We All Might Become Little Historians
From my research through the Natural Trust for Historic Preservation’s website, I found that they have collected a series of podcasts people can listen to during the pandemic. Podcasts are already a tool used by many during their daily lives, but with how slowly time goes by during quarantine and with how people may feel – not being able to find something interesting to do –, listening to one or some of these podcasts may provide with the entertainment we are all craving for. I do find this idea fitting for the current situation since podcasts can be listened to during any activity.
From experience, I know that doing one thing without having some noise in the background does not help me very much, and with the anxieties that the virus provokes, I think that many others will feel the same. Although [some of] the podcasts are on Spotify, a rather very accessible platform, many may not have access to them or have the resources to effortlessly listen to them. All in all, knowing about the architecture and physical objects that surround us is better than looking at a wall, plus it is educational. Perhaps many will not like it, but there is not much one can do inside four walls.
The situation that we are experiencing has had a major impact on peoples’ lives; a time that will be recorded in history. A professor realized that “How people experienced the outbreak needed to be captured and organized in a searchable database” (Burch, 2020). People like him have taken into account the importance of data collecting which will aid those in the future generation to understand what the world has experienced. A method such as this one was previously used during 9/11 to capture the intensity and severity of the situation. In today’s world, though many people did not experience it, 9/11 impacted the lives of many Americans as it changed the way many of them carried on with life.
Ms. Denney, who has started a journal in which she shares her experience during quarantine, has received large attention and information. The goal of this journal is to find a way of dealing with quarantine. Furthermore, it will be used to educate generations to come of what current people lived and the major changes. This journal is very significant as it records first-hand and personal testimonies of people; having this kind of data will help many in the future understand the problem. I believe that, in aspects, this is intended for a public audience to access. With the attention she has received and the help from outside sources, she has helped create a site that is accessible to all public to share, talk, and discuss the current stances of the issue that we are living: the COVID-19 pandemic. People will talk about the problem, the changes, and make comparisons of what was like before this pandemic to now and those stories will be shared on this site.
I think that this site is very collaborative as there are many authors who share their own stories, which reaches many means of other media besides the site itself. This site is very inclusive and adds the experience of many people from different cultures, ages, and economical stances for everyone to resonate and understand each different point of view. This site is revealed to be, “One of the first submissions to the coronavirus public memory project set up by Wright State University” (Burch, 2020).
Being able to write on such a site will hopefully capture the feelings that the people are having. This site not only documents the living standards but also the sickness itself and death that comes along as many are affected. This disease, which has wiped out a large number of people, will forever be marked in peoples’ lives. Their description of a disease and the feeling of desperation and hopelessness which has alarmed people worldwide is truly one to be used to remember the situation we are currently living in.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/15/us/coronavirus-pandemic-historians-archive.html
https://savingplaces.org/stories/11-great-podcasts-for-historic-preservation-fans#.XsIYcS-z3fY