Eunice Amoaka 

English 1101 

Dr. Crowther 

04/24/2022 

Trying to adjust to the new normal 

  The picture I am analyzing is about a man before and after covid. The background of the picture is black on both sides. But if you look closely, there are two different shades of black on both sides. We see a man’s face where half of his face has a mask, and the other side does not have a mask. On the side without the mask, he looks calm and healthy. He looks like a normal person without worries. But on the other half, he is wearing a mask, his face looks pale, his eyes look watery, and he looks like he is ill and sad. The brightness of the man’s face makes the left side lighter like there is a light coming out of him. On the right side, his face color is grayish like a pale color and the background is black but darker because of his face. You can see that his face color changed on both sides. The perspective here is that the man’s life has changed, and he is not the same person anymore. He might be sick, lose a loved one, or lose his job. So many things might be happening to him and may have happened to some of us. This picture shows Pathos as it captures the emotion of the man. The argument the picture makes is that covid changed how everything was. It is like living in a different world, nobody was expecting something like that to happen and it took us by surprise. Life before covid was not always perfect but, life after covid switched and affected not only our living lifestyle but also our physical lifestyle; How we all have changed somehow due to covid. Covid could have had a big impact on each person. So many people have lost a loved one and everyone has experienced social distancing from people, even family. Certainly, this image is describing a person’s life but, it is also describing our lives. We all were affected by covid, we all experienced something. I experienced something similar to the man in the picture; I had covid and it was the worst thing to happen. My face was pale, my whole body was feeling tired, and my head was killing me but luckily, I was able to recover. Also, the fact that the man’s face looked sad may be because of depression. Something we probably experienced during that time. I interviewed my friend to find out how her mental state was during covid. She said her mental health increased; she was stressed during the pandemic because she is a social person so staying home was not something she enjoyed; she would rather be out and hang out with friends. She was sad, feeling like she was in a prison. She said, “I was feeling like I was trapped.” The fact that she was not able to go out was depressing for her, the news was giving her anxiety and making her question everything. The man was wearing a mask on the left side which is our new normal; It is like an accessory you must carry everywhere. For example, when we go to the store, we need to have cash or a credit card to pay for our items otherwise we won’t be able to get our stuff; it goes the same way with the mask, we can’t go anywhere without it, we must wear it if we don’t want to get sick or to spread the disease even more. Some places demand the wear of masks. The picture resumes our life before and after covid.  

 

We lived in a world where things were different. We travelled where we wanted to, we spent time together in large groups, and we worked regularly. Everything was the same for some of us. But soon everything changed drastically, life turned upside down due to a pandemic called COVID-19. We had to adapt to the new normal. Things were not easy for most of us, being away from things that we usually used to do, being isolated from our loved ones, and for some being unemployed, all of that took a toll on people’s mental health. The pandemic influenced people’s mental health and has caused an increase in depressive disorders. In this paragraph I will be talking about how covid increased stressful living and depression due to people loosing their low income jobs. How lockdown had potentially increased in home abuse. For people that were social and traveled more staying in the lock down was stressful and increased their depression.
     First, due to the pandemic people that were working on lower wages were unemployed and were stressed about the situation because they had bills to pay, and families to feed. The living situation for people with lower wages was worse because due to businesses closing and people laying off workers things were bad. Financially they were hurt. People who at least finished high school and had a diploma and a degree were in stable jobs and paid that helped them pay off their bills and daily necessities. However, for people who were underpaid living was hard and people were stressed about how they could afford it financially, and too much stress leads to mental health problems. According to one research study, “At least one adverse mental or behavioral health symptom was reported by more than one-half of respondents who were aged 18–24 years (74.9%) and 25–44 years (51.9%), of Hispanic ethnicity (52.1%), and who held less than a high school diploma (66.2%),” and this also included, “essential workers (54.0%), unpaid caregivers for adults (66.6%), and who reported treatment for diagnosed anxiety (72.7%), depression (68.8%), or PTSD (88.0%) at the time of the survey” (last name page number). As shown in this citation it is proved that mental health has affected people that are under paid, people who had less than a high school diploma, and people that suffered from PTSD. Covid was the main factor that increased stress, and depression in the season where people were getting laid of from work and that were getting under paid. As for people that had a stable job and higher education, those problems were not seen, and they were not part of the percent.

Eunice Amoaka
Dr. Crowther
English 1101
04/09/2022
Title
We lived in a world where things were different. We travelled where we wanted to, we spent time together in large groups, and we worked regularly. Everything was the same for some of us. But soon everything changed drastically, life turned upside down due to a pandemic called COVID-19. We had to adapt to the new normal. Things were not easy for most of us, being away from things that we usually used to do, being isolated from our loved ones, and for some being unemployed, all of that took a toll on people’s mental health. The pandemic influenced people’s mental health and has caused an increase in depressive disorders. In this paragraph I will be talking about how covid increased stressful living and depression due to people loosing their low income jobs. How lockdown had potantially increased in home abuse. For people that were social and traveled more staying in the lock down was stressful and increased their depression.
First, due to the pandemic people that were working on lower wages were unemployed and were stressed about the situation because they had bills to pay, and families to feed. The living situation for people with lower wages was worse because due to businesses closing and people laying off workers things were bad. Financially they were hurt. People who at least finished high school and had a diploma and a degree were in stable jobs and paid that helped them pay off their bills and daily necessities. However, for people who were underpaid living was hard and people were stressed about how they could afford it financially, and too much stress leads to mental health problems. According to one research study, “At least one adverse mental or behavioral health symptom was reported by more than one-half of respondents who were aged 18–24 years (74.9%) and 25–44 years (51.9%), of Hispanic ethnicity (52.1%), and who held less than a high school diploma (66.2%),” and this also included, “essential workers (54.0%), unpaid caregivers for adults (66.6%), and who reported treatment for diagnosed anxiety (72.7%), depression (68.8%), or PTSD (88.0%) at the time of the survey” (last name page number). As shown in this citation it is proved that mental health has affected people that are under paid, people who had less than a high school diploma, and people that suffered from PTSD. Covid was the main factor that increased stress, and depression in the season where people were getting laid of from work and that were getting under paid. As for people that had a stable job and higher education, those problems were not seen, and they were not part of the percent.
In another study, name of the author analyzed data on how covid affected people’s lifestyles. His purpose is to show that covid led to an increase in mental health problems in people’s daily life. He states that: “Lifestyle disruptions during COVID-19 have been documented in studies focusing on a single type of behavior, such as exercise (7), sleep (8), social distancing (9, 10), or mental health (11–21).” also, “Over 60% of individuals age 18 to 24 y were estimated to be at risk for depression or anxiety and a quarter reported considering suicide in the previous month” (xx). This shows different analysis but both demonstrate the increase of mental health problems, especially on youth. It describes how bad the pandemic had led young people, a shift in their daily life which include: social distancing, quarantine… Most youth like to hang out and have fun with their friends and this lifestyle was not theirs. Some became lonely and isolated; Some were going through crisis at home and staying there made them depressed; Some lost their loved ones (parents, brother, or sister…); Some were going through a financial crisis because their parents probably lost their job during the pandemic, which made them think maybe on how they are going to be eating or will they even make till the end of the pandemic.
Another impact of the covid-19 pandemic was an increase in suicide and drug use. In order to cope with the pandemic and the lockdown people were looking for something to get their minds off the chaos, so this is when the use of drug substances increased. The drug was used as an escape from reality and for relaxation away from depression. The author Rashon Lane informs that mental health has increased due to COVID. People experienced worse mental health, substance use, and elevated suicidal ideation. He states that the disease has also created anxiety disorder and depressive disorder. He uses an example of studies from the CDC to support his claim. For example: “During late June, 40% of U.S adults reported struggling with mental health and substance use” (xxx). The disease has impacted people in such a way that substance use was the only way out to be at peace with their mentality. Also, staying home and being in lockdown has created a depressive disorder.
In another case depression and anxiety increased in people that were experiencing a possibility of abuse in their household. People were in lockdown; schools were closed and there were few places they could get out and stay. So, for some that experienced abuse, they had no other hope but to stay in the house with their abuser, and that increased depression, stress, and the possibility of suicidal thought. For others, staying in the house was depressing because they are social, they like interacting with other people, to feel the outside world so being locked down in house, always seeing the frame every time was hard for them. The author Czeiler Mark studied and analyzed how mental health problems changes were persistent in people. He states that: “In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it appears likely that there will be substantial increases in anxiety and depression, substance use, loneliness, and domestic violence; and with schools closed, there is a very real possibility of an epidemic of child abuse” (xx). This means that because of the pandemic, people found themself in a mental situation where they could not get out; the only way to escape was the use of the substance as the author said it has increased. People would use it to forget what is going on around them, like people dying, more people getting sick, the disease not going away. Also, depression and anxiety for people who were abused at home or feared of catching the disease, worst dying, people who were afraid of loneliness.
I interviewed my friend, niece, and nephew. I asked them those questions: how was your mental health during covid? Did your mental health increase during the pandemic or decrease? Was it a stressful time for you? Did you have anxiety? My friend said yes, her mental health increased, she was stressed during the pandemic, because she is a social person so staying home was not something she enjoyed; she would rather be out, hang out with friends. She was sad, feeling like she was in a prison. She said, “I was feeling like I was trapped.” The fact that she was not able to go out was depressing for her, the news was giving her anxiety and making her question everything. My niece said she felt trapped inside because she could not go out, she felt depressed that she could not see her friends or loved ones for a long time. My nephew said he cried a lot, he became less social, and it gave him anxiety; he was depressed, and food became his way out. After the interview, I observed that the answers were similar. Each person experiences the same situation somehow.
We can conclude that covid had increased during the pandemic. It was a stressful situation and only the weak could not make it. We proved with the different examples and data that covid affected people hard. For some people, substance use was the way out; for others it was isolation. Each person had a way to cope with the situation. But one question stands, will we ever regain our peace? We can all say that Covid has changed people in many ways. For some, in a good way it gave them the opportunity to get to know their family more and spend time with their loved ones. Also, covid has given people chances to take new to reunite people together and become more creative, chance to know our selves better and our inner hobbies. But for others, covid had become the uninvited guest that took away their mother, daughter, sister, brother, father, aunt, nephew etc…, it had chattered the happiness away from people. Not only that but Covid had taken away jobs and opportunities for lower-income families to provide for themselves. We all have our different versions of stories about covid but still found a way to make it.

 

Czeisler, Mark É., et al. “Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic – United States, June 24-30, 2020.” MMWR: Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 69, no. 32, Aug. 2020, pp. 1049–57. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6932a1.

Galea S, Merchant RM, Lurie N. The Mental Health Consequences of COVID-19 and Physical Distancing: The Need for Prevention and Early Intervention. JAMA Intern Med. 2020;180(6):817–818. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.1562

Giuntella, Giovanni, et al. Lifestyle and Mental Health Disruptions during COVID-19, 10 Feb. 2021, https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/y4xn3.

Marshall Nafyad, Personal interview. 29 March 2022
Philipps Joie, Philipps Daniel, Personal interview. 03 April 2022

Eunice Amoaka 

English 1101 

Dr. Crowther 

03/06/2022 

Covid hit hard 

   From 2020 till now, a global pandemic happened called Covid-19 which is “A highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. SARS-CoV-2 is thought to spread from person to person (…)” This disease touched the world and affected people in diverse ways. Below are three pictures that are going to describe what effect the pandemic had on people. First, a picture of a man where one side of his face looks normal and on the other side, he looks completely different with a mask on. Then, a picture with a paper man laying down surrounded by torn papers from a newspaper describing the pandemic. Finally, a picture of six workers sitting down in front of a factory and a text saying: “shutdown due to covid-19”. Looking at the pictures, we can see that the pandemic affected our lives physically, mentally, and economically. 

  Picture 1

  Picture 2

  Life before and after covid dramatically changed; we went from walking around freely to social distancing, from not wearing a mask to wearing a mask everywhere we go. The background of picture 1 is black on both sides. But if you look closely, there are two different shades of black on both sides. We see a man’s face. Half of his face has a mask, and the other side does not have a mask. On the side without the mask, he looks calm and healthy. He looks like a normal person without worries. But on the other half, he is wearing a mask, his face looks pale, his eyes look watery, and he looks like he is ill and sad. The brightness of the man’s face makes the left side lighter like there is a light coming out of him. On the right side, his face color is grayish like a pale color and the background is black but darker because of his face. You can see that his face color changed on both sides. The perspective here is that the man’s life has changed, and he is not the same person anymore. He might be sick, lose a loved one, lose his job. So many things might be happening to him. This picture shows Pathos as it captures the emotion of the man. This picture illustrates life before and after Covid. Each person experienced something different during that period. The argument this picture is making is that covid hit hard. Nobody was expecting something like that to happen and it took us by surprise.  Life after covid changes and affects not only our living lifestyle but also our physical. How we all have changed somehow due to covid.  The argument the picture makes is that covid changed how everything was. It is like living in a different world. Things have changed; the way people live has been turned upside down. Covid could have had a big impact on each person. Many people have lost a loved one and everyone has experienced social distancing from people, even family. 

    Each person has diverse ways to deal with a situation, but for some people covid caused deep depression. And during covid many people were depressed. The background of picture 2 is blurry. The torn papers look like they come from a newspaper. The papers are positioned in such a way that they are about to sink him. I see a paper man (it represent a person) in the middle with words surrounding him. The paper man looks depressed, and he seems numb because of his blank face. He is not smiling or crying; he has a straight face. I see different words that are a little bit blurred. They all have different meanings. The color of the background is gray. The words are mostly written in black, but there seems to be a word written in distinct colors. The paper man is yellow, and, on his feet, he has this red thing that looks like a cut. The argument this picture is making is how broken a person might be due to covid. There are multiple texts, and each has its significance and relationship with Covid. The Panic of hearing about this virus, the fear of getting it or dying from it, the news aggravating the situation by saying the number of people dying, the number of cases rising, the worry of if the situation ever going to end, wondering if the government is implicated in whatever going on, business shut down, the economy going down, people not being about to go to work due to the shutdown, they had to pay for rent, taxes, some people were struggling to even eat, questioning if taking the vaccine is a good idea or not, etc… All those words describe depression, all those words describe what a person might be going through during the pandemic. Pathos is represented here because it is about depression. Each word describes an emotion or can even make a person emotional. Even the paperman describes an emotion even though his face looks emotionless. This picture proves that covid did have a mental effect on people deep down. The paper man may represent a person who does not show his emotion or a person going through something and not knowing himself what is going on. 

    Economically, people have suffered from the shut down during covid. In the background of picture 3, you can see a grid with a word written on it. Looking inside it looks like a factory. They are six people (workers) sitting on the floor. They look sad, disappointed, discouraged. Some of them put their hands on their head, a sign of despair. They are wearing work uniforms and their hats (part of the uniform) in their hands or on the floor. The color that strikes the eyes the most in the picture is yellow. Both the hats and the uniforms are yellow. Although, they have different colors too, like one of the hats is white and two of the uniforms are orange but with some yellow on them. The text on the grid saying: “shutdown due to covid-19″ describes how many businesses, stores, were shut down leaving people without a job. This perfectly relates to the picture as the six people lost their job, they lost a way of making money for themselves and their families. How are they going to survive this crisis? So many questions. How are they going to pay their rent? How are they going to provide for themselves or their family? It is emotional to think about it, which brings pathos to the picture because the six people are just sitting down. Their faces have so many expressions so the readers can see the impact covid had on people economically. 

   Looking at the three pictures, we can see how covid has affected us in different ways; They all come together to describe each person’s life somehow during the pandemic and what damage it caused in our daily lives; negative damage not only on one aspect of our life but every domain of our life. Our lives turned around after covid; the situation has caused depression, and many people have lost their jobs due to covid losing a way of providing for their family. Will we ever go back to the way we used to be? 

Over the past year, I learned to live with the situation, I learned to live with wearing a mask everywhere I go, I learned to social distance from people outside of my house. But by the end of 2020, when I thought the situation was getting better, I and my family got covid. It was an awful experience. We were worried, especially about my nephews and nieces, they also got it. Thankfully, we recovered, we did not have to go to the hospital. We cured. Of course, everything has changed, nothing is the same anymore. We went virtual and going virtual was good for me because I am an introvert and staying inside is something I like. I learned so many tips on the computer I did not know before. Many good things have come like new skills. I learn how to bake, braid my hair, and drive. Also, at that moment I started taking more pictures and videos. I realized that’s something I enjoy.

This time period taught me a lot about spending time with people closer to me. Many people lost their loved ones during that period and if they could have only one chance to spend time with them, they would. So now, I enjoy spending time with my family. Even with people (love one) far from me. It also taught me how to manage my time well. How to be more responsible. Something different that I might do is wear a mask wherever I go, social distance from people, be mindful of other people.  

The month of March 2020… Everything was shut down. I could not go out, go to church, neither go to school nor meet with friends… It was frustrating and annoying. It was something new and people were dying all over the world. I was worried that I or a member of my family would get it and, worse, die. I would always check if I were sick or not. My family prepared ahead of time. We brought everything we might need in case things run out in stores. We brought cereals, milk, rice, water bottles… One of my sisters was a nurse at the time, she would always tell us how cases were rising at the hospital. She had to wear a mask all day and wash her hands all the time.   

 

 

What comforted me was my relationship with Jesus. I got closer to Him during that period. I read the bible to make me calm about the situation. I did not watch any tv shows or movies on Netflix at that time. Yet, I would always be on my phone, talking to my friends and family. I would watch funny videos on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Tiktok. This is how I spent most of my days. As we could not go anywhere, I had to spend time with my family. We did a lot of activities together like walking on the street (we would wake up in the morning and go for a walk in the neighborhood), we played board games, we talked a lot. At that time, I was so bored that I almost tried everything. I would do my hair every week, do my nails. I did a lot of baking too. I baked cake, crepes… I also learned how to braid my hair and other people’s hair. I read somehow cartoons like Webtoon and Episode on my phone.

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.

My name is Eunice Amoaka. I am from Ivory Coast, west part of Africa.  My first language is French and so I can speak French. I moved to  the United Sates in 2018, 4 years ago. Things I like to do are: taking pictures, making videos, listening to music, and eat. I also like hanging out with my friends. Something you should know about me is that I am a Christian and I believe in Jesus. I don’t really have a favorite type of movie. Although, I have two favorite singers, they are: Ks bloom and Morijah. They’re French singers. https://youtu.be/pqjwuzCqa-4, https://youtu.be/GlfKkDHKMQg

I graduated from I high school in 2021 and this is my first semester as a freshman. My major is biology. I don’t have many goals for my career  but my future plan for college is to have a bachelor degree and specialize in dentistry, yes I want to be a dentist. My long term goal after college is to own a dentist office, be my own boss.