Fear. Anxiety. Isolation.
Working from home, virtual school, shuttered businesses.
COVID testing, overcrowded hospitals, the loss of loved ones.
No one was untouched by the coronavirus, which hit Michigan with a vengeance a year ago.
Yet, there is hope on the horizon with vaccinations ramping up and infection and death rates going down.
Over the past year, Michiganders have found respite in activities such as being outdoors, reading, helping others and creating art.
Behind the scenes:How we approached 'Object of My Pandemic' photo project
Sandra Wong, birdwatching
"Once you start to look for interesting birds, you see them all the time," Sandra Wong of Delta Township said.
She bought a pair of binoculars near the beginning of the pandemic. She calls them a game-changer.
“Their tweeting used to be more just 'background sounds,' but now when I hear a lot of bird chatter, I have to see where it's coming from, and can I identify that bird?"
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Bradley Meyers, drawing aerial landscapes
An artist who has a passion for drawing aerial landscapes from photographs, Bradley Meyers said he has found it calming to work on his drawings during the pandemic because he can’t visit local airports to watch planes come and go.
Meyers, who lives at the Simken Adult Foster Care in Lansing, has a distinct workflow for his aerial drawings: go for a ride in a plane, take photos, enlarge them big enough to see the details, align them with a grid and sketch and color the landscape. He also adds a small plane into the drawing.
“The view from above the trees is so peaceful. I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t like it.”
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Elizabeth 'Liz' McMurray, reading her Bible
The longtime owner of Liz’s Alterations in Lansing found peace in reading her Bible after the death of husband, James, last March and the closing of her shop because of the COVID-19 restrictions.
"I don't have time to feel sorry for myself,” Liz McMurray said. “God promises me if I do his will and worship and praise him, he will give me the desires of my heart. I have faith and trust in God for all things."
When she closed her business, she shifted her energies. "I began making masks and sent out three to all the customers I had addresses for." She made and donated masks for the rescue mission, nursing homes, and senior citizens.
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Jeanne Bishop, managing patients' safety
As a member of Sparrow’s incident command team, Jeanne Bishop describes her job as “making sure our caregivers and patients are safe each and every moment as we work through this pandemic."
Whiteboards at the incident command center, which is in the Sparrow Professional Building across from the hospital, track vital information Bishop, director of nursing operations, and her colleagues need to make strategic decisions about managing patients, care and safety.
“From an operational perspective we're figuring out what patients are going where; how do we get the supplies and equipment to them,” Bishop said. “And then you have to plan every single detail surrounding that, communicate it out and go back to the front lines and make it all happen.”
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Masaki Takahashi, reading
“Reading has really helped me listen and grow and absorb,” said Masaki Takahashi, who’s read about 25 books since the pandemic started.
The founder of the Poetry Room took his monthly poetry readings online for now. Yet he said there is still the pressure to perform, write and produce. Working from home for now, the single dad and web developer said books have helped him endure the stress of pandemic life.
“It’s been a good time to think about who I am and what I want to do,” Takahashi said.
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Linda Vail, escaping with her late father's phone
As the face of the pandemic for the Ingham County Health Department, Linda Vail has spent countless hours fighting on the front-line of the pandemic. When she needs a break, she often turns to the phone of her late father, Tom, who died in June 2019. There she finds their final text messages to each other, which she thought she’d lost forever when she got a new phone.
A source of comfort, the phone also could be a form of escape. Vail and her father, an avid bridge player, often played pinochle together on their phones.
"I never quite mastered the game, but we'd play pinochle all the time," she said. "My dad taught me to play cards, so when I need to escape, I play pinochle on the phone."
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Paul Bennett, restoring a vintage banjo
After his open heart surgery a month before the pandemic hit, Paul Bennett and his wife, Kay Parkhouse, rarely left the house. Bennett restored a vintage banjo from his late friend Lewis Guernsey, who died in April.
As a tribute to his friend, Bennett created hand-carved inlay pieces for the neck, working on the century-old banjo “til it sounded good.”
Bennett said he also spent considerable time reading while his wife worked on cross-stitching and quilting projects.
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Theresa Rosado, helping the immigrant community
An artist and community organizer, Theresa Rosado normally has a full schedule of gallery showings, workshops, and meetings going on in her community space, Casa Rosado, but COVID-19 put a stop to that.
Even though she couldn’t use her indoor space for gatherings for artists, she said she still needed to do something. “I believe in community empowerment … it is so key to having a successful community.”
So, she teamed up with Voces de la Communidad to help the immigrant community as they struggle to get through this pandemic. A plan was hatched to use the expansive, covered porch of Casa Rosado as a safe place for people and organizations to drop off sorely needed pandemic staples like hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, masks especially for children, and other supplies to be shared with immigrant families.
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Chuck Grigsby, reflecting outdoors
A bench in Valley Court Park in East Lansing has been respite for Chuck Grigsby during the pandemic. It's where the community advocatewould sit and think about hope for the future.
"It's been a way to be able to deal with and cope with the restraints of the pandemic," he said."Everything was so heightened with the consequences of interaction with people and the public, so this was one way that I felt I could cheat that by coming out here, being out in the park."
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Cindy Ladd, adopting a dog
Emi Lu, an American Staffordshire Terrier mix, made the pandemic “livable” for Cindy Ladd, who adopted the dog from the Capital Area Humane Society in May.
Ladd takes Emi Lu on walks often at Lincoln Brick Park.
“I live alone so she's meant an awful lot,"said Ladd of Emi Lu.
"I think she's made it (the pandemic) livable for me. She's been a godsend.”
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Stacy Evans, making puzzles
Puzzles became overwhelmingly popular during the pandemic and Stacy Evans of DeWitt Township joined in the craze. She put together her first puzzle because she had the free time. And then she kept going. Her husband, Shane, has since joined her in the hobby.
"I like it because it's a challenge and the sense of accomplishment when it's done,"Evans said of puzzle making. "It's relaxing."
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The COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan
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UM study details coronavirus inequities for Black Michiganders who survive COVID-19
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