Category: WORD Reporters And the Pandemic Special 2021 Spring Series

Several WORD reporters writing about them and classmates dealing with the Pandemic

Photo-J Essay: Two-Hour Journey to Whethersfield, Connecticut, for Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccination – Pictures by Marlena Freitas

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Marlena Freitas was assigned to document her vaccination experience. She is a second semester senior expecting to graduate this June with a media studies major and a focus in journalism and a minor in history. Marlena Freitas did her ZOOM bivouac at her parents home in Stonington, CT AKA the Stonington Borough, after the Hunter College campus closed. When not ZOOM-ing for classes, following up with studies, she worked two part-time jobs, one as a barista in a local café and the other as a nanny for two young kids. She is tri-lingual, as in Danish, Portuguese and English.

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Damn the Pandemic, Full Speed Ahead

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Alexis Fowler, an Urban Studies major minoring in Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies, and Ike Brown, studying social work, open up to WORD journalist Rebecca Simeon about the Pandemic’s effect on their lives. Fowler is interested in learning how various infrastructures effect communities of color. “Being aware of what is occurring in our communities and communities across the world and how we can create change for everyone is important to me,” she said in her interview. Brown, 24, an immigrant from Trinidad who lives in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, said he decided on social work because he wanted to help people connect with their best selves through understanding and empathy.

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Damn the Pandemic, Full Speed

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“I fought off the virus several months ago but was almost floored by the news that the last semesters of my college years would be remote and online. We were told that we would have to miss commencement as screeching headlines and “breaking news” reports, rumors – as well as bad and fake news – about rogue variants and flawed vaccines taunted us about our survival” – By WORD reporter Anissa Zibo.

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Damn the Pandemic, Full Speed Ahead

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The severity of the pandemic took millions of everyday people by surprise – even more so, I think, college students; maybe even more so for seniors like me being menaced by what CNN reported as “The deepest recession since the great depression.” – Article by Diana Olivares.

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Damn the Pandemic, Full Speed Ahead
I and My Brother, Mom and Grandmother Tested Positive. “We spent our days in bed binging on Netflix series, reading books, and reassuring friends … that we indeed didn’t need any more borscht”

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I’m a competitive ballroom dancer. A national champion three times and a world championship semi-finalist. I’ve traveled internationally for competitions to represent this country and have placed in finals, semifinals, and quarterfinals as well. I am accustomed to facing challenges. But remote learning has been a real bête noire
Article by Sima Sadykhov

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Damn the Pandemic, Full Speed Ahead
A touch of kindness during a challenging time for me and my classmates

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After Hunter announced plans for remote learning and shut down its campuses, there were days I sat in the window of the second-floor apartment I share with my roommates in Queens and watched the M trains pass by. For me the world was at a halt and the trains were the small glimpses that life was still happening outside my apartment.
Article by Chloe Williams

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Damn the Pandemic, Full Speed Ahead
To my surprise I am in a better mental state, and I am more optimistic about this semester and the future

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Despite news reports of more than 500,000 dead and blazing headline threats of escalating virus mutations sweeping across hot spots in America like a biblical plague at the time I was wrapping up my final draft for this article, this semester at Hunter been more relaxed and laid back for me and students I know, especially seniors who want to graduate this June, writes Niamh McAuliffe. Why? “It’s all about the Zoom.”

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Damn the Pandemic, Full Speed Ahead
I’m a pretty introverted leaning person so the beginning of quarantine was almost like a blissful vacation

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“I’m grateful that my mother and I haven’t been sick with the virus, that we haven’t been financially affected, nor evicted from our apartment and that I am continuing with my studies. I know that around 41,486 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the United States on March 9, 2021 around the time I started working on this article” – Christopher Molina.

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