STUDENT NAME: Emma Byrne

MY COVID EXPERIENCE: My life during COVID-19 has been mostly good. I definitely feel as though many people have had worse experiences than I have. Aside from the stressors of learning online now, I feel relatively at peace and happy with every other aspect of my life. I am very fortunate to live in a country where we have access to education, decent-paying jobs, and the internet to connect and check in with family and friends. I think COVID-19 has taught a lot of us to not take anything in their life for granted, including the ability to go outside.

 

OBJECT IMAGE

A Nintendo Switch game console with dark grey controllers with a dark blue background. On the console screen, the introduction screen to Animal Crossing is shown. Three characters from the game can be seen on the screen as well as the title of the game, 'Welcome to Animal Crossing: New Horizons'.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Nintendo Switch

 

 

 

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND RELATIONSHIP TO COVID-19: 

I bought a Nintendo Switch in August 2020. In April 2020, a game called Animal Crossings: New Horizons got released and a lot of people began buying a Nintendo Switch just to play this game. I found myself watching hours of gameplay of this game on YouTube and eventually decided to buy a Nintendo Switch and Animal Crossing for myself. Playing this game has become a way for me to take my mind off of online education and the constantly evolving restrictions and regulations created by the government. Although it was a somewhat big purchase, it made me feel happiness and joy as this game allowed me to almost create my own island world, without COVID-19. It also allowed me to connect with players from all over the world and visit their islands. This game even allowed me to have conversations, not about COVID-19, as much of my in-person conversations revolved around COVID-19.

 

 

 

PRIMARY SOURCE DESCRIPTION:

This has been my average grocery haul during the pandemic. Before the pandemic, I would opt for more 'grab-and-go' snacks like granola bars or fruit gummies throughout my grocery shopping. But, since there have been numerous lockdowns and closures of restaurants, I have begun buying healthier options since I now have the time and energy to cook more at home. I decided to include this as it brings forth the issue many restaurants and farmers in the food industry are facing with the decline of diners. This shows how a majority of people have opted for home-cooked meals as opposed to dining out, creating a huge surplus of produce for farmers. 

PRIMARY SOURCE

Grocery haul on a white countertop with tan cabinets and a white refrigerator in the background. From left to right, the food consists of: one box of Cream of Wheat, a package of Hot Salami, two small squash, a box of Multi-Grain Baked Crackers, four bananas, a tray of California Grown Peaches, a bag of big carrots, a bag of Pearl Barley, a bag of Artesian Bread, Pineapple Burst juice carton, box of Original Triscuits, two packages of Smoked Oysters, bag of Raw Hazelnuts.

 

 

 

MEDIA HEADLINEA screenshot of a news article titled "Making more of less: How COVID-19 is impacting food production in Canada". Below that, the author, Alexandra Mae Jones, CTV News, is listed along with the date of publication. An introduction photo to a video is also included. This photo has five large steel silos and lots of red tractor equipment taking up most of the left-hand side of the photo. The right side of the photo features about thirty people standing both in front and on top of a large white farming machine. There is a cloudy sky background as well as dirt covering the ground. On the right-hand side of the screenshot, there are three related CTV News articles linked.

A news media article talking about how farmers and members of the food production industry have been impacted by COVID-19, specifically with the closure of restaurants.

PERSONAL REACTION TO THIS HEADLINE:

This CTV News media article really caught my attention because it is something most of us do not really think about. Since restaurants have been closed for a majority of the pandemic, many of us view these closures as a cost-saver since we are not spending money by dining out. What most of us do not realize is the effect this is having on the farming industry. A huge surplus has been created for farmers as a result of most people now cooking at home in their spare time. It makes me feel somewhat good, in a way. I say this because dining out at high-end restaurants was very overpriced before the pandemic and it has kind of put into perspective how reliant we were on restaurants to provide good food when we could have made it at home the whole time. It makes me more grateful for local farmers' markets compared to farmers working for big supply chains and corporations.

 

VISUALIZATION

A bar graph depicting American consumer's cooking habits before and during COVID-19. The title is "Home Cooking and Baking on the Rise - over half of consumers are saying they are cooking more now (54%), and almost as many are baking more (46%)." The bar graph features 4 categories: cooking, baking, ordering take-out & delivery, and using mail-ordered prepared meals or meal kits. The bar graph's opposing variables are: more than before COVID-19, the same amount, or less than. At the bottom, there is a percentage value for each category labeled Net More / Less.

A bar graph showing how home cooking habits, baking habits, and meal ordering services have changed since COVID-19.

VISUALIZING COVID-19:

A report from Food Navigator USA with data used by HUNTER visualizes the changes experienced by people in regards to their cooking and baking habits. The study shows that there are significantly higher amounts of people who have begun baking and cooking more since the beginning of COVID-19. Meal-delivery services have also become a huge part of many people's lives throughout the pandemic. I thought this visualization helped to contextualize the shift from dining out to cooking at home very well, as people have much more free time than they did pre-COVID. 

COVID Q&A

Describe the moment you realized how serious COVID-19 was:

The moment I knew COVID-19 was serious was March 20th, 2020. This was the date that my flight to Cuba got cancelled. The trip was scheduled for the end of April 2020, so seeing that the flight agency cancelled the trip over a month in advance really made me take a step back and realize how serious COVID-19 was becoming.

What did you learn about yourself or the people you live with during COVID-19?

I learned that I am not as introverted as I once thought. Growing up, I had always loved being by myself and generally did not have much interest in being in large groups of people. But since we have had to be isolated for a majority of COVID-19, I have learned that I actually enjoyed going out and meeting new people and spending time getting to know them.

Other than wearing a mask, what was the biggest change you made to your daily life? Do you think this change will remain when all lockdowns are lifted?

One big change I made to my life is eating healthier. I decided that since I had lots of free time (from being laid off work) that I would change my diet. I think this will carry over even after the lockdown is lifted as I think it is a new lifestyle change.

Have you learned any new skills during the pandemic?

A new skill I learned is how to embroider. I actually ended up embroidering a few fabric masks and selling them to family and friends. It is quite an interesting skill because now I am able to make a profit off of this pandemic.

How do you feel about university education in the last year?

I think university education in the past year has sadly decreased. I find myself not retaining much knowledge or content presented in courses and I am having a hard time with self-discipline. With lectures being online now, I would most definitely prefer synchronized lectures compared to asynchronous, as we can actually see and interact with the professor in real-time.

List one positive thing and one negative thing you'll take away from 2020:

One positive thing about 2020 was the Black Lives Matter and Pride movements. I really liked how both of these issues became very prominent and getting to see rainbow pride flags flying below Canadian flags on lots of flag posts around my city. One negative thing about 2020 would have to be the deadly explosion in Beirut, as so many lives were lost.

What is the best movie or TV show you've watched, or the best book you've read, in the past 18 months?

Hands down, the best TV show I watched in the past 18 months is called House of Cards. It has a very interesting twist on American politics and makes you think twice about not believing everything you see presented by the government. I would like to point out that this show is based on fiction and in no way claims to be related to real-life American politics.

How large of an impact do you think COVID-19 has had on your mental health?

I think that my mental health has been, for the majority, unaffected during COVID-19. If anything, it has made me more grateful for the things I do have access to in my life. Of course, COVID-19 has impacted many future plans for my life, but I feel I have been in a pretty constant headspace both before and during COVID-19.

How has technology impacted your life during lockdown?

I would say technology has somewhat impacted my life. I have given up going on many social media sites as a 2021 resolution, so I have found I have lots of free time to take up other hobbies. I do not really watch television either, so if anything, it has impacted my life in the sense that I interact less with it than I did prior to COVID-19.

How has the pandemic brought wider acknowledgement to systemic racism in Canada?

The pandemic has allowed Canadians to take a step back and look at who is mainly getting affected by COVID-19 in the workplace. For example, a report by Cision based on news from the Public Health Agency of Canada talks about how racialized women are often the majority of employees in long-term care facilities, and how they often come from poorer neighbourhoods. This makes them at risk of getting COVID-19 much more than say an employee who got laid off due to non-essential work, for example. However, Canada is on the right track to solving this issue. For instance, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization has identified a critical need to prioritize people whose living or working conditions put them at elevated risk of COVID-19 to allow them to get the vaccine sooner.

In what ways do you envision society changing due to the pandemic?

I envision society still trying to keep their distance of 2m / 6ft. I think that it has almost become ingrained in a lot of people’s heads and they will continue to keep their distance whether it be in queues, social gatherings, or in-store shopping. Now that people are aware of diseases spreading via droplets, I think they will be more cautious about who they surround themselves with.

Now that you are done with both the course and your additions to the archive, is there anything you'd like to reflect on?

I really liked being a part of an archive. Learning how to upload and provide metadata to benefit and assist future historians was a really interesting learning concept for me. The course provided lots of intriguing stories about past events and pandemics throughout history and really made me want to dive deeper into these events. Even though COVID-19 seems not ideal for many of us, taking this class has made me appreciate the life I get to live today and be thankful that we are developing vaccines as quickly as we are. I hope that my contribution to this archive will help future historians get a better sense of how COVID-19 impacted university students.