hand sanitizer every ten minutes or so and being hyper aware of the surfaces you are touching going through the airport. Flying is already riddled with anxiety and flying during a pandemic elevates that anxiety tenfold.
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2020-09-24
We each experience the pandemic in different ways but this article hits home for so many. While I personally am okay most days because my life is rather project based, which provides me something different from time to time, I still have days where it all seems so useless.
My husband struggles daily. The stress and monotony has resulted in him napping, like a toddler, mid afternoon everyday. We're lucky that his job is such that he hours are flexible right now and his company does not use software to monitor his time working. If he didn't have this flexibility to nap or take a mid afternoon break to get outside I believe his mental health would be worse than it is just by existing right now.
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2020-06-01
Students in Dr. Michael J. Kramer's Digital Methods for Historical Projects seminar at SUNY Brockport share stories about one object from the spring of 2020 during the Covid-19 Pandemic, https://brockportkramer.com/covid19/.
Alan Gowans—Getting Past Personal and Public Anxieties
Carson Werner—The Day Baseball Stood Still
Cecil Frazier—Double Standards
Gilberto Diaz III—Memes of COVID-19 Education
Jared Rosenberg—Diary From a Mini-tunnel
Joe Lasky—The Twitch and the Rosary
Jordan Aviles—Music and Other Necessary Items
Joseph Massaro—Music as an Escape From (and Turn to) the New Abnormal
Leslie Hoag—TikTok-ing History Connections
Nate Mundt—Recognizing First Responders
Ryan Gibbs—Am I Doing It Right?
Samantha Symonds—Saving Lives or Saving the Economy?
Sebastian Phipps—Living In a Twenty-First Century Pandemic
Steven Willard—Brutal and Grim Realizations
Will Secules—Bringing The Office Home
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2020-09-24
新型コロナウイルスの感染拡大の影響で公開が延期になっていた東京ディズニーランドの大規模開発エリアがお披露目されました。
東京ディズニーランドを運営するオリエンタルランドは、約3年かけて完成した大規模開発エリアを報道向けに公開しました。新たなエリアは4万7000平方メートルあり、ディズニー映画の「美女と野獣」をテーマとしたエリアや「ベイマックス」などのアトラクションが楽しめます。当初は4月15日に開園する予定でしたが、新型コロナウイルスの感染拡大の影響で延期していました。一般公開は今月28日からとなりますが、当面は混雑を避けるためアトラクションの利用は事前に抽選予約に申し込んで当選した人に限定します。
The large-scale development area of Tokyo Disneyland, where the open date was postponed due to the spread of the new Coronavirus, was revealed.
Oriental Land Co., Ltd., which operates Tokyo Disneyland, has released to the press the large-scale development area that took about three years. The new area covers 47,000 square meters, and you can enjoy rides with the theme of the Disney movies "Beauty and the Beast" and "Big Hero 6". Initially, the park was scheduled to open on April 15, but it was postponed due to the spread of the new Coronavirus. It will be open to the public from the 28th of this month, but for the time being, the use of the rides will be limited to those who have applied for a reservation in advance and got the tickets to avoid cluster of people.
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2020-08-06
A meme from the Being Peruvian Instagram account, it shows the risk of getting sick with or without a mask, and jokes about not liking/eating ceviche.
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2020-09-06
Meme from Being Peruvian Instagram. It makes light of how inactivity leads to weight gain during the pandemic. Peru has some of the strictest lockdown orders, and it's a society that is accostomed to walking and traveling across the city daily. Loosing daily activity has slowly, but surely affected everyone's health.
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2020-09-11
When Covid-19 hit the US many things shutdown including the nation's prisons. Of course they kept taking in people for incarceration but they no longer allowed visitors. This made connection to the outside world through phone calls even more important. What many people don't know is that each phone call an incarcerated person makes costs money, a lot of money. In the beginning of the pandemic many jails and prisons offered free phone calls, in the case they were even allowing phone calls (that's another story) but as the pandemic has continued for nearly eight months phone calls are no longer free or reduced cost. This is an undue burden on a population that is facing high unemployment.
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2020-09-30
Months ago the media did report on the outbreak of Covid cases in the nations jails and prisons. Though Covid continues to spread in correctional facilities it seems to have largely fallen off the media's radar and I haven't seen any coverage of the children in correctional facilities who are also sick with Covid.
It saddens me to even write this because the phrase "incarcerated children" should not have meaning.
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2020-09-29
This series of Tweets illustrates the number of Covid cases inside of prisons that go largely unnoticed by the general public. It also points to a larger problem of seeing "inmates", those who should be referred to in people first language as incarcerated persons, as fully human.
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2020-03-17
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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2020-03-09
New York City, March 2019. Every year, My friends and I would come home from our universities, no matter where our colleges were located, to participate in the NYC St. Patrick's day parade. This was our half way point through the semester for us to reconnect and talk about our summer plans were going to be after the semester finishes. After this, we had the end stretch of our semesters at school and we would be taking our finals and coming home to see each other once again. Except the year of 2020 was different. Everyone was aware of COVID-19 being in China and in foreign countries, but none of us even thought of the chance of it making its way to the United States, nevermind NYC. I live right outside New York City, my father works in New York city, my friends and I would go to New York City every weekend we were home. But not this year. As we were all preparing for the St. Patrick's Day Parade, because it was still being held as of 2 days before the actual parade. But then the news came on 2 days prior. Breaking news. NYC was being shut down completely in preparation of COVID-19. All work was put virtual, restaurants shut down. Videos and pictures of New York City looked like a zombie apocalypse just happened. Seeing New York City dead like that, was terrifying. We thought summer would come along and we would be able to make up for all the lost time we had in our favorite city, but no. Even in September 2020, I still have not stepped foot in NYC. I was locked up in my house form about March to June, when my work finally started opening up at the golf course and my friends and I would have small get togethers outside. All I can hope for now is a vaccine and for New York City to go back to its packed fill streets and life to be normal again.
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2020-09-29
My experience with the pandemic isn't one that drastically changed my life. I work at a gas station and I live in a rural town with the majority of the people being Republican. Which I know you must be thinking what does this have to do with it, well it actually has a lot to do! Majority of the people believe that this is all a hoax and do not believe in wearing a mask. Our customers who come into the store act as if Covid-19 isn't happening. I very rarely have someone who takes Covid-19 seriously, one customer that made me realize that times have change when he literally pulled out a disinfectant spray and then proceeded to spray the pinned before entering his pin. I have to admit even I thought he is exaggerating a bit by spraying the pin pad even when he is clearly wearing gloves. At my job my bosses did not really take Covid-19 seriously since they did not ask us if we wanted to wear mask, gloves, or even put the 6 feet markers on the floor so people would not crowd on top of each other. In fact most people out here in my rural community make comments saying "Are you really wearing mask", "You do know that is not going to protect you from anything" and my favorite one of all is "this is all a hoax, it will all calm down when the elections are over". All in all my town and I were not heavily affected or restricted with Covid-19. Although some places may have the mandatory mask requirements most people either avoided those places or just complained about how unnecessary it is to wear a mask.
work, behind the scene
*Photography and I found it at my job.
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2020-09-29
This image represents the disruption that COVID-19 brought upon the daily lives of members in American society. Additionally, it could be used to symbolize the calm before the storm. The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 and almost immediate initiation of mandatory quarantine was chaotic enough. However, extended seclusion and cruel cops triggered a violent uproar within the hearts and actions of civilians. Within the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, American society has endured an almost complete shut down of businesses, initiation of new safety procedures, protests for black lives matter, protests for blue lives matter, anti-mask protestors, virtual school, the daily life of wearing a mask constantly while in public, toilet paper crises, the loss of loved ones, earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires, and much more.
*A photograph, from architecturaldigest.com
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2020-07
Not much changed for my family when the pandemic started. In the beginning, all we really had to do was switch our school and work environments to online, but after that it stayed relatively the same. Every day was about the same for all of us; Wake up, do things for school/work, maybe take a nap, and occasionally hang out with the rest of the family. After a while it began to get monotonous, and we all eventually began to take up new little hobbies to keep ourselves entertained. My mother, for example, began to make homemade masks. When we were young, she’d often make little outfits or stuffed animals for us, so this type of work wasn’t too difficult for her. When working on the masks, she’d often ask for help from me or my sister, and as quarantine went on, we all began to pitch in on her little mask-making project. With too many masks for just our family, we’d give them off to friends, or bring them to work with us (when we had the opportunity to go back). Weeks, then months went by, and we began to come up with better ways for making masks. It was a fun little pastime, allowing us to do something constructive with our time while also being able to bond as a family. I’ll admit my time in quarantine wasn’t terribly rough (at least compared to others’ experiences), but it was incredibly tedious for a little while. Just being able to do things like this with my family, and being able to help others, was enough to break up the long months of quarantine.
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2020-09-20
Chet Rosenbaum and his wife Dianne host “Musical Monday’s” every Monday night in their retirement village in Tamarac, Florida. Chet, a retired chief financial officer and military veteran, and his wife Dianne a professional performer and singer have always appreciated the joy music has brought to their lives. Now, in the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic, the couple takes that love of music and selflessly shares it with their retirement community. Whether it is Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock,” Billy Joel’s “Piano Man,” or The Platters’s “Goodnight Sweetheart” Chet and Dianne host an oldies party for fellow residents who comprised this county’s greatest generation. Solitude, boredom, and depression has turned into memories, laughter, and a strong sense of community with every note that is played. The tough times are subdued by the immense participation from the community. As each song is played another heartfelt memory from the past is found, and the hours of seclusion forced on them by the need for social distancing seems to be less and less significant. The love that Chet and Dianne give to their community members has been mutually shared in their appreciation and participation. Each Monday night Chet sets up his sound system and blasts oldies from his garage to a group of residents who although are wearing facial masks, dance and sing to every song that is played. The residents are so grateful, that the community presented Chet with a plaque of thanks signifying their appreciation. It read, “Your unselfish effort to bring some normalcy to our Monday is appreciated more than you can imagine, many thanks from your grateful Monday audience.” With that kind gesture by the community, Chet and Dianne realized how important music can be in our lives and how important it is with any difficult time to reach out to your fellow man, lean on one another, and use this shared strength to overcome adversity. Chet and Dianne are role models in their community, and I am proud to call them my grandparents.
REL 101
*This is a photograph taken of my grandfather who was presented with a plaque of gratitude for his work in the community during COVID 19.
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2020-09-12
These two photos are of a glass beer bottle from a Belgian Beer Cafe. One of my Dad's mates knows the guy who owns it and although the cafe is in Malvern and the CBD, my Dad's mate has been helping him deliver them around Carlton/Fitzroy. Dad was getting them every week and he bought me one the other week so I could see what it tasted like. It was beautiful, rich and hoppy. We changed to Peronis after and it just wasn't the same. Dad kept bugging me about how much it cost and I told him I'd send him money but he didn't want a bar of me. When I spoke to Mum she said she told him that he wasn't buying me any food any more since I moved out, we aren't catching up for meals or coffee or anything, the least he can do is buy me beer. Dad likes to have everyone in the same place and I think he was flat I eventually moved out, especially when it's so hard to catch up at the moment, but being able to to share this together, even if we are apart, was comforting.
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2020-09-18
Having gatherings while social distancing
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2020-09-06
On September 6, 2020, I drove down to Boulder, Colorado to spend the day with a close friend of mine. Wildfires had been raging across the state of Colorado for a few weeks and this day, the reality of the natural disasters was especially apparent. The entire Front Range was shrouded in grey fog of smoke. A bright red sun loomed overhead as ash gently pirouetted down from the sky. The air was thick with the stench of burning forests. And it was hot. It was like something out of a movie. Apocalyptic. Ominous. Foretelling some impending doom.
My friend and I started our day with a walk down by the Boulder Creek. It was unusually crowded that day and a majority of the park-goers were not wearing facial coverings. Masks were (and still are) mandatory in busy public places and my friend and I were definitely shocked to see a lack of responsibility among what we thought was a community of informed progressives. We chose to wear our masks, not necessarily because of COVID etiquette, but more so because we were worried about breathing in all the smoke and ash in the air. You could smell the smoke. You could see the smoke. And it was clear to us that we also ran the risk of breathing it in. We never checked the air quality index to verify if the air quality was indeed poor, but we didn’t have to. We both had itchy eyes and scratchy throats and that was evidence enough to wear our masks if we were going to be outside.
We made our way around the area, trying to find a place to sit and relax. We passed through a tunnel that ran underneath the road. Spray painted on its walls, in red paint, was “Chief Niwot’s Curse” and “Stolen Landz.” My friend and I both took pictures of the graffiti because it “spoke” to us in a way that art or a well-timed coincidence often does. Our country was birthed in blood and forged in violence. This got us thinking about how the United States might quite literally be “cursed,” so long as Americans collectively refuse to acknowledge that fact that we stole the land from Native Americans. My friend and I found a picnic table and immediately pulled out a Tarot deck to do a reading. Whether or not divination is an accurate reflection of reality, does not matter. The subjective interpretation of a story, (and the symbols therein,) is subjectively real. It’s also fun. And sometimes, it’s scarily accurate.
My friend and I brainstormed a theme for our reading and concluded on “the story of 2020.” We shuffled the deck a few times. And then drew. The first two cards we drew at random were Temperance and the Tower, both of which are Major Arcana cards. We interpret the Major Arcana cards as the narrative archetypes, or overarching themes, for our reading. So, in this reading, the overarching themes for 2020 were Temperance and the Tower. According to Golden Art Nouveau Tarot’s explanation, the Temperance card displays “An angel performing a mystical rite to restore spiritual harmony, pouring water from one cup to another.” The Tower card depicts, “A blast from the heavens” that “destroys a tower that seemed unconquerable, its magnificent crown-like dome tumbling to the ground. Two people fall helplessly from the heights. The tower was built with such a forbidding design that it imprisoned them in their own creation, with no easy exit.” Golden Art Nouveau Tarot continues, “Seek liberation on your own, or the universe may give it to you in unexpected ways.” My friend and I saw these cards and immediately locked eyes, sharing a mutual astonishment. Amidst the tumult of 2020 – a global pandemic that changed the way humans socially-interact and go about their daily lives, an urgent call for civil rights, widespread systemic frustration, climate change fueling natural disasters, ideological warfare fueled by misinformation and social media addiction – the themes of destruction and spiritual renewal seemed to bear an eerie resemblance to everything going on in the world.
We then drew the King of Cups. The King of Cups “is a steady presence in a turbulent sea.” He is kind, peaceful, keeps his emotions in check, and offers comforting strength in times of trouble. As a king, he is who the people look to for guidance. My friend and I interpreted this as the need to practice detached compassion in order to navigate the waters of 2020. With an upcoming election, the United States is more divided than ever. That division could easily lead people to “drown” in their emotions and “wash away” their civility.
The rest of the cards we drew were wands, representing the element of fire. Spiritually, fire is connected with creative energy, action, willpower and ambition. As our home literally “burned” before our eyes, my friend and I thought about the desire for change that seemed to be “fueling” transformation.
After our Tarot reading, my friend and I drove up into the mountains. We noticed some Tibetan prayer flags flapping in the wind and pulled over to take a closer look. At a higher elevation, it was even easier to see the smoke settling down below in Boulder Canyon, enveloping the land in this impenetrable haze. We were on top of the world and had a “clear” view of everything.
*Photographs taken in Boulder, Colorado
boulder, colorado, wildfire, global warming, climate change, destruction, stolen land, chief niwots curse, karma, karmic retribution, cause and effect, tarot, spirituality, intuition, perception, logic, past, present, future
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2020-03-30
The pandemic continues to rage over the country and has changed the daily way of life for millions. However, sometimes change isn’t bad and might even be needed. Before the pandemic hit, I lived my life mostly stuck inside, only going out for school and necessities. Due to the lockdown and shutdown for most businesses, my parents decided that this was a great time to explore the great outdoors. They knew that my lack of activities already would lead to an even lazier demeanor if those ceased to exist with the pandemic. I absolutely am not an outdoors person, nor do I enjoy being under the hot sun, but my parents forced my siblings and I out of the house. The first few days weren’t great as it was quite hard to go from nonmobile all day to exercise under the blazing sun. As I got use to it, I actually began to love the daily routine of wandering for hours and leaving my stresses behind me. I also picked up some earbuds and began listening to music as I explored. Sometimes the music brought me great energy and a new bounce in my step and sometimes, it swayed me into dreaming about endless possibilities.
However, as the days passed, I began to notice more than my just my thoughts and I begun to take more interest in the nature around me. I would often stop to stare at the various flowers, trees, and scenery in my neighborhood. Hence the picture of the green fern as I begun to take pictures of the plants that I thought had a special aura. The day I saw the fern, the sun happened to be at the perfect angle shining down upon it and the swaying wind made it look majestic. What I believe is that the pandemic may have completely flipped one’s life upside-down, but it doesn’t mean it has changed it for the worse. Rather it simply takes just a little effort to take notice that there is so much more to the world surrounding us.
*Photograph, I took the picture.
change, our, world, perspective
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2020-03-09
COVID-19 caused St. Mary's University to shut down rapidly on campus after spring break. Most students didn't return after spring break, and had to make later plans to return to get their personal items (including clothes, textbooks, and other items that they may have urgently needed). Some students, who didn't have a place to return to, worked with St. Mary's residence life to make arrangements to remain in the dorms. Students who stayed faced a unique set of challenges and uncertainty with what lay ahead. Combined degree student (undergraduate and graduate) Glory Turnbull, a resident in on campus housing, reflects in this oral history on what these rapid closures of campus meant to them.
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2020-09-29
These memes that I have taken from various social media sites that I visit. They help to show how some people are processing the global pandemic through the use of humor and memes to deal with their feelings of anxiety and fear for the future. I have taken part in this and often search the various hashtags for pandemic memes when I am feeling anxious about the pandemic. Many of my friends too share these kinds of memes with each other in our group chats or on their own blogs.
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2020-05-10
In this photo, I am holding a picture of my deceased grandfather while I'm dressed for my undergrad graduation that did not happen. I wanted to take a picture in my regalia on the campus that we both studied at, but due to the pandemic, I was forced to finish my undergrad degree at home. This photo in my regalia reminded me that I could not celebrate this accomplishment at the same place that my grandfather did only 50 years before.
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2020-08-28
Right as Covid-19 had seriously begun to hit the world in March of 2020 and was deemed a global pandemic, I had my heart broken by my boyfriend of a year and a half. I was not able to recover from the relationship like most people typically would by going out with friends and partying because of the lockdown. I was left all by myself. With no siblings, no friends in my area and a very small family, I had to find other ways in which to communicate with others so that I wouldn't lose my mind. In July of 2020, I joined Bumble and decided to get back in the dating game, that's when I met Jacob. Jacob and I matched because he was on vacation in Florida, however, we matched and began talking on the day that he was flying back to his home in Houston, Texas. We kept in contact though and were presented with our first Covid-related blessing: cheap plane tickets. As college students who are unable to afford most things, when we found out that a roundtrip from Houston to Florida only cost $58 we jumped on that opportunity. Jacob flew out to Florida so he could take me on our first official date, which went amazing. We continued talking when school started and that is when we realized we were presented with another Covid-19 related opportunity. Since all of my classes were online and airplane tickets were still cheap, I was able to fly out to Texas for a week and be with him. Although Covid-19 is a terrible and deadly disease, it has allowed me to find somebody that I can call my own, because without the pandemic we would not be able to afford to see each other nearly as regularly and my school schedule would not allow me to leave the state at random to be with him.
love, oppurtunity, bumble app, happy, unexpected
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2020-09-29
I would like to share my story for future generations that look back on the chaos that took place this year. I also wanted to give a different perspective of the different effects quarantine had on people like me. This is my story about dealing with my Sexual Assault during a pandemic.
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2020
I am choosing a mask to describe my story because it is the most common item seen in this pandemic and it can easily be remembered through just one look at the mask. My experience throughout Covid has been rough, I personally have not had the virus, however I lost my job for months because retail is not considered essential, I had friends and family that were severely ill due to the virus and that impacted me emotionally. It has been scary, not knowing when this will be over or if we are doing right by still leaving our houses but it is not optional. Wearing my mask is important to me because it helps me feel safer throughout these times from the people who care slightly less. I feel like it does make a difference and it is important I continue to wear one in order to stay safe and feel better throughout these terrible months in hopes that soon it will be over.
*This is a picture of a mask found in google
mask, florida, scared, protection
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2020-09-24
This says that not everyone believes they should wear a mask even if they are more likely to die from the coronavirus, this is important to me because many people believed that the school and officer were wrong for enforcing their policies and even one of the governors started to talk about how the men were useless because they did not intervene in the arrest.
*It is a screenshot based on some recent news
justified
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2020
Throughout the pandemic it was quite difficult to do anything without getting tired of it. We could barely do anything to keep ourselves entertained while in the house. During these times my brothers and I played a lot of playstation and thats why i believe this object is so important, a playstation controller. This controller and console helped to keep us sane during such a crazy time.
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2020-09-29
We are living in a world of crisis with COVID-19. trying to keep some type of normality for my daughter has been a little hard. Not being able to hang out with friends, not being able to go to the mall, amusement parks has been hard. Never the less I have found ways for her to have some type of normality (while practicing social distancing). We were able to travel to Arizona and visit family members, as well as visiting my parents in TX. While being there we were able to visit the NASA museum, Galveston Pier, and the zoo. We knew this school year would be different. Social isolation has impacted her in a good way let me explain. The last semester of 6th grade was not the best. She was dealing with a lot "teenage drama" which was affecting her school work. It was not her best semester but never the less she was able to get it together. As this new school year started she has been able to focus in her studies maintaining her grades up. I know its almost 3 months since school started but hey, I am optimistic.
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2020-04-01
I was a freshman at FGCU when COVID 19 first broke out. I just started my second semester and was thriving in all my classes. When the executive order came out the school sent an email that if you have a home you have to leave. My parents were not allowed to come help me because of where they worked, so I had to move out myself. I have a knee injury and no one would help me when I was struggling with moving my things. When I got home they switched all of our classes online, and I struggled a lot since I learn better in person than online. This was important to me because I got robbed of my freshman year at FGCU.
*This is a screenshot of an email from FGCU. It informs the students of the governor's executive order for staying at home.
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2020-09-29T15:55:00
My My My what a time to be alive. COVID-19 has put things into perspective for me personally as far as pursuing a career in the medical field which Ive always had a passion for. Just like anything COVID-19 has its pros and cons, mostly cons but I try to see the light in everything. My personal experience with COVID-19 has been pretty close. Being an essential worker, a student, and having people you care about contract COVID-19 is heart wrenching. Things shifted quickly for me in March. I vividly remember working at a Dermatologist office in LI. and one of my co-workers that went to Molloy College said their school had closed school down, but CUNY was still in school which was alamaring to me but I paid it no mind. I noticed that my co-worker had been sneezing and coughing, but again I didn't think it was COVID-19, and it wasn't in America like it was in China. On March 22nd I received an email from my doctor that my co-worker tested positive for the virus. I am in close proximity to her at the office and in her car when she drops me off home. Now I am worried for my families well being including mines. My sister is a city essential worker, she is a supervisor for NYCHA groundmens, my mom works for a Utility company, and my niece is 5 years old. I never displayed any symptoms so I didn't get tested. My immediate family is safe and sound as well. I ended up leaving that job, because the doctor was money hungry, and didn't really care about the safety of his employees. I later found out that his son had tested positive for the Virus, and he was still coming to work, we also never closed down for 14 days, perhaps 7. Now I only have one job which is for another Doctor, an Optometrist, we closed down for about 6-8 weeks. The Rockaways which I reside and work in has one of the highest COVID-19 cases in Queens county. I live close to St.John's Hospital and walking past those trailers on a day to day basis is very sad, especially knowing what lies inside. To make things “better” On April 8th I found out my Best friend contracted the virus along with her sister that is a Nurse, and dad that is a Welder. My friend already has pre existing health conditions such as UC (Ulcerative colitis.) My spirit was low when I got the news. Luckily for me my best friend is still here. It took her about a month to fully recover at home with plenty of rest and antibiotics. On August 19th, I thought I would certainly lose my 97 year old grandmother that resides in a nursing home because she too tested positive for COVID-19. However, she was asymptomatic, the nursing home kept us abreast of her daily progression which put us at ease. The nursing home quarantined her for 2 weeks and she pulled through no ventilator and was pretty healthy. Some good things I will take from COVID-19 is the much needed family time and mental break from society. As New Yorkers we are always on the go and I feel we don't get time to appreciate what we have in front of us. This was the time to start the healthy journey, learn to love yourself, relax, do an at home mani and pedi, binge eat, play video games, watch tv, read a book, make a budget, maybe even start a business, and most importantly learn to love and appreciate life no matter what the situation is. Everyone is fighting or going through something you know nothing about and will always be going through something whether it was precovid, postcovid or during COVID-19. Just remember to always look at the lighter side of things and smile.It will get easier with time.
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2020-09-29
Newton's first law of motion states that an object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. I consider myself an object in motion without a doubt. As long as I can remember I have been involved in so much that I really don't get periods of rest, and I prefer it. I'm at my happiest when busy, and between full time college, a part time job, and too many extracurricular interests to count, I've definitely achieved that. So March 13th, 2020, also known as the day the United States came to a general halt, had a deep impact on my mental health. Unable to go to school, or work, or see my closest friends, I spent many nights crying. Both from the uncertainty of what laid ahead, but also the toll this unplanned isolation had taken. My saving grace in the early days was my dad. He had officially retired just days before, and having him at home with me made a difference I really couldn't have predicted. I had never really spent an extended amount of alone time with my dad, not for any particular reason, it was just never what we did. Finding ourselves home for who knows how long, we starting finding activities we could do together. We went on boat rides, canoeing, and did household work together. The project that meant the most though is the photograph I have attached. This desk was made by my paternal great grandfather in 1945, and had definitely seen better days. My dad and I spent three weeks in our garage refurbishing it, and honestly, its unrecognizable from when we received it. I don't want to be misconstrued that the time we spent holed up wasn't generally awful, because boy it was. But this involuntary confinement made me realize just how lucky I truly am to have people like my dad in my life. Covid has brought a lot of bad, more than we thought it would back in March. But I believe it is just as important to acknowledge the good it has brought, The relationships we've kindled through the strife.
*Photograph, taken by me
