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Collected Item: “Coming Back Home”

Give your story a title.

Coming Back Home

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

Video

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

When lockdown happened in March of 2020, I was in college in New York. I was immediatly picked up by my uncle and taken to their home in Long Island were I stayed basically stuck in an 8x8 room with a large bed and a dresser as a desk for the next 4 months. When flight restrictions were finally slightly lifted I took the first flight out to my home, Puerto Rico. Everyone had to wear masks, disinfecting stations at every corner, and it was very empty. When I got to PR, the baggage claim turned into a medical security depot with people in hazmat suits everywhere, plastic curtains draping every hallway, and incredibly tight restrictions on movememt. It was a miracle I got back. When I was home, I was finally able to walk outside in my neighborhood and decided to explore the river by my house that I had never really been to, even though I had lived there for 18 years. That's what this video represents. It represents the first real moment of freedom and nature after months of isolation and flourescent lights. That video also represents refuge, I was seperated from my homeland for over half a year at that point, 2 months by choice and 4 months by force. And though I was out in the jungle by myself, it was a much healthier form of isolation than what I had been doing in New York. So I appreciated my flowing river and low hanging tree branches all the more.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

#ArizonaStateUniversity, #HST643, #FallBSession2024, #HistoryofTourism, #PuertoRico, #Home, #Isolation, #Nature, #Pandemic

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Self

Give this story a date.

2020-08-20
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