Viewing a Pandemic from a Safe Distance
These diary entries are a way for students to describe our lives during the COVID-19 pandemic and questions were given to us to encourage thinking and pictures were encouraged to be shared. I liked these diary entries, because of their freestyle nature and I had a plethora of thoughts on the pandemic, so it was easy and enjoyable for me to write them.
Diary entry 1 – April 8, 2020
For the past weeks I’ve been at home doing school work, watching youtube, and occasionally play scrabble or go to the supermarket with my mother. I’m not as worried as other people, but I still make verbal reminders to my family how it spreads and we talk about the symptoms and inevitability of coming in contact with the virus. I have heard of my family members getting sick with varying results, my father tells my family he sees infected people everyday since he’s still working as a USPS(United States Postal Service) carrier, he does show symptoms similar to the virus however his temperature hasn’t reached fever levels and he usually has allergies during this time of year, I think the virus is present in my house, but it.
I feel outraged at how the government is responding as the stimulus package is obviously for one audience in mind, corporations that lost their own money because of their stock buybacks and how the US could have been prepared with a government single-payer healthcare system and social safety nets. On Youtube, there is a lot of analysis about out how the US’s policies were geared toward corporations and did not do enough to help the majority of people and now people are dying because people can’t afford to be treated and the economy will be destroyed also because most of the money is sitting in a wealthy person’s bank account.
The picture is of me with my family’s two cats
Diary entry 2 – April 14, 2020
The past days has been more stressful for me, due to the accumulation of work and the stakes they have on my grades. I feel a little trapped, I know this feeling will pass eventually, but I can’t help but think about ways this time can be a personal set back. In the broader scheme of things I know that there are various options for me, but the paths that I want to journey through require more discipline. Doing school work from my room is harder for me, because I’ve been conditioned to learn in a class setting and more used to watching distracting videos at home so assignments take longer than necessary and there is more confusion.
On the societal side of the pandemic, I heard that the checks from the stimulus package could be taken by debt collectors from banks, Chase is one of the banks that said they would not do this, however I think there should be better wording for the stimulus package so that this doesn’t happen at all. There is also the possibility that the US postal service may shut down because of the lack of federal funding and PPE (personal protective equipment). It seems that a depression will be felt by the majority of Americans, while the charade of the stock market will keep money in the hands who need it the least given that more than 80 percent of the stock market is owned by the richest Americans.
The picture is my family’s cat resting on curtains
Diary Entry 3 – April 21, 2020
The “Making Marvels,” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a place where curious people can explore artifacts from a wide range of time periods and cultures. The curiosity about Surinam Toads that Kim Todd talks about can be ascribed to how people are curious of the visuals people would create as the “lust,” to see the back of an impregnated toad is similar to how people lust to see the genitals of Greek statues. Just as Kim Todd traveled to see the Surinam toad, people travel through tourists and other exhibitions to see the exhibit they went to the Metropolitan for. The observation paper was an attempt to provoke curiosity in our target audience, eighth graders to explore the Metropolitan.
In my life I’ve “chased an epistemic question,” that dilated my pupils nearly everyday as I am often curious about the world. Unlike Kim Todd however, I do not need to travel to vent my curious flame that is kindled by anticipation, I can just feed it fuel by searching on the internet and my curiosity would rest into a tamed state. If I have a trivial question I can consult google and if I have an academic question I can email the person I need to speak to. I am also curious about “memes,” on the internet as the pictures that are displayed in them often are inside jokes that I don’t have the context for. There is a large amount of digital help through forums on platforms such as reddit, for academic purposes I ask friends, or email staff.
Stack of books I’ve read except the top one, of the included are nonfiction titles, biographies, and one hypothetical (How to Invent Everything)
Diary Entry 4 – April 29, 2020
- The photo I attached is from my room and is of the house across from my window at night, the moon is the bright dot in the sky, I didn’t mean to take a picture of the house, but the night sky is hard is take a picture. If I took the picture in the day I would’ve focused on the sky more.
- While staying indoors I feel more inseparable from electronic devices since I would have the easiest access and the most amount of exposure at home, which has distracted me most of the time. For the reflection I have done I cannot get over how much work it seems I have as compared to when I had to physically go somewhere I felt that there was a comfortable separation and I was able to concentrate on specific aspects. when I’m at home all the work and all the places I do my work is at my desk next to my bed so I feel that I am constantly reminded of the work I have to do, but the fear of the workload makes me immobilized from completing some of it. I think my online class schedule also contributes to this as I cannot go at my own pace, I feel that i am interrupted from the work I wanted to complete. I also feel that the kinds of people I think about are more insular in that the only other people I see are my family and other people that I would’ve normally see do not seem as important anymore. At the moment I do not believe I have learned much about myself and the one thing that has come to my attention is how current exposure affects what my current goals and interests are.
- From listening, reading, watching, and researching during the shelter-in, I have noticed how the science community borrows heavily from the public to conduct research such as the folding@home project. The folding@home project which uses computer resources from volunteers who lend their Computer Processing Units (CPU) and ram from all over the world to contribute to simulating folding proteins, and simulating protein folding contributes to research of different diseases with COVID-19 being one of the diseases. The science community also shifts itself to be relevant to current events demonstrated by searching research papers in biological related databases such as Arxiv.org show COVID-19 related papers. The science section of the nyt also promotes stories that are COVID-19 related.
Diary Entry 5 – May 6, 2020
1) After the summer of 2020, there is no guarantee of classrooms and I can not confidently say whether classrooms would be open by the start of the academic year. Personally I think that classrooms should be open with the proper equipment and with proper support from federal and state levels, currently my experience from learning at home has been less ideal and I would change my mind if the procedures for online learning was better optimized. I currently miss going to classes, because I’ve been conditioned to focus on the subject taught in a classroom and at home I’m more accustomed to relaxing, I find that I feel stressed after focusing on lectures at home on multiple occasions and feel an immediate urge to watch a less mentally demanding video or interesting article. During the home sessions I think that having the ability to play videos at higher speeds is beneficial, but I’m more confident and more engaged in a class setting. I can also concisely communicate my misunderstandings in different ways in person than online, as online I have to try to pick the right words or open shareable applications that the teacher may struggle to use. So I miss the familiarity of a classroom and the communication in person, but I also like the ability to play recorded teachings at faster speeds. Another solution for me to optimize my learning experience would be to dorm near the school, but that is not financially feasible.
2,3) Robert E Marshak was formerly a student at CCNY and was an acclaimed physicist who worked on dwarf stars, particle theories specifically the introduction of different kind of particles pertaining to mesons, education, international science, and the Manhattan project. When Marshak was young his family was poor, but he had intellectual talent which was quickly recognized and he graduated high school at 15 from there he went to CCNY when it was free and was known to teach poorer students, then Marshak received a scholarship which he used to go to Columbia. After Columbia he went to Cornell for a Phd and while researching under Hans Bethe found out how to calculate how dwarf stars move heat along their surfaces. After receiving his Phd, Marshak went on leave from academics to work on the Manhattan project, then after the war worked at the University of Rochester. Marshak’s next notable discovery was the theory that Mesons come in two varieties which he presented at a conference, which furthered particle physics. Marshak was also a proponent of encouraging international cooperation in science and participated in multiple international science conferences. In 1970 to 1979 Marshak served as CCNY’s president, but the time was turbulent for the college as economic rumblings ended CCNY’s free tuition policy, Marshak was noted as saying he wanted to maintain the accessibility of CCNY to disadvantaged communities. Marshak’s death was in 1992, but the timing of his death and reported things marshak said seems a little humorous as he had just finished a manuscript on modern particle physics and had dropped it in the mail the day before his death and he was reported as saying, “It’s done.Now I can die.”
3) A mural for Robert E Marshak would most likely emphasize his impoverished backgrounds and despite that he would become a notable person in physics. Their should also be a picture showing how Marshak wanted the accessibility of science to all people regardless of background or nationality.
3) A mural outside Robert E Marshak building pertaining to COVID-19 should how we try to improve the standards and accessibility of science to and its role in the treatment of disadvantaged communities.
Possible connection of Science to COVID-19: How we treat people in the COVID-19 pandemic should not be political or partisan, it should be based upon science and proper informed empirical discussion.
May 13, 2020
Viewing the 2020 pandemic situation from home is a frustrating and at times a less stressful experience.At home I am prone to using shortcuts on my computer to go to Youtube and watch hours of video everyday about science, technology, politics, news, and short entertaining videos. I do not have to wake up as early as I used to, but I miss communicating with different people and friends in person, I also miss the school facilities, because they can help me concentrate to do my school work. As a prospective science student I occasionally view information from physicians on Youtube as they provide useful information on risk factors, conditions, treatments, and prevention mechanisms for COVID-19. I feel that the protocols put in place by the government is late and lousy and the public information broadcasted by media groups such as Foxnews or cnbc that people base their actions on have increased coverage of harmful opinions. As a student taught to critically think about the situation I believe that more could have been done correctly, this is a perturbing realization.
My position in society at the time during the COVID-19 pandemic is one of comfort, I scarcely go outside and I have access to things for my daily life at home. From my previous responses some people may have assumed that I’ve been suffering besides in the academic sense that would have prompted me being upset at the economic and social response of the government to the pandemic. I am fortunate enough to be comfortable during the pandemic because my parents have jobs with relatively strong unions and are classified as essential, but I think that people whether or not are fortunate enough to be in my position should be able to feel comfort during the situation as I have heard more unfortunate stories everyday. My father is a USPS carrier and I asked him about the people he sees on his route, which he tells me that more than half have become unemployed and that he occasionally faces discrimination. He also tells me stories of him delivering stimulus checks to people only to find that they are unreachable or have passed from COVID-19. My father may exaggerate some encounters that he classifies as discrimination and the neighborhood he works in is composed of more financially compromised people, but I definitely do not think that even one person should be put in a helpless situation. I want to communicate the logical criticisms of the people I watch and to show that the government at this time does not serve the average person and acts in ways that takes more and more from people with average and below average wealth and concentrates it to the extremely wealthy of the US society. The majority of the senate and house regardless of party affiliation have chosen not to fight to prevent people from getting sick or sleeping on streets, but they have ensured that people on top don’t have to pay taxes, their slogan communicated through their cumulative actions can be described as “the homeless person was inevitably going to be homeless, but the rich deserves more money for being rich.” I watch people that critique the government also make the point that when people look back at history many powerful people will be seen as villains incredulous to their suffering populations, but receptive to green tinted pockets. The majority of the news media will also be shown to be a force of harm during the pandemic as they tend to focus on things that distract from the important information and have contributed to the current situation, they do not have a liberal bias, they have a corporate bias. I can only hope that the situation in the future will improve, but if they do feel frustrated I would want them to know that they are not alone and even people of past times have also been frustrated such as Martin Luther King Jr who over 50 years from today called for social programs such as an universal basic income and would’ve asked for medicare for all as he has stated, “injustice in health is the most shocking and inhumane because it often results in physical death.”
What happened in the past few weeks:
– An American private mercenary company tried to overthrow the Venezualan government
– The wealthiest people have made over 6 billion dollars
– More than 33 million Americans have become unemployed in 7 weeks
– Democrats flounder around (chuck shumer trying to prevent trump’s name from getting on stimulus checks while at the same time trying to prevent those stimulus checks from going to people who are receiving unemployment, because those unemployed people are “taking advantage of the system,” while half a trillion goes to large businesses)
– Trump and Nancy Pelosi are trying to cut taxes for wealthy and corporations
– NY Governor Andrew Cuomo cut medicare spending during the pandemic while at the same time was scammed over Personal Protective Equipment or PPE, because there wasn’t a supply of PPE stocked
– Las Vegas is reserving parking lots for homeless to sleep on
– Donald Trump initiated a bombing campaign during the pandemic while also withholding medicine from Iran
– the healthcare industry is leading the financial crash due to lower amounts of elective procedures despite being in high demand
– Joe Biden has low voter enthusiasm especially among younger voters and he still wants healthcare to be profit focused despite recent polling(Apr 24, 2020) showing over two thirds support of Americans support Medicare for all
I think the first picture can be both humorous and disturbing due to the contradiction of horrible circumstances, but it is an actual moment on television; the last two pictures are of one of my family’s cat where he looks like he is sitting at a desk while resting on a staircase.
