The first blog post in our series of “Tell Your Story,” the perspective of ISU Library student workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. These posts are written by students, and only minor edits (grammar/punctuation) are made to these posts.
The Coronavirus and its effect on my life
My name is Taylor Tomlinson. My classification is sophomore but I’m a first-year student at Iowa state. I was born in Ames but I’m from the town of Nevada, a neighboring town of Ames, so home is not far away. I typically commute every day to and from campus and would still be doing so were we not self-isolating.
Before Iowa state I went to and graduated from Nevada high school which is not a very big school but compared to some of my peers neither is it small. I chose to come to Iowa state mainly for two reasons. For one, both my mother and father went to ISU so I figured it would be a good school because I trust my parents. Secondly, and perhaps the driving factor, it was very close by, so I didn’t have to drop everything and disappear, plus I can live at home and avoid paying more money.
First semester, people kept telling me that college was not like high school, you couldn’t coast by and just get good grades, you had to really work and overwork yourself to get by. Combined with the fact that, before coming to ISU, I rarely ever drove anywhere, you’ll understand that I was a little worried. Excited sure, but worried, nonetheless. Of course, they always tell you stuff like that. In 3rd grade, they taught us cursive and told us that, if we did not write our papers in cursive in middle school, we would fail. In fourth grade, a teacher told me that if I do not write in between the red lines on the notebook paper, I would fail. They always tell you that the next step is so far above you, it’s like a warning or a threat of ineptitude. Well, I don’t even know how to write cursive anymore and the margins on my notebook paper are where the sketches go, so I’m not sure what good the warnings do but cause worry for no reason.
First Semester came and went, and I have become a much better driver. Winter break was wrapping up and I was feeling pretty good about my academic standing. One friend was on academic probation and another academic warning, so being on the Dean’s list felt pretty good. I won’t lie, I often fantasized about doubling up on gen eds just so I could be classified a junior the beginning of my sophomore year, though of course I didn’t actually intend on doing that. At this point in time, I believe early news of COVID-19 had been circulating but it was very primitive, or at least I hadn’t heard of it. I’m not sure when I first heard about it, probably in February if I had to wager a guess and I almost guarantee it was on Twitter, since a lot of the news I consume is just bleed-over on my Twitter timeline of other people talking about current events. Initially, I didn’t think about it much. It seemed to be just another viral infection like the flu on the other side of the world. It had nothing to do with me or my schedule but that changed and much faster than I could’ve imagined. It started to blow up and I heard more and more about it. I remember that the WHO was going mental and was warning everyone, but who’s going to cancel their vacation over the flu? For a while, people didn’t know exactly where it had come from, other than China of course, but I suppose they came to the conclusion that it was from an animal, specifically the pangolin, which is sad because they’re cute. I remember we fluttered around the idea of bats for a little while before moving onto the pangolin and for a brief minute I had heard that it was a man made virus being used to control the population of Wuhan, but that died off.
The moment it began to get serious was when it hit Italy. It felt like someone had snapped their fingers and Italy went from the day to day routine to an absolute lock down. Suddenly, students were getting called back and cases were coming into the U.S. All at once, everything fell apart. The economy tanked and rumors, not from students but from professors, started to arise that we would be going digital after spring break. Classes started to get canceled and sure enough the email came, and we went digital for two weeks. The thing that still blows my mind, and I cannot get over is the next email. Not only were we going digital for two weeks after spring break, but I wasn’t coming back to campus this school year. When my coworkers were all saying bye, I thought it was silly, but I legitimately will not see some of them again and that is so weird to me.
That’s the word that I’ve been using the most during this whole thing, weird, because it truly is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to me. Perhaps, because it was so out of left field? It’s like I’m a kid and I’ve woken up to a blizzard. There’s snow up to the window sill and I’m scanning the bar at the bottom of the newscast, waiting for the N’s and there I see it on the list of closures: Nevada middle school, but it’s not just closed, it’s closed indefinitely, like time has just…broken. I know this is way too melodramatic, but I’m just trying to emphasize how weird this all is. It’s all just a dream and every day I have to remember that I will not be going anywhere today or tomorrow or the next day.
Perhaps the reason it feels dreamy to me is because everyone seems so stressed and everything is falling apart, but I sort of just feel like I’m watching it happen. Of course, COVID has affected me just as much as everyone else but maybe my stress coping strategy is to just observe. Or perhaps it is a difference in temperament. I’ve noticed a lot of people very up in arms about social distancing, especially a friend who is very, very extroverted. I mean sure I am confined to my house but besides going to and from campus, my daily routine is about the same. Meanwhile my friend is furious, describing to me how unfair it is that they cannot go out and have dinner as they had planned a week in advance. I, meanwhile, have eaten Spaghetti-Os for dinner for almost a whole week. In that way I do find it kind of humorous.
The shift to online learning wasn’t particularly hard for me. I’ve used canvas all throughout high school, so I know how it works. WebEx was new but I understood how it worked. Zoom I haven’t even touched but I’m sure I would adapt well. My professors on the other hand ranged in ability from having taught the class in online format before to not knowing how to create a discussion board in Canvas. The drastically different, frantic approaches to online teaching has been interesting to witness, with outcomes like recorded lectures and discussions to simulate in class discussion and assignments to chew on for a couple days to just outright canceling class because they don’t know what to do yet. In other words, classes have been incredibly disorganized and all over the place in terms of demands. I try to stay as close to my original schedule as possible, though I do find myself getting sidetracked often and have almost nothing to do on Monday’s, Wednesday’s or Fridays. I would say that the hardest thing for me about the whole scenario is just trying to stay on task, especially when half the time I don’t know what the task is.
My family on the other hand has experienced almost no change whatsoever. I’m not sure about my extended family but my mother already works from home and my father is still going to work. Their day to day routines are the same as they were beforehand. The only thing I will say is that it has become very hard to get hand sanitizer, toilet paper and hand soap, but we’ve navigated around this by buying from the office supply company that supplies my father’s workplace.
At this point in time, I’ve barely thought about the future beyond the rest of the semester. I’ve wondered if, when summer comes, the whole thing will blow over and my friend can finally have his dinner, but beyond the summer. Could COVID affect fall semester? I don’t know. I don’t think anyone knows. I’ll be interested to see the history textbooks talk about our little freak out when I’m older though.
I suppose if there’s anything to learn from this it’s that sometimes the warnings have value. Of course, I’m not going to fail because I don’t write in cursive, but If I had, then I still could. My handwriting certainly isn’t pretty, and I don’t think it ever will be. I may not need to write inside the red lines, but it is embarrassing to see everyone’s papers so much nicer than mine. In the end, even if it’s not that bad, if we at least take the precaution for the worst outcome, we are better prepared to move forward with the best outcome. Or at least maybe if we had taken actions early on and not panicked and gone apocalypse mode over a flu like infection, the stock market wouldn’t have crashed, and people wouldn’t be losing their jobs. That about wraps up everything I have to say on the topic for now. I hope it can be useful or at least interesting.
Cardinal Tales 
Thank you for sharing your story. I am glad you are well. You know it feel weird to us University employees too. My work tasks are not much different than before Spring Break but the work location, who I see, and how are new. I miss the interactions with the students especially our student workers. Be Well and be strong, until I see you again.