15 10 239 https://archivingcovid19.libraries.rutgers.edu/files/original/c6775b43d9d0baa1c20bf922b0e333ce.jpg 1886f0c1b5b7fd0fcbf2bb1f23200291 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Confusion image Subject The topic of the resource confusion image Description An account of the resource confusion image Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource https://www.credit.com/blog/14-confusing-money-terms-explained-127390/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource October 17, 2015 confusion https://archivingcovid19.libraries.rutgers.edu/files/original/10cad578236389ec9f676cbd9dc849f2.png f07800248a2a4f6ee5b849246108319c Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Biden President Elect Subject The topic of the resource Trump's Response to Biden President Elect Description An account of the resource Trump's Response to Biden President Elect Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dave Granlund Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived politicalcartoons.com Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource November 12, 2020 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource cartoon Biden election lawn sign Trump https://archivingcovid19.libraries.rutgers.edu/files/original/6a0db84727e228911a9c933bc51aace3.pdf 6aa7c994a41f5713df319cb9e5fcb7d6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rutgers Responds Subject The topic of the resource Rutgers University responses to the Novel Coronavirus Pandemic, beginning in March 2020 Language A language of the resource English Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Audrey Truschke Description An account of the resource This archive collects some key moments in the responses of Rutgers University, especially the Rutgers administration, to the COVID-19 pandemic, from March 2020 through Fall 2020. This has been a period of unprecedented austerity measures from Rutgers, prioritizing the wealthy and advantaged while laying off hundreds of the most vulnerable of the Rutgers community. Rutgers has faced criticism for its decisions from many corners, including from its own faculty and students, many of whom argue that the administration's approach to the pandemic is heartless, lacking in leadership, and inappropriate for a state university that is supposed to prioritize education. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document <h4>How to have School Spirit: Unions, Solidarity, and Creative Writing</h4> I remember being a senior in high school and reading Marina Keegan’s essay, <a href="https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/05/27/keegan-the-opposite-of-loneliness/">“The Opposite of Loneliness</a>”. I had heard people’s nostalgia about their “college days” or the “college experience” but Keegan’s idea of what she had felt at Yale was the first that I really aspired to. “We don’t have a word for the opposite of loneliness, but if we did, I could say that’s what I want in life. What I’m grateful and thankful to have found at Yale, and what I’m scared of losing when we wake up tomorrow and leave this place. It’s not quite love and it’s not quite community; it’s just this feeling that there are people, an abundance of people, who are in this together. Who are on your team. When the check is paid and you stay at the table. When it’s four a.m. and no one goes to bed. That night with the guitar. That night we can’t remember. That time we did, we went, we saw, we laughed, we felt. ” -Marina Keegan, The Opposite of Loneliness We spend a relatively brief amount of time as undergraduates yet for many of us it can be a space of transformation and momentum. Our “college experience” is a part of our lives through which we grow, learn, and actively share collective energy that we acquire in a nuanced way. So what actually makes a University feel like the opposite of loneliness? Undergraduate students, graduate students, professors, staff, dining hall workers, janitorial staff, and of course the towns that Universities exist in, do the actual work of cultivating the college experience and creating a meaningful environment. Without the work of students and faculty who consistently build vibrant communities and student organizations, it would be impossible to attract prospective students and donations. When people visit campus to determine if they want to come here, you give them a tour of student activities, the dining halls, the nearby city, and academics- you don’t simply have them meet an administrator to talk about the endowment. But if students, faculty, workers, and surrounding cities are what sustain a university’s reputation and profit, then why are administrators given free rein to contribute to gentrification, use the endowment for unethical investments, and fail to provide adequate benefits or salaries for faculty and workers? No matter how affectionately we wear our school spirit, university administrative decisions are increasingly determined by accountants and lawyers (rather than faculty governance boards, worker councils, student representatives, or long term university members). Administrators and Board of Governors members seem to only see assets or expenses instead of an actual community that deserves a voice in university matters and recognition as stakeholders. And while the corporatization of the public university has been a major issue that unions and students have been pushing back against for decades, the pandemic has only made it worse. At Rutgers University, where I am a senior, our administration has the money to not need to make departmental cuts due to Covid. As a state university, we did not see drastic changes in enrollment or government funding. We also have a $1.5 billion endowment, and this is the exact type of crisis that calls for tapping into it. Yet, Rutgers has announced over 1,000 layoffs including dining hall staff, mental health professionals, librarians, part-time lecturers, and departmental-level administrators. Graduate students are facing threats that the administration will not be extending their research, which effectively acts as a layoff by stopping their funding and benefits. Ultimately, students (many of whom are experiencing financial crises) are being asked to pay the same tuition while the classes that they love and the employees that are essential to the university are being cut. And yes, education as a whole in this country is underfunded—we see this with both K-12 schools and universities— but administrators can protect themselves while unions have to consistently advocate for the bare minimum. In fact, as unions pushed back against layoffs, Rutgers administration hired Jackson-Lewis, a notorious union-busting law firm, which cost millions of dollars that they simply could have spent on sustaining the actual livelihood of Rutgers community members. They continue to now hire administrators and managers while declaring a hiring freeze for faculty and staff. To lay off adjunct faculty while prioritizing administrators feels like false advertising for the value of education that Rutgers is projecting to students. Part-Time Lecturers (Adjunct/Contingent faculty) teach over one-third of undergraduate classes at Rutgers but are paid as little as $5,500 per class without benefits. You may not realize which of your professors are adjuncts because they put in the same amount of work and are asked to perform at the same level as non-adjunct faculty. Lindsay Zafir explains the historical trajectory of adjunctification in her article “<a href="https://forgeorganizing.org/article/organizing-neoliberal-university">Organizing the Neoliberal University”.</a> “It’s a well-worn line in the rap for any academic union: three-fourths of all faculty in the United States are contingent laborers. And well-worn for a reason. It’s an astounding number, especially when compared to the number of contingent faculty fifty years ago — roughly<a href="https://prospect.org/labor/adjuncts-go-union/"> three percent</a>. This remarkable reconfiguration of labor in higher education coincided with the influx of more diverse groups of students and workers on college campuses in the latter half of the 20th century. At the same time, state disinvestment and subsequent privatization of public universities transformed higher education into a private commodity rather than a public good. As a result, women and people of color<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/08/22/study-finds-gains-faculty-diversity-not-tenure-track"> disproportionately fill the ranks of contingent faculty</a> while the makeup of the tenured faculty (largely white, majority male) has remained relatively unchanged since 1969. “ -Lindsay Zafir, The Forge Fighting the privatization of public universities, along with calls for making Academia equitable and fair to more diverse faculty who previously were not represented by the university, entails a large quantity of work. Adding a broader discussion of how universities like Rutgers push contracts that create luxury apartments for students in surrounding cities or displace local middle school students to warehouses (read about the Defend Lincoln Annex Coalition in the references below), is an even more extensive conversation. For students, these conversations may require redefining how we show school spirit by using our voices to advocate for faculty and worker unions and the cities that we have entered and taken up space in. It also means fighting for our own voice in the Board of Governors/Trustee meetings and decision-making processes, as we are the biggest population at the university and we have a real ability to determine the reputation of the school. We should be vocal in defending the people and spaces that make us feel the opposite of loneliness, especially when they are made vulnerable by the university that is funded by our tuition and school spirit. The Creative Writing Department at Rutgers is a space that is truly vital to my experience here and it is currently being threatened by a 20% budget cut. Getting to know strangers through their creative work is one of the most underrated ways of experiencing connection and community. I’ve met my best friends in my writing classes and have felt seen as a person in ways that will always stick with me. The department is mostly taught by PTLs whose salaries only take up 0.8% of the school’s total budget, yet somehow cutting PTL classes for Creative Writing was chosen as the best way to deal with the pandemic. By treating this department as sacrificial, it feels like the work of Creative Writing and Creativity is being deeply underrated by the university. But you don’t have to take just my word for it- I’ve created a <a href="https://forms.gle/bm1qfWHK9krSnrX76">google form</a> asking for testimonials from Creative Writing students at Rutgers which received 72 responses in one day, and then passed 150 responses within five days. Many students talked about creative writing as one of the ways they were able to cope with personal traumas and mental health. They also, regardless of their academic discipline, described the creative writing classes as their favorite courses that they truly looked forward to and felt the most engaged in. All of the responses signaled that Creative Writing classes should not only be saved, but given more recognition and funding. We should be honest about what creative writing sustains at Rutgers and what it empowers students to do whether it be through improved writing skills or overall community connection. We should value PTLs for how they are inspiring students to be creative despite the state of the world and the bleakness of corporatization and climate crisis. We should safeguard these wonderful parts of the university because without them many students would have no place to believe that creativity is important to academia and that their thoughts matter. I encourage everyone to read the anonymous responses <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vzmcTPgObKTNLTi2qrpm8iE92UiWa-uwQssbTR1J_S8/edit?usp=sharing">here</a> and to follow the campaign on Twitter: @norulayoffs! Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource How to have School Spirit: Unions, Solidarity, and Creative Writing Subject The topic of the resource A Rutgers-New Brunswick Creative Writing student responds to the Rutgers administrations' lay-offs and other anti-people ways of responding to the pandemic. Description An account of the resource A Rutgers-New Brunswick Creative Writing student responds to the Rutgers administrations' lay-offs and other anti-people ways of responding to the pandemic. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anjali Madgula Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Unpublished Magazine Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource November 18, 2020 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Anjali Madgula Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant New Jersey creative writing layoffs New Brunswick Rutgers students Teachers https://archivingcovid19.libraries.rutgers.edu/files/original/a4cdf231c5cbf3fcfec997008e394751.pdf 92afc1b4841ab8e5b6993b08cb199cef Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The American Public's Trust of Medicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic Description An account of the resource This is an archive describing how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the attitudes of Americans towards medical professionals in hospitals and practices and those leading the charge in the government as well. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Varoon Phondge Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Varoon Phondge Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Archive Website A resource comprising of a web page or web pages and all related assets ( such as images, sound and video files, etc. ). Local URL The URL of the local directory containing all assets of the website https://www.statnews.com/2020/09/10/trust-cdc-fauci-evaporating/ Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public trust in CDC, Fauci, and other top health officials is evaporating, poll finds Subject The topic of the resource Public trust in CDC and government health officials declining Description An account of the resource Public trust in CDC and government health officials declining Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Nicholas Florko Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Statnews.com Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Statnews.com Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 09/10/2020 Language A language of the resource English CDC COVID Fears COVID-19 Trust https://archivingcovid19.libraries.rutgers.edu/files/original/d33c81d669cb9233bf48fd9e548886f6.pdf 59af8a8185c4e991ff129e8967fb4ab8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The American Public's Trust of Medicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic Description An account of the resource This is an archive describing how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the attitudes of Americans towards medical professionals in hospitals and practices and those leading the charge in the government as well. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Varoon Phondge Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Varoon Phondge Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Archive Website A resource comprising of a web page or web pages and all related assets ( such as images, sound and video files, etc. ). Local URL The URL of the local directory containing all assets of the website https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/03/13/amid-coronavirus-threat-americans-generally-have-a-high-level-of-trust-in-medical-doctors/ Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Amid coronavirus threat, Americans generally have a high level of trust in medical doctors Subject The topic of the resource Americans' trust of dedical doctors during COVID-19 Description An account of the resource Americans' trust of dedical doctors during COVID-19 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cary Funk and John Gramlich Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived PEW Research Center Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Pew Research Center Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource MARCH 13, 2020 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Article COVID-19 Doctors Medicine https://archivingcovid19.libraries.rutgers.edu/files/original/b89b1f218dc31ba0f1ff5a45d790dfd1.png bee64bc16fc2c47cf456a2a38f276e83 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Native Americans and New Mexico: The Impact of COVID-19 on Indigenous Life Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 impact on Indigenous folk. Description An account of the resource A collection of images, articles, statistics, and other resources on the impact of COVID-19 on Indigenous life in New Mexico and Beyond. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Akshay Warrier Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Akshay Warrier Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 11/16/2020 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data png Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Data New Mexico Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 data Description An account of the resource Data for impact of COVID-19 on populace, specifically focusing on racial disparities and disproportionate Indigenous infection rates. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Albuquerque Journal Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Albuquerque Journal, https://www.abqjournal.com/1443600/nm-officials-launch-new-covid-19-data-portal.html Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Albuquerque Journal Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource April 14, 2020 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource png Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource First Days of the Pandemic Oral Histories Subject The topic of the resource Oral history accounts of the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Description An account of the resource Oral history accounts of the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Fall 2020 Archiving COVID-19 class, students and instructors Language A language of the resource English Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Christopher Perez Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Juan Yahuitl Location The location of the interview Moe's Southwest Grill, Marlboro NJ Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Interviewer: Christopher Perez Interviewee: Juan Yahuitl Where: Moe’s Southwest Grill, Marlboro When: September 26, 2020 Christopher Perez: So, this interview is being conducted on the 26th of September. Can I have your name please? Juan Yahuitl: Juan Yahuitl C: Okay, and how do you spell that? J: Y-A-H-U-I-T-L C: Okay, thank you. So, Juan, I’m going to ask you a few questions and you just answer them to the best of your ability. You can be as descriptive as you want. Sound good? J: Yep. C: Okay. So, first question: do you remember what your life was like before the coronavirus happened? J: Um, basically it was mostly just waking up, going on the internet before coming to work and then working until close. C: What’d you do on your days off? J: Mostly just go on the internet, play games like Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links or draw. I’ve been trying to get commissions so that I could sell them online. C: You mean like sell your drawings? J: Pretty much, yeah. They tell me what they want me to draw, I draw it and then give it to them for a price. C: Wow, that’s pretty cool. So, moving on to our next question, do you remember anything that happened on March 11? Like, what your day was like on that day. Cause that was the day the coronavirus measures went into effect, I think. J: Um… Nah, I don’t think so. I can’t remember. C: No? Nothing? J: Not really. I pretty much forgot. C: Eh, it’s okay. If someone asked me the same thing, I’d probably say the same thing. (We both laugh) J: Actually, I do remember something. C: Really? What was it? J: I lost my job that day. C: Oh, ouch, really? What happened? J: Nothing much. I remember getting a call from Lesli (our manager at the time) telling me that they wouldn’t be needing me for a while. C: I’m assuming it’s because the dining room was closed during those months. J: Probably. (Juan’s main role at that time was cleaning the dining room) C: So, was everything okay after that? I mean, losing your job must’ve sucked. J: Eh… Not really. It actually made things worse. C: Really? In what way? J: ‘Cause I was already late on the rent, and now I had no job. So, I was kinda screwed. C: So, what’d you do? J: Well, at first, I kept hoping that I’d get called back to work. Lesli never told me how long I’d be out, so I thought it’d only last a week or 2. So when it almost April and they still never called me back, I had to borrow money from my dad. C: Really? How much? J: About $1,000. C: Damn. That’s a lot of money. J: Yeah. C: What did your dad say? Was he angry or concerned? J: Not really. I mean, he lent me the money no problem because he knows that I never ask him for money at all. I told him that I wasn’t going to be working for a while and that I needed help paying rent, so he lent me the money. C: So then he knew that this must’ve been serious. J: I guess. C: So you didn’t come back to work until around June, I think. J: Yep. I got a call asking to come back to wash the dishes, which I know how to do, so I said yes and came back. C: That must’ve been a relief, huh? J: Yeah. I was getting worried that I might’ve had to borrow more money again. C: Crazy. So, since you were out of work for a few months, what did you do during quarantine? J: Nothing much. Mostly I would draw or go online. Stuff that I usually do. C: Did it get boring after a while? J: Yeah. I was really bored after a while. I think like two weeks in I was really desperate to leave my apartment and do something. C: If they called you back to work, would you have risked it. J: Definitely. C: How do you normally get to work? Do you take a taxi? J: No, I go by bus. C: Do the buses get crowded? J: Sometimes, but not usually. Probably because of COVID and stuff. C: Okay, well I think we’re running out of time so first of all, thank you Juan for agreeing to take part in this interview. J: No problem. C: Were you nervous in anyway doing this interview? J: Not nervous, more like surprised. Like, because why choose me for this? I doubt anyone’s gonna care about what happened to me during COVID-19. C: Because you’re someone who’s living through and experiencing COVID. Everyone deserves to be heard. When people read this, they’ll gain a better understanding about what COVID was. J: I guess you’re right. C: Anyway, once again thanks a lot for contributing, Juan. It was a big help. J: No problem. Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 30 minutes Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview between Christopher Perez and Juan Yahuitl Subject The topic of the resource The transcript of the interview between Christopher Perez and Juan Yahuitl. Description An account of the resource A transcript of the interview between Christopher Perez and Juan Yahuitl on September 26, 2020 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Christopher Perez Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Christopher Perez, Juan Yahuitl Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource November 14 2020 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Christopher Perez, Juan Yahuitl Language A language of the resource English Essential Workers Oral History pandemic Quarantine restaurant https://archivingcovid19.libraries.rutgers.edu/files/original/d7ec594928e0cc12f248cf6f83dba4a0.png a7146017916e1fa83bea0b600398cbf6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource First Days of the Pandemic Oral Histories Subject The topic of the resource Oral history accounts of the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Description An account of the resource Oral history accounts of the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Fall 2020 Archiving COVID-19 class, students and instructors Language A language of the resource English Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Picture of the Restaurant where Juan and I work Subject The topic of the resource An image of the restaurant of were we work Description An account of the resource An image displaying the restaurant where Christopher Perez and Juan Yahuitl work. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Christopher Perez Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource October 11, 2020 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Picture Essential Workers restaurant Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource First Days of the Pandemic Oral Histories Subject The topic of the resource Oral history accounts of the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Description An account of the resource Oral history accounts of the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Fall 2020 Archiving COVID-19 class, students and instructors Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document First Days: Juan’s Account The arrival of the Coronavirus and the lack of preparation for its arrival affected nearly everyone in the U.S. I reached out to a co-worker named Juan who agreed to share with me his experiences in dealing with the outbreak of COVID-19. I interviewed Juan on the 26th of September 2020 during our lunch break at work; we work in a restaurant where I work the line and he washes dishes. He was receptive of the idea when I asked to interview him; he was probably more surprised than anything, about my desire to interview him. But I chose him specifically because I believe his experiences could serve as a contrast to mine. While we are both of Mexican origin, there are also differences in our lives, I live in the suburbs of Old Bridge, whereas Juan lives in the city of Freehold. I still live with my parents, free of the burdens of paying rent, while he lives with his brother in an apartment. I am interviewing him so that I can get a different perspective on COVID-19 from someone whose life is different from mine. The first question I asked him was if he remembered what his life was like before the pandemic started. He exclaimed that his days were primarily spent going to work most of the week while spending his free time playing games online or drawing art. When I asked him if he remembered what he did exactly on March 11 (the day WHO declared COVID a pandemic), he admitted he didn’t remember at all. We shared a laugh when I told him that I really didn’t remember either. He told me that what he did remember was that on that day, he received a call from our manager telling him that he did not need to come to work for the foreseeable future. This effectively left him jobless, a fate that befell him and millions of other Americans; according to the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, more than 20.6 million jobs were lost from mid-March to the end of April, a loss in employment not seen since the Great Depression in the 1930s . Businesses like restaurants were hit hardest under the pandemic, and workers like Juan were unfortunately affected financially from it. I asked Juan if he had been prepared for the issues that were about to ensue as a result of the coronavirus and he confided in me that he was not. The pandemic completely blindsided him. He had already been behind on his rent, and the loss of his job meant that paying rent was going to be much harder. In fact, by the end of March, Juan told me that he had to borrow $1,000 from his father just so that he keep up with his payments. Apparently even his own father was surprised at his predicament, as he told me that his father did indeed lend him the money that he asked for, as he knew Juan was not someone who asked for money unless he really needed it. Eventually he ended up coming back to work, which allowed him to get his finances in order. I told him that he must have felt relieved, which he promptly told me was the case. And just in time as well, as according to CNBC in July 2020, as up to 40 million Americans could lose their housing . I then asked him how he spent his days during the beginning of the pandemic. He told me that he mostly had free time to draw and go online, not too different from what he normally did. Of course, he also told me that by the second week, he was tired of being inside all the time. When I asked him if he would have risked COVID-19 just so that he could go back to work, he said he would have definitely taken the risk. Juan, like many other low-income workers, uses public transportation to get to and from other places. In his case, he takes the bus. I wondered if there any risk in taking public transportation while the pandemic was in effect, but according to the website Scientific American, the risk of catching COVID-19 from riding public transportation is not significantly higher than was once originally thought . Afterwards, I thanked Juan for allowing me to interview him for this project. He said it was no problem, but also said he didn’t think his experiences were worth writing about. I told him everyone deserves to have their voices heard and that his experiences will help illuminate future generations on how COVID-19 affected people from all walks of life. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Struggle to Get By: An Account Subject The topic of the resource An account of the first days of COVID of Juan Yahuitl, as written by Christopher Perez Description An account of the resource Christopher describes the the first days of COVID as experienced by Juan Yahuitl, a restaurant worker from Freehold. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Christopher Perez Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Juan Yahuitl Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Spring and Summer 2020 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Christopher Perez, Juan Yahuitl Language A language of the resource English early days Essential Workers pandemic restaurant Travel Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource First Days Records from Rutgers Students and Instructor Subject The topic of the resource Material Related to the experiences of students and their professor during the Early Days of the COVID-19 pandemic, mostly in March 2020. Description An account of the resource Material Related to the experiences of students and their professor during the Early Days of the COVID-19 pandemic, mostly in March 2020. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document First Days: My Account On March 11, 2020, the state of New Jersey declared a state of emergency and began initiating quarantine, effectively closing all schools, buildings and non-essential businesses. At this time, I was not doing much in my life. I had finished my undergraduate degree in December 2019 and was getting ready to apply to graduate school in the fall. During the beginning stages of the virus, I was working in a restaurant, saving money for school and for my monthly expenses. For weeks, analysts had been reporting that the virus was coming, but I hadn’t paid much attention to it. However, once quarantine started, everyone’s’ lives were impacted. When it came to my job, I was very fortunate to be one of the few workers still being called in. Most businesses were shut down in order to minimalize human contact. Some places, however, were deemed essential businesses, and allowed to stay open. The restaurant where I worked at was one such place because it also specialized in carry out. When quarantine hit, only around 25 percent of the staff stayed on; the rest were not called back to work. Now, most of them were younger workers, so it makes sense to have them stay home, but I was pretty surprised that I was still called it. Procedures were put in place to help prevent the spread of COVID, such as shutting down the dining room and having a limited amount of people in the building. Even still, I was pretty nervous going to work because I always felt in the back of my mind that I was at risk. The other notable event I can remember in the first days of COVID is my birthday. I was born on March 23rd, less than two weeks after COVID was declared a pandemic. I was planning to do what I always do on my birthday: go out to dinner with my family to my favorite restaurant. Unfortunately, COVID completely put an end to these plans. Not only were most restaurants closed down, but my mother was also especially worried about our state of health. She made sure nobody left the house unless absolutely necessary and had a bottle of bleach for disinfecting whenever somebody came back. As such, my birthday was primarily spent indoors. We did celebrate it, however; my mother cooked dinner and we all spent our time in our big backyard, relaxing and speculating of things to come. I figured that by the time my sisters’ birthdays came around in the fall, we’d be back normal. Six months later, our situation unfortunately hasn’t changed. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource My First Days: An Account by Christopher Perez Subject The topic of the resource An account of my first day in quarantine during the pandemic. Description An account of the resource An account by graduate student Christopher Perez about the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Christopher Perez Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource November 14, 2020 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Christopher Perez Language A language of the resource English