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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
With the news of some of my friends receiving the first vaccine I felt really hopeful. I bought clothes that I could eventually wear back to work and thought about all of the wonderful things that 2021 could bring. I am hoping that we will be vaccinated by the fall and may daughter can start middle school by walking in the door with her friends. But of course, with the excitement of the holiday (even though we didn't really do anything!) and everything leading up to it, I felt busy and hopeful. Now, I know there is darkness that is going to run its course and we have to hope we can safely get through the next few months +. I am still going to hold on to my hope, but I feel that we are in the one foot in front of the other mode again. It's daunting.
January 5, 2021
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What do you think was the biggest news event this past week -- either in your community, nationally, or globally? Talk about why it’s a big deal.
Hard to pick a single event when so much stays the same. Yet some problems and solutions are crystal clear and we still can’t work our way through them. Covid has just added a complicating layer to many peoples’ struggles from poverty, natural disasters, greed and denial. I think the biggest challenge for the US right now is the continued question for some as to who won the election. How is it this is even taking up any time or energy when the election is over, and over 60 court cases dismissed? We would be shaking our heads at any dictator trying to pull this in another country and yet here it continues - lead by the shouts of a very vocal, very angry few! This sets a dangerous precedent for America and the world when you turn a blind eye to rules and accepted social norms, especially when it’s just to curry favor from one. It allows political leaders, bosses and anyone else to justify their feelings of entitlement and turn a blind eye to those needing help. I hope the new year can shed some badly needed clarity!
January 5, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Everyday I half heartedly listen to the news and read the lates test COVID-19 statistics and think about how my life and the world has changed since the virus. I also wonder when or if it will ever go back to the way it was or if that is even possible? The vaccine was a bright Hope whose light quickly faded out as we have had countless problems with shipment distribution and health care people available to administer it. I worry that they healthcare workers will burn out and no one will replace them. The new more contagious virus is like a speeding train to our breaking point as a nation. Once I get the vaccine I can go back to work to be worked to death because so many library staff have retired, quit or gone to different branches that we are majorly short staffed. I remind myself to be grateful that I have a job, but it’s difficult to remain hopeful and happy right now.
January 5, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
I've been working as a pediatric specialist for nearly 30 years. One of the things that always brought me the most joy was interacting with patients and families in meaningful communication and sometimes even in play. I loved reassuring small children and their families that as sick as they might be, they would be cherished as the delightful, vibrant, individual children that they had always been, despite and through the illness or injury that brought them to my care. Taking a break from the constant barrage of need and noise and nuance of the world of critical care by talking to a family or playing with a child not only sustained me, but helped me understand the patients and the families better, making me a better doctor. Now- with my mask, goggles or face shield, isolation gowns, gloves etc, I am unable to do this. I cannot watch as closely for non verbal cues from the parents who are similarly masked and shielded, the kids find us all slightly terrifying, no matter how smiley or compassionate we try to make our eyes and our voices muffled through the masks. The soothing touch of skin on skin for a fretful infant is not an option. The toddlers recoil from our billowing masked and shielded selves. the parents are even more exhausted in their own battles with isolation, financial stressors and now- a critically ill child. I wanted to put up a contrasting picture taken precovid of a rare break to play with a child, but cannot upload two. It is a striking contrast. I miss the doctor I was once able to be.
January 5, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Around March 15, Brooklyn and New York City went into PAUSE - meaning we were told to stay home and quarantine - (those of us who could afford to.) My partner has prostate cancer and a compromised immune system, so I'm a caregiver and have to be very careful of any interactions I have outside our home, for fear of bringing the virus home to him, and for fear that I might carry it in an asymptomatic way. In order to keep myself calm, and to prevent myself shutting down emotionally, I began to do a sketch in my sketchbook as frequently as possible to record and remember what these days are like. It helped me slow down my own racing thoughts -- and to focus on at least one thing that day that I noticed. I found lots of beauty in the simple things. And gratitude for things I wouldn't have noticed during "normal times." At first, time seemed to stretch out slowly as we were quarantining. When I was kid, I used to to draw to calm myself down from stormy family situations. Now I'm 63, and sketching still brings enjoyment and meaning, and helps me to relax and slow down. These are like sketch meditations. The first sketch is of D. sitting outside in the back garden. We tried to get out back whenever the days were warmer, because we were protected from outsiders there. This is dated March 15, 2020. This is one of my fast pencil sketches. The second sketch is dated March 24, 2020. My son and his girlfriend live upstairs. She is 31 and undergoing post breast cancer treatments so they quarantine deeply. They don't go to the laundromat, so I do their laundry. My dryer was broken at the time, so I had to drape their wet laundry all over the dining room.Every article of clothing seemed a bit stressed and restless, so I tried to capture that -- in this sketch.
January 5, 2021
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How has media coverage of the coronavirus influenced what you think, how you feel, or what you do?
I'm pretty active on Facebook, my kids would say too active.When I see good articles about why we should be careful to avoid COVID I post them. However I post them in a way that excludes my conservative friends, to avoid getting in arguments with them. Several of them thing COVID is not nearly as bad as it is portrayed in the mainstream media. I don't agree. My aunt (with whom I wasn't close), my favorite English teacher, a friend from high school's mother and my sister-in-laws uncle all died from COVID. Back to a general post, we have had two friends whose sister died in a country across the Atlantic but they were unable to attend the funeral due to COVID.
January 5, 2021
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Think about the people closest to you. Tell us about how the coronavirus has affected them, and their life.
I have a 14 year old son. He has always been a joyful, smart, active kid. He would tell you he didn't really like school in the past but the transition to "zoom school" has been hard. He has gone for months at a time never seeing someone his own age except through a screen. He plays less and scrolls through his phone more. He's an athlete, whose sports were all cancelled. My older son eventually left college to come home as well. I'll talk about him later. In the beginning of Covid getting bad here I insisted that I would supplement their relatively poor online school experience by teaching them one "essential life skill" a couple of evenings a week if I wasn't working. They thought I was being "extra" about school. I was actually worrying I might get sick and die and thinking of all the things I hadn't taught them. I'm a single parent and a health care worker. What would happen if I fell ill? I taught them how to sew a button on a shirt, how to cook a few simple healthy meals for themselves, how to find the 23d psalm in the Bible, how to shuffle a deck of cards like a pro, how to start seeds indoors, how to get a hard workout done in the basement with only a few weights and a yoga mat. One night I taught them how to open a wine bottle - but that was for me. My 14 year old became quieter, laughed less. Looked distracted and bored in zoom school. Slept poorly and climbed into my bed one night because he had had a bad dream that his grandparents had died and he started wondering what would happen to him if I died. I promised him I wouldn't die, that I was being super careful, that I had enough masks and gloves and gowns to keep me safe. I knew I wasn't being entirely truthful, but it made him feel better and really, that's part of my job as his mom- to keep him believing in some type of normal.
January 5, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
We are moving so i am excited to be in a new home, my dad and his wife came down to visit and was SO hard not to hug him. They are heading to florida for 4 mo. and i worry that they will get sick, that this last time i saw them i didn't just give them a hug and take the chance, and i worry that they will not be careful enough once away and we'll have no way to help them
January 6, 2021
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Let's talk about exercise. Has the pandemic affected whether or how you exercise? If so, how?
Yes and no - in some ways I've had to change my exercise routine, but in other ways it hasn't changed at all. I've always exercised outside, with some exercise indoors too. We have a bike set-up on a trainer at home that I use inside and then I like to run and hike outdoors. When I spin on the bike indoors hasn't really been impacted by the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, I wouldn't give a second thought to when I would go for a run, and for hiking I would often go with friends or other hiking groups for day hikes close by. For my runs, I would usually go early in the morning before getting ready for work, etc. and it wouldn't matter where I ran. Once the pandemic started, my husband was worried about me running in the dark so early in the morning, so I frequently wait until sunrise to go for a run, or try to squeeze it in during my lunch break (especially, if I don't have meetings in the afternoon where I need to shower and stuff right away). But, I also have to think about the routes I take or when I go for my runs or any hikes now. For popular trails, my general rule of thumb is that it's still not too many people on the trails before 10a.m. if I want to get in my run or hike by then. Or, for popular trails I can go pretty much any time if the weather is crappy (really cold, rainy, etc.). For my hikes I've been doing a lot of solo hiking, with some distanced hiking with a couple friends, but trying to keep distance while hiking with friends can be difficult sometimes. Just writing all of this out makes me tired thinking about all of the logistics and things I think about before I step out the door to exercise. One thing I will say about the pandemic, it has truly unveiled to me the importance of exercise during this prolonged stressful period. I really don't think I would be able to keep my sanity if I didn't have my time out of the house to burn off some energy, frustration, or just plain zone out. While I don't always look forward to going out for a run or hopping on the bike. I'm always glad I did it afterwards (that hasn't changed with the pandemic).
January 6, 2021
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During this pandemic, people are looking for guidance and support in different places. Talk about where you've been looking for support, and how helpful (or not helpful) these sources have been to you.
My support comes from my coworkers, my family, and my temple family. Of course, my coworkers are dealing with the same issues that I am, work-related. We've always been able to share and rely on each other for support. My family, too, is very supportive. My husband is a retired nurse, so he absolutely understands. My temple family, the congregation, has been my cheerleaders. They seem to know exactly when I need to hear those words of encouragement. Each time we meet for virtual Shabbat services or weekly Shabbat blessings, they ask me how things are at the hospital and how I am. They have literally clapped and cheered for me. I don't feel that I deserve it, but they disagree. Regardless, they make me feel like a hero.
January 6, 2021
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Do you feel like your life is going well right now? Has the pandemic changed this? If so, tell us about it.
“How you doin?” Is something I ask myself every day, and every day I’m grateful. I’m retired and own my house. My health is good, and so far my family is healthy. We are not without challenges but they are minor compared to all those fighting the disease either personally or professionally. We have a roof over our head and food to eat, and can move around under our own power. What’s changed the most is how we socialize. Thank goodness for technology! Zoom and texting are a lifeline as I can see faces and interact. I miss smiles and hugs...and I don’t understand selfishness, entitlement and stupidity... well yes, I do...people are afraid, and fear often makes people stupid and angry and we see examples every day of that dangerous combination. Here’s hoping hate, like a bear, will hibernate, and perhaps dissipate and begone by spring...yah, I know...but you got to have a dream.... 12/15
January 6, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
I have felt very lonely and insecure since returning home to living alone in my one-bedroom apartment after spending Thanksgiving through New Year's with family. I try to dive head-first into my work (working remotely for an archival project and my dissertation), and that does help. I've been scheduling Zoom hangouts with friends on most days. I have a very close friend in my PhD program who has been living with family for six months and is about to go back to living alone. I worry for her, but at the same time, it helps make me feel less alone that she's in the same situation. Honestly, the first six months of all of this, working from home, never leaving my apartment, never seeing anyone, really wasn't that bad. But I hit my limit, sometime around August or September. I became incredibly depressed. I just can't do this forever. Even though I'm not going to take risks, I honestly understand and empathize with the people who have lost it and can't take the isolation anymore. I am receiving an at-home test from my workplace so I can go back to working in the office a couple days a week, everyone staggered so we're only with one or two other people at a time. I am looking forward to spending time on site, but at the same time, it's incredibly lonely there with the staggered schedule.
January 7, 2021
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Take wing - see the omen Fly high Take wing - see the omen Fly high Soar true near the omen Aim true Soar true near the omen Aim true
January 7, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
I love Rick Astley! Yesterday, when I was bored out of my mind, I poured over his music videos on YouTube. The songs helped me to momentarily return to the '80s when life was simpler, clothing styles were horrendous, and I was 20 pounds lighter. Then I read about the continued popularity of “rick-rolling”—when a seemingly innocent hyperlink to some relevant site or additional information instead leads to a link to Astley’s music video “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Suddenly, I realized that since March 2020, the whole world has been rick-rolled. Well, maybe not actually rick-rolled, but perhaps COVID-rolled. No matter where you wanted to go or what you wanted to do, an ominous, unwanted COVID-19 “link” would always pop up. A wedding? Sorry, you’ve been COVID-rolled. A birthday party? Again, COVID-rolled. How about a funeral? Family reunion? Haircut? Airline flight? An outing for groceries? Yup, COVID-rolled again. (In the interest of transparency, I might or might not have been joyously swigging after-Christmas wine while warbling along with Rick and cursing COVID.) I just wanna tell you how I’m feeling Gotta make you understand (It's) Never gonna go away Never gonna set you free Always gonna float around and infect you Always gonna make you cry Never gonna say goodbye Always gonna spread those germs that affect you.
January 7, 2021
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Has the pandemic affected your political views in any way? If so, how?
It's been very interesting to compare "my" three political leaders. I am an American living in Scotland, so I have been watching the US president, the UK prime minister, and Scotland's First Minister, as the three of them navigate - or not - the challenges of lockdown, health, the economy, travel, school. The US and the UK have both been among the nations hit hardest by the pandemic. Scotland, too, has been hit hard. What I've really noticed is that even though the infection and death rates are comparably bad, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister, has managed to inspire confidence and trust. It seems to come down to her public approach: she briefs the nation every day, she expresses compassion for the suffering, she admits to her shortcomings, and she encourages solidarity. It is a stark contrast to the confused and sometimes patently untrue propaganda presented by Donald Trump and Boris Johnson. Sturgeon's success at mitigating the effects of the pandemic hasn't really been any better than her counterparts. But her political finesse has ensured that she has impressed not only her own people, but those of nations around the world. It seems to me to be a lesson in how to present yourself as a politician.
January 7, 2021
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How has the pandemic affected your work, or your schoolwork? Give an example or two.
I am a teaching visual artist, Primarily a large scale painter. I often draw or paint my hare shown in this photograph. I am struggling to dive back into my painting but find the pandemic news and updates at times hog tie my efforts. I sign up for virtual trips, book reviews of creative challenges and most recently I joined a weekly “art and write” workshop with a hallowed New York City institution. I am two hours by commuter rail from NYC so an online option felt uniquely suited to my needs. My “assemblage” set up in my rar covered driveway (after the omen snow melted!) allows my hare on an ancient sled to ride over a shopping bag from Trump tower! An end to the’m 45th potus stealing our lives from citizens one tweet at a time. My online instructor cautions, “Nothing political!” However there is a need to express my dissatisfaction!
January 7, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
This is what I like to call the behind-the-scenes pic of my Christmas morning. This pic feels a lot like the past couple of weekshas, and what I worry weeks will continue to feel like: Decent attempts to connect remotely with loved ones that - despite going as well as can be expected - will always fall short of the dream; immense effort with what feels like unequal return value; cluttered, messy chaos everywhere after which I seem to perpetually be picking/cleaning up. 2 weeks of personal peace, revert to months of anxiety (and now depression). Vaccine, scary mutation. Election, sedition. New Year, same year.
January 7, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Today my total attention to the news is off the pandemic and on the fact that Georgia has elected the first black senator. That is quite a monumental event in our history. My jubilation is Covid related in that it will no doubt, make it easier for the new president, Biden, to get legislation passed to fund the things that need doing to get us over the pandemic both medically and financially. Actually there were two Democrats from Georgia elected as senators to give the democrats the majority in the senate. The number of senators from each party is even, but the Vice President, Harris, a democrat, holds the winning vote in the case of a tie. Mitch McDonnell, the republican majority leader will have to step down. Hopefully this will finally bring more Republicans away from the Trump party and create a more democratic republican group that has concerns only on doing what is best for the country and upholding the law as we have seen it in the Obama years. Perhaps after the meeting of the electoral college today “Trumpism” will finally be put to rest forever. That is my wishful thinking but realistically it is not likely that Trump will disappear.
January 7, 2021
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Some people are feeling intense feelings right now as a result of the pandemic. Is anything making you especially sad, angry, or hopeful right now? If so, what's on your mind?
One thing that is making me sad is people dying. One thing that’s making me angry is people not wearing masks.
January 7, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Okay, so for this week's journal entry I was going to write about how the pandemic forced me to become closer to my family, or how I finally released the music I worked on during the pandemic, but... What. The heck. Is happening?!?!? WHY are the Trumpies STORMING THE CAPITOL?! This is absolutely CRAZY. There have to be hundreds of them. I still can't believe they actually are currently on the senate floor!! This is still happening as I write this entry, and the payor of DC has just issued a stay at home order or something as a result. This is crazy!!! I knew that the Trump supporters and the proud boys would be protesting in the capitol today, but storming the capitol and occupying the senate? What the actual fuck. From the footage I saw, it seemed like once they actually got to the senate floor they were just milling around, looking at the floor while holding their signs and not really doing anything, with the exception of going through some of the senators' desks. I was honestly surprised that no one stood in the center of the room or made a speech or anything, and it honestly seemed like they didn't expect to actually get to the senate floor, like they didn't really have a plan once they got there. I was talking with my brother about how the president would respond, since he probably didn't expect them to actually go inside the capitol building. After we were wondering about what he would say, a pre-recorded message from Trump played on the TV, and it was really weird. He started off by STILL saying that the election was a 'steal' and that he won, which is exactly the opposite of what he should have said. The people are in the capitol for that exact reason, so that would rile them up even more. He continued to say that the people should go home, and weirdly enough, he said "I love you," which struck me as really odd. Why would he say that? It just seemed weird and didn't sit right with me, especially for a pre-recorded message. I can't believe this is what our country has come to, and I'm glad that President-Elect Biden had some reassuring words to say to the American people about the situation. The fact that he responded to the American public before Trump and publicly denounced the protestors as insurrectionists while reassuring the American people speaks volumes.
January 7, 2021