One Year into a Pandemic of the 20th year of the 21st Century....

    This weekend marked one year of being “caged by Corona” as in the Corona Virus, COVID-19; the SARS-2 Virus that originated in Wuhan, China and became a pandemic in early 2020. There still, to this day, a year later, is tremendous controversy and many political avenues attached to the pandemic and its origin, it’s spread, it’s handling along the way, the wake, the aftermath, the policies and procedures and protocols as to who should do, or should have done, what to protect and prepare the people. Being such a sensitive and censored subject, I will allow you to do your own research and hold your own beliefs on these matters. I, in no way, wish to be a source of reference for research into the medical or political aspects of the pandemic. I only wish to share my perception and experiences through my story and my viewpoint in very rural Upper Midwest South Dakota. Location has mattered throughout. Perceptions and personal beliefs have mattered. The concept of “live and let live” was substantially lost throughout this pandemic and “the greater good” was front line. I’d love to research and share how this pandemic compared to ones of the past and if what we did and how we dealt made a positive difference in the end, but it is way too early in the game for that. There will be plenty of literature on that in years to come. This will be a bold point in the historical text of the 21st century. 

 “The Caged By Corona Chronicles” was a fun social media self challenge story and documentation I started the 3rd day (3-15-2020) that we, my family, my town, my state, were suggested, not required, to stay home, stay safe, sit tight, while the nation and the world, tried to navigate what was just declared a global pandemic (3-11-2020). I went back 3 days (Friday the 13th of 3) and started documentation of our small corner of the world on the day we “shutdown” as day 1 of being “caged by Corona” calling it, with a hashtag, #thecagedbycoronachronicles on the Instagram platform on my personal profile. 

     We had never been told to sit still, stay home, shutdown. We had experienced some raging blizzards that cooped us up for a few days, but even those allowed us to get out and play a bit and help neighbors and the community with cleanup, it wasn’t a sit still or shut down for long. This was new and trying and with no real parameters known. What we thought might be a couple weeks, suddenly had no end in sight. We had it better here than many. Our Governor fought to keep our mandates minimal and implored us to think and do for ourselves. We still feel limited when we run into mask mandates, restrictions on capacity, not being aloud to take siblings into appointments with us and trying to travel outside our corner into the mercy of a new location's current rules. We have felt CAGED by CORONA. These are those chronicles, our story, The Caged by Corona Chronicles.