The last vivid memory I have from before quarantine began was a community cookout I went to in early February. It was very far from your average Sunday afternoon, with everyone and their mothers at a park talking, others screaming, children running around, and everyone altogether having a great time. I had never seen so many people in one place before and to this day, I still haven’t. But enough about the people, let’s get a little self-absorbed here. I was pretty well-dressed, well that is, if you ask me, donning a crisp black-and-white striped Adidas shirt, matching Adidas pants, complete with my late white Air Force Ones (may they rest in ashes). Anyone who saw me would think I came to a fashion show or a basketball game, which to say the least, wasn’t too far off. This was due to the fact that the highlight of the day was me and my friends disappearing from the scene to go play basketball at the outdoor court two blocks down, this one game being the most fun I’ve had since. Someday, I hope to have a rematch…because we lost horribly. I don’t want to talk about it.

Now outside the realm of positivity, another very vivid memory I have is waking up on a Saturday morning in December around 12 something P.M. I know this was the time because my dad would’ve been watching football, had it been past 1 PM. But here he was, watching a news report of a city in China named Wuhan with hundreds of millions of people walking around the city wearing masks. I had never seen anything like this before. No one ever believes me when I tell them this story, but I had a strong feeling the plague in Wuhan was bound to reach us someday…and boy was I right. 2 years and a month and a half later, we are still pretty much in the same predicament, we can’t leave home without a mask or some random person might alter the rest of our lives with a single cough. I would say it’s a lot better now, but to be honest, we’ve had so many different versions of the same stupid disease that it’s turning into Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. At this point, we don’t even know what to call it anymore, cause I’m not sure omicron is catchy enough, so let’s stick to COVID-19. But as we hope to have our positive world back, and to never see another mask again besides in Grey’s Anatomy, all we can do is pray that each year is better than the last. Let’s go 2022!

March 12th, 2020.  The last day with no masks and no idea of what was about to come next.  For me, that included the cycle of depression and anxiety quarantine was about to cause.  March 12th was a Thursday I believe.  I was wearing my black, North Face full zipper hoodie and my checkered slip-on vans with my light wash ripped skinny jeans (little did I know that my favorite skinny jeans would be out of fashion the next time I stepped foot into this building). Friday (March 13th) was planned by Dekalb county to be a teacher workday so my class celebrated Mrs. Vanpelt’s baby shower during 7th period on that Thursday before.  This baby shower included the usual; gender-neutral everything (since we didn’t know the gender yet).  There were cupcakes with pink and blue frosting mixed making this interesting tie-dye effect and chick-fil-a nuggets and sandwiches. There was music playing from Taylor swift to Lil baby and of course- us being sophomores in high school needed to play musical chairs.  At least our last day before the beginning of my literal hell was enjoyable.

December 2019 was the beginning of the covid jokes.  Every time someone in class would cough everyone would give the standard response of “ouuuu someone has Covid.” But of course, now it’s not a joke anymore it’s serious.  “Someone in China ate a bat,” was the main ‘fact’ and famous google search at the time. Throughout the beginning of 2020, there was a mixture of nervousness and not caring, from all those around me.  I was worried about the gyms closing and me not being able to make money at my job if this whole covid thing were to become serious.  The events occurring after my teacher’s baby shower were interesting.  “Two weeks off and virtual learning,” was honestly the best thing I was told from Dekalb county.  My Sophomore year was rough. School was getting hard and I love chemistry, don’t get me wrong but Mrs. Ross (my chemistry teacher that year) was not it at all.  It felt like a break that I knew I needed.  If only I knew what was to come ahead I don’t think I would be as happy as I was back then.  

 

 

 

Blog Post #2

Pre Pandemic: Part 1

 

The air was crisp on this March Day. The sun poked out from behind the clouds casting a spectral golden hue over the battered buildings of Little Five Points. I was sharing this moment with my two closest friends from 11th grade. We had been planning to meet up since the start of January, but we pushed it back week after week. Something always came to interrupt our plans of meeting. Knowing now what came after this date, one could say the obstacles in our way were warning signs.

We arrived at Little Five Points earlier than expected; my friends and I were always running late. The parking lot was packed, but good thing I had my trusty little Kia Soul with me. There are tons of varying opinions on the Soul. Some find the car an eyesore. Admittedly the car sticks out like a sore thumb amongst others, but I love that about it. Whether you like it or hate it, it is a dependable car. We pulled up to a multicolored building as the savory aromatic scent of hot pizza filled the vehicle. We had arrived at Savage Pizza.

There was very little talking while our faces were stuffed with the hot greasy slices of cheese pizza. One lonely slice sat on the tray. Our eyes glanced at the remaining piece, then looked back up at one another. We were waiting for someone to volunteer to take the final crispy slice of once hot, now cold cheese pizza. No one did. The silence was now lifted as my friends, and I finally started to converse. Often conversations of current events would be held, for we all cared deeply for it. At the time, the new rapidly spreading virus named Covid 19 had just been declared a Pandemic. However, there was not a worry that crossed our minds. How could this virus possibly make its way over here, to America? Even if it did, there was no way it would impact our lives, we thought. Looking back at that moment, we had no clue what was about to hit a week later.

Like most people, I first heard about covid at the end of 2019 but I did not see it as a threat to my way of life until the beginning of 2020. There had been news reports of the virus spreading in China but I thought it would be no different than the other cases of viruses that had grown to be widely spread across the world. While other parts of the world were experiencing this new disaster I was having the time of my life before I realized the seriousness of this situation. I had been going to a lot of parties with my friends during the holiday season and I was very excited for 2020. To me it was just going to be another year where I get to meet new people, experience new places, and grow with the people I loved being around the most. There was also so many activities and events in the city for young creatives such as myself before the pandemic which I had just started learning about and taking advantage of.

I specifically remember being at a new years party at the end of 2019, and as far as I can remember this is the last time I would enjoy myself and the world without the idea of covid. There was a venue that held a lot of raves and live performances in the city called The Bakery. It was my favorite place to go and have fun with my friends and it had inspired me to get into EDM and rave styles of DJing. I didn’t know it at the time but new years of 2020 would be the last time I ever set foot in that venue. By the end of January of 2020 it was becoming more and more apparent that covid 19 was not limited to just Asia. There had been more and more reports showing up in new countries around the world, each being closer and closer to the US. Around the beginning of February The Bakery had announced that it would be closed indefinitely due to covid 19. It was not until then that I took the pandemic seriously and deep down it felt like I had been robbed of something. As time progressed it felt like the pandemic only continued to rob me of more and more things such as my job, being able to go out, being able to show my face, being able to DJ events, etc. By the March of 2020 I felt miserable and I would have done anything to be able to relive the year of 2019, and sometimes I still do feel that way.

  March 2020 was when I started worrying about the covid pandemic.  Some time around March 22, we had to shelter in place.  I was with my dad, my stepmom, and my little siblings from that time until June 24, 2020.  Stores and restaurants were shutting down and people were losing their jobs.  I was not able to go out to dinner or hang out with any of my friends.  I was really sad about it.  In April, stores and restaurants reopened, bringing the cases back up when the curve was flattened.  People had to wear masks and practice social distancing.  I was worried that the pandemic might go on forever.

  In April, May, and June 2020, I played with my little siblings.  I also went on walks with them and my stepmom.  I also watched YouTube videos.  On June 25, 2020, I went back with my biological mom and my younger brother.  To keep working out, I took walks around the neighborhood and I walked to a lake near my house.  I also watched more YouTube videos.  I almost didn’t get to do any swimming that summer, but on August 1, we went to Lake Lanier where there was a little beach area.  I was supposed to start college around September 2020, but my mom said it was too dangerous due to covid.  I really wanted to meet up with my extended family for Thanksgiving, but the covid cases were too high.  I also hoped to meet up with my cousins, my uncles, and my grandmother for Christmas, but it wasn’t safe.  When 2021 began, I had the feeling that things would get better, but that will be discussed in my next blog.

Works Cited

https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/covid-timeline

Before everything happened, I remember going to school like usual. Same routine, waking up in the morning, getting ready to go to school (I was in high school, my junior year). Most of the time I was always in a hurry, running to the bus stop before I was late. Sometimes I did not eat breakfast. This was one of those days I was going to miss my bus. It was so exhausting how I had to run to the school bus. Once I was at school, I went to meet with my friend before class because we did not have any classes together, so it was the only time we got to see each other. Then I went to each class throughout the day, which were sometimes boring, but my art class was the best. It was fun. We did a lot of drawing there and I like drawing. In my other classes, I was always quiet, waiting for the bell to ring. I remember being home with my family. My mom was cooking African food (attieke and fish). One of my favorite foods. I talked and laughed with my sister without worries. Then I went into my room, listened to music and did my homework. I remember talking to my friends and my family back home (lvory coast), we always talk on “WhatsApp.”

 

To be frank, I was not informed at all, I did not know anything about what was going on till march… I heard about it at school, people were talking about some kind of sickness that was contagious. Afterwards, I heard that the virus was in Georgia. Till then I didn’t take it seriously. One of my classmates in my art class was being extra careful about everything. I thought he was doing too much. I tried to be informed about it, I searched on the internet and when I realized how serious it was, I started being extra careful. People were saying all kinds of things on the news, and it was even scarier. Everywhere on the internet, people were saying this and that. I did not watch the news because it was too much. The craziest thing was how fast it was spreading all over the world.

 

Blog Post #2

Tony Moore

English Composition 1

 

  When did Covid-19 affect my life the most? It all started early august, right around the beginning of the football season. In my senior year of high school, I was around 17 years old. My school was eleven floors with tons of elevators and stairs, so it was pretty big, so many students had different interests in academics, sports, clubs, etc. But during my early life, I quickly found a passion for football. I don’t know if it was me watching my dad cheer for his favorite team or if it was me playing backyard football with close friends that made me love the game this much. As soon as my senior year started, everyone on the team was forced to wear masks to practices, film studies, and work-outs. After a while, things got pretty standard until the season was about to start. The schedules were released, and the coaches notified players that parents couldn’t come to most games due to COVID-19. Once the news reached me, I quickly panicked because my parents could always go to my games in the past. I finished the season with offers from over 7+ offers from different schools. Most schools couldn’t offer kids in my class due to COVID and several college players being offered another year of eligibility for the same reason. Basically, my whole senior year was ruined due to COVID-19.

   Later that year, the pandemic started to get worse. Around December, the numbers rose, and people fought for their lives every day. I wouldn’t necessarily say COVID affected my life around this time, but it definitely affected the people around me. Going into 2020 was very stressful, from my parents making sure we had enough food to survive to a family member dying from the disease. Before these things happened, I didn’t really take COVID seriously; maybe it was because I didn’t know anybody who was experiencing these things that I saw on TV or perhaps because I didn’t think these things could happen to me. I soon was humbled and understood that I needed to take proper precautions to care for myself. 

 

 

It was a normal day of school that began at the very start of 2020. A lot of people were celebrating the beginning of a new decade with high hopes for the year.  Sitting at my desk at school, in a class full of students. No students online, and every work done solely on thin paper. Every student went in and out of these classes with no change of the entire world around us, without the threat of a virus that loomed over us. For me, it was just another normal day that continued on like all the others.
Sitting at home after a long day of school, I read rumors of a third World War at the first month of 2020. People on the internet were discussing how tensions between the U.S. and Iran were not doing well. It was a scary thought to be in the middle of a war right after a new decade began, but thankfully the illusion of continuity was upheld in the world.
Not too long after that, people began talking about the Australian bushfires that raged on, originally in 2019, but continuing to 2020. For a lot of people, 2020 seemed like it was gonna be a like a domino effect; one disastrous event after another.
While I sat comfortably in my house, China had seen the first cases of an unusual disease on December 2019. One that they probably never discovered before. It was named COVID-19.
Before COVID became a massive problem, I remember one thing distinctly. I had looked at a joke one person made that detailed how every 20th year of every century contained a massive disease that’d kill many victims. Like any unsuspecting person, I smiled at the joke, thinking it was nothing but a joke. Never would I imagined that that one joke foresaw a world changing event.
When COVID was made public to the world, most of us weren’t bothered. Perhaps it was just going to be like Ebola; a virus that sounded scary, but realistically wouldn’t be a threat to countries like the U.S.. Most of classes ignored the virus, as if nothing in the world was changing. However, once COVID began spreading to more countries, then the fear began building up like snow piling up in a blizzard. It was spreading and spreading faster than any disease we’ve witnessed. By now, my school realized that this disease may reach the U.S. eventually if it isn’t stopped, so teachers began discussing about a 2 week period where all students will work from home.  Of course, the U.S. eventually caught COVID, beginning the the 2-week quarantine that would last for almost 2 years for us.
The war on COVID had just begun.

My siblings and I piled out of the car when we got to the house, and eagerly looked around for any other cars that had already gotten there. We were glad the annual reunion hadn’t been canceled due to the new virus that was just stepping into the spotlight. We were excited for a fun vacation to relax and have fun with friends. Only two families had beaten us there. We unloaded as quickly as possible, wanting to explore the house we would be staying in for the next three days. Before we were finished another car pulled up, and everyone helped them lug their stuff inside too. Eventually, the cars stopped coming, and we were let loose to swarm the house. So many bedrooms to look at, so many stairs to run up and down, and, outside, such a big lake, and wonder of wonders, two kayaks! But they wouldn’t be pulled out today, so we reluctantly drifted off to pick rooms, investigate who had brought which board games, and try our hands at the table tennis in the corner. 

The days went by far too quickly. We went on hikes, played lots of board games, and ate lots of junk food. Sometimes I just sat and listened to the adults. With Covid-19 just starting to demand the world’s attention, that took up a significant part of their conversation. Were masks useful? Was the impending lockdown a good idea? How much caution was necessary? I listened, wondered what would come of it, and left life to carry on as it would. 

One night I and the other two oldest children started a game of poker. We set up after supper, and started to play. I, as Big Blind, put two chips into the center. Jane put in one for Little Blind and one for the rest of the bet, and Mark, as Dealer, put down two and turned over a card. So it began. While we played we talked and joked. Mark laughed that we were so bad at shuffling, we laughed back. We made mistakes, and dissolved into giggles. We were far too tired to take things seriously, and the hilarity mounted with every minute. Quite soon we were falling over with laughter at nothing. The adults, talking quietly in the next room, started laughing just listening to us.

It was a wonderful night, full of laughter and companionship. It was an island of calm between worrying, a dose of people to smooth the weeks of lockdown ahead.

I had known about Covid-19 long before the lockdown. I heard plenty of arguments for and against whether it would spread from China, how fast it would spread, and whether there were any measures that were actually likely to contain it. But while it has not been a fun time, I never really started to worry, before or later, and I consider that a blessing.

The last vivid social experience was at a small hangout with my friends. I planned for all of us to hang out and for all of us to reconnect.  It was so worth the planning and headaches. We played video games, exchanged funny stories, and just enjoyed the moment that we shared together. One of my favorite memories of the time was watching a scary movie and listening to one of my friends make funny commentaries to the entire film. During this time we were becoming more aware of the dangers of Covid-19  especially when the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services declared Covid-19 a public health emergency on January 31, 2020. After that, things became tense.   

 

 As the Pandemic grew and swelled in dominance. The world around me started to become increasingly difficult to settle in both mentally and physically. When Covid was declared a pandemic by The World Health Organization on March 11, 2020, all I remember is panic. With my friends and family, the experience was even more terrifying. Having people close to you catch the exact same virus that caused small businesses of decades to crumble, the exact same virus that caused us to isolate and break apart from the enjoyable social norms, and break families apart. As of March 2020 continued to go on social distancing and social restrictions started to shift and increase.

 

I remembered working in a hospital and hearing the stories from nurses, doctors, and even the lunch ladies in the cafeteria. People were on edge and in worse cases, some seemed completely detached from the pandemic. They did not take it seriously and ruled off the virus as a simple cold, and that mindset continued even when our death rate surpassed Italy on April 10, 2020. I can still vividly remember walking down the hallways and hearing conversations about dying patients and the lack of respirators in the hospital or having to shut down areas of the hospital due to the rising cases and despair that seemed to loom everywhere.

 

Sited Sources:

https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html (Covid Timeline)

https://www.atlantaga.gov/government/mayor-s-office/city-of-atlanta-covid-19-response