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Text & Image
How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
I tend to express myself better with art than words, this tends to be due to the shortcomings of language and the confusion surrounding the way in which an audience perceives what is either being said or written. Though there is much room for interpretation with art, I feel it has a more universal and connecting role in our lives. Along with being able to express myself in this way much more fluently are the reasons why I choose to draw my experiences. Covid caused my unemployment and partially my homelessness, my brother and I had to couch hop which was a challenge during these times. Staying safe, having people willing to help due to the virus and other health related issues surrounding it. The same goes for finding a house to rent, though we eventually did, it was a friend of a family instead of an apartment or other. Places weren't renting out and there weren't vacant homes due to the inability to evict. My family has always been really important to me but they are at increased risk due to my parents age so we limited severally our physical contact and now live on our own. Food Pantries were more difficult to use due to restrictions and precautions and limited supplies. Being an artist and going to university has changed much as well, not being able to make art in the studios or have in person critics and lessons completely changed how I made art. My space was much smaller, I had access to less supplies and tools. I had to rent internet and a laptop from campus to continue my education while homeless until now. These challenges have only helped me grow not only as an artist but as a person as well. We continue to take precautions and follow all the guidelines.
January 18, 2021
Text & Image
How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Quite honestly, COVID-19 has moved to my mental back burner. With all that is happening locally and globally–easing restrictions on campus, a national decline in cases, large-scale crises like Putin’s invasion of Ukraine– hearing the word “covid” has started to leave me with an apathetic expression. Although I have heard utterances of another simmering variant, it seems like a given at this point–covid will continue to wax and wane, cases will drop and spike, and we will all just have to carry on and adapt as we have been the past two years. Ironically, I am sick right now with some other virus; you forget that other viruses besides COVID-19 still exist. Even more ironically, I fully departed from wearing masks indoors this past week, which may explain my newfound sickness. Do I blame the sudden absence of indoor mask regulations or plain bad luck? Part of me wants to retreat back to mask wearing as I sit here with a burning sore throat, but I have to keep reminding my hypochondriac self that masks are not the norm and not a safety blanket, either. Additionally, spending the end of my spring break in bed has been a major let-down, especially with warmer temperatures and sunnier skies, but I am trying to remain grateful for suffering at home in my bed instead of a noisy dorm with a roommate I do not want to get sick. I also did have the chance to get outside (and inside, apparently around floating viruses) pre-illness and managed to take some photos of one of my favorite spots from home: the Lake Michigan beachfront. I am immensely looking forward to more time at the beach in the near future, to recovering from this virus, and to the final stretch of a semester that seems to be rising out of covid’s ashes.
March 22, 2022