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2020-08-23
Throughout my time curating and finding impacts of the pandemic named COVID-19 I have learned that through the many hardships that Americans have encountered over the past several months we are adaptable and resilient to change. I have also learned that human beings ARE mostly generous and giving entities especially when faced with communal heartache. Many of us have felt empathy at its finest by living in a difficult situation that is similar to the difficult situations that those around us are going through. Through this collection, and through the collections of others, I have seen that people have deserted self-centered mentalities placing them with more understanding than ever before. I look forward to seeing where these unselfish and positive mentalities take the humanity of our world.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my work curating, archiving, creating oral histories and working as a team towards a common goal in this difficult time. I look forward to refining these beginning skills I have acquired over the last 15 weeks by continuing to work in cyber archives, whether it be professionally or recreationally. This experience has been unforgettable for me personally and professionally and I am proud to have been a part of saving this historic time in global history.
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2020-08-23
When I first began the Journal of the Plague Year internship, I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. I wanted to be part of something impactful and important during the pandemic and was hoping to learn some new skills that could be applied in furthering my academic studies or in future job pursuits. What I discovered as the internship went on is that I was going to get to do all of that and so much more. What I thought was going to be a “standard” internship was instead a fast-paced, jump in with both feet without looking, rollercoaster ride. I had no previous experience doing public history work beyond conducting an oral history interview with my great-grandmother for an “Aging in Rural America” course during my undergraduate studies. What I discovered was the entire behind the scenes effort that makes these pieces of information readily accessible to the public. As the internship progressed, not only was I adjusting to constantly changing best practice regarding curation, but I was also learning new skills that I would have likely not learned anywhere else in my academic career. What started, in my mind, as a simple internship turned into one of the greatest learning experiences of my academic career, to date.
Never had I imagined that I would learn, let alone use, some of the skills that were cultivated during this internship. While I am not a fan of the redaction portion of public history, likely because I don’t feel very adept at it, many of the other skills introduced and learned during this internship appealed to me greatly. During the blog post writing assignment, I discovered the challenge of attempting to write an attention-grabbing piece that was interesting to read to a general audience yet informational enough to convey the necessary information while maintaining a condensed length so as not to lose a reader’s interest. This was extremely challenging for me as I tend to be long-winded and include to much “fluff” in much of my writing. I, however, found the challenge enjoying and plan to continue to hone my blogging skills; maybe even someday start my own history related blog. One of the most enjoyable skills that I learned was the entire range of conducting and polishing an oral history. The development of questions, the interview itself, the transcription (the first few attempts were very rough), and even the cataloging and archiving of the history were a joy once I understood and was comfortable with the process. Finding new tools to use as part of the oral history portion of the internship such as otter.ai was also an extremely rewarding aspect of the process. This skill will likely prove itself especially useful in my further academic and professional pursuits.
Finally, the experience of interaction between the interns was unique in my experiences working with others. Never have I participated in an entirely digital project or team experience before the JOTPY internship. The experience was unique and very rewarding, and the interaction between the interns was exceptional. Not only did we conduct weekly meetings regarding the archive and internship and work remotely within groups using digital tools within the internship group, but we connected, interacted, and worked with other groups and individuals associated with the archive using the same tools (Zoom, Slack, etc.) I have had some of my fellow interns in other classes during my program, but being able to actively see, speak, and work with my colleagues was a wonderful experience and I was lucky to be part of such a great group of historians.
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2020-07-12
On a Sunday this past July, my cousin texted me out of the blue saying that she was about to start driving from her home in Oakland, CA to Los Angeles and that she would love to stop in Santa Barbara, CA to have lunch with me. I was really excited to get her text, because I had been feeling extremely lonely that weekend. I hadn't seen any family members in-person since March, since I don't live very near any of them. My cousin had been following social distancing guidelines extremely carefully since March, and I had also been following them while allowing myself a little more freedom. Given that, we didn't even consider having a not socially distant lunch. I picked up food from a restaurant for us and set chairs far apart for us to eat in my front yard. When my cousin arrived, she even volunteered to go the bathroom in yard so that she didn't have to enter my house. I thought that was a little over-the-top, and we ultimately decided it was okay for her to come in wearing a mask to use my bathroom. We had a great lunch, just eating and laughing. It was so uplifting to be in the same vicinity as a loved one. Then my sister FaceTimed us from her home in Chicago with her baby. This is where things got pretty hilarious. We tried to set up my computer in a way that allowed my cousin and me to both see and be seen while also staying more than six feet apart. It was nearly impossible, but our attempts made us laugh so hard. It just felt like such silly thing to be doing. I had such a great time with my cousin for those couple of hours. Her presence and all of the laughter definitely lightened my mood.
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2020-08-21
The frustration of many within the LGBTQ+ community over blood donations has been especially pronounced in the middle of the pandemic. The FDA recently moved the requirements for gay men to be abstinent from 12 months to 3 months. Activists and others point out that because blood can be screened for HIV, and that the rules are outdated and don't make sense. It is tragic that those who are capable of donating blood in this moment of crisis are unable to do so based on these current regulations. It brings back images of gay men that tried to donate blood after the Pulse nightclub massacre, but were turned away.
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2020-08-23
When I embarked on the journey that was the JOTPY internship, I was unsure of what it would entail. I knew there would be assignments centered around collecting information in regards to COVID-19, but I did not know the extent. I was very surprised to learnt that we would be in fact completing our own oral histories.
At the beginning, it was easier to contribute items to the archive, and extremely fun. But, as the work got more in depth, things got tougher. I had dabbled in oral history before, but had only done it to the extent of transcribing myself. By being introduce to Otter AI, my job got a lot easier. However, I'm still not a fan of oral history transcription.
This course/internship taught me a plethora of skills. These included working with a team, curating fro an archive, software skills and more which I hope to incorporate in my future classes and career. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the course and look froward to seeing it come full circle.
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2020-08-23
When I embarked on the journey that was the JOTPY internship, I was unsure of what it would entail. I knew there would be assignments centered around collecting information in regards to COVID-19, but I did not know the extent. I was very surprised to learnt that we would be in fact completing our own oral histories.
At the beginning, it was easier to contribute items to the archive, and extremely fun. But, as the work got more in depth, things got tougher. I had dabbled in oral history before, but had only done it to the extent of transcribing myself. By being introduce to Otter AI, my job got a lot easier. However, I'm still not a fan of oral history transcription.
This course/internship taught me a plethora of skills. These included working with a team, curating fro an archive, software skills and more which I hope to incorporate in my future classes and career. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the course and look froward to seeing it come full circle.
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2020-08-20
It seems that LGBTQ+ seniors are often overlooked within the community. In a pandemic that disproportionately impacts older Americans, this is especially problematic. In addition to the unique issues faced by LGBTQ+ people, being a LGBTQ+ senior makes that position especially precarious. It's relieving to see that there are organizations dedicated to protecting LGBGTQ+ seniors and I hope that this merger proves to be effective.
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2020-08-20
The COVID-19 pandemic has drawn more attention to online students, and given some people more time. ASU Online students have been working to develop one of the first online student governments in the nation, to represent Arizona State University's online campus. As part of this, ASU Online hosted its first ever Welcome Week via Zoom and is building rapport and establishing connections with the online community. It can be difficult to interact with your peers online in a social context, and this has provided many students the opportunity to connect and build new friendships. The community that has been built by online students, has provided myself, as well as others, the feeling that we are not alone during these unprecedented times.
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2020-08-05
This picture is significant to my COVID-19 experience in 2020 because it caused me to stay on the highway for approximately 3hrs. Due to new Covid laws usually when a high-tension wire hits the ground, they can find ways to get everyone away from the wire. However, since we have to stay 6 feet apart the cops and fire department couldn’t speak directly to everyone. We had to remain in our vehicles and just assume everything was going to be alright. This was my first time experiencing something like this. A lot of people couldn’t handle just sitting in their vehicles not having answers and so they turned around on the highway and tried to drive backwards to get off the road.
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2020-08-21
BeYouASU is a LGBTQ+ student organization that welcomes students from all of Arizona State University's campuses. BeYouASU kicked off its first book club for fall semester, which was held over Zoom. The return to school this fall feels much different than years prior, but BeYouASU is providing students the opportunity to connect with each other during this difficult time. Making new connections and friendships in a welcoming environment is something that is especially important in these unprecedented times. For book club, we are reading Susan Stryker's "Transgender History."
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2020-08-15
Este video fue grabado en día en la ciudad de Arequipa, como se sabe el consumo de bebidas alcohólicas esta prohibido ya sea lugares que estén fuera del hogar o dentro del mismo. Es por esto que algunos jóvenes optaron por celebrar el día de Arequipa en Characato distrito que se encuentra alejado de la ciudad el cual está rodeado de chacras los jóvenes pensaron que no serían atrapados pero al parecer algunas personas dieron aviso a los militares que se encontraban haciendo guardia a alrededores. El hecho ocasionó que al ser descubiertos empiezan a huir del lugar siendo perseguidos por el personal del ejército vecinos del lugar grabaron lo sucedido.
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2020-08-10
Throughout this pandemic, one of the hardest hit groups of people in terms of how much the community wide lock down halted life for the time being, were high school seniors. This picture was taken as a replacement for what prom photos would have been in May.
While this might come off as a shallow thing to place importance on, these prom photos we took mean more than just trying to reclaim the high school experience. Of the girls in this photo, four of us are now college freshmen. In our last few weeks together we took every opportunity to get together for lunches, dinner, or drive in movies, things that we took for granted pre-covid. As a result, the pandemic has ingrained in me a very important principle to have: live as presently as you can. I can honestly say that my best friends and I are closer than we ever could have been had our high school experiences not been put on pause for six months. I appreciate their company more, and I believe wholeheartedly that our experiences apart, and subsequently together, have strengthened our bond for good.
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08/23/2020
Kelsey McIntyre lives in Walnut Creek, California. She discusses how the pandemic caused her to lose both of her jobs but says she is grateful that her state and local government responded the way that they did, or things could be much worse. Kelsey feels that she has grown closer with her family who are in various places across the United States, and that the increasing prevalence of technology such as Zoom makes it possible to communicate with them. Kelsey talks about the impact of COVID-19 on the LGBTQ+ community by the cancellation of Pride Month events and the LGBTQ+ community being at increased risk for exposure by those who are most vulnerable. Kelsey talks about how her partner works in news and she relies on them to get updates about what is happening, as well as checking the news on her iPhone She also talks about how she has learned to establish boundaries with her partner and that being together frequently can be both good and bad. Kelsey believes that masks will be mandated indoors a year from now, at least where she lives, and is optimistic that people in the LGBTQ+ community are actively participating in preventative measures.
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2020-08-23
This story is very significant for me as its something that I never thought i would have lived, a pandemic. I was very lucky of passing this past six months in my home with my family where I have learned to value everything a lot I spend most of the time in my home. What I have uploaded is a video from a very recognized mountain called el Avila which happens to be my every morning view from my balcony. El Avila represents protection to our city, the same way the mask is protection for us in these very critical moments.
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2020-05-04
We decided as a family to create a film that documented our experience of lockdown. The film is a narrative that is loosely based on our family's lived experience in the time of Covid-19. The act of making the film as a family served to connect us creatively. The film also acts as a time capsule.
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2020-04-05
The Coronavirus is not a one person issue. Everyone has had to deal with it and no one has been unaffected. I would like to recount for the archive my personal struggles during this pandemic so that they may be used for research purposes in dealing with something like this in the future.
Before the pandemic started, I was a senior in high school. I had just asked my girlfriend to prom, which was just a few months away, and I had a 4.5 gpa for my senior year compared to my 3.5 for the rest of high school. I was excited to run spring track and try to break 5 minutes in the mile for the first time in high school. I hung out nearly everyday with my best friends. I had just committed to Suffolk University and was excited for the future.
I didn’t really realize how bad Covid-19 was going to be until what would be our last day of school. It was a thursday, and all of us thought it would be a quick two week break to get rid of the virus and we would all be back. Obviously, that was not the case.
I am a pretty social person, so when the lockdown was announced a week later, I really struggled with staying inside. Even with facetime, xbox live chat, and texting, I was not able to get enough social interaction. I felt extremely lonely. Spring sports were obviously also cancelled. This was just the first domino to fall in a long list of unfortunate events for me that, no doubt, many others experienced as well.
A few weeks into lockdown, my girlfriend called me in tears telling me that her blood condition, which affects her nerve endings in almost her entire body, had gotten much more severe. Even worse, Covid-19 was making it harder to go to the hospital for the treatments. For her health, we had to break up, and I have not talked to or heard from her since.
My older brother had also moved home from college at this point from UMass Amherst. While my younger brother and I have always done well in school and been well behaved kids, the same could not be said for my older brother. An avid weed smoker and oftentimes alcohol abuser, I had to share a room with him for all of quarantine, and continue to do so now. He experienced a lot less rules and a lot more freedom while in college, and did not transition well back to the stricter rules of our household, and often took this out on me. While he did not physically harm me, as I am much stronger than him, he continued to throw flurries of insults and mental abuse at me, ruining my every day. He also did this to the rest of my family, making it hell for everyone at home. At one point, my mother kicked him out, and he had to live with his boyfriend for a while.
My mother also did not deal well with staying inside. She has struggled with her weight almost her entire adult life, and the closing of gyms during Covid-19 made her lose all motivation to stay in shape. She gained almost 100 pounds back in 2 months. My older brother coming home also caused her mounds of stress. Since my younger brother hid in his own locked room, and my older brother screamed or stormed out when my mom got mad at us, she took out all of her frustrations on me for the smallest things, taking away the devices I used to contact all my friends just because I had forgotten to put my shoes away or do the dishes.
My father and my younger brother both dealt much better with the situation, but that did not save me from the rest of my family. After missing school and all my friends, getting my spring sport cancelled, losing my girlfriend, my brother and mother constantly berating and harassing me, and having nowhere to go but my shared room with no privacy, I began to free fall into a major case of depression and suicidal thoughts.
Prior to this pandemic, I had never spoken with a therapist. I used to get bullied in elementary and middle school, but I always had ways of coping such as sports, hanging out with friends, and focusing on school, but now I had a real problem on my hands. After about 4 weeks of struggling inside of my own head, I finally realized I needed professional help. My parents set me up with a woman named Rachel via Zoom, and I talk to her every thursday. She is a licensed therapist, and is part of the new wave of technological medical care in this time of a pandemic. While she has not solved my problems, both the easing of restrictions and her mental guidance has helped me to cope with my situation. I am very grateful for her, and although I am not fully back to where I was before the pandemic, I am continuing to recover to this day. I leave to move in at Suffolk in 5 days, and I could not be more excited for the change of scenery, new friends, and a chance to continue my sport into college.
The pandemic has been hard on everyone, and I am sure that I am not alone in my struggles. I wrote this so that people can look back in the future to realize just how devastating an impact can have on one individual’s life if not handled properly, because Covid-19 genuinely rocked my world.
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2020-05-22
In high school, I worked for South Windsor Parks and Recreation as a program leader for the before and after school program, as well as a camp counselor during the summers. On March 12, 2020, Governor Ned Lamont announced that schools will be closed beginning that Monday, March 16, for at least two weeks due to COVID-19. This included my program, putting me and all of my coworkers out of a job during this time (and, eventually, the rest of the school year), and taking away the childcare that so many South Windsor families depended on, including my own. I was a senior in high school when this happened, trying to work as much as possible to save up for college. My department was working hard to create an alternative within our state's guidelines to remain open and operating without compromising the safety of our employees and families. Unfortunately, COVID-19 was too unpredictable at the time and we had no idea how to protect everyone other than shutting down completely. For months, my coworkers and I heard nothing from our supervisors, as they had no new information to give us. On May 22, 2020, we were sent this flyer with information about a modified summer camp for 2020, called "Camp Evolution," with guidelines covering group sizes, social distancing expectations, and mask mandates. Many former counselors made the decision to not return for camp, including myself, as I lived with my grandparents at the time who, in addition to being in their 80s, also had preexisting conditions. I also know of many program leaders who will not be returning to our before and after school program due to similar concerns. The camps and programs have also been finding themselves short on participants, as most families in South Windsor are concerned about the virus, and many are currently working from home, so they no longer require the same childcare as before. For many families with parents who are not able to work remotely, such as my own, are thankful for these program reopenings, as well as the smaller group numbers that come with them. I am proud of my department for working so hard to keep their employees and families safe while also continuing to provide services for those most in need.
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2020-01-01
2020 started off with a lot of motivation. I started my university transfer application very early in the year and got accepted to my top school right before spring break. All the stress was over and i was ready to enjoy the spring break in Cancun then... CORONAVIRUS. My daily routine change drastically. I went from being in school and hanging with friends to falling asleep or getting bored during my online classes, eating and sleeping. It has become my new routine. Most students are going through this too. *sigh* When will it be over?
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2020-08-21
In February of 2020, I was a high school senior trying to finish up high school and think about what I was trying to be doing the next school year. By March, the Governor of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker declared a stay-at-home order and I was finishing high school by doing assignments and emailing them to teachers. Then the shut-down really evolved as my high school prom and graduation were both canceled. Well, our graduation was only partially canceled. Six students receiving diplomas were allowed to show up every 30 minutes, with no more than five family members present, and everyone remained socially distant throughout the process.
My parents both started working from home and always seemed to be doing something I had not previously heard of, Zoom calls. To get a head start on college, I had signed up for a Summer class at Suffolk University. Amongst other reasons, I had chosen Suffolk for its proximate location to my home, its outstanding science facilities (a brand-new sciences and lab building), urban feel and connections to local businesses, hospitals, and research facilities. Then the class went remote and Zoom meetings became the norm for me.
The Politics of a Global Pandemic class involved a weekly Zoom forum with panelists from around the world. Topics varied weekly, but the theme always involved global politics around this pandemic. At first, I figured it would be mainly US politics, since it is a presidential election year. Then we talked about a variety of pandemic's global impacts, economic effects, cultural changes, and how society and political leaders view these challenges.
We didn't use Zoom calls in those last few months of my senior year of high school. Then two months later, Zoom became so mainstream that the biggest political convention of my lifetime (to date) was actually held virtually. The title of the article, "The DNC Is the Best Zoom Meeting of 2020—So Far" resonates as it seems like this could be just the beginning. I turned 18 just prior to the pandemic and registered to vote. From what I've seen in online videos of past conventions, were speeches, political endorsements, and balloons cascading from the ceiling of a stadium as a candidate accepts his or her party nomination.
This pandemic changed things for me, for global politics, and society so drastically, I wonder when or if in-person schooling and politics will ever be what I saw and experienced over the course of my life. I’m now registered for all virtual classes this fall; and probably more Zoom calls.
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2020-08-21
This picture was taken seconds before I walked across the makeshift stage at graduation. With the sun glaring down and my name about to be called, it almost felt like a normal ceremony. Normal, save the distance between myself and everyone and the sinking feeling that I still couldn’t quite ignore. My last year of high school was anything but what I had imagined it would be. In certain ways, it felt as if I had missed out on what many take for granted. Instead of the final celebrations and traditions of a senior year, COVID-19 gave me an entirely new mindset. I saw the humility of the world, and also the faults we often ignore. I walked across that stage and into an uncertain future, one that I can only look towards optimistically.
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2020-06-12
The image I chose represents the pandemic, as it shows the many people protesting in the back with masks on. It also represents Lil Baby’s solidarity with the current BLM movement. He’s leading a George Floyd Protest in his hometown of Atlanta on a bicycle. This image is very important to me because as a Lil Baby, as well as a huge hip-hop fan, it represents how although we have a worldwide pandemic going on, that we shouldn’t stray away from the true problems in our communities. Baby used his huge platform and fanbase to spread his feelings and stance on a very relevant issue during today’s day. Even though he had COVID to worry about, he didn’t let it stop him from participating and leading protests over an issue that he believed strongly in.
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2020-08-17
With the pandemic, the lives of many people have changed. For me, I see the changes most significantly at work. I started working at Planet Fitness in January, before the lockdown. I enjoyed my shifts and loved interacting with members at check-in. When we returned to work in July, my work shifts changed significantly. One of my new responsibilities included enforcing our mask policy. Not all members were as accommodating and understanding, as the member featured in the photo collage. Most times when asking members to wear masks, they would apologize and put on their mask. Other times, member's responses varied from rudeness to annoyance. The most shocking aspect of working at the gym during a pandemic is the lack of empathy some people have. In our first month back, many members were coming into the club or calling the club, unhappy that Planet Fitness had resumed billing since they did not feel comfortable returning to the gym. Overall, while there have been some bumps in the road when it came to the reopening of the gym, it has been nice to regain some semblance of normalcy with going back to work and interacting with my members.
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2020-08-23
I had planned to take the summer off from classes but when I saw an opportunity to be part of real time archiving in relation to the crisis I was living through I eagerly jumped at the opportunity. While I was initially worried, we, as interns, would get stuck doing the repetitive tasks no one else wanted, I was thrilled to be part of the creation and problem-solving process of a real time archive.
While most students in my program focus on American or Global history my focus has been on public history. One of the tenants of public history is involving everyone. The archive became a place to see this in real time. We weren’t collecting only around famous people, important people, or large movements. We wanted to collect the stories of everyday people and also took the time to figure out whose voices were missing and attempt to remedy that problem. To that end I took on an extra project to add Black voices to the archive. I collected a list of all the historically black colleges and universities and also searched for museums and cultural or heritage centers across the country that we could contact in hopes they would want to work with us to add those voices to the archive.
In addition to curating and adding items to the archive each week we focused on learning a particular skill set related to the archive. The one I struggled with the most was oral history. Though I am fine speaking in public and am not an introvert, I found conducting my first two oral history interviews exceptionally unnerving. However, I also discovered how important they are and what an incredibly rich source of information oral histories represent. What I learned from oral histories was so impressive that I have plans to conduct an oral history program in conjunction with my local historical preservation commission in the future. I am also no longer nervous about conducting oral histories.
By the end of our fifteen-week internship we had become even more than a team, we had become a family. I believe this was partially due to a shared crisis. We were living through the Covid-19 pandemic together. For many of us, our weekly Zoom (online meeting platform) was nearly the only face to face contact, though virtual, we had with anyone. This was the case for me. Another intern joked he was going to rename his journal about the project, “The Summer I Distracted Myself from a Pandemic by Thinking about the Pandemic”. I realized that is exactly what happened. The pandemic really started in mid-March for me. I spent the initial month or so sewing face masks and that was how I kept myself focused and sane. Once the internship began in May I began processing my experience of the pandemic by working on the archive. I believe this summer will have been one of the defining moments of my life.
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2020-08-23
At the beginning of my senior year in high school all I could think about was what college, at Suffolk University, was going to be like. I was excited to see a new part of the world, and to get the chance to meet new people. However the covid-19 pandemic changed every thing, and the image of the perfect college experience in my head was met with a stark reality that includes getting regularly tested for a deadly virus, avoiding physical contact with other people, online classes, and signing up on schedules for every day activities such as doing laundry, going to the cafeteria, going to the library, getting the mail, etc. While I am great full that Suffolk has taken the time to put in place all the necessary precautions needed to stop the spread of covid-19, I can’t help but to feel that myself and many others are going to face many challenges that did not exist before the covid-19 pandemic, and miss out on many experiences that we are no longer able to have because of the ongoing pandemic.
Even though the my first full semester of college has yet to start, I have already gained some experience in attending class in a virtual setting, through an online summer course. At first I thought taking this course online would be difficult and that I would struggle to learn since I was not it a learning environment and was surrounded by many distractions. While I did sometimes find my environment to be distracting, I did find that over all it was not to difficult to focus in class. What I actually found to be most difficult about the online courses was coordinating group projects with other students. Although group project partners did a great job doing their share of the work, it was still difficult coordinate our projects since we all lived in different states, and were unable to meet in person. Other than this I found my online class to be just as engaging as class I have taken in the past.
Though the struggles of online class is not my only concern for this fall semester, instead I’m more concerned that this new social distancing environment will make it more difficult to meet new people and to make connections. Suffolk has gone to great lengths to provide not only safe learning spaces, but also safe public spaces and single room boarding for its students although theses new policy make living in a new place feel even more lonely. To combat this new social divide Suffolk has been creating virtual and in person social distancing events that have allowed students and staff to get to know each other. These events have done a great job at making me feel more apart of the Suffolk community, and have lessened my fears about this upcoming semester.
While the covid-19 pandemic continues to bring many struggles and create new challenges for people all over the world, I still believe that I will be able to thrive in college, and that the new challenges brought on by covid-19 pandemic will be met by creative solutions. I plan to continue to strive as a student and as a member of the Suffolk community, and to embrace the new social distancing norm.
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2020-03-29
Early in the pandemic, when we were sheltering in place but were allowed to be outside for exercise (here in San Francisco), I started taking photographs of signs people posted in and around their homes. This became a daily activity while I was out for a walk. Usually the signs were fairly small and were posted in windows. But sometimes they were more elaborate, like this one with a quote about the nature of courage from Maya Angelou. It made me realize that courage isn't the absence of fear; it's something else. The longer quote includes this: "Having courage and showing courage means we face our fears." That has really helped me in this frightening time.
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2020-02-14
It was Valentines Day this year and I just got out of school and was prepped for my last race for my high school track season indoors. I was shocked that my coach gave my teammates and I the opportunity to run at Reggie one last time as we were barely qualified to run the 4x800. Distance running wasn’t something that I could describe as being experienced in however I was deeply invested in the sport as my diet, my routine and how I functioned daily was a mere resultant of it being in my life. At the time I knew a little about COVID seeing how it began to affect New York the most and how Massachusetts has seen a couple sightings of it as well starting to see some cases arise in the Boston area and throughout the state in general. Once my team got to Boston, the meet shortly started and I knew that I had a couple hours to chill around and get myself into the mindset of running well and quickly in my event. I finished my homework and I proceeded to look around the center with my friends just chatting and laughing like normal teenagers would do to pass the time. I got to see one of my best friends beat his personal best in the 1000 meter by large chunks of seconds and I knew that this would be the start of a positive day in the realm of Tewksbury running. My other best friend was able to run under 10 minutes in the 2 mile as he was qualified to get a medal for beating out the last Billerica kid that was in his way(in Track, there was some tension between my town and Billerica due to the proximity of the towns and the competition that they had). After bolstering enough energy to yell at them, I got my opportunity to run. Even though my race was short lived and I was put in a negative mindset for how poor I ran the race and wasn’t happy with my time, I was able to goof off and hype up my other teammates who absolutely killed it in their races. The sad part of it all was how I told myself that in spring I would be able to crush my current personal best in the 800 meter with ease by training. Too bad I wasn’t informed then that my highschool career for track ended there.
In April, I reached out to the coach of Suffolk University to talk about my passion for the sport and how I wanted to continue my journey in improving my ability to race hard. Once I heard back from him and got the “ok”, I was pumped and excited because now I know that I can train my heart out for a sport that I love and see myself grow slowly over time. Some of the positives though were short lived as it hit me like a truck when I found out that I had posterior tibial tendonitis in my left ankle. At first glance, an injury such as this seems measly small and could be healed with proper assistance due to icing and stretching but this is my second time getting this type of tendonitis in the same ankle and it took me a little over two months to heal before running again. An added wound to this scar was the fact that I couldn’t cross train in some sort of practice area where I normally can be injured with having the comfort of other individuals surrounding me to forget that I ever got injured in the first place. Running by yourself is a mental obstacle for runners during the pandemic as they need to adapt to now mainly listening to their own footsteps. Being injured at home left me with the image that my teammates are progressing through the summer making the best of this situation and improving as distance runners while I had to chill at home and maybe substitute my daily run for a little more strength. A constant seventy days of that took a toll out of me as that was really the one excuse I can tell my parents to let me get out of the house for a bit. During quarantine and my time off, all I wanted was to goof off again with my friends as we question certain people who may be looking at us funny when we run or decide to run in the trails with nearly getting ourselves hurt. The copious amount of games of spikeball after a practice and the dinners right after runs were drilling right through my mind as the months of May through early July hit. Running is a great stress reliever for me and with the addition of being around people who adore the sport as much as myself, it feels like a second home that I could be myself and be able to progress well in. It made me look back on this Valentines Day and repeat to myself that I took some things for granted which were my passion for the sport in the atmosphere of having other people who love it as much as me and the time spent in general.
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2020-06-05
For as long as I can remember, there has always been music playing in my house, whether it be as my two sisters and I wake up each morning or up until the moment we fall asleep. Over the years, we have memorized thousands of songs and have connected with thousands of artists as we listen to anything we could find in the depths of our parent’s music collection.
Our parents soon realized that they could teach us anything by means of a good song. As we would press play on the little radio that used to sit in our room, each CD would expose us to a different place, time, or mindset, while also subtly infusing messages of acceptance, equality, culture, kindness, and more. My sisters and I memorized songs in different languages, while also learning about the history and experiences that shape good music.
Music became our life’s foundation and soon, in addition to listening to music for hours on end, my sisters and I started singing at various places in the small town of Smithfield, VA, where we grew up together. Hungry for more, we each picked up an instrument and learned to play guitar from listening over and over to our favorite albums and the occasional YouTube tutorial. We started to dissect the harmonies that we would hear in our favorite songs and ultimately formed our own sound that we loved sharing with the people we met within our little southern town.
After learning hundreds of songs to play together, we soon realized that we wanted to start writing songs of our own. We were excited to create something that was inspired by our own experiences together, whether it be derived from feelings of happiness, sadness, heartbreak, anger, or excitement.
Since we had listened to and interpreted music since we were born, the importance of songwriting is was not lost to my sisters and me. We understood the power it holds, as it frees the minds of thousands who desperately want their perspective to be represented and encourages storytelling that is inspired by real love or real loss. We were intrigued by the strong beliefs, wild imaginations, and raw emotions that ensure the timelessness of great songs.
Being provided a space and a medium to write down unbridled and heartfelt ideas in addition to working with artists who inspire a safe and collaborative environment has allowed the intricacies of songwriting to come naturally to my sisters and me. Sharing my songs to audiences of all ages and sizes is absolutely exhilarating and I view my passion for meaningful lyrics as the greatest gift that has been given to me.
My sisters and I began traveling to and from Nashville, meeting and collaborating with songwriters and artist to create meaningful lyrics and beautiful melodies. As our music began to directly represent what we were feeling as individuals, over the years my sisters and I started to use our original songs to communicate with each other and those around us.
On March 13, for the first time in our lives, the music in our house stopped. It was replaced by the sounds of live updates from the news. As we watched the death toll rise and the heartbreaking stories of people who lost their loved ones to the virus, we were silenced by the impact of the disease. We realized that people were unable to interact with each other and that the effects of virus was attempting to strip humanity of things it needed to survive.
As for my sisters and I, our entire lineup of summer performances was canceled, as well as the final trip to Nashville we had planned before I left for college. My sisters and I finally had to come to terms with the reality that we may not be able to sing out together again, as I would leave Virginia to move to Boston at the end of the summer.
We struggled with the fact that we wouldn’t have the time to say goodbye to the thing that had connected us the most throughout our entire childhood and as we came to terms with our new reality, turned to music to help us get through this challenging time.
With the rest of my senior year canceled, I had the time to sit and think about a lot what music has given me throughout my life. I discovered that even though I loved the songs and albums I listened to over the years, it was the time spent with my sisters that meant most to me.
I thought about all of the different experiences we have shared over the years and how hard it is going to be when I would venture off on my own soon. My sisters were truly the thing in my life that I loved the most, so how was I going to be able to live 700 miles away in the middle of a global pandemic?
My sisters faced the same uneasiness and uncertainty, and as usual, music served as our escape. We realized that while our situation may have been difficult to navigate, we are so incredibly lucky and grateful for the experiences we have shared and the opportunities we have been given. In the end we understood how fortunate it was that we were healthy and committed ourselves to always staying grateful even in times as unprecedented as this.
We discovered that all we ever really needed was each other, and that there is more power in the relationships that you build with the people that you love than any virus or other obstacle that may come our way.
I think that throughout this pandemic, the world is coming to terms with the same lesson: that human connection is one of the most impactful aspects of our lives. I hope that in the aftermath of a world redefined by a global pandemic, we all hug each other a little tighter and sing a little louder.
Attached is my sister and I singing on Zoom for the first time.
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2020-08-23
My story of the Quarantine is that initially I was kind of excited about the prospect of having an excuse to stay indoors. This is due to the fact that I am a homebody and would rather chill with my friends rather than go to parties. However, one thing that I did not think of was that not only would I be staying home most of the time, but a majority of the rest of my family would as well. When I was younger, having everyone home was not a problem, but now we are all grown up, and we all need our space. Due to Quarantine, getting that space that I wanted was rather hard. It felt like I was having a hard time being able to be alone without someone hearing what I was saying. Not only that, but it was also hard because the conflicts in my family came to become more and more prevalent/ This is due to the fact that things like the college process and transitioning from high school to college seemed to have been made a lot harder. Instead of this Summer being relaxing and giving me room to breathe, it was made into one of the hardest times of my life.
The short story titled "I Have Mouth, and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison captures how I felt during the pandemic. In the story, the characters are trapped underground and are totally helpless to the situation that they find themselves in. In many ways, I felt almost the same way to these characters. I felt like I was trapped in a place that I felt as though I had no control over anything because it was not my domain. Like the narrator of the story, I too felt as though I had no mouth by the end of it all. This is due to the fact that I am not the best at standing up for myself or handling conflicts. Not only that, but I feel like whenever I would try to argue my point, I always felt like nothing would happen. Even if anything did happen that went my way, it always felt like it was not enough to feel like a victory. By the end, it would just reinforce my unwillingness to speak up for myself or to just let things go and allow them to continue. I hope that I will be able to improve things once my time at Suffolk starts and when this Quarantine ends.
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2020-04
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted my family and I drastically but by having faith we were able to overcome it. It has been a very difficult time for my family and I as we were tested positive a few months ago for the novel coronavirus and shortly after we recovered, one of my uncles passes away due to complications of the virus. I chose this image above and the title because it reflects what I had during everything that my family and I went through due to COVID-19. Having faith is what got me through it all and it’s very important for me to always continue to believe in it.
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2020-08-23
This mural caught my eye because it represents hope and love during a time of distress. I think we forget that love and hope is what we need as a global community. We are all going through this and we get caught up in the derision and life. As the artist said that he wanted to "provoke hope" of life after lockdown. "And also to show the tightrope between fear and love that many of us are walking at the moment."
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2020-08-23
Quarantine was incredibly tough for all of us. I am a Type 1 diabetic so I was limited to what I could do with friends and family. School and other activities did keep me busy as I was stuck at my home. My family and I decided to create a shrine to our family dog, who passed away last year. With the help of a family friend,. we were able to create this shrine.
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2020-08-23T04:25:05
What would you do if we could turn back time to a period before COVID-19? Asking this question today could possibly lead to many answers. Unfortunately, life, as we know it, has drastically changed as conditions have worsened. The COVID-19 pandemic has definitely changed the lives of so many people, and throughout this period many have experienced various overwhelming emotions. My life personally had been turned upside down from the start. Before the initial start of this pandemic, I was a seventeen-year-old girl working two jobs, a varsity cheerleading co-captain, an AP and honors student pertaining to various extracurriculars, and was about to make the most important decision of my life regarding my college education. As much as I was overwhelmed throughout this period I was determined to keep going regardless. But in a short span of time, after that, I had lost my two jobs and the remainder of my senior year in high school. The rapidness of these events had definitely taken a toll on my mental state of mind not knowing what came next. While the weeks continued we were all placed under quarantine not being able to leave our homes unless for essential purposes. The world had completely shut down in such a short period of time. And with much contemplation among myself, it took a period of time until I was able to completely adjust to what seemed to be a new lifestyle. Not knowing what to expect in the next couple of months left me in a state of cluelessness, and to think that others can relate to this feeling as well. So with selecting this phrase, “Has anyone tried unplugging 2020 for 10 seconds and plugging it back in?” Is such a critical way to ask what would we do take back ten seconds to what used to be our normal life? And as much as I would want to return to relive all my experiences that I have lost due to this pandemic, this time of isolation has served me for a time of revaluation of my own personal values. While many hepatic issues are happening in this world right now, I personally think that this time is what you make out of it while that be a positive or negative change in your life. As will never know what life will bring us next.
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2020-08-23
COVID-19 is something that will forever be engrained in our minds. It has impacted the world in ways only imaginable in apocalyptic movies. We as a society are differential in our cultures and ideas, but COVID-19 has brought us together. COVID-19 spread throughout the world at an alarming rate due to 21st century modes of rapid transportation (specifically airplanes). Normally, walking through an airport brings excitement and happiness, but tensions felt high travelling during this time. Excitement was replaced with anxiety, and happiness with cautiousness. For my addition to the Moakley Archive, I decided to include a photograph taken on a recent flight from Miami to Boston. More than half the seats were empty and I couldn’t help but notice how desolate the flight felt. 2020 has been an economic recession, and a social depression. Travelling will never be the same at least in this lifetime, and for many, flying will be a last resort. Nobody knows when COVID-19 will end, we are fighting a war with an invisible enemy taking one day at a time blindly.
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2020-08-23
Russian poisonings
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2020-08-20
The videos that I am sharing are from the Portland Protests. I feel compelled to share them because protests at this scale are unprecedented in their diversity, longevity, and turnout, and may represent a social tipping-point precipitated by the dual economic and health crises imposed by COVID-19.
Before COVID-19, I had planned to spend Spring Break visiting friends in Portland, Oregon. Midway through the break, my university moved classes online and I had the opportunity to stay in Portland for 5 months. On May 25th, the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police sparked national protests against systemic racism and police brutality. The Portland protests were especially large and active, which garnered significant media coverage and led to deployment of federal agents to the city.
In the midst of a pandemic, when so many healthcare workers found themselves without adequate PPE, police departments across the country were armed with seemingly limitless munitions and riot gear. Tear gas, pepper spray, sonic weaponry, batons, and riot shields were used against demonstrators, whose defenses were composed of homemade shields, leaf blowers, traffic cones, and water bottles. Yet he crowd still showed up at the Justice Center every night, and many are still there after nearly 4 months. These protests are unprecedented, and have caused many Americans to adopt radical stances against racist and unaccountable policing, and we would be remiss not to document them as part of the Plague Year.
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2020-06-17
This image is of a shadow box in memoriam to my cat Sophie. Her health started declining in the beginning of the pandemic. My family had to call multiple vets just to get an appointment due to short staffing and were not allowed in the room with her in order to tell the vet things. When she had to be put down the news was told to us over the phone and we had to say our final goodbyes on a porch in front of other people. To me, this image represents my loss in the time of coronavirus.
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2020-08-23
The pandemic was the least of my worries as a freshman in college who was still adjusting, but it soon overtook my life. Not only did I not come back from spring break, but the entire university shifted to online learning as it was too unsafe to be in class. I left my perfectly curated dorm, my professors, and friends to something that I had not given ten minutes of my time a month prior. The pandemic had been looming in the background and I had heard about it and never really thought it would affect me but I was very wrong. The virus changed my view of schooling, the way the government looks at its citizens and how we treat one another. During the initial lockdown I observed many ways in which everyone tried to cope with our reality. There were those making banana bread, sourdough bread, and binging tv shows on Netflix such as Tiger King. Then there were the college and high school kids who were all staying up till the early hours of the morning mindlessly scrolling through social media, more specifically TikTok, since there was no school to wake up early for. Now I understand that social media can be, and is toxic, but the app TikTok has made a relatively good space for all people and has proven to be a good way to spread information to a younger generation rapidly. As someone who had only a few months ago been writing papers and doing homework in my dorm I can without a doubt say I would never have envisioned myself on an app watching 30 or 60 second videos for hours on end. The videos on the app are comedy related, informative on niche topics, activism, such as the Black Lives Matter Protests, political and just about everything under the sun. Although it is only an app that could vanish at any moment, it has become part of millions of college and high school students' lives. It has offered a distraction from all of the uncertainty in the world and an outlet to share their experiences. I personally attempted to make a TikTok with my friends as we kept six feet apart from each other and although it never turned out it still offered a distraction from the fact that we were not able to just go to one another's houses and hang out - we had to meet in our old high school parking lot. The app seems so benign to those who are not on it, but from what I have seen it has offered happiness in a time of world turmoil.
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2020-08-15
I remember the beginning of pandemic in Boston like it was yesterday.
Coming back from work I was worried about everyone’s’ and my own future. I had just started a new job at the restaurant that quickly become empty as people preferred to stay home and not take a risk of getting infected after having brunch.
Speaking about myself, I was mentally and financially at the lowest point in last 10 years of my life. I saw myself as a foreigner with no future who has to work 17 hours a day, having two – three jobs just to survive. I was afraid to get Covid, to lose my job, to not be able to pay rent. And then lockdown happened.
During the first three weeks I’ve lost my job and wasn’t able to collect unemployment. The level of stress was nearly unmanageable. Every day I was on the phone trying to reach out any representative who could help me. Every day was restless and sleepless, until few events that seemed to be magical happened.
Firstly, unemployment benefits were made available to me. The amount was $600 more than I thought it would be and I was eligible for a stimulus check too. For many people in USA it wasn’t much money but for me, it was twice what I had been making by working. It also was proof of my belief in paying taxes. I have paid taxes ever since I’ve been employed and always thought that even though I might not have gotten anything from doing so right away, there would come a time when doing so would help me. So, it did and did so because of unexpected circumstances and at a time when I was struggling more than I ever had.
The news got even better for me despite what was go on around me. I received a letter I had been waiting for my entire life that told me I had been accepted to Suffolk University. I have always wanted to go to university so receiving this great news at such a hard time meant a great deal to me. I also received a scholarship to Suffolk meaning I could actually attend.
I went through a number of life changing events in a very short period of time and all during a complete lockdown when I couldn’t really leave home for weeks at a time. I didn’t feel comfortable to show off my happiness whilst the numbers of cases and deaths were rapidly increasing. Ethically it was wrong from my point of view. But now, when everything seems to be getting better and there’s a hope to win the battle with Covid-19 I’m happy to be where I am and glad to share my happy-ending story with you.
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2020-07
These are all images from our drive through Colorado. The first two images are a landscape scene and a photo of a mountain goat from Independence Pass, a mountain pass in Colorado that is only open in the warmer months because it gets very treacherous in the winter. It was still quite scary when we went in July, but the views were breathtaking. The last photo is from the Colorado Monument. We chose to drive up to experience it, as there were a lot of people there without masks and we felt safest in the car. All of these photos were taken from the safety and comfort of our car.
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2020-05
This image captures a raw New York COVID moment. This is on a roof in Washington Heights with a gorgeous view of the George Washington bridge. We asked a masked stranger to take this photo and immediately sanitized the phone afterwards.
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2020-07
On our roadtrip driving into Kansas from Colorado, we experienced this beautiful rainbow from so many different angles as we were driving through. At first it wasn’t even a complete rainbow; it was only half a rainbow peaking through the mountains. As we drove further through the open landscape, it transformed into a full rainbow extending over this gorgeous view and even a double rainbow.
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2020-06
The New York Botanical Garden happens to be near where I reside in the Bronx. Every summer and spring my friends and I plan a few trips to this lovely place to experience all of the natural beauty of the garden. However, this year however, the “Botans,” as we like to call it, was closed for the entirety of the spring and a large chunk of summer due to the pandemic. I believe they are just now, in early August, starting to open with limited capacity. I decided to capture this photo on my run to illustrate how the garden’s beauty is able to penetrate the surrounding community even from outside the gates. You can see the lavender peeking up over the gate and we were able to take a look inside through the openings of the fence to appreciate the park’s beauty. My mask reads “New York Strong.”
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2020-07
There were so many rabbits living around the place where we were staying in Salt Lake. My dog loved to chase them around the yard. I finally captured one sitting right in front of some flowers and knew I had to share this image. Nature is truly beautiful.
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2020-07
In mid-July we decided to travel to Salt Lake City to visit family. Downtown SLC was pretty shut down due to the pandemic so we chose to find some outdoor activities that we could participate in while still remaining safe. These two images are from a beautiful hike we did called “Dog Lake,” a dog friendly hike with a lake (shown in picture 2) for the dogs to go cool off in before heading back down the mountain.
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2020-07
In this series my goal was to share how I found beauty this summer, despite everything happening right now in the United States. This collection of photos serves as a reminder for me that although things are not normal and probably won't be for a long time, there is such immense beauty that exists in this world. If it weren't for COVID and losing my job I would not have experienced many of these moments that I captured in these pictures. Perhaps the silver lining of COVID is that for a lot of us, it has forced us to literally sit back and reflect and these photos illustrate the "COVID-friendly" activities I chose to do this summer with all my free time. Some of these photos are some scenic landscapes in NYC, where I live. The rest of these images are from various scenic places throughout the country, mostly in the West, where I began my road trip back to New York City a few weeks ago.
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2020-07
Seen while driving out of Salt Lake City. This image really showcases what political activism can look like during a pandemic. It takes many, many forms but I really liked this form because it truly stood out to me and everyone on the road against this empty landscape.
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2020-06
A Black Lives Matter Protest is disbanded early due to the city curfew. I left this particular protest at 7pm to get home by 8pm but many people chose to stay. The NYPD started mass arresting groups of people who were out protesting after curfew.
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2020-06
People gather on Fordham Road after the night of the looting to clean up the streets. It was amazing to see how many people were eager to get involved and help to clean up our neighborhood. I arrived at noon to help and there was barely anything left to do. This truly shows how much can be accomplished when everyone comes together and lends a hand.
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2020-06
I took this particular photo because I found it interesting that these already struggling, local shops were looted and were tied to the protests by the media. I did not feel as though these specific actions were tied to the protests however, I do see looting as a valid form of protest when they are targeting big/chain brands and businesses. It was sad to see my neighborhood in this condition. These photos were taken in early June 2020.
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2020-08-23
When people think of NYC, they think of how crowded and busy it is. To walk down the streets of NY, especially Times Square, and see nothing short of a ghost town, is a scary site. It almost reminds me of something out of a movie, more specifically the movie “I Am Legend.” Who knows the next time you’ll ever see an empty street in NYC like this again.
