University of California Irvine COVID 19 Pandemic Essay

Prompt for Daily Short Journal Entries for COVID-19 Pandemic 2020You are now a historian (or anthropologist, sociologist) and participant observer to
COVID-19 Pandemic 2020. You will write 6 short journal entries on separate days.
Each entry will detail what you are seeing in the news, or how the world, our nation,
friends, neighbors and family are responding to this pandemic. There is a written
portion and an optional visual/creative portion.
Written Portion. The written portion of each journal entry will be about 1/3 of a page
per entry and single-spaced. Include the date at the top of the entry. You will keep a
word document with your entries until after Spring Break.
Optional: Visual/Creative Portion. In addition to the written portion, you may include
copies of Instagram posts, tweets, pictures or other social media images that represent
what you are experiencing or feeling that day. Other options include your own or
someone else’s doodle, drawing, art, poetry, song or other creative forms.
Overarching question for short journal entry: How are you experiencing the COVID19 Pandemic of 2020?
Answer the above question as you would like and/or use these guiding questions to
choose from to write your entries:
1. What did the government announce/declare/implement today?
a. Does it make sense?
b. Dose it impact your life? Why or why not?
c. How did your family respond?
2. What is open in your neighborhood? What is closed?
3. What does your neighborhood look like? Are people walking around?
4. How is today different from yesterday for you, your family, our nation, the world?
5. Do you see any examples of racism, ageism, privilege and income inequality in
any of the events that happened today? (locally, at the state level, nationally, or
the world)
6. Did you see anything today that gave you hope? Joy? Anxiety? Fear?
a. In person, in the news or on social media?
7. What do you or your family need today that you might not have, don’t have
enough of or have no access to acquire?
8. What is going on the social media platforms that you follow?
Adapted from prompts from Nancy Stockdale, University of Northern Texas and
handout by Bryan Shaw.