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2020-06-27
This picture, it is showing me having my high school graduation in a parking lot. All having to stand 6 feet apart, outside and listen to our names being read off through the speaker of our cars. Not your typical graduation from high school and I'll never get to go back and have one because of covid.
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2020-03-27
This is mine and my brother’s Nintendo Switch, although I use it the most since I have more free time. It has two joy-cons that slip lock into the main screen or can be slipped out to play one-handed or play with multiple people as multiple controllers. On the top left of the screen is each of our accounts, listed from left to right it would be my account, my middle brother’s, then my eldest brother. A lot of the games we play together are considered “party games” such as Super Smash Bros Ultimate (the first game on the left), some are single or two-player games that we end up taking turns playing in one sitting like Mario Odessey (the second from the left), Others would be a single-player game that each of us would play in each other account such as a social simulator like Animal Crossing (Furthest on the right).
The weeks were slow and exhausting. Covid-19 caused whispers of fear throughout the neighborhood, from worry to frustration. One problem shared a lot with these households was the exhaustion of seeing the same people 24/7. Some had it harder than others, from parent to child and between siblings, irritation just burned between them as patience grew thin.
As an introvert, I was one of the people that was excited about the lockdown! However, reality hit hard quickly. As more and more news about the virus spread and talks about other people experiencing the terrible aftermath grew. My family would convene every evening to turn on the news and witness how the world dealt with the virus. Similar to Kaashif Hajee in his The Pandemic Radically Altered My Relationship with India. I Don’t Know If I Can Ever Go Back writing, I felt like the world was on its head and things that I was blind to were revealed, such as the concealment of cases. Among actions that I was uneasy in facing were the required actions that the Saudi Government took but felt wrong, such as the banning of gathering for religious gatherings. While it is of course understandable, I could not deny the uncomfortable grip on my heart when, during the first day of Ramadan (April 1st), I witnessed the once full-of-life crowd become practically empty around the Kaaba. It hit really hard for me and my family, especially since it is kind of tradition to watch a Livestream when breaking our fast.
Another issue due to the lockdown was the disconnect I felt with my two older brothers. We weren’t “disconnected” to the degree that we hated or were annoyed at each other (not always anyway). It was a “disconnect” that felt like we were there for the sake of being there, we talked for the sake of having a normal conversation, not because there was any meaning or purpose. I presume this comes partly due to the fact that we are all in different stages of our lives. We were all busy in our hectic lives but due to lockdown, we were kind of forced to interact to fulfill our societal needs. “You needed something to connect with!” our mother would tell all of us privately, but when you all have your own things to deal with it turns more difficult and stretched out.
That is until my eldest brother bought something very nostalgic home. A brand new Nintendo Switch. At this point, this console made by Nintendo has been already released for a while, but with life being exhausting and taxing as it is, brothers and I were unable to get our hands on it, let alone any time to do so… until late march. My eldest brother took my mother’s words to heart and scoured the internet for something fun for us to do. One of the most fun things we used to do together was to play on Nintendo consoles like the Wii and play games like Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. These games were competitive to a fun degree, it never got too heated but with time and age, the family-friendly Wii console was forgotten. When the Nintendo Switch was released it took the world by storm. It’s fun and the joy-cons mechanisms were easy to use and split between multiple people, so we were ecstatic!
We are lovers of anything nostalgic and now we were able to relive the fun competitiveness we shared in our childhood. What was even more nostalgic was Nintendo’s new Super Smash Bros Ultimate, a game that is connected to another game in the Wii during 2008 that we bonded closely with. It held the same premise, It was a beat ‘em up platformer-style game that had hundreds of story features as well as major customizable levels. Nintendo made the new Super Smash Bros Ultimate like its predecessor, but better with more features including fighting others online! With this, me and my brothers were able to talk like we used to, with no awkward pauses and long meaningless conversations.
After receiving a Nintendo switch, my cousins, who I am very close with and missed greatly over lockdown, grabbed a hold of their own consoles and played with us through the internet. Although they were not as emotionally connected to the games, it was fun for them nevertheless, especially since they were the same age as me and my brothers when we first started playing on the Wii. I felt a sense of warmth that the Nintendo Switch did not only make me remember the warm feelings of childhood, where we had no worries and fears, but I was also able to see these same warm feelings occurring in my younger cousins. It gives me happiness and comfort knowing that even if Covid-19 was terrorizing the world, at least there are objects that are able to help shift your mind from hard matters into a more calm and safe place.
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2021-11
Medical mask mandates on public transport had been in effect for a while now when this happened:
There are always the inevitable idiots who refuse to wear their masks (or just wear them below their nose, which in addition to being stupid also looks stupid) and usually people will just roll their eyes but say nothing - that one morning went differently.
The train was neither particularly crowded nor empty, for each 4-seater there'd be 2-3 seats occupied. We rolled into a station, people got on, among them a young woman who sat down on the first available seat. Directly behind her, some middle-aged guy, in possession of a mask but having it bunched up beneath his chin like a face-diaper. Upon seeing the woman sit down, he suddenly started ranting at her because apparently he'd wanted to sit in that seat (note that there were plenty of seats left), insulting her with a barrage of sexist and racist terms I don't care to repeat. She ignored him. Another passenger, however, didn't, and told the mask-less idiot to stop making an ass of himself and put on his mask before speaking and 'spreading his aerosols' indoors, which drew the idiot's ire on him.
After realising that neither the woman nor the other passengers would offer their seat to him in response to his insults, the idiot moved on to the next 4-seater - only to find that the people there used their bags and jackets to occupy the empty seats there to prevent him from sitting down there, responding to his cussing by telling him to just put on his fucking mask again. He moved on, everyone on the next row of seats blocked him as well, again and again. One woman, lacking a bag, went as far as full-on man-spreading in the middle of two seats to occupy them both. In the end, the idiot had to move to a whole other train car to find a seat.
The rest of us was left with smug smiles and a sense of petty satisfaction for the rest of the ride!
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2022-02-25
This flower represents the growth I have attained and hope. While the petals represent the things I felt like I lost during Covid. I think it is important for people to see how Covid affected everyone. This may open their eyes or give them something to relate to.
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2022-02-25
I (and many others) am feeling like disasters just keep compounding one another since March 2020. I know a lot of folks around my were anticipating a “return to normal” this summer but it feels really difficult to just celebrate “normal life” when innocent Ukrainians are suffering and the whole world is watching.
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2022-02-25
The pattern of small, blue, unorganized, squares reminded me of a hospital or a doctor’s office, the first place I would go when I am sick. During this time, it seemed as if everyone was sick, there were no appointments available to meet with a doctor nor beds for individuals who were experiencing peak Covid symptoms. Words that describe a hospital: white walls, clean floors, sterile rooms, and order, or at least it was before the pandemic. The background is far from orderly, red is also present amongst the blue squares. This is to represent our health care professionals doing their best with the knowledge we had about this novel virus, but still witnessing many deaths. There are also green rings hovering around the two individuals. Green is often connected with germs or sickness. In the beginning cleaning products were flying off the shelves, people wanted to clean all surfaces as a preventative measure. This meant that consumers were buying several jugs of bleach, rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and many other products in surplus (creating many shortages). The air around the two individuals is filled with images of the Covid-19 virus under a microscope. Masks became a way to protect oneself from catching the virus, ultimately leading to mask mandates. The two individuals facing one another represent the mass separation we experienced during lockdown and with social distancing.
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2022-02-25
Russia, more powerful than thought
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2021-01-30
During a difficult time in which we are separated from one another, it is important to make the most out of every small moment. We don't notice all the tiny things that pass us by each day. This is my view.
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2022-02-23
I illustrated a CNA drowning in a molecule of sars-coV-19, also known as COVID19, to show the extreme conditions healthcare workers have been trying to push through during this pandemic. We have been working countless hours of overtime, sometimes for 24 or 48 hours straight due to understaffing, healthcare workers quitting, and others getting fired from refusing the vaccine. Our jobs have become very overwhelming, with the amount of cares we must provide for our patients, and with the thought of this pandemic having no end in sight, it's as if we're drowning in this pandemic. Healthcare workers are drowning in all the cares they must provide their patients, that they're unable to take care of themselves, and soon we won't have many healthcare and medical professionals left. That is why I chose to portray this CNA the way I did, and I hope others can agree with my experiences.
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2022-02-01
Stress is associated with the past two years. This incident was one of my most stressful contact with Covid-19 testing. You'd win the bet if you guessed there is a happy ending.
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2020-04-14
This photograph is a selfie photo from my time working at my local grocery store in Wakefield, Rhode Island, USA. I don't have many photos from this period that reflect the pandemic and my memories of it, but this photo represents the early days as the USA first began to adopt masking after the CDC realized that non-symptomatic spread was happening. Experiencing the pandemic through the lens of a grocery store was very interesting. It was a unique perspective for understanding different people's anxieties and doubts around the pandemic. It was also a strenuous place to be during the pandemic, having to constantly adapt to supply chain issues, worker shortages, and the mental strain of working in a likely unsafe environment.
About a month into the pandemic I was asked to move from my home department of prepared foods, and help the grocery-stocking staff catch up with the unpredictable shipments coming in. Shortly after that, I was moved over to the front of the store to help keep count of the people in the store and encourage customers to use masks/hand sanitizer. I remember being met with a wide variety of gratitude, skepticism, resistance, and more--even including a lecture on covid as a conspiracy! At times, this role brought me anxiety as I saw news stories of door-people and security guards being killed or harmed for asking visiting customers to wear a mask.
In a weird way, when I left my job to attend grad school at UMass Boston, I felt a bit of suvivor's guilt. Whenever I come home to Rhode Island, I hear that the folks at my old store continue to struggle even over a year deeper into the pandemic.
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2022-02-22
I did some heritage work for this hospital a couple years ago so I follow their social media. Apparently they’ve founded a COVID support group for people who have been profoundly impacted by COVID-related illness, death, and disability. I sometimes think that the chronic illness and disabling nature of long COVID is often overlooked. Who can blame anyone for overlooking it with all of the more obvious, loud, visible problems wrought by the pandemic? Anyhow this is something to think about.
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2022-02-16
This email chain documents a series of incidents in my workplace where an anonymous individual has engaged in acts of vandalism against COVID safety signage.
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2020-03-22
Since the quarantine, my life has been completely turned upside down. I wake up later, eat irregularly, and am also much lazier. At that time, I was really lonely. I don't communicate with anyone and I don't want to do anything, I just lie in bed scrolling through my phone and playing games. I study superficially and have no interest in it at all.
After a while, my sleep was completely reversed. I sleep during the day and stay awake at night. Every time I wake up I sit at the table and play games until morning, forgetting to eat and study. I have lost a lot of weight since then. Only when I play games do I feel happy because I get to meet my friends online. I got to know a lot of new people, even though we don't talk much now, but the time we spent together was really meaningful to me. Although I really enjoyed the quarantine, it also made me feel very weak. My lazy life ended when I went back to school but it took me a lot of time to get back to my normal life. I feel more positive and my life becomes more meaningful when the quarantine is over.
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2021-08-30
I uploaded a photograph of a stadium taken Athens, Greece while performers & staff were setting up the equipment during our visit.
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2020-08-28
This event offered Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson vaccines, free Uber rides and Spanish and Hmong interpreters. The event was sponsored by the NCNW Sacramento Valley Section and La Familia Counseling Center.
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2020-06-10
This flier describes a virtual town hall arranged by the Observer Newspapers and the Sacramento African American Coalition on COVID-19 that focused on the issues facing Black businesses due to Covid 19. Speakers included Moderator Larry Lee, President and Publisher of Observer Newspapers; Chelsea Rae Crowder, Vice President at JP Morgan; Khalil Ferguson, Executive Fellow at California Urban Partnership; Sfensa Ari Antch Shepsuaba, Proprietor of Cleo Cartel Inc and Sankofa Workx; Mark Adams, President AHI Construction, Inc.; and Stephanie Bray, President and CEO United Way-CCR.
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2022-02-08
A pink disposable mask on ASU’s campus near Coor.
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2020-03
As most young adults my age, I suffer from severe anxiety. Dealing with anxiety daily, can be very challenging at times, especially during a pandemic. I have been fighting a battle with anxiety most of my life. At this point, I am really used to the extra thoughts in my head. I have learned to help manage it, but not completely get rid of it. I believe that anxiety has made me who I am, in a way, because I do not remember a time where I was not struggling. In 2020, a pandemic instantly flooded the world. This completely impacted my entire life. I was not able to experience my last year in high school, I was not able to be around the one person that helped me with my anxiety, etc. I was forced to wear a mask that I could barely breathe in. I lost touch with most of my friends that I developed over my lifetime. This instant wave of depression suddenly hit me. I was so nervous on what would happen next, and how long will this last. People were dying from this pandemic. I constantly worried about if the sickness would hurt one of my family members or someone important to me. Over the time of being in quarantine, I thought to myself ways on how I could relax and not worry so much about the pandemic. I told myself every day, “Everything happens for a reason”. This is what I truly believe and for some reason it really does calm me down. I am Catholic. I am a very deep believer in God. To me, trusting in the Lord is the best anxiety reliever around. Covid-19 is still around today. Without Covid-19, I would not be where I am today. Although this pandemic has an abundance of negative impacts on my life, it also had some positive ones, too. I would not have attended Duquesne University, met so many amazing people, and made a plethora of memories that I would not trade in for. I believe talking about my anxiety, especially during the pandemic, is very critical because I am not the only one who is suffering, too. Everyone is nervous about what is going to happen next. To me, this is HUGE on helping me with my anxiety. I can finally think to myself that I am not alone.
I believe that people who suffer from anxiety, especially from the pandemic started in 2020, can have a place to go if they are nervous. When I was struggling, I felt alone, and I was the only person who felt this way. My story will allow people to realize that they are not alone. Everyone is dealing with this stress and anxiety that I suffered from. My story tells people that I have worries and doubts, too. The pandemic not only had negative impacts, but they also had positive impacts. Focusing on the positives, will distract you from the anxiety and worrying. My story should help prove that. My story should allow people to see and find new ways to cope with the stress. I hope my story leaves a positive impact on people who did or are struggling. Everyone is in this together, and nobody will be alone in this major impact on the world.
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2021-04-01
A comic strip about Covid-19
Doctor: Bill Gates sends his regards
Caption: April Fool's at the vaccination clinic
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2020-07-15
A comic strip about Covid-19
[Sign reads] Fauci Season
[Sign reads] Masks Save Lives
(Cartoon shows Donald Trump with a gun hunting. Dr. Fauci is dressed like a rabbit. The final panel has Fauci placing a mask on the end of Trump's gun. )
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2020-08-31
A comic strip about Covid-19
Covid's First Day of School
My Teacher Is "not here for long"
I Am "legion"
I Want to Be "in your lungs" When I Grow Up
I Love "low HVAC ratings"
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2020-08-04
A comic strip about Covid-19
White House Interviews More Alternative Doctors
Dr. Strange: I saw 14 million possibilities and you screwed up all of them.
President Trump: Strange. Weird. No thank you.
No more reality TV guys, Dr. Phil.
Cat in the Hat: The more you read, the more...
President Trump: "Read"?? Bye, Dr. Seuss.
I thought you were already on my staff.
Who are you?
Dr. Fauci: Um, Dr. Antoine Caufi.
President Trump: Sounds fishy. You're hired.
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2021-02-07
We ordered and received our free at-home COVID-19 test this Monday. My husband complained about not feeling well so I made him take one. He’s sick, but it’s not COVID.
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2022-02-06
What I was able to do when my ability to play basketball was limited during the pandemic.
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2020-04-24
I have a feeling that my journey through the Plague Years has been rather different than most other people. Even with the Pandemic raging, I would genuinely consider the past two years some of the best of my life. Though there were certain adjustments that had to be made surrounding the uncertainty of the disease early on, my life was largely unaffected. I was living at home and taking online classes at a community college so those continued after only a slight break. I worked part-time at a pet food store and because pet food was considered “essential” for people, I was allowed to continue working uninterrupted. My dad started working from home and my siblings high school went to a part-time schedule. During the day we started a plethora of new tv shows and almost every night we were able to have dinner as a family and play board games. The best part, after some debate, larger universities began moving to online classes and closing campuses. This meant that my friends who were away at school would be coming home. Once we knew the signs, symptoms, and the relatively small danger presented to younger people we were able to hang out and have socially distanced fun. As an introvert, friends, family, school, and work were all I really needed to be happy, and the loss of large-scale social functions was of no importance to me. In fact, I was able to utilize the lack of interaction during the Pandemic as a cover for experimentation. On April 24, 2020, after hearing my dad ask me to get a haircut for the third time, I decided to take matters into my own hands and gave myself a buzzcut. There were four thoughts ringing in my mind as the razor vibrated in my hand. 1. I need a haircut 2. No place was open that was close 3. I have had the same hairstyle since high school. 4. And most importantly, not many people would have to see it. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was and how it looked. Since that time, I have been much more adventurous with my hair styling and even with what I wear. The Pandemic helped me realize that life is too short to not try something new just for the sake of it. And though I did get clowned by my friends on occasion, that didn’t stop me from doing it again 11 months later…
The pictures included are the sink full of my hair and hanging out with friends rocking the buzzcut. Overall, I know how lucky I was to remain relatively unscathed throughout the Pandemic. My paychecks never stopped, my classes resumed shortly, and my relationships with friends and family blossomed. The only real loss experienced was my hair, and for that, I am more than grateful.
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2022-02-07T10:00:00
My story describes the cycle of emotions I went through during the past two years of the pandemic. I try to make sense of the situation, especially with high school, and find some negative and positive outcomes from my quarantine experience.
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2021
This assignment has been hard to complete because I don't feel like I have many stories to tell. While I did spend the Summer working a sleep-away camp, I have spent most of the last two years inside avoiding activities that could lead to exposure. After re-writing stories way too many times, I decided to write about the present. Two years into the pandemic, I am facing the same uncertainty. In 2020, I knew nothing about what was going to happen. Now, it almost seems worse. We continue to return to how things were before covid-19, but I am not sure it is possible. In 2020, I figured we would spend six months to a year, and then it would be like ebola. Yet, here I am in 2022, worrying about new variants, when I can get my next booster shot, and whether I will be working this Summer. While I wish we could return to the way life was before, I think about the fact that this pandemic probably won't end anytime soon. We will constantly be getting booster shots and quarantine for the unforeseeable future. There are so many things that I want to do before I graduate college, like studying abroad, going to concerts, visiting my friends' colleges but, these aren't safe or practical decisions to be made. While I have to acknowledge that my anxiety about covid may be speaking more than the science and facts, it's hard to ignore that our actions have more consequences than we could have ever imagined. The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we live our lives forever. We could either start to make some changes or let it get worse. As a camp counselor, my campers often asked me why we had to wear masks if we had to test negative to come. I often said because we have to or because the state mandates it, but in reality, we wore masks for the safety of all campers and staff. We wore masks as a precaution rather than create a potentially dangerous environment. We did it because we cared. Even though I feel like I have a lack of stories and I am still uncertain about everything Covid, I still take the necessary precautions because I care.
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2021-02-09
My grandma, a 95-year-old woman, had a decline in her health. She had to go to the hospital multiple times, and we were all told that her muscles were deteriorating. The first time she was in the hospital for a couple of weeks this past year she wasn’t able to walk so she was recommended to go to a nursing home to receive rehab. She was in the nursing home where my mom worked, she was the only one actually able to visit her. I went and visited through the window so that I could at least see her and talk to her as I didn’t know how many more times, we would be able to talk. I would call her every other day just to talk and see how she was feeling. She then went to the hospital again because she was having issues breathing on her own. We found out that she had fluid in her lungs which caused her breathing problems. We were then told that she wouldn’t make it through the night, so we went and visited her to make sure we said our goodbyes without actually saying the word goodbye. She said “I’m not ready to leave” to my mom which she proved to be true. She ended up feeling a lot better after the oxygen started working. She still needed a lot of care to help her survive. We then found out that she had covid and that she wouldn’t make it through because of the already preexisting circumstances. Her old age and her body falling apart really didn’t help her to fight off something so bad. She lost her ability to eat anything. She couldn’t swallow at all, so she lost a bunch of weight. We were then told again that she wouldn’t make it through the night, so we rushed there to see her because we believed this to be true this time. We went into the hospital with a priest and some family members with only three people allowed in the room we had to alternate. We also had masks on and then told we had to put on gloves, and an isolation gown. I left after an hour because it hurt too bad to see her suffering with two forms of oxygen on and barely being able to talk. My mom and uncle stayed till they told them visiting hours were over. The next morning my mom gets a call saying that she had passed, and she came into my brother and I’s rooms in tears to tell us. On February 9th, 2021, at 8:03, my grandma passed away.
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2020-05-30
I graduated high school in the year 2020, right when Covid-19 was growing at a rapid rate, and the world was on a lockdown. March 13, 2020 was the last day of high school for me, but I didn’t know it at the time, no one did. Senior year was supposed to be me and my friends’ last year together before we all went our separate ways for college, but the only way I could see them was social distancing in a parking lot or on face time. My mental health began to plummet, I was never one to be home, I was always out of the house. Just the isolation, not seeing your closest friends, not having anywhere to go outside the house, and doing the same boring stuff every day was so frustrating because there was nothing you could do to change that because the rest of the world was doing it too and it just was how it was. I never got to go to prom, something that was supposed to be the best night in all of high school. Events that we have been looking forward to all our lives were being taken away from us, including graduation. It felt weird to be celebrating me graduating, since we weren’t even really having school. I tried to be optimistic, I mean I worked so hard for 18 years to get to this point in my life. My high school decided to do a drive-thru graduation, where I stayed in the car and was handed my diploma, not with all the teachers or friends who helped me get there, but I was grateful to have my family. I never got to shake my principal’s hand, had people cheering for me, or able to stand with my friends and throw my cap in the air. My graduation party was the following week and held outdoors, and I was excited to see close family and friends. However, 2 days before my event that I was already kind of sad about how many important people weren’t going to be there, my extended family contracted covid. My extended family was as close as my immediate family to me, my aunt was my baby-sitter growing up, and they were unable to make it. I was crushed and crying for days leading up to it and even after, it just wasn’t the same without them. It’s sad writing this, something that I spent my whole life working forward to just ripped away. It was a true test of character, adaptability, and mentality. This was the lowest point in my life, all thanks to Covid-19.
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2021-10
Since the pandemic started life has definitely changed in plenty of ways, not just for me but for everyone. From the way we learn in school and work jobs to the way we interact in public and meet people. One thing covid brought that I saw prevalent in a few different aspects of my life was a new reason for division amongst people. This new reason for division is almost a political thing, where there are people that are nervous and scared that covid is harmful and then the people who do not care and believe covid is blown out of proportion. I see this division in things like media, politics, family, and friends. It makes a lot of things confusing for me because I never know which side to listen to. The crazy thing to see for me is how a pandemic can come around and cause so much separation. At a point it started to seem like it was the only thing I heard people talking about and it would drive me crazy. If I put on the news, it was always someone saying everyone needs masks, then I flip the channel and the next station is saying mask are bad and should not be on all day. Then it came to my family, my dad would tell me I needed all the vaccines and booster but my mom on the other hand told me to do whatever I wanted and did not care. Seeing all of this back a fourth throughout this time would frustrate me because it made making my mind up so difficult. This eventually even got to my friends, and I saw friends that would argue about whether people should get the booster or not, and I thought it was so ridiculous. The reason I bring up this point of division is because I believe it is interesting how everyone has reacted to covid. I also feel like it has made people feel the need to push their opinions and ideas onto other people, it is something I have seen first-hand in my life. Similar to the way Hitler or Stalin pushed their ideas on everyone, but on a very different level. Maybe one day people will just let each other choose for themselves.
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2020-03
As most young adults my age, I suffer from severe anxiety. Dealing with anxiety daily, can be very challenging at times, especially during a pandemic. I have been fighting a battle with anxiety most of my life. At this point, I am really used to the extra thoughts in my head. I have learned to help manage it, but not completely get rid of it. I believe that anxiety has made me who I am, in a way, because I do not remember a time where I was not struggling. In 2020, a pandemic instantly flooded the world. This completely impacted my entire life. I was not able to experience my last year in high school, I was not able to be around the one person that helped me with my anxiety, etc. I was forced to wear a mask that I could barely breathe in. I lost touch with most of my friends that I developed over my lifetime. This instant wave of depression suddenly hit me. I was so nervous on what would happen next, and how long will this last. People were dying from this pandemic. I constantly worried about if the sickness would hurt one of my family members or someone important to me. Over the time of being in quarantine, I thought to myself ways on how I could relax and not worry so much about the pandemic. I told myself every day, “Everything happens for a reason”. This is what I truly believe and for some reason it really does calm me down. I am Catholic. I am a very deep believer in God. To me, trusting in the Lord is the best anxiety reliever around. Covid-19 is still around today. Without Covid-19, I would not be where I am today. Although this pandemic has an abundance of negative impacts on my life, it also had some positive ones, too. I would not have attended Duquesne University, met so many amazing people, and made a plethora of memories that I would not trade in for. I believe talking about my anxiety, especially during the pandemic, is very critical because I am not the only one who is suffering, too. Everyone is nervous about what is going to happen next. To me, this is HUGE on helping me with my anxiety. I can finally think to myself that I am not alone.
I believe that people who suffer from anxiety, especially from the pandemic started in 2020, can have a place to go if they are nervous. When I was struggling, I felt alone, and I was the only person who felt this way. My story will allow people to realize that they are not alone. Everyone is dealing with this stress and anxiety that I suffered from. My story tells people that I have worries and doubts, too. The pandemic not only had negative impacts, but they also had positive impacts. Focusing on the positives, will distract you from the anxiety and worrying. My story should help prove that. My story should allow people to see and find new ways to cope with the stress. I hope my story leaves a positive impact on people who did or are struggling. Everyone is in this together, and nobody will be alone in this major impact on the world.
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2020-03
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought an array of challenges for not only me, but people across the globe. People have lost loved ones, lost touch with some of their closest friends, got covid themselves, and so much more. Although Covid-19 has taken a long-lasting toll on my life, it has also brought me great change in an extremely positive way. When the pandemic first started my family and I were forced into a “lockdown”, only leaving our house for the essentials like food. I was unable to see my friends as online schooling became more and more prominent. This took such a toll on me both mentally and physically. I was longing for a social connection that I could no longer get and was unable to do one of the things I love to do most, workout. Although at the time I thought it was the worst thing possible, the lockdown caused my family and I to get extremely close. We would have family dinners, play games, and watch movies. The pandemic helped me to realize how much I rely on my family, and that through thick and thin they will always be there for me. As the pandemic progressed, I got accepted into Duquesne University, and started college soon after. This was a huge adjustment for me as I am from Buffalo, three and a half hours away. I had to meet new people and get adjusted to home away from home amid a global pandemic. I had to overcome fear of the unknown and fear of the pandemic to grow as an individual, and I did just that. Through the last three semesters I have met so many amazing people and found the things that make me happy while at Duquesne. I learned to not let fear override you, and that to grow physically and mentally you must overcome fear. Across the entire pandemic I have also learned that sometimes you need to focus on yourself and put yourself first. Throughout the pandemic I got into the habit of going to the gym consistently and began to eat more cleanly. I found joy in the little things, like going to work and building relationships with my fellow employees. In the end, the pandemic taught me to always look on the brightside no matter what and to make the most of everything that is thrown at you, good or bad. Looking back at it, the Covid-19 pandemic helped me grow and become the person I am today.
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2021-10-13
While my life has changed significantly due to the covid-19 pandemic, I would say that the biggest adjustment for me was adapting to the different methods of instruction at my university. As a college student, I was used to and grew comfortable with in person instruction. This was the method of learning that I partook my entire life; the sudden change to strictly online had significant effects on my academic performance and overall retention of material. For me, it was remarkedly more difficult to grasp concepts that I would have comprehended under normal study conditions. Taking science heavy courses such as organic chemistry, instrumental analysis, physics, and molecular biology were all much more difficult than they would have been normally. It is also prudent to note the inconsistencies of professors during this time period, as they had to adjust just as much (or even more) than students. Old-school professors that did not have experience with the newest technology were forced to orient their lecture material in a format completely foreign. Needless to say, professors who were very effective instructors in person often struggled in the zoom format. Specifically, issues related to zoom that affected the quality of teaching included connection issues and students having incentives to not pay attention. For example, I took biostatistics 1 completely online, where the professor was older and not technologically adept. Every class the professor would write notes on a paper and and show it to the class. This strategy for teaching proved to be ineffective because the quality of video was not definitive, the lighting was poor, and the handwriting was small. All of these combined factors led to an entire class who had no idea what was being taught to them. While this is unfortunate, I adapted by reading more of the textbook than I would under normal circumstances, and met with the professor during office hours to work out material that I did not understand.
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2022-02-06
Mask trash by the parking lot at Nozomi Park.
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2022-02-06
This website shows how much Tik Toks Ratings went up during the pandemic while people were confined to their homes. Tik Tok started many trends over the last couple years and became a national platform around the world to post things like art, music, memes, craft, beauty, inspiration, cooking, education, and entertainment. This was known around the world as a creative outlet for millions of people during a sad period in time.
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2020-03-20
When the quarantine lockdown mandate was first instated, and all gyms were closed, I quickly became nervous figuring out how I would be able to work out every day efficiently. As a child, I was always overweight until one summer when I obtained a gym membership and trainer to help me lose 45 pounds. However, when all gyms closed, I feared that not going consistently would lead me to gain weight again as I sat stagnant at home. Fortunately, I was able to make the most out of my situation at home and create an at-home workout routine to stay healthy. Daily, I would wake up and run 2 miles outside, followed by 100 pushups, 50 situps, and 5 one-minute planks. Although this workout was not as strenuous as if I was able to go to the gym, it was still very effective in keeping me in shape and helped me stay active. Most importantly, these at-home workouts kept me occupied during quarantine and helped relieve my stress of not seeing or hanging out with my friends and other family members.
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2022-02-06
In March of 2020, all SUNY schools were sent home because of the Covid pandemic. It was unknown how long I was going to be home for, little did I know it would be over 11 months and a year and a half to go to in person classes. Almost half of my college experience was spent virtual. This is a time that you will never get to live again and it was cut short by almost half. I am very grateful to be in person again and seeing my friend's even thought things aren't 100% back to normal, I am very happy to be back. I am praying that this never happens again for future college students or any students in that matter. Enjoy the time you have because you never know what the future holds.
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2022-02-06
It’s been nearly two years since the start of the pandemic, and if you ask some people, the state of this disaster hasn’t improved a whole lot. I turned 20 a few days ago, which marks my second birthday that has passed since the official start of Covid, which if I’m remembering correctly was March 13th, 2020. I’ll never forget the announcement made over the Pine Richland High School loudspeakers that day. Sitting in the back of the statistics classroom, the statement told us that we would have no school for the next two weeks, which at the time beat any time off we’d ever had prior. Fast forward two years later and we still wear masks indoors. We still have to wash or sanitize our hands after just about any surface we touch to hope we don’t get the virus. Even more importantly, I haven’t been able to see some of my family for years now. Driving all the way out to New York would be risky since they aren’t in the best health, and it’s not worth taking any chances with how bad this virus can be for some people. The worst part of it all has to be that we don’t know when this is going to end. It’s been long enough that the pandemic has become political, with rivalries between those who choose and refuse to get the vaccine, but will it ever stop? Will there ever be a point in time that we can all feel safe enough to be able to do anything without living in fear of this virus? I never expected to be sitting here years after this all started writing how just about anything is still affected by Covid, but I guess I’ve gotten used to it. After all of this, though, the whole “you never know what you got until it’s gone” saying really does remain true.
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2022-02-06
Mask trash by the parking lot at Nozomi Park.
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2020-03
My plaque story begins in March 2020, right in the middle of my senior year of my senior year of high school. that day we were let out of school for, what we were told, 2 weeks. One of my friends was away at a baseball camp that night and he had left his car in our school parking lot so me and my friends decided to go to the grocery store, buy a bunch of Saran Wrap, and Saran Wrap his car. At this point the amount that the pandemic would affect our lives hadn't sank in yet but when we got to the grocery store to buy the wrap we saw a very surreal sight. Hundreds of people were there wearing masks and gloves, and even goggles. People were buying canned food and toilet paper in mass quantities and there were numerous empty shelves. It looked like something out of a movie and that's when it began to sink in how crazy the situation was. that same week I remember going hiking with a couple of my friends and talking about the pandemic. I remember us wondering if anyone that we knew would end up getting the virus or if it would fizzle out before it hit Pennsylvania and if or when we would go back to school to finish our senior year. It turned out that we would never go back and "two weeks to slow the spread" turned into months and then years. It is now February 2022 and our lives are still being turned upside down by this pandemic. All we can do now is hope that things eventually return to normal and that we as humans can learn from the mistakes made during this pandemic.
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2020-04
2020 started out great. I finally started to like my experience as a freshman at Duquesne. I really took a liking to my classes and the sorority that I joined, and I was always busy which was a nice change of pace from the fall semester. With this, I met a lot of amazing people who soon would become my closest friends. I was having a great start to the year. However, that all came to a pause in the middle of March. What I thought was going to be a 2-week vacation turned out to be a complete change in the way we live our lives. Zoom University was a nice break but it soon turned into a nightmare. I myself am a home-body, but getting up every single day knowing that I was about to have the same exact day as the next and the next was really hard. I had a really hard time not seeing family, friends, maintaining relationships, and just trying to stay sane during this quarantine. While this seemed like a never-ending cycle that would soon drive me and everyone in my house insane, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. While I really loved my life at school, I realized that I didn’t have much time to focus on myself. It was just one distraction after the next. I finally got to really do things for myself. I made it a habit to workout inside the house, go on daily walks with my family, journal my thoughts, and really work on finding my inner peace. During this time, I realized that some things I had in my life pre-covid that I thought were serving me and bringing value, were not. Covid really stripped down every distraction and made it clear what was making me happy and what wasn’t, and for that I am grateful. Although it came with many struggles, covid taught a lesson to myself and I think to a lot of people of how to adapt well to a situation and focus on what is important, your well-being and the well-being of those closest to you and get back to your roots!
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2020-03-16
The COVID pandemic of 2020 affected many lives including my own. For me, it greatly affected my ability to focus on my physical health. When we were all sent home from school to finish our semester online, the gyms closed. This drove a wedge between me and where I wanted to be physically. While I could still do calisthenics at my house, I was unable to do the heavy weight training that I had grown so accustomed to. This caused me to lose some of the muscle mass I had spent so much time trying to gain. Not only that, I also lost the one place I could go to be alone with my thoughts. While I’m at the gym, I can focus on problems inside my mind while also making myself stronger. I don’t have to deal with any unnecessary external interactions with others while I’m at the gym. While I was at home, I would sometimes find myself being irritated by my family with nowhere to go. During these times, I would end up going outside or locking myself away in my room. Since I had nowhere to blow off the steam, I could only sit there and let the irritation manifest into anger. While calisthenics were good for my physical shape, they did not help me the same way heavy weights did. To fix that issue, I took up boxing with two gloves and a small yoga mat. I put the mat up against the wall and began teaching myself how to box. This was helping. While I had to deal with the occasional interruption by my family, I finally found an activity that helped me effectively blow off steam. Still, I always knew that none of this was going to last. I knew I needed to get back into the gym in order to feel like myself again. Much like many others, I waited until the day when mine reopened again. When my gym reopened, I considered the pandemic to finally be over in my eyes.
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2020-03-24
March 2020
When the pandemic began, I was two weeks into my first job at McDonalds. At this point in the pandemic, masks cost $700 for the case we got at work. One day, when I walked into McDonalds, the manager called me back to the office. I thought I was getting fired since we were overstaffed, and I was trained to work at the kiosk in the now-closed lobby. To my surprise, she didn’t fire me. She explained that we have a new part of our uniform: a McMask. If I said I laughed, that would be an understatement. People were wearing them upside down, so they made a sad face. Even the customers laughed at us. I was always the first person to show my McSpirit, but the McMask would not be seen on me outside of a McWork setting.
I noticed other changes at work aside from our spectacular new dress code. Since we were drive-thru only, customers started acting crazier than usual. Due to supply chain shortages, our menu was somewhat limited. While some customers took it for what it was (we’re in a pandemic, yanno?), some were not so understanding. I had money, drinks, and some very hurtful words thrown at me.
Some may wonder: Did McDonalds take the proper precautions to stop the spread of COVID-19 within the restaurant? The short answer: McNo. During the beginning of my McWorking career, I stayed on the customer service side of things, so I wasn’t in the kitchen. However, the people in the kitchen rarely wore masks, since the lobby wasn’t open, and the customers couldn’t see them. Since we were during peak Shamrock Shake season when the pandemic began, there was rarely time between orders to change gloves or wash hands.
In conclusion, McDonalds had quite a few McChanges during the pandemic. Although, none of them sacrificed the Mac’s dirty nature, it was quite the experience to hop into this new way of life with all my filthy McPals by my side.
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2022-02-06
After everything closed down in March of 2020, I thought for sure that I would not step foot in my high school ever again. I finished out the rest if my classes online, and decided that I would be going to Duquesne University starting in the fall. I was a little upset on how my high school days ended, but I accepted the fact that there was nothing I could do about it, and that that was just the way it went. As the summer came I began to think less and less about my high school. Until one day I check my school email and got a message from my form dean. She said that the school wanted to have an in person graduation for us just like all the other classes before us. I was pretty surprised to hear this because I know other schools in my area were not going to do this and just told the graduating seniors "Sorry, but there is nothing we can do". The school set the date for graduation in July, and said we all had to be spaced out and wear masks for the whole time. I didn't think much of this email after I first read it. I thought it was a nice gesture but it wasn't really going to happen. But as the date came closer and closer, I realized it actually was going to happen. Honestly, I wasn't too excited about having to go to my graduation. I was contempt with how my high school career ended and was ready to move on. I wasn't the type of person that was so in love with my school. I still was in contact with my friends so I didn't really see a need to go sit through a two hour long graduation outside in the July summer heat. But I thought about my mom and how she would like to go see it and how much it would mean to her. So I decided to go, even though I really did not have much choice. After the graduation was over, my opinions about it changed. I was really happy that we got to have a graduation and I realize what a kind gesture that was for my high school to put one together for us.
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2020-03-17
On March 17, 2020, I went shopping for the first time since schools and facilities closed nationwide just four days earlier. Much to my dismay, upon entering my local Target, I noticed that shelves in every part of the store were empty, however, I specifically remember shortages of canned goods, paper towels, and tissue paper. I continued to shop and collect what I could, all the while wondering what else would be in short supply in the coming days. During this time, families across the nation (including mine) began to ration food and focus on purchasing essential items when they became available. In retrospect, the mass shortage not only demonstrated how the pandemic impacted all parts of life, but it also revealed how accustomed Americans are to having various items available in abundance, which I believe is sometimes taken for granted.
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2020-03-28
Once the world shut down and everyone had to quarantine, I found that I had a lot of new found free time to deal with. Over the first few days I thought it was awesome, because I was able to relax at home and basically do nothing. After those beginning days, things started to get boring. I didn’t know what to do with myself. It took me a few days, but I began to look for more things I could do with my life. As a music major, I practice my instrument about 3-4 hours every day. I took advantage of my free time by putting in a lot of work on the horn which greatly helped my development. I have also been very interested in learning new languages. I decided to start learning German. So far I’ve been studying German everyday on my own since then. It has been very fun to read stories and news articles in German. I have also found a great podcast and YouTube channel that does an awesome job teaching German. I had also begun to exercise more during the pandemic. My friends and I would go on runs outside together. It was a great way to meet up with friends and be healthy. The pandemic was a very difficult time when it first broke out. Most people did not know what to do with themselves. There was a lot of sitting at home, watching television, or playing video games. I didn’t want to remember the time of the pandemic as a time where I didn’t improve as a person. I had decided to make these changes or improvements to better myself for when the pandemic was over. It has been a great lesson for me as the pandemic is still going on today. I have learned how to deal with difficult situations and also how to make the most out of them
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2021-09-13
For years, I believed there was something wrong with me that wasn’t similar to anyone else. This “something” wasn’t easy to figure out. The pandemic consisted of trends, exercise, masks, and heavy cleaning. In high school, girls consistently made fun of me for my body, weight, and the way I looked. The bullying wouldn’t stop- I was fifteen. My mom took everything to the police. Things were dealt with. Things were okay, until they weren’t. On April 5th, 2020, while doing a heavy clean of some junk drawers, I found the red folder of printed screenshots. Sorrow began to creep up my spine as I began to cry. I couldn’t understand why people ever thought this was okay. I stopped eating. How does this happen? By choice? No, not really. By coincidence? Not that either. I kept my eating disorder hidden. I never told the doctors, friends, employers, and most regretfully, I hid it from my family. Beginning from April 5th, 2020, to approximately September of 2021, I was not okay. Within the duration of starving myself out, burning 800 calories a day at the gym, making myself throw up after every time I ate, and weighing myself four times a day, I didn’t see anything wrong with my lifestyle. It was June 11th, 2021, when I was at the doctor’s office. She asks, “Do you have any questions or concerns?” I didn’t. Well, I did. Words of anger went in and throughout my brain. I had been battling an eating disorder for well over a year and I wasn’t ready to admit it. I was always the perfect, angelic, do-no-wrong child in my family- I couldn’t let them know about this but, I also couldn’t stand to hate myself for another day. It came out… “I think I have an eating disorder”, I said as tears ran down my face. For the next few months, I was monitored. It was the hardest battle I’ve had to face. I came face to face with my parents and explained everything. They sobbed as they couldn’t understand why their first-born child refused to understand how beautiful she is. My heart shattered into a million pieces. Soon after that doctor’s appointment, I was on the road to recovery. Many people hate covid because they felt robbed of love, opportunity, and most importantly, time. If anything, Covid-19 saved my life. I finally ridded of those demon in which lived inside my precious thoughts. There’s no more “I look fat” or “I can’t eat that”. This wasn’t something that was wrong with just me- it affects millions. Covid taught me that there is no room for negativity in this world. Time moves too fast.
The presence of eating disorders during the pandemic can help historians understand the impact of cyberbullying, food scarcity due to supply chain issues, etc. I don’t believe that researchers realize how many adults and children were affected by mental illness due to persistent lockdowns, isolation periods, restricted visitation, and new introductions to a virtual society. My experience offers intel to how mental and physical illnesses were underestimated throughout the entirety of the pandemic. Whether it be an eating disorder or a cancer patient, it’s difficult to watch because it seems like covid-19 patients are prioritized everywhere even if they choose not to be vaccinated. It’s a hard thing to watch in terms of priority because cancer patients, heart disease patients, etc. have less room in hospitals because people choose to not be vaccinated. With that being said, being vaccinated has no 100% guarantee of not being hospitalized but it lowers the rates substantially.
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2020-06-01
As a senior in high school, I did not realize how important it was to experience milestones. I thought graduation was just an event that people dreaded and sat through for hours and hours until it was over. I thought prom was just another dance. I thought senior night for lacrosse was just a short walk across the field. I did not realize the true meaning and importance of these events until they were taken away from me.
My whole life, I watched my friends and brothers experience their “senior night” for their sports teams respectively. 2020 was finally my year to experience my senior night. I joined my mandatory Zoom call to discuss the options for the upcoming season, only for it to turn out in the cancellation of the entire season. I was heartbroken. At this moment, I realized that I would never play the sport I loved with my teammates ever again. I realized I would never be able to walk across the field with my family and be honored for all of the time I spent devoted to the sport of lacrosse. I would never be able to experience the feeling of walking off of the field for the last time in my career. The only experience I got was a drive thru of cars in a parking lot. Nothing could ever make up for the memories that I missed out on when my season was cancelled.
Another event that impacted me was my graduation. I had just spent thirteen years in my school district and it was finally my year to walk across the stage in my cap and gown while my family members cheered for me. Instead, because of the pandemic, I simply got to watch a slideshow from my computer with my name typed on a slide. That is all that was done by my school for my graduation. I was lucky enough that my family wanted to make this milestone special for me, so they gave me my own graduation. They set up a stage and a private graduation in my backyard with all of my family members which helped make up for the graduation that I missed out on. But, I never got to experience graduating from high school, and that is something that I know I will never get to experience due to COVID.
COVID has had an impact on my life in ways that I did not expect it to. COVID took away experiences and emotions from me that I didn't even know meant anything to me. This pandemic has taught me to take advantage of and appreciate any milestone in life, no matter how trivial it can seem. I felt and experienced the true meaning of the phrase, “You never know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone,” and if I could sum up my experience of the COVID-19 pandemic in one phrase, it would be that.
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2020-03-01
March 2020
A week before the world shut down, I was enjoying spring break in the Bahamas still joking about covid 19. By the next Friday, I was preparing for the worst year of my life, and I did not know it yet. In two weeks, I lost the rest of senior year, prom, graduation, my stepmom was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder which made it impossible to visit my dad, faced the fear of my mom working with covid every day despite having an autoimmune disorder herself.
I could have never predicted that my entire life would fall apart so quickly. I was mad that I ever took it for granted. I dreamed my entire life what my graduation night would look like, and I never pictured graduating in our local drive-in movie theater. I carried the guilt every day of not wanting to go out or choosing to do something else instead of seeing my dad. I wished I could go back and take any opportunity given to me.
At this point, I still had hope that the nightmare would end by Easter of that year, but it seemed like it would go on forever. I was scared. I was scared that my mom would catch covid and not be able to fight it. I was scared my stepmom would not get better. Everything was so unknown I found myself fearing the future.
I spent months doing absolutely nothing every single day. I was so upset I could not even bring myself to get out of bed to eat. All I wanted to do was sleep. I could not get more bad news if I was asleep. Every morning I woke up I felt like there was just more bad news and I honestly did not want to know what it was anymore. Waking up every day to more life-altering news with no end in sight was exhausting.
I now believe that this has forever changed my life in both ways. I do not take things for granted anymore because I quickly learned how quickly they can be taken away. I have learned to always look for the light at the end of the tunnel because even if it feels like it will never end it will. The most important thing I learned was that life is like a wave, there are highs and lows, but you need to learn how to rise again.
I have included a picture of the walking trail in my area. This trail was an escape from the scares of the world. I would often take long walks on this trail to calm the anxieties of the future. It was a chance to leave the house and almost forget what was happening in the world.