{"id":20814,"date":"2020-10-22T10:00:48","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T17:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000016054"},"modified":"2020-10-22T15:35:57","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T22:35:57","slug":"life-has-gotten-pretty-out-of-control-library-project-collects-teen-journals-over-5-months-of-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/life-has-gotten-pretty-out-of-control-library-project-collects-teen-journals-over-5-months-of-covid","title":{"rendered":"‘Life has gotten pretty out of control’: Library project collects teen journals over 5 months of COVID"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each dated entry from April to August begins \u201cDear Journal\u201d and ends with \u201cSincerely, Allison.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between is a chronicle of exclamation points (\u201cI got new birds!\u201d), tedious summaries of movies and books and lamentations over the loss of Starbucks Frappuccinos and the company of classmates (even though they are \u201cpretty annoying sometimes\u201d).<\/p>\n

Appropriately, the entries begin with a very mournful period: \u201cLife has gotten pretty out of control. There has been this new pandemic that is affecting a lot of people around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAllison\u201d\u2014a pen name\u2014is one of nine Long Beach high schoolers who took part in an effort by the Long Beach Public Library to document one of the strangest years in recent memory, beginning in early April, when the world had shut down to prevent the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The teens wrote (or drew and animated) up to two entries per week for five months, chronicling the panic, confusion, boredom, anger, annoyance and even a bit of fleeting joy that has been shared by just about everyone as routines were upended and uncertainty reigned.<\/p>\n

The project, “Life in the Time of COVID: The Long Beach Teen Journals<\/a>,” will be preserved in the library\u2019s digital archives<\/a> as part of the city\u2019s official historical record of this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want them to not just read primary sources, but also create primary source material,\u201d said Joshua Sanchez, teen services librarian at the Long Beach Main Library.<\/p>\n

Participants were recruited from the teen advisory groups at the Main Library and the Michelle Obama Library in North Long Beach. Many of them were new high school graduates, coping with the typical stress of college applications and those big questions that consume young adults, like what do I want to do for the rest of my life?<\/p>\n

There are hefty doses of resentment at being cheated out of the rites of passage for young adults, like graduation and quinceaneras. Boredom is pervasive: \u201cMy days consist of mindlessly scrolling on my phone and sleeping in until the afternoon,\u201d writes \u201cHope\u201d on June 18.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Some did most of their talking through drawings instead of words:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Drawing by “Aricz” as part of the Long Beach Public Library’s teen journaling project, on April 15, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The subtext of some of the entries is at times the most powerful, as one teen casually complained that her parents are home more often, adding \u201cMom isn\u2019t working anymore and Dad is working less.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a loss with so much time on their hands\u2014\u201dToday marks 105 days since I last saw my friends,\u201d one wrote\u2014several of the teens took up everything from the ukulele to baking.<\/p>\n

In late April, an entry by \u201cKiwi\u201d contained nothing more than a recipe for something called \u201cCrock-Pot Reese\u2019s Cake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others thought they should use this time to educate themselves and spread awareness of the Yemen crisis, Black Lives Matter and the disappearance of indigenous women.<\/p>\n

And they lamented problems closer to home: \u201cEveryone is going to have a bad haircut by the end of this (Dad is doing the haircuts).\u201d<\/p>\n

The teens, like many others, also found joy in a mundane drive, the taste of a strawberry, a library book, and a couple of new pet doves named Snow White and Prince.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is always a rainbow at the end of every rain storm,\u201d wrote Allison on April 11. \u201cIt\u2019s up to you to look for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanchez and his colleagues may keep the project going even after the pandemic ends. The goal, he said, is for teens to feel like their stories matter and their voices are being heard.<\/p>\n

To read the entries of participants in the Teen Journal Project, click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct that the teen services librarian\u2019s name is Joshua Sanchez.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long Beach teens wrote (or drew and animated) up to two entries per week for five months, chronicling the panic, confusion, boredom, anger, annoyance and even a bit of fleeting joy that have been shared by just about everyone as routines were upended and uncertainty reigned.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":206,"featured_media":71322,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[17831],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[3296],"class_list":["post-20814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-coronavirus","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20814"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=20814"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=20814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}