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2020-09-17
This article illustrates one of the main problems with fighting a pandemic. In order to completely stay safe, one needs to stay at home. But in order to pay bills and afford to keep their households going, one needs to be able to go out and work. Trying to balance the need to stay distant and the need to provide for one's family is a struggle that everyone is going through together.
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2020-09-20
by Jessica Myers for the Luce Foundation: Southwest Stories Fellowship
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2020-09-14
by Jessica Myers for the Luce Foundation: Southwest Stories Fellowship
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2020-09-01
By Jessica Myers | Luce Foundation: Southwest Stories Fellowship
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2020-08-22
by Jessica Myers for the Luce Foundation: Southwest Stories Fellowship
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09/19/2020
In this interview, I (a Northeastern history student) interviewed one of my peers about his experience with covid-19, and asked him his thoughts about the pandemic as a whole and the impacts that it had on him and his family. This interview helps showcase the thoughts of a college freshman during the pandemic and how life has changed for him and others as a result of the virus, which I feel is critical since all factors must be considered when looking at the covid-19 pandemic historically.
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2020-09-20
My immediate family, sister and mother, live in the city of Albino, in the province of Bergamo, the hardest hit area in Italy. The rest of my family lives in Cremona, the second hardest hit area in Italy.
My sister contracted the virus at the very beginning of the pandemic, sometime in February 2019. She locked herself up in her room for 6 weeks and eventually recovered. Six months later she still suffers from fatigue and on-and-off muscle pain.
Two older relatives died of the virus. One was in a hospital for minor surgery he had postponed for a few months. When he finally decided to get it done, it was right at the beginning of the storm. He was infected and died in a matter of days.
The second one was in assisted living. The angel of death glided over the facility and took more than two dozen residents with it.
The most painful was the death of a high school friend, a family doctor in Como. He started seeing patients with strange symptoms. With no guidance and no information from the Health Dept, he kept doing his job. When he came down with the infection, the virus load was so high he only lasted a few days.
My mother escaped the infection. She lives in the same building as my sister, but they didn't see each other for months. She lived alone like a recluse. Friends or relative would drop off food by her door, she would put out the garbage and that was it.
In the meantime she kept hearing stories of people she had known for a lifetime who passed away "they are dropping like flies" she told me one day. She mentioned a famous poem by Italian poet Giuseppe Ungaretti, a poem he wrote while he was fighting in the trenches of World War I: "We are like leaves on a branch in autumn."
I spent hours every day, sometimes several times a day for weeks, trying to console and give her courage. At a certain point I thought she was about to give up. She wasn't eating anymore, she was getting weaker and weaker, half asleep the whole day, awake in terror and sorrow at night.
As to my life, it is similar to that of most of you. I live outside NY, my wife, two daughters and I managed with some adjustments in our routines. I avoided social networks like the plague (sorry for the metaphor), stayed away from the news and commentaries, focused on my teaching as much as possible, even took care of the backyard.
Over the months, it was discouraging to the point of banging my head on my desk when I was watching Europe slowly getting control over the pandemic, while in the US we were and still are stumbling like blind morons, clueless and bamboozled by borderline criminal propaganda. I am not talking about all, of course. But it is frankly horrifying and terrifying to find out that 1 out of 2 people - more or less - I see in the streets live in a state of willful derangement, posing a danger to themselves (I could care less about them) but most of all to the rest of us.
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09/19/2020
This interview describes Cameron's life during the Covid-19 pandemic as a high school senior, now freshman in college, and citizen of New York and the United States.
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2020-09-19
It says that history repeats itself, so instead of trying to prevent plagues, we should learn how to control them.
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2020-08-23
This pandemic has strained multiple relationships in my life. When the stay at home order was first issued, it seemed like everyone moderately close to me took it pretty seriously. In retrospect, this may be because of the lack of answers we had about covid-19. The increase of fearmongering yet informational warnings in the media affected people to staying in their home for days at a time. Eventually, people’s fear were wearing off. Only a couple months into a quarantine and people around me began participating in nonregulated social events. Not only did I witness the increase in parties again, but an overall lack of awareness. Putting on a mask in public is not a very hard task, but even at this time, people I knew fought it relentlessly. People in my own family would continue to physically greet people in public and would come back home carelessly spreading germs from the outside. I did understand that this was a very different transition from normal life just months ago, so I understood the initial ignorance. After many conversations and pleas of mindfulness, it was easy to see that it was no longer ignorance, but selfishness. With people in my life living with underlying diseases that gives them a lesser possibility of surviving, I made sure to be well aware during this time. This was not met with reciprocating energy from some of my friends and family. The negligence around me began to offend me. I made sure to continuously live in a cautious manner for the safety of others around me, yet I was surrounded with others that just cared about themselves. After this realization, I did not care to contact these people as much. Pairing this with the stay at home order, I basically cut these people off. With the people in my family that treated the pandemic differently from me, I chose the same to not reach out as much even though I could truly never cut them out of my life. After observing these various irresponsible acts, I realized some important people in your life will disagree with you at times. Unfortunately, because of the state of the world right now, those disagreements can truly damage a relationship.
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2020-09-18
At a time where I’ve never been more in need of a break, I received more than I had bargained for. It is early 2020, I’m in my senior year of high school and worked almost everyday after school; I almost reached my breaking point. Everything stressed me out: drama, school, work, and lack of sleep. I hoped and wished and prayed for a break, and my prayers were unexpectedly answered. At first, it seemed like Coronavirus was just another cold, but then the world collapsed and everyone shut down. I was about to get an early spring break: two weeks to flatten the curve. Yet, this break turned into a nationwide hellscape. Everyone was forced to stay home, schools closed, entertainment centers closed, hockey was postponed, and even graduation was up in the air. I’ll admit, getting to stay home everyday was a blessing for the first few weeks. Then, it started to make me go nuts. I didn’t get to see my friends or go to work or school; my life was paused. A break is only good when you enjoy it with your friends, and my friends weren’t allowed out of the house and quite frankly, neither was I. My anxiety truly peaked and I was scared things would never even begin to go back to normal. Although it was different than it should’ve been, graduation still happened. I finally was reunited with my friends and teachers and it felt amazing to accept my diploma. As for college, it has been a little stressful amidst the pandemic. Not having in person classes is extremely different and it's much harder for me to learn, but i’m managing and things are getting better by the day. This brings us to the golden thing that remains: masks. I hate having to wear a mask in public, it’s a severe pain. However, I will follow the rules until everything returns to normalcy. At the end of the day, this pandemic has taught me a valuable lesson: always appreciate what you have and live in the moment, you never know when it could come crashing down. And today and forever, I stand by this. I will cherish what the lockdown has given me and taught me, yet I had to walk through hell to get to heaven.
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09/18/2020
This interview with Christopher Kiriaki talks about how the pandemic affected a college student's life.
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2020-09-18
I decided to write about what my experience was like living in quarantine this past summer. I want the reader to understand that though there were definitely challenges, as one could expect, there were also positives to take away from the experience.
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2020-05-11
This story explains what i did to help my get through the first part of this pandemic.
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2020-05-15
Because of the pandemic, in-person graduation ceremonies were cancelled. Instead the ceremonies were held over Zoom. This program outlines the video webinar order of events for the graduation ceremony.
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09/18/2020
Daniela gives us an inside look at what it was like to be a high school senior during COVID-19. She also talks about what it was like living in California during the pandemic. Daniela takes us through her experiences with graduation, prom, friends, and just generally what her life has been like living through the COVID-19 Pandemic.
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09/18/2020
This is Nicki Ribakoff sharing her story about how Covid-19 impacted her life, specifically her last few months of being a high school senior. She talks about multiple experiences including transitioning to online school, being responsible for getting groceries for her family, and maintaining relationships with her friends.
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09/18/2020
This interview is done between two people who had just met for the first time. It is meant to remember this moment in time and how this pandemic can bring even strangers together.
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09/18/2020
This is an interview with a Northeastern Student, Trisha Howes as part of our HIST 1215 class. Annie (Anna) Schaller interviews Trisha Howes and asks her about campus closing at Northeastern University. Howes also speaks about her job going to remote and what it was like to be a virtual intern.
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2020-09-18
History is a mirror decorated with stories. Learning about historical matierals is interesting and enlightening. An article about Spanish flu from the Boston Daily Globe on September 30th, 1918, titled Number of grippe deaths fall off and discussions with the Media History class have inspired me in understanding health policies, social changes, and more from diverse perspectives during the Covid times.
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2020-09-15
It is a clip of a news in Japan, where a supermarket called Trial in Chiba city made a cart named "no-contact" cart. How to use the cart is where you have a prepaid card, and as you go thorugh the store and put stuff in the cart, you scan your items and the monitor keeps track of what you bought and the price. At the exit, a staff will do a quick check to see if all items are scanned, and then you can go through a designated gate to exit the store. The designated gate will print out the receipt of what you bought. This allows less cluster around the register, and people can use their own bag on the cart and put what they want inside their own bag as they scan. The store also has AI cameras all around the store to prevent stealing and keep track of the stock so that it can minimize the staff to be exposed.
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09/18/2020
Audio interview with Sophia Press, a freshman at Northeastern University. She shares her experience with Covid-19.
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09/18/2020
Maddison Morris, freshman at Northeastern University, accounts her expirience of learning about COVID-19, it's severity, and how it affected her life as well as how it will shape the future.
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2020-09-18
I first became uneasy about the coronavirus when the US government started to make mandates about what businesses were to close, the limits of crowds, and when they made wearing a face mask in public mandatory. At first, I did not notice a significant difference in everyday life. The biggest change for me was moving out of my dorm room at Duquesne University and going home where I would complete the rest of the semester online. It was a very different experience in the sense I never would have thought that I would be completing my first full year of college education at home. With that being said, I got very used to attending class and completing work virtually. Moreover, as time went on, I realized at the time that the biggest change, the weirdest aspect of the pandemic was that almost every business was closed (except for the essential businesses) or at the very least open for only a few hours out of the day and there were many restrictions on the amount of people allowed in a given building at any time. For the first three or four weeks of quarantine, I struggled to find activities to do while I wasn’t in a Zoom session or doing homework. That was the worst part for me because I am someone who loves to be doing something all the time. It is hard for me to sit around inside all day not doing much. So, when May 1st came around, the government allowed golf courses to open in Pennsylvania. I have always enjoyed golfing in my free time even in the years prior to this pandemic. But when golf was allowed to open back up in PA, I began to golf more and more as it was one of the few activities that I could enjoy. Golf is not a sport where someone would come into contact with very many people in general so, I began golf quite frequently as it was a perfect way for me to ‘de-stress’ from being cooped up in my house attending zoom calls and doing homework problems for what seemed like one long day that didn’t really end. That brings me to my next point which was that pandemic life took a toll on my mental health. Waking up every day knowing that I was strongly encouraged to stay at home and if, in the case I did leave the house, I had to keep my distance from other people. To me, it felt like pandemic life was a very cyclical way of living which lacked variance. It was the same thing every day for weeks on end. Just that state-of-mind was probably the largest toll that pandemic had on my life. Fortunately, though, it seems as though we are through the worst parts of the coronavirus pandemic. I am seeing more and more businesses re-open which is encouraging. And hopefully we can continue being safe in order to get over the virus and back to normal life.
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09/18/2020
I am interviewing Emma Clifford from my HIST1215 class at Northeastern University on pandemics. Emma is from New Jersey so I asked about life and how she adapted to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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09/18/2020
I sat down for an interview with first-year Northeastern University student Pearl Rincon. We spoke about her her experience with the pandemic, her transition to online learning, and how her life changed during the quarantine.
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2020-09-18
I have noticed that the youtube have increased number of videos regarding how to keep makeup budge proof under your masks. I feel like this helps people to still feel beautiful despite having a mask on as well as follow the CDC guidlines.
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2020-09-18
During the school year prior to the virus, I attended a university that did not meet my expectations. I stayed in my room almost every night and only went to classes. It was not the college experience I had expected and was promised. When the outbreak started to hit the news in March, I was hoping my university would go to all online learning, so I could be home with my family and friends. At first, I thought this was going to be the best outcome, but I did not know how much of an impact the virus would have and still has. The lockdown ended up being exactly how it was at school; there was no seeing my friends and extended family. I spent most of my time in my room and on my phone constantly. My classes were boring and I lost even more interest in school. I had hoped that the virus would fade out so I could begin my new journey at a new school, but the virus had other plans. I am now doing classes remotely from home instead of on campus. Although I have more interest in this school and courses, but the online learning is not the same as in-person classes. I feel everyone is struggling to keep their motivation up and I cannot imagine what the grades below me are experiencing. The virus has taken a toll on most likely everyone's mental health. It is a time of uncertainty, which takes away our sense of security. The only thing we can do to keep moving forward is to think positively and be grateful for the small things in life. Although the virus has taken so much from us, we have been forced to take a step back from our daily lives. I have been gifted spending quality time with my family and finding new hobbies that interest me. My confidence in myself and my relationships with others have increased. The world my never be the same as it was, but we cannot let this stop us from moving forward into the future.
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09/18/2020
This interview with Sophia Akhter shares insight into the life of a college freshman and highlights how the Covid-19 pandemic effected her.
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2020-09-17
cell tips
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2020-09-04
"Because the pandemic is far from over, we’ll continue to hold Bandcamp Fridays on the first Friday of every month until the end of the year." Bandcamp has previously held "Bandcamp Fridays" where the music sharing platform has waived its fees, meaning 100% of the money going to the artists on the platform.
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2020-09-15
This article explores how cities are dealing with voting during a pandemic, such as using Mail-in voting and possibly delaying elections.
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2020-09-17
Over the past six months we have all found ourselves isolated from our friends, family, communities, and the world we once knew. Society has had to adapt to changes we never expected to happen. Throughout my education, I have been taught about the great tragedies and historic moments that people have faced over past centuries but never imagined that I too, would be living through a moment in time that will be forever talked about in history books. Life since the beginning of the pandemic has not felt real. The world has stopped, yet time is still quickly moving along. In order to stay safe, we must completely isolate ourselves, yet find a way to still live day to day. Follow regulations and guidelines but still have the money to feed, house, and take care of ourselves. The people of the world have had to find a way to stay safe and stay alive. The pandemic has made me feel as though I am in a constant state of contradiction. I have reached a time in my life where everything is changing, and I am constantly evolving. I have never felt better about being out on my own and figuring out who I am, while also feeling stuck, hopeless, trying to manage my crippling mental health and the harsh effects of isolation. Constantly battling between being optimistic versus sinking into a pessimistic hole. I feel like I am thriving in some aspects of my life and deteriorating in so many others. Feeling stuck, yet still trying to be hopeful for the future. Feeling good about accomplishments and milestones in life while also feeling bad knowing that there are people who are being confronted by this deadly virus daily. Every day I feel as though I am faced with a constant dilemma between myself, my mind, and the ever-changing world around me. Nevertheless, I know I am not alone in feeling this way either. Everyone across the globe is also dealing with the ramifications of COVID-19. We are all dealing with the constant moral hypocrisy of knowing that life still has to move forward and that life can be good while also being in utter chaos. I view life right now as a fine line that we are slowly treading. However, one day we will look back and realize we have crossed it, confident in knowing that we are alright.
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2020-09-17
Everyone knows how hard it can be to look at the good things going on in life, when it feels like you are only surrounded by the bad. And during a pandemic it is even harder find those good things. Along with millions of other people, this is the first thing I have experienced in my lifetime that has actually affected every single human in the entire world. I was supposed to do my junior performance recital in April. I was supposed to go to Italy for classes in May. I was supposed to go to concerts in the summer. Obviously, those losses are not nearly as bad as families that lost their jobs or loved ones, but everyone missed out on something no matter how big. In the beginning it honestly sounded pretty nice. I remember sitting in the living room with my friends looking at how inexpensive flights were and planning out the fun things we were going to do with our free time when schools canceled classes. We definitely did not believe they would be canceled for the rest of the semester and we would be sent home and not allowed to travel. It was really hard to come home and not be around my friends or even allowed to go see people I did not live with. I really did just sit around and sulk for a while. But then I realized how grateful I was to at least have a house to sulk in and have loved ones to sulk with. Being forced to come home from school gave me so much extra time with my family that I never would have gotten if COVID didn’t happen. I got to bake and cook so much with my mom and watch movies with my dad and play games with my brothers. I got to try new things like painting, and I was able to read more, and I definitely got a lot more sleep. I mean don’t get me wrong I would have much rather been traveling or going out with friends and living the life of a college student, but this pandemic really made me realize how blessed I am. Even in the worst of times, there is always something good to focus on if you just try.
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2020-09-17
The pandemic forced us all to take online classes. We all miss the traditional classroom setting. But we all remember how awkward it was to ask questions. One thing about zoom is you can ask a question or make a comment in the chat box. This is a feature I hope get added to the in person class experience. It adds so much to the productivity and the curiosity of student. Being able to just add a question into the chat log, then the teacher peeks at it and answers when they have time or if its immediately relevant. No classroom disruption, no being shy, just unadulterated curiosity.
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2020-05
Time. Time is an interesting concept. Everyone always wishes for more of it, but most people are not sure how to use the time they are given. Well, the point I am trying to make is that there are so many hours in a day, but do we know how to use them? Due to Covid-19, I really was able to think about this. For the first week or so, I saw this pandemic as a vacation from my rigorous class work. In the following weeks after that, I was in a constant state of boredom. I feel as if this is the story for most college students. This is when I decided I needed to do something about it. As the school year had concluded, I began to look for a job. Come to find out, it was truly not as hard as it seemed to find a job during a pandemic. In a week’s time, I had started my full-time job and could not be more excited. Of course, it took time to get use to the long hours and the physical demands, but, in time, it had become the perfect cure to my boredom. In fact, it felt so good that I did not want to stop there. With my newfound energy, I began to exercise for a minimum of two hours a day. When that was not enough, I decided to teach myself about the economy and the stock market.
Now, me sharing my quarantine experience is not to gloat or to try and portray myself as one that is greater than another. With this story, I am trying to portray my realization that my view of time has changed. Before the pandemic, I would not believe that I would be working a full-time job, working out, and learn for fun all in the matter of 24 hours. I would not have thought I had enough time. With proper motivation though, and a more strict schedule, I had begun to realize that time is something that you will not have forever, so try and use the time that you have currently to its maximum potential.
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2020-09-06
Cet article montre comment les élections sont affectées dans le monde.
This article shows how elections are being affected throughout the world.
Curator's Note: The translation of the title is "New Brunswickers vote early due to COVID-19 pandemic." The translation of the screenshot is "New Brunswick: Early voting unusually popular"
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2020-09-18
This is a story why Online education is not the same as in-Person education that COVID took AWAY FROM US
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2020-06
This Coronavirus has reared its’ ugly head into so many aspects of my life that I only had one shot at. Senior year of high school is supposed to be one of the best times (as every high school movie says so) but instead, I think us 2020 seniors had the worst time. The end of my high school career consisted of online assignments, virtual celebrations, and people telling me my personal favorite, “you’ll never forget it!” Listen… I don’t think ANY OF US are going to forget that we had a GLOBAL PANDEMIC in 2020. Pandemics don't just casually happen, nor do we just simply forget about it to go on and sing kumbaya. Alternatively, we remember and teach it to future generations. Honestly, that statement was not helpful for 2020 seniors but good try.
Anyways, for us seniors we anticipated the excitement of finishing high school while having a new beginning so close. It was Friday, March 13th when my senior class of 2020 experienced the official “2 Week Closing”; however, this was our last day of both high school and normalcy. After a week we were told going back was “to be determined”, but we knew that the likelihood of returning was small. I would look through social media and see posts about the excitement of no school, but by the flip of a switch, it turned into rants about missing school and the ability to leave the house. Education moved online while we watched our senior events get canceled. We pushed through online work in a pass/fail system from March 16th until the last day in June. Throughout that time, we saw all our events slip away. Prom… graduation… senior banquets… gone.
When it came to graduation day, a pre-recorded ceremony was broadcasted for us senior families to view. My family sat in our backyard with pizza, me in my cap and gown, and the tv just waiting to see me appear. There was no walking across the stage, sitting with friends, or taking pictures afterwards. This was the ceremony and it was dependent on how we celebrated it. My best friend didn’t watch it because as she said: “I’ve already seen enough graduations with my three sisters. I’m fine skipping mine”. I had a friend who played it in the background while their family did their own thing. Never had graduation celebrations be all over the place. When it ended my family congratulated me and that was it. The anticipation of graduation was gone, for I was officially a college freshman.
Overall, my senior year conclusion was a wild ride thanks to Coronavirus. I hope the 2021 seniors don’t go through the same disappointments we did and get to experience the events we missed out on. With it already being a crazy start to the school year I think the seniors deserve to have an enjoyable finish. Hey, if they don’t at least this is a time “they’ll never forget”.
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2020-08-31
Using autoethnography as the method of research, this paper explores the fears and anxieties exacerbated in the Latinx community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through narrative snapshots, I depict how the pandemic worsened due to policy meant to limit undocumented Latinx immigrants’ access to health services. By focusing on the evolution of the public charge, this project depicts the ways the Trump administration’s hateful rhetoric and racist policies exacerbate the fear, life-threatening conditions, and long-lasting trauma on undocumented Latinx immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Closing in on one Brooklyn family’s navigation of the 2020 political climate, worsening pandemic, working-class realities, and immigration system, I take you through the present realities often left unseen by mainstream media.
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2020-09-03
COVID-19 had been set back after set back since March when colleges and universities closed. I was slightly behind as I was extremely ill, with what my doctors now believe was the coronavirus, in January at the beginning of the semester. I had been dreading this day since August when my summer classes had ended. I had to tell my parents. I didn’t know how so I had waited until I had relocated into Pittsburgh again and my transfer was complete into the pre-pharmacy program instead of the professional program. This pandemic and my lack of motivation had ruined my chances of going to pharmacy school. I watched my dreams slip one year further away. I had to tell them. I was supposed to be matriculating into the professional phase this year but here I am in my third year of college being stuck taking another year of college at an expensive private school. I had to tell them. Between getting sick and losing 15 pounds in two weeks and being stuck home for months, the pandemic had taken a serious toll on me physically and mentally. I had to tell them. I called my mom after she got out of work on September 2nd, 2020 and she could immediately tell something was wrong. I had been preparing myself to do this for almost a month and it still wasn’t enough to hear the disappointment in my mothers voice. My parents had never been anything other than supportive even when I made mistakes but here I was terrified of what might come of this. My parents and I discussed what my options could be, maybe I could concentrate on a minor while I take the last few classes I needed to continue into pharmacy school, or maybe I could take a gap semester and gain some experience in a hospital pharmacy. I cried and cried to my mom hating the fact she was disappointed in me and thought her and my dad would hate me. The next morning, after my mom had calmed down, I received the text message saying everything would be okay and as a family we would work it out. My family and I decided I would stay at Duquesne for the full year and I would work towards a business minor. I had to tell them and once I did I started to see the silver lining within the pandemic… I had never been as close to my parents as I was currently.
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2020-07-25
Throughout my high school career, the one thing I was most looking forward to was graduating, as any high schooler would look forward to. Not only just getting my diploma and starting my next step in my life, but the actual action of walking across the stage, looking out seeing my family and friends sitting in the crowd cheering me on. The whole concept and excitement of graduation day. Getting all ready in my cap and gown, sitting in the seats next to my classmates who I had grown up with for 13 years and listening to our principle and class president speak. The feeling of finally being free from that era of my life and walking out of the arena with the diploma in my hand. This is what I was looking forward to at the end of my senior year. When my school first switched to online, I still had hope of going back to normal in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, as we all soon began to realize we were not going back, I realized I would not have this dream of a normal graduation after all. My school still had big plans for our class of 2020 graduation. We had a big senior parade where we drove through our village past all of our teachers and big posters of our pictures lined up on the street. Following that, we had our covid-19 version of graduation. There was a stage set up outside of our school and a section in front designated for close family and friends to watch. That day, I had many emotions. I wanted to be excited for graduation, but the thought of all my class has missed out on was still lingering in the back of my head. I walked across the stage and received my diploma, wearing a mask along with everyone there. I watched all of my friends walk across the stage and receive their diplomas too, but on a video. As heartbreaking as it was, I realized this wasn't something I should be sad about. The pandemic opened up a whole new idea of adapting for everyone. It showed everyone that no matter what could possibly happen, such as global pandemic, there is always a way to make the best out of a bad situation. I was still able to make unforgettable memories and have a memorable graduation. This is important to me because I know this is an event that will always be remembered in my life and it was something that helped change my perspective on everything in life.
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2020-09-17
With the introduction of Corona to my daily lifestyle I was forced to reflect a lot about the choices I made and also my general day to day routine. Everything was turned upside down on its head and everything I once knew was now unrecognizable. Gone were the days I would spend hecticly trying to rush to and from school running past people to catch a train. Now the only running I was doing was to and from the kitchen because my tv show was going to start and I needed a refill on my drink. Covid introduced a introverts dream and an extroverts worst nightmare. Confined to their houses like a turtle to its shell. Leaving the house became an escape but not before the 30 layers of disinfectants and masking products. But nowhere fun. Only the supermarket and back. But it was still better than nothing.
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2020-03-06
Everyone was always saying how quickly senior year of high school would really go, how you want to cherish every moment you have because it will end before you know it. Well, for me and all the other graduating 2020 seniors across the globe really got to see how quickly it can end. On March 6th, 2020 at Dallastown Area High School in York Pennsylvania, we were informed over the loud speaker that we would be taking an extended absence from in classroom schooling for the time being, and little did we know it would be our last time stepping into the school as students. The whole day was a blur to me as I look back at it. I went into the day with my normal routine, breakfast, drive to school, and hang with my high school buddies in the parking lot until it was time for 1st period to start. There was no thought in our minds of what was going to go down that day. All day the rumors spread from person to person like wildfire that we would be sent home for school for a period, which differentiated depending who you heard the information from. The fear of Covid-19 in my area wasn’t as imposing as some other regions of the United States, so I was perplexed in why we would be getting sent home and frankly, didn’t believe what I was hearing, or I didn’t want to. But then it happened, our principal came over the loudspeaker during the last period of the day, and last of my high school tenure. Feelings were flying in my head of heartbreak and worry. Was I going to get my senior prom that my girlfriend and I have been excited for all year? Was I going to get anymore experience writing with the student newspaper that I had just joined? And many other thoughts swirled around my head like a merry go round. I went home that day with high hopes of coming back after the initial two week period that was set by the school, but before the week was concluded, we received the heartbreaking news that the remainder of the school year would be completed entirely online. I could not believe it; my senior year of high school was over in the blink of an eye. They did not come out and say it, but it slowly started to set in that this meant more than just no school. It meant no prom, no traditional graduation that you worked 13 long years of school for, no more hangouts with your best friends on Friday nights for the time being. In my head, there was people I knew I would never see again, who I did not hang out with outside of school. Some many emotions filled my head as the bad news kept coming and coming, but there was nothing I could do about it. It was a tragic event that we all had to live with, and I guarantee if we all had the opportunity, we would all go back a change the high school ending experience we were all forced to face.
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2020-06-22
This is a personal essay I've written to describe my feelings on the recent racial unrest in this country amid the pandemic.
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2020-09-17
My project sought to examine and understand the historical resilience of Black motherhood and its relation to the life altering pandemic, COVID-19 and racially driven uprisings against systematic oppression; How Black motherhood and resistance through Black motherhood adapted, how it’s changed and what new radical resistance through motherhood was conjured in face of the pandemic and race clarity. As an autoethnographic account this research project was centered around my experience of motherhood and communal connections, as well as the experiences of Black mothers and birth workers. The political positioning of Black mothers was considered through essays and poetry written, as well as photos during the lockdowns in relation to the concepts of birth and death, the idea of radical mothering and activism, and the umbrella term of community.
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2020-09-17
It describes how funerals have changed since the start of the pandemic. I submitted it because I think people need to see how big this viruses reach is and how it can affect everyone.
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2020-03-19
This is my own story of evacuating Malaysia in March due to covid-19 during my Fulbright grant. This story is important to me because, while I did not want to leave Malaysia, it is a humbling reminder of how privileged I am to have been able to evacuate somewhere when so many people throughout the world had no option but to stay put and brace themselves for the pandemic.
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2020-09-16
Trends define a generation. As someone who is interested in observing the rise and falls of trends, I was interested to see how the pandemic would influence the virality of trends. After all, most people are cooped up in their homes with not much entertainment. The rise of the social media app TikTok, coupled with the power of viral trends, combine together to influence the fads and trends of this generation.
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2020-09-16
I composed this piece for my Painting I class around the start of the pandemic when everything was still surreal. If I did a piece on COVID now, it would be entirely different. Nevertheless, I think the general tone of this piece shows how I and most likely many others have experienced the pandemic.
I decided to place this scene on the Subway since New York City was the epicenter of COVID-19, and like COVID, the Subway is known as "the great equalizer". The tightness of space on a subway also gives the feeling of being trapped, which has been a pretty universal feeling during this time, not to mention the acute awareness of germs that one has both on the subway and during COVID.
I was also inspired by the art that came from the Black Plague depicting 'witch' doctors and skeletons and wanted the figures I painted to mimic that sense of doom. Each figure represents a different feeling or character that has solidified itself in our COVID centered lives. I am sure many people can relate to the shag of hair bent over a computer as we navigate online classes and jobs, or to the sympathetic limp glove that essential workers wear everyday, or to the three characters that both warn and frighten us.
I hope that at the end of this pandemic we can look back to what has come out of peoples' restlessness and suffering, and resolve to live in care of others to prevent future tragedies.
#ForhamUniveristy
