D The isplaced
Workspace
Edwin Zhou
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FOREWORD In light of the Corona virus Pandemic, the vast majority of the population has had their workspace disrupted or changed. This book is meant to show what a workspace might look like during the pandemic and to give different insights on how people work, feel, and occupy their new workspace. Despite how different each workspace may look, how cluttered or clean each workspace may be, my hope is that some of you may find a connection with one of these experiences and find comfort in the fact that you are not be alone during these times.
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Thank you to everyone who contributed to this book and for sharing your personal space and thoughts with us.
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"Before quarantine, I had separate spaces for everything. In my apartment, I could relax, I could rest. On campus, I could study, I could focus. With clubs and extracurriculars, I could have fun and talk to my friends. In quarantine, all these spaces are merged together. The eat, I interact, I work, I relax all in the same area. I feel constricted and unmotivated to do work, simply because I feel like I don't have a space to work. I am, however, grateful that quarantine has given me the opportunity to connect with friends and family who I haven't talked to in a long time." _______________________________________________________________
"It's weird. I don't stay up to 5 or 6am regularly any more. I go to bed around 12 every day because I get tired. During a normal quarter though, I didn't feel that it was okay to be tired and stop working just because. I didn't have a consistent workspace when campus was open- I'd work in Powell's computer lab, at the Sproul study lound, in the fancy Anderson building, or anyhwere I felt like. But now it's consistent. It's either the dining table or it's the bed. It feels stagnant and unstimulating. But I'm learning to cope with it. For once I feel like there is too much time to do something, rather than too little. Even if I'm not fully utilizing the time I have, it's a relief to know that it's quite ample." _______________________________________________________________
"My ability to work has been uprooted by the SARS CoV-2 pandemic. Before the pandemic sprung in full force, I would travel into New York City daily and work in a medical esearch laboratory. After the situation in New York ramped up to a dangerous level, the building was not entirely shut down since Medical Research is considered an essential service.However, my project was temporarily discontinued until it has been rendered safer for me to both travel into the lab and be in a close proximity to other lab members. As my work is in a reatively incipient stage, there is no data to analyze, only data that should be collected. My work is primarily based around mouse models and as such, I cannot perform any research from home. So long as I am forced to be cooped up, my work is effectively shelved." _______________________________________________________________
"I took a walk around campus today and I truly felt like time had stopped. It didn't feel like spring; there were no campus tours, no ringing bells, no shuffling of feet or people yelling on bruin walk. Nor did it feel like summer. It wasn't quite hot enough, it wasn't full of summer campers passing by or parents coming to pick them up. It didn't feel like it was any season; it just felt like time had stopped. When I closed my eyes, all I could hear were birds chirping and a gentle breeze. I imagined the trails and forests near my hometown. But when I opened my eyes, the sight of a desolate campus that was supposed to be filled up made the contrast so much more jarring. Campus feels empty. It's serene, yet at the same time it feels so much more depressing." _______________________________________________________________
"My workspace environment has not really changed as much of my work revolves around design creation on my laptop. However, I have benefited greatly from ahving more natural light which helps me relax easier than the dim nature of the dorm I was living in." _______________________________________________________________
"Upon going home due to the pandemic, not only had my life changed, but also my work space. I usually do my best to have a couple locations around the house to work in so that my brain doesn't get bored of the environment, but it's much different than my favorite study spots on campus. I still mostly like the study spaces that I've taken to do my work in, but I still miss the libraries and cafe at school." _______________________________________________________________
"Covid-19 has taken me away from school and away from a familiarity in my dorm room that I have worked to establish. My things are laids out and yet simultaneously packed away in hopes that this situation is temporary and that I will soon be able to return to the place I should be. I don't usually wear my glasses, but now they have become a permanent fixture on my face because of how often I'm on my computer and how much my eyes hurt from all the screen time. Still, being online takes away some of the anxieties of the real world. My desk is relatively near. I don't spend much time there anyway. Sometimes just being in my room feels suffocating, so I try to move around the house to do my work in an attempt to not feel trapped in the same hundred square feet. There's an array of tea bags next to my desk. I set them there at the beginning of the lockdown, but I've never used them; in quarantine I sleep probably 2-3 times the amount I'm used to. All of my exhausetion is emotional anyway." _______________________________________________________________
"I love spending more time with my dog. His name is Diego by the way. _______________________________________________________________
"My current workspace is this dining table, but this is not my dining table. Due to the pandemic, I had moved home to Arizona for about 2 months, but given that it was not an ideal place for focusing on school and career, I left about two weeks ago. I am now living in SF, where I will be staying for the new COVID-adjusted MCAT. The coronavirus has brought on much uncertainty and instability in my daily life, and the effort required to focus on work as multiplied. My thoughts go out to all the students out there trying to navigate the challenges of remote learning while adjusting to new living conditions." _______________________________________________________________
"As a result of the quarantine, my workspace has overall become messier and disorganized. Since the transition to online classes, my desk had to have space set aside for the physical resources of multiple classrooms and art supplies in addition to the stuff that was already there. Furthermore, due to COVID-19, I have had certain competitions move online, now requiring at-home video submissions rather than in-person auditions, resulting nin more space having to be set aside for camera gear and their respective wirings." _______________________________________________________________
"Covid-19 has affected my workspace environment by forcing me to be unable to leave my current environment. I am limited in space, and in my household, I only feel decent in my own room. When family becomes a stressor for me, I am unable to take refuge in the outside world. The more physical limitations are that I am unable to connect to wifi at times; my room incubates and becomes very hard to breathe in; any yelling that my family does is *very* audible from anywhere in the house." _______________________________________________________________
"Since Covid started, my study space had been reduced to a small table about 2 feet wide. Lecture, which was supposed to be in person, is now 7 hours straight 3 times a week. I'm currently enrolled in an EMT certification course to help join the first responders, the only problem is that because of coronavirus, we are not able to meet in person to learn our tactical skills, which means that we cannot finish our certification until the county allows us. Even though LA has begun to open up businesses, it has not opened up schools which the LA county considers us to be." _______________________________________________________________
"I started a new job in the middle of quarantine, so I got everything just shipped to my home because it starts as a work-from-home position with the hope of transitioning back to regular work life in person. So right now, my room is just my office. With my personal laptop on the side! But that used to be the only thing on my desk..." _______________________________________________________________
"I have not changed housing since quarantine started, so I still work on the same computer, on the same desk, and in the same room that I always have. Despite all this being the same, the experience is much different. Working in the same spotfor over 3 months has become monotonous and staying focused is a new challenge. Yes, everything has stayed the samebut that's the problem." _______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________ AUTHOR'S NOTE I came up with the idea for this collection because of the struggles I was facing at home with my own workspace. I am someone who is very dependent on work environment, and despite this quarter being a "more lenient" quarter, it was one of my most challenging by far because of the incessant need to be self-motivated and self-disciplined and not get too comfortable or complacent academically. My typically hectic academic and extracurricular schedule became mundane. My apartment is one bed one bath and I spend all of it sitting in one place. There aren't many options for me. That got me thinking about my friends and if they were experiencing what I felt. How did the post-grads feel? How did high school kids feel? It was relieving to see similar sentiments and refreshing to see some people's optimism and I hope that was conveyed through this short collection of pictures and thoughts. _______________________________________________