In March 2020, the New Jersey YMCA State Alliance found itself rethinking its plans. The nonprofit was preparing to hold public health forums in partnership with the state Department of Health when the pandemic hit, making in-person contact impossible.
Undaunted, the organization switched gears and issued an open call for residents to send in their stories, be they artwork, videos, poems or any other artifacts of their experiences during the COVID crisis.
What came in surprised everyone. In nearly 600 artifacts submitted over seven months, Community Conversations: New Jersey’s COVID-19 Storytelling Project compiled a multimedia time capsule for New Jersey in one of the greatest crises of our time.
In this special interactive project, NJ Spotlight News showcases some of the most compelling and memorable submissions and the stories they tell. We also invite you to visit and delve into the full archive at the NJ State Library, and we offer you a chance to contribute your own story as well.
The collection features public officials and everyday people sharing stories of loss, artwork such as the one above that conveys hope and resilience, songs that add levity to a challenging time, poetry that captures emotions difficult to articulate, and interviews (and plenty of Zoom calls) of lived experiences. As we all battled the pandemic, some had additional burdens to bear, as well: homelessness, incarceration, disability, depression, unsafe homes, job uncertainty, and hunger inform the pieces. All told their stories.
“It morphed into something really unexpected and really wonderful. There were so many rich stories, so many voices to amplify, that we just couldn’t stop.” Marissa Davis, director of health equity & state initiatives at the NJ YMCA State Alliance.
In the coming months and years, the artifacts will be mined for data and insights to help better inform the state on its policies and programs. They are also a firsthand historical record for researchers, students or just the curious, with the entire collection housed online at the NJ State Library for all to visit and explore. A second collection is being planned for 2022 with a focus on vaccination efforts and the prolonged challenges of the pandemic.
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Zoom school and disrupted homes
No. 353: Zoom class lesson (Cumberland, 3/10/21)
The pandemic ushered in a nationwide experiment in online learning. Overnight, teachers were asked to pivot and implement new ways to continue instruction. Some of the challenges of remote learning are highlighted in this clip (above) from a program for students with disabilities in Cumberland County. The teacher attempts to engage the restless student as a dog barks in the background. At the end of the two-minute video, the teacher tells the adult trying to hold the child in place, “Don’t worry about it.”
At home, there are stories of parents struggling to juggle responsibilities, and siblings drove each other “crazy all day and night.” The parent of an autistic child shares how sidelined they felt during the emergency. Other families were separated and unable to see one another as young adults stayed away from older parents to keep them safe. A single father named Altorice talks about the pressure of caring for his children while also providing financially — all as he grapples with what is taking place in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.
“People who were struggling are now making the decision: do you stay home with your babies or go to work and figure out how you will get childcare? Which eventually is really just going to be paid for by the overtime you’re trying to put in at the job.” Altorice, single parent, Essex County.
Another testimonial highlights the challenges a pregnant mother faced as the pandemic disrupted her partner’s job and their relationship. “He was very depressed and unable to help me,” the mother writes. “This pandemic took and still plays a major impact in our lives.”
In one focus group (below), teens talk about the challenges they faced being stuck at home, unable to see friends, and the difficulty of maintaining good grades amid virtual learning.
Nos. 306-309: Teens on school and isolation (Essex, 1/29/20)
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Essential workers
Nicole Nazy, a 35-year-old pharmacist from Rutherford, found herself turning to art to express what she was witnessing amid the pandemic. Her mixed-media painting, “The Giver” (above), utilizes caps from vaccination bottles and a face mask to depict the heroism of medical staff. After creating it, she put it on display in the pharmacy department with a note thanking nurses and staff. It is now on display at the University of Rhode Island, where Nazy went to pharmacy school.
“Originally, I thought I wanted to get rid of the piece, but as time passed, I became more proud of it,” she told NJ Spotlight News. “It’s now a way to show the challenges we faced, but that we also overcame them.”
No. 340: Funeral director interview (Middlesex, 2/3/21)
The vast majority of the nearly 30,000 deaths in New Jersey came in the early months of the pandemic, and the scale of loss quickly overwhelmed care and end-of-life systems.
In a February 2021 interview (above), a funeral director in North Brunswick shares the heartbreak and challenge of helping facilitate cremations for Hindu families during that time. She didn’t see her own son for six weeks as she worked tirelessly to provide closure to grieving families.
“This is my calling, this is what I was meant to do,” she shares in her submission to the project. “Every day we were Facetiming families to just have a last glimpse of the feet and the face. It meant the world to people.…. We cried every day.”
First responders, health care workers and students training to enter the medical field also share their experiences in interviews and testimonials. In one essay, a 21-year-old patient care technician named Sara describes working in an emergency room during the height of the pandemic, including preparing patients for the morgue. One day, she helps a medical team try to resuscitate a young man. He did not survive.
“I place my hands on his chest, and compress and work with the team for what felt like hours, but was only less than 15 minutes . . . [Afterwards] I sat in my car in the dark hours of the night, listened to a song, and cried.” Sara, patient care technician, Somerset County.
The project also included some of New Jersey’s most prominent figures on the front line, such as state health commissioner Judith Persichilli. The commissioner has led the state’s pandemic response and has been a fixture in Gov. Phil Murphy’s regular press briefings for the last 20 months.
“Twenty-four hours a day, we felt so responsible for every single resident of New Jersey, no matter where they were in the spectrum of this pandemic," says the commissioner in her audio interview. "Whether they were safe, whether they were exposed, whether they needed care, whether they needed support at the end of life.”
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Economic hardships
No. 320: "With you" (Cumberland County, 1/29/20)
Joblessness skyrocketed amid stay-at-home orders in 2020, causing many people to struggle financially even as they grappled with the safety risks of the outbreak.
Melanie Sanchez, a 14-year-old high school student in Bridgeton, created a digital art piece (above) in May to express her feelings as her father lost his job in a restaurant and both parents were hospitalized with the virus.
“You think that nothing is going to save you and nobody’s going to be there for you,” Sanchez told NJ Spotlight News, explaining her artwork of a struggling hand reaching out for help. “My cousins, my school, everything basically helped me. We supported each other through it.”
Another woman shares a letter about being homeless, experiencing a miscarriage and being at her “lowest point in life” during the pandemic. But pandemic unemployment assistance from the government gave her some security. “I didn’t have to struggle with food anymore, and I didn’t have to beg the welfare to help me anymore,” the participant writes.
No. 36: Mother of four (Mercer, 10/22/20)
In an interview at a food drive (above), a mother of four talks about the difficulty of being out of work and paying rent. Another contributor shares a timeline and drawing explaining how he was released from jail during the pandemic and struggled to find a place to live.
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Loneliness and isolation
No. 363: Music video (Sussex, 2/5/21)
Quarantining at home led many people to experience isolation like never before. The collection includes a music video (above) by singer and performer George Orlando covering the Queen song “Who Wants to Live Forever.” It depicts the artist watching news stories about the virus, George Floyd’s murder, political divisiveness and other global challenges, all while contracting the virus himself.
The poet and writer Margaret Sáraco shares a poem called “Sleep Cycle” that touches on similar themes of consuming horrific news and struggling to cope.
“Masked and unmasked children crowd school hallways / a single ventilator in a hospital packed with pandemic sufferers / children with cancer waiting for someone to care for them.” Margaret Sáraco, poet and writer, Essex County.
Sáraco told NJ Spotlight News that she began connecting online with other writers during lockdown.
“When I read ‘Sleep Cycle,’ I get very emotional,” she said. “It’s very hard not to be. I don’t feel like anything is normal. We pretend a lot.”
Nos. 467-472: Seniors on isolation and loss (Atlantic, 3/10/21)
For individuals who live alone or have limited mobility, the isolation was particularly pronounced. During a focus group with seniors in Atlantic County (above), a man talks about being unable to say goodbye to his wife before she died and doing “Zoom, Zoom, Zoom” as a substitute for all his former in-person activities.
A woman reflects on how lonely she became -- and chokes up as she adds, “Thank goodness for my cat.” In a separate video interview, a woman with a disability discusses feelings of isolation and difficulty accessing services.
Children and teens struggled with the disruption in school and in their social lives as well. They turned to art to share their disappointments, such as the cancellation of a dance performance or the inability to attend concerts and watch movies with friends. A young boy named Kastin (above) offers his perspective, noting that he can’t go to the park with his friends and has to stay six feet apart from them. Though he likes that school has shut down, he says he misses it.
“I haven’t seen my friends in a while.” Kastin, student, Cumberland County.
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Vigilance and silver linings
No. 5: "The Corona Blues" (Sussex, 8/18/20)
Many people found the silver lining in the experience, using the time at home to connect with loved ones or make time for hobbies old and new. In a song titled “The Corona Blues” (above), Donald Thoenig croons: “Corona, Corona, when will you be gone? You’ve been hiding around here for way too long…. We’ve been counting the days until we wash our hands of you.”
In a written ode to the handshake, participant Tony Lombardo talks about how important the formality was for his immigrant father as a way of putting people at ease. He bemoans that people remain hesitant to share the physical exchange as they maintain social distance. “Viva la handshake,” he declares.
“How do the worst of times / Bring out the best in people? / Living our normal lives / Made the Earth weaker,” Jayden notes in a poem titled “Vigilance" (below).
Young people in particular remained hopeful, celebrating everyday heroism and offering advice to others who are struggling.
"In general during the pandemic, there was a lot of incredible creativeness," said Deborah Mercer, a librarian at the NJ State Library. "The stories document the bewilderment, the loss, the isolation, the kindness and self-care strategies people used to survive. I think we forget that quickly as we move on with our lives."
Housing the digital archive at the State Library gives future generations a chance to look back and gain a nuanced understanding of how New Jersey residents experienced this moment of crisis, Mercer noted. That's valuable not just for historians and researchers, but for everyone to remember the lessons of this time.
"We see commonalities in how people responded in the past, and it can help us in how we respond to what's happening around us in the current times," she said.
Learn more about this project and keep up to date with how these stories are being incorporated into public health improvements at the NJ YMCA website.
This NJ Spotlight News special project was written by Ambreen Ali and edited by Sarah Veit and John Mooney, in partnership with the New Jersey YMCA State Alliance. The project was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.