Dr. Jason Oliver Chang, associate professor of history and Asian American studies at the University of Connecticut, wanted to check in with his students during the pandemic, so he asked them to write about their experiences.
Students shared stories about food insecurity, family arguments, their gratitude for health insurance, and the little details of their daily lives at home.
“It’s confusing and hurtful to me to have people talk about it as ‘the Chinese Virus’, not knowing what the impact of these words can be to Asian Americans,” an anonymous senior wrote.
“At first, we struggled with both what and how much food can be available to us,” wrote first-year student Tam Vu.
“My father and mother are mid-sixties,” junior Emerson Femc wrote, “so I am trying to do all I can to keep myself contained and them safe.”
Reading students’ responses, Chang had an idea: What if their stories could be turned into art?
In a new social media campaign called #MyCovid19Semester, the University of Connecticut’s Asian and Asian American Studies Institute selected four Asian American artists to illustrate students’ written narratives about the coronavirus. Each artist chose one student’s story to tell – and the final results were shared online to encourage students from across the country to submit their own thoughts and artwork. The institute plans to share those submissions on social media.
