Alan met their grandfather who started the family business, got invited over for dinner, Strickberger said. The two stayed in touch after he took her course, Self, Image, Community: Studies in Modern Fiction, when she was an artist-in-residence in 2019. Would I follow the quiet moments of students walking home from Smokes? His final Spring Fling in 2012, the Green Monsters had hosted their annual pre-game brunch and kept a running tally of how many times Carly Rae Jepsens Call Me Maybe played. Jazz or folk would be playing in the background, the five of us nestled into plush chairs in the faculty lounge of the English building. Theres even a TV. His stepover of Tyronn Lue in the NBA Finals against the Lakers. In high school, I started a culture and identity magazine that was predicated on personal storytelling. Maybe its just liquid courage. But behind this barrier shes invisible. When Penn student Alan Jinich finally decided he couldnt take one more day of sitting inside his rented house taking virtual classes, he came up with quite the solution. Man arrested in 23-year-old cold case for attacking jogger at Penn State Officials announced that DNA from a coffee cup led them to Alan Kurt Rillema. March 28, 2022. Thats what I have for you this week. As much as I believe in and love the written form, Alan has extraordinary photos that I can go through and think back to the experience and thats so nice, thats such an archive. Along the way, they met Fernando, 21, who fell on hard times when his Chicago fruit stand was shut down, until he found another business: traveling to Mexico to buy puppies and re-selling them in the United States for a profit. They pledge to get a drink soon in Manhattan. Or, if you ask Max Strickberger (C '22) and Alan Jinich (C '22), the word of a generation. In all, the Penn seniors, now back on campus, conducted more than 80 interviews, some in Spanish Jinich is of Mexican heritage and bilingual. Before he leaves the deckhe has to get back to his girlfriend and the life of a 32-year-old adulthe tells me and Sam that he can see that we love each other and that it makes him happy to see. By signing up for The Philadelphia Citizen newsletter: All memberships to The Philadelphia Citizen are renewed annually. 7 Generation Pandemic; Alan Jinich and Max Strickberger, SAS; 6 p.m.; Arts Caf, Kelly . We ended up going the more broad route. I felt like I was living in history and I wanted the chance to capture any part of it or play a more meaningful role in what history was like for me and for people of our age, Strickberger says. I just felt like I was wasting something that I previously loved so much, Strickberger said. It felt luxurious to get on the road and drive 250 miles when we had just spent the last 12 months in our bedrooms, Jinich says. In the spring of 2021, they traversed the country to interview drastically different 18- to 25-year-olds, collecting oral histories which would come to comprise their "collective remembrance" storytelling project Generation Pandemic . RELATED: New book spotlights tattooed Philly women sharing stories of trauma. After that, everything was more spontaneous and challenging. In all, the Penn seniors conducted more than 80 interviews, some in Spanish. He has also been working for the Borders and Boundaries Project where he brings his interest in quantitative image analysis and skills as a multimedia journalist to assess border crossing images from Google Earth. He spent his gap year studying Jewish Diaspora and Middle Eastern History. By the end of it, Tyler and Jay introduced us to their whole family.. And, Scott Petri, the executive director of the PPA, has abruptly been removed from his role effective today amid a turbulent time for the citys parking authority. It felt like it had more weight to it, and felt like an accomplishment.. They went into every shop on Main Street, but couldnt find anyone their age to interview. Back at home at the University of Pennsylvania, seniors Alan Jinich (left) and Max Strickberger (right) pose on their front stoop last week. Two students took what they've learned at Penn - and pressed onward out of the shell to see if their learned backgrounds can translate to real-world Jinich opened the trunk to finish packing and some food came pouring out. No one gets in unless they comply. If theres news at Penn, youll find it here. We were looking for different kinds of places, big cities, tiny towns, places with racial, ethnic, political, religious diversity, Jinich says. We wanted to work on something together and so we decided, just two weeks before the spring semester started, to take it off and take on this project, Jinich says. Philosophizing with a club bouncer, comparing wall decorations with the woman who occupied the same campus housing space 35 years priorthese are just a few of the epiphanic moments that grew out of Paul Hendricksons Advanced Writing Projects in Long-Form Nonfiction course. Through the daughter, you glimpse the mother. We agree toonly ever use your information to send you Citizen news, updates, and offers. MS: Ive always loved stories. She had arrived two hours earlier for her midnight shift and stood out with her sparkly . Miller said she and her husband, a cardiologist, were not supportive of the idea at first. Recurring membership charges will reflect the stated price of basic membership or Super Citizen membership at time of renewal. And Im really grateful to have that archive. . Alan Jinich is a junior from Maryland studying Neuroscience and minoring in English. They received a $4,000 grant from Penns Sachs Program for Arts Innovation. Waking up in that type of environment I thought how could you ever be sad? Department of English University of Pennsylvania Fisher-Bennett Hall, room 127 3340 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6273 Phone: (215) 898-7341 Speaking of which, the timing couldnt be better for this Penn study suggesting that just one drink per day is enough to cause brain shrinkage. Next came a four-hour tour of the turkey farm, and Jay and his wife invited them for dinner. . View the profiles of people named Alan Jinich. I love tradition. In Chicago they were rejected by everyone they approached in Chinatown. News & Events. Though he is a neuroscience major with an English minor, Jinich, who took the photos, found the journey so fulfilling, hes interested in pursuing similar work as a career. Eliot poem. Soon they were invited to the high school prom. Their goal was to get a total of 50 interviews in six weeks, and they conducted 80, some as short as 15 minutes and others lasting for several hours, with the average being about an hour and a half. The prom was one of dozens of unexpected experiences shared by seniors Max Strickberger and Alan Jinichbest friends and Penn roommates who grew up on the same street in Chevy Chase, Marylandduring their journalistic endeavor. Their Generation Pandemic is an oral history archive that documents the impact of COVID-19 on young adults in America. Alan Jinich couldn't take it anymore: sitting at a desk in his rented residence, taking his online courses at the University of Pennsylvania. Ashley Hoffman will deliver your Sunday Newsletter as always and Ill be back Monday to kickoff a new week. [Hendrickson] has a rare gift for finding beauty and significance in everything. We just kept the conversation going and I finally said, Were basically doing the interviews right now, and then they allowed us to record our conversation, Strickberger says. 73 overall), Jalin Hyatt, wide receiver, New York Giants. Was it an omen? We saw young people being in a place where they could get up and move entirely. And Max really pushed me because he was the one who really had the guts in the beginning to go up to people and approach strangers. A jar of marmalade was lost. Todays question: What was Iversons moment? Alan Jinich, Untitled [composite] Chelsea Cheng, Yu. But in the bar, people can become drunk and aggressive. She used to bartend early morning shifts before becoming a security guard. They did most together but would frequently split up and do some alone. So we interviewed Shay, in New Orleans, and she had moved four days before we interviewed her, from Virginia. Im working on an oral history project, talking to young people all over the country. Trust is always the implicit bargain, whether it is ever stated as such or not. I see in them a kind of pioneering drive, to want to do something in the world, to immerse yourself in that experience, and to kind of shake off your own comforts or your own kind of prescribed path.. It reframed the way I interact with people back at school.. JBP: Speaking of empathy, how did you win people over to be vulnerable and trusting with you twowhat was that process like for you? Penn seniors Alan Jinich and Max Strickberger spent last semester road-tripping across the U.S. to capture young people's pandemic experiences. Gallery. Department of EnglishUniversity of PennsylvaniaFisher-Bennett Hall, room 1273340 Walnut StreetPhiladelphia, PA, 19104-6273Phone: (215) 898-7341Fax: (215) 573-2063, 2023 The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, Generation Pandemic, an online oral history archive by senior English major Max Strickberger and senior English minor Alan Jinich, featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Washington Post. Like the way everyone yells at Amy for not remembering certain stories or the way Robyn has kept every shred of paper accumulated since she was a freshmen living in the Quad. By signing up for a basic membership, we agree to never give or sell your information to any third party. Alan did some of the interviews in Spanish, for example, and if it had just been me doing the trip, I wouldve had no access to those. Peiss says she chose readings to help them think about how to position themselves as interviewers, how to relate to new people and places, and how to deal with their own assumptions. Amber sits behind the front desk in Harrison. Generation Pandemic, an oral history archive undertaken by Penn English major Max Strickberger and Penn English minor Alan Jinich, featured in Penn Today. Theyre combining forces to try to understand and diagnose a moment in time for a certain generation. Lewis sits up on his raised twin bed. And they really were engaged, not only with the people they met, but also with seeing parts of the country theyd never seen before, Peiss says. Except then Alan got the interview with Fernando, which is up on the site. So language was just one barrier that we faced from an inaccessibility standpoint. They had a tentative itinerary. And thats how we ended up interviewing them, and then it ended up going on for hours and hours and we toured the farm and recorded it all. It felt really good when we could get people to speak with us, because every time we got to a new town, it was just like: restart, Strickberger says. They took the spring 2021 semester off from their formal Penn education, loaded up Jinichs moms burnt red, five-seater SUV with food and supplies, and headed out for a six-week, 7,300-mile, 23-state trek. CityStep Penn hosts students from BB Comegys School and Southwest Leadership Academy in West Philadelphia in presenting a performance to the theme of Fantasies.. We each had chosen a room when we moved in, which we meticulously and unintentionally personalized to become a physical manifestation of ourselves. Her job went remote, she realized I can take my entire life and move somewhere else. Harrison Dorm. David provides a running analysis on how the fashion trends have changed (guys dont wear tank tops anymore) and how out-of-place he feels on campus (I dont remember the last time I went to a party). We knew when we started the road trip that we wanted to do these interviews and just talk to people our age. 2022/03/15. Jean-Christophe Cloutier, an associate professor of English and comparative literature, and Sam Apple, who teaches creative writing, were among others that Strickberger and Jinich turned to for advice. Home Arts & Culture Generation Pandemic. 2023 Penn Today, University of Pennsylvania, Senior Max Strickberger, co-creator of Generation Pandemic, Senior Alan Jinich, co-creator of Generation Pandemic, The pandemic, health inequities, and an opportunity for change, What the U.S. economy will look like after the pandemic, English professor J.C. Cloutiers latest book sheds new light on African American literature, Studying novels with novelist Jennifer Egan, A sensational Hey Day for the Class of 2024, Green solutions are transforming a West Philadelphia grade school, Arts, Humanities, You look outside and youre nearly on Locust! The Arts Lounge at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 3680 Walnut St. Penn Park Parking Lot, 3100 Lower Walnut St. That journey has become a wild and unconventional ride: I started in neuroscience then added political science, but ultimately ended up doing independent . They worried both about their son missing a semester and his health and safety. And of course theyre going on the roadthey seek actual encounters., Strickberger and Jinich had taken a creative writing course, Extreme Noticing, taught by Apple, who suggested they read Eli Saslows column Voices from the Pandemic in The Washington Post. By the end of the trip we were walking into 30 businesses getting rejected by all of them. Back at home at the University of Pennsylvania, seniors Alan Jinich (left) and Max Strickberger (right) pose on their front stoop last week. He also began working as a production assistant on the award-winning PBS cooking show Patis Mexican Table, and has continued in seasons 6, 8 & 9. I like the barrier, she says. I was way more anxious about it. Contest judge: Rachel Zolf. A plastic barrier put up for COVID shields us from each other. Arfaa, whose grandfather was once highly connected at Annenberg, used storytelling to create a portrait of the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. But after that, they would pull into a new place and start asking strangers who looked like they were in the age range if they would be willing to be interviewed. Its exciting.. He's photographed for PBS series Pati's Mexican Table and co-created Generation Pandemic, an oral history archive focused on COVID's impacts on young adults in America.His work has been featured in The Washington Post, Pennsylvania Gazette, and Philadelphia Inquirer. I just felt like I was wasting something that I previously loved so much, Strickberger said. Schools and centers across campus will offer special opportunities to engage with activities and programs geared toward kids ages 9-15. I love it. But during the pandemic, she had to be home, and home for her meant a really tight trailer. I came to Penn after spending a gap year studying Jewish Diaspora history abroad. It wouldnt be just a monument to us, it would be a city. He also authored the 2011 New York Times bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Hemingways Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, and in 2003, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Sons of Mississippi: A Story of Race and Its Legacy. Every new town we were starting fresh, Strickberger said. As in a dream, I feel that hes taken my place. Enlisting his friend and roommate, disillusioned Penn English major Max Strickberger, the two took off their spring semester, loaded up Jinich's mom's SUV with food and . After a three-year hiatus following the coronavirus pandemic, the Division of Human Resources at Penn welcomes back Take Our Children to Work Day. GDS alum Alan Jinich '17 has won the 2022 Nora Magid Mentorship Prize along with Penn classmate Beatrice Forman. It was a little bit of persistence, a little bit of luck. Our comprehensive, progressive curriculum is known for experiential andhands-on learning, college-prep level math and STEM courses, and innovative programming. It really was a work of discovery, and of connecting to people who are in their own age group but who have lived very different lives than they have. For some people, the pandemic reinforced being in a place that wasnt really safe or secure for you and you couldnt leave home. Who knows? Confirmed as the next U.S. ambassador to Germany, Amy Gutmann reflects on nearly 18 years as Penns president, Penn receives record $125 million to offer free tuition to nurse practitioners to work in underserved communities, California residents do not sell my data request. And theyd tell us no, or yes, or I can but not right now, or Im not in that age range but try the church down the street, or the hotel, or the grocery store.. And I feel like the bigger take-aways might come with time. I have been told this by several of his housemates. RELATED: 10-year Philly project explores the power of empathetic listening. What becomes quickly apparent in his class is that there is no difference between writing well and living well.. The fourth-year do-it-all guard on the womens basketball team is in the final stages of her sensational career at Penn. Most of my junior year was spent wandering from bedroom to bedroom, each its own ecosystem. What happened. Pati is fond of her sons and has an endearing way of calling . They asked each person to write in a notebook the answer to the question: After the pandemic I want to Strickberger says he got the idea from a conversation with novelist Jennifer Egan about the project. Towards the end we were able to say Weve spoken with 70 people and weve traveled to 20 states and wed love to include you, Jinich says. It made me think What are other ways that can provide direct service to communities that storytelling bumps up against or needs another push beyond? It was an underground job at the height of COVID restrictions. Like youre gonna pass somebody that might not talk like you, look like you, dress like you. Hey everyone! So we would kind of switch. We asked ourselves: Why are we not thinking more about what that means? I found I really love this work, says Jinich. The state-controlled parking authority has had notable financial turbulence in recent months, perhaps the two biggest being: Airport officials taking the power from the PPA over control of its long- and short-term parking, a contract the PPA managed for nearly 50 years, and. And its just a staple for growing up in Philly. It also made me more interested in concepts around solutions-based journalism and the limitations that storytelling has in some ways. Fingers scramble through purses and wallets in search of drivers licenses, foreign passports, spare cash. Local Coronavirus Numbers: Heres your daily look at the latest COVID-19 data. AJ: Im more of a music guy and Max is more of a podcast/audio book guy. I return to Harrison a few weeks later. I ask Amber if shes ever left Philly. It has been ten or eleven years since a Green Monster pledge wrote out the Monster commandments on a piece of paper and dubbed it The Scroll, but Charlie still knows where that slip of paper is at all times. Go see a live concert feel the beat from the speakers in my chest and feel the energy of the crowd around me, wrote one. We just got into the area. There was so much happening in the world, and were sitting in our apartment in Philly., READ MORE: Confirmed as the next U.S. ambassador to Germany, Amy Gutmann reflects on nearly 18 years as Penns president. The pair set out on April 8, both fully vaccinated against COVID-19, driving Jinichs mothers SUV, with a plan to stay with friends and family in combination with Airbnbs and car camping. Nasir says, straighten up, and they straighten up. But going into it, it was all very open. We wanted to cover individual stories that could illustrate particular experiences from this year that we thought could be lost during a time of rapid change. Ben Simmons return to the Wells Fargo Center overshadowed the anniversary of when Sixer Allen Iverson did this and put his game on the NBA map. Faculty and staff are eligible. I grew up listening to my grandpa making up fictional stories and telling them to me. And they were super down to chat, they were interested in why we were in Circleville and we got to talking, but when we told them Oh were interested in doing these interviews for this project, they were way more skeptical. She examined archival prints and held in-depth interviews with the curator. So that was kind of the opposite of movement, it was really constrictive. By 6abc Digital Staff Harrison Auditorium, Penn Museum, 3260 South St. Their first stop was Chattanooga, Tenn., where they conducted three interviews they had arranged in advance through a friend. Price is subject to change with prior notification. If I was older right now, if I had five kids, if I had a mortgage, I would be so much more worried. They read and talked about Studs Terkels Working, a 1974 collection of oral histories from workers around the the country, James Agees Let Us Now Praise Famous Men about poor tenant farmers during the Depression, and Washington Post reporter Eli Saslows narratives, Voices from the Pandemic. I think an archiving and interviewing project like this will be looked at many decades hence, she says. The prom was one of dozens of unexpected experiences shared by Penn seniors Max Strickberger and Alan Jinichbest friends and Penn roommates who grew up on the same street in Chevy Chase, Marylandduring their journalistic endeavor. Some stories they didnt realize they needed until they found them, like Faith, a woman they encountered in Utah who told them she was the first person in her county to contract COVID-19. He had taken Peisss class, Modern American Culture, and she agreed to collaborate on this project, creating an eight-week syllabus of readings and meeting with them virtually once a week. Her brother was addicted to heroin and her mother, who did not speak English, was trying to navigate the court system for custody of the baby. And some of those stories were some of the best ones that we got. His crossover of NBA legend Michael Jordan. Although I feel like maybe I was in control? Like, if you were a young Black kid you grew up on that stuff. Cloutier sees many possibilities. Kathy Peiss is the Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor of American History in the School of Arts & Sciences. And now they gotta learn some shit. But we carried in our many suitcases, second-hand furniture, and cardboard boxes with an appreciation greater than the run-down house probably warranted. Experience in writing long-form nonfiction gives the student-writer, who might one day try to make a vocation of this work, a sense of how hard it is to do something long and sustained, says Hendrickson. One of their next stops was Greensboro, a small city in Alabama. We will never give or sell your information to a thirdparty. I see it as a kind of extended research project that involves field work. Like when we think about mental health stuff too; people got into really bad places with their mental health, or some people were just totally thriving and living their best life that they couldnt have if they were stuck in an office somewhere. Round 3 (No. Wow, this project could be over before this project begins, Strickberger thought. Buy Volunteers Tickets. MS: I think it also helped to just point out that it was a weird situation. I didnt know how meaningful I would find it, he says. So we wanted to learn about it from an academic perspective to prepare, Strickberger says. And Im proud of what they've been able to achieve, he says. For more details, including the judges' comments on the winning work, click here. The pair arrived back in Philadelphia on May 17, the day of Penns Commencement, and reconnected with many of their friends. 2021/10/12. Their kids call him Uncle Fried. Anya Miller, Juxtaposition I. Savannah Naib, untitled. Before coming to Penn, where he received a Provost's teaching award in 2005, Hendrickson worked as a staff feature writer at The Washington Post from 1977 to 2001. . The scrutiny that arrived from the PPAs request of an $11.3 million refund from the cash-strapped school district in 2020, citing an overpayment that launched a City Council probe into the agencys finances. I get it.. You agree to receive our weekly e-news roundup, invitations to exclusive events, including our Citizen Speaks series, and occasional breaking news updates. But how did this experience change what you want to do in the future? And loud music would keep me awake. Mullins took a deep dive into the life and teaching career of Richard Polman, Maury Povich Writer in Residence in the Center for Creative Writing at Penn, whose class Mullins had earlier taken, and who is responsible for Mullinss pivot toward a possible career in journalism. Patience and perseverance combined with chance and a little luck as they stopped in Circleville, Utah. They just captured my interest, Peiss said. March 22, 2022. AJ: People were really grateful. Its now billed as the largest high school social justice publication in Washington D.C. Strickberger and Jinich who grew up on the same street in Chevy Chase, Md., and became good friends in high school and better friends at Penn had some early jitters. And then, at the same time, there was the opposite where, because you were a young person, you werent financially secure, and you still relied on your family in a lot of ways. During the spring of 2021, Alan Jinich and Max Strickberger conducted over 80 interviews with 18-25 year olds, meeting people across 16 states and . I had no idea that I would love interviewing people so much. Winner: Knar . Jinich and Strickbergerchildhood friends who grew up on the same block in Chevy Chase, MDsat down at their shared apartment in West Philly to talk about the experiences of young people during the pandemic, how rejection has made them stronger, and their go-to roadtrip snacks. Alan is very, very steady. Just going to the next one, whatever. But I know well be back standing on this deck one day, me and Sam. Hendrickson, Senior Lecturer in the Department of English, is a veteran author and journalist. Strickberger and Jinich traveled across the country and compiled . Alan Jinich. Join Facebook to connect with Alan Jinich and others you may know. He's also interested in GIS Mapping and quantitative image analysis. The result is a staggering archive that captures this precarious moment in time. MS: Theres always kind of this idea of older people thinking the younger generation is lazy, not as ambitious, or, in the case of our generation, stuck on screens or maybe too idealistic, right? RELATED: New film captures a Philly familys struggle with opioid addiction. In Circleville, Utah, they faced two particularly skeptical subjects who were cousins. Awarded to the best original poetry by a graduate student. Definitely not.. My name is Alan and I hail from the Maryland outskirts of DC. However, Miller said it didnt take long for her son and Jinich to change her mind. We have what you need to know ahead of the return of the annual St. Patricks Day parade this Sunday. Think you know? They share some of the stories, photos and audio interviews on their website, Generation Pandemic, an oral history archive that they hope to expand and eventually turn into a podcast series. 2400 Market Street Offsite Suite 269 Philadelphia, PA 19103. They were willing to super put everything on pause and take a leave of absence, which I think was gutsy, said Jinich, a chef. Jazz or folk would be playing in the background, the five of us nestled into plush chairs in the faculty lounge of the English building. I felt so frustrated that I wasnt doing something that was engaging more seriously with what was happening around us. Max Strickberger: When we started the trip, we had been inside the same four walls with each other and wed felt that there was so much going on in the world but we were just reading about it on our phones. We used that to inform a long list of potential stops that we could hit.. The Scroll comes first. In the following pages, Stein and Jinich share some of the most powerful passages from their pieces, giving us a glimpse into their work process and literary journey. MS: We definitely didnt win everyone over. He is the author of numerous books, the . Learning: About the cultural influence of these women entrepreneurs and small businesses on West Phillys Baltimore Avenue corridor. Stay updated on all our coverage. Then came another place, another challenge. Neither got COVID-19 on the road. A presentation by Alan Jinich and Max Strickberger 6:00 PM (ET) in the Arts Caf. Todays shoutout goes to Judy Pidgeon of West Deptford, who correctly guessed STEPHEN GIRARD as Thursdays answer. JBP: On road trips, one person invariably ends up dominating what everyone else listens towhat did you listen to on the road for all those hours? Georgetown Day School is a coed, preK-12, non-sectarian private school in Washington, DC with small class sizes and a diverse school community. So when they come outside they just wanna let go of all that. In a simple world, the house was already a monument in the history of our livesthe last stop on our way out of college. Alan is a multimedia journalist based in Philadelphia. Ivys minimalist room with the white bay windows. If your post is offensive, not only will we not publish it, we'll laugh at you while hitting delete. A PPA spokesperson said general counsel Dennis Weldon will assume the responsibilities of executive director while the board announced plans to launch a national search for Petris replacement. The archive explores how the pandemic has . We moved into the Monster in August 2020, height of the pandemic. By signing up for the Super Citizen membership, you agree to have your information shared with partner organization(s), including: first name, last name and email. The result is Generation Pandemic, a stunning online archive of oral histories and photographs that screams to be turned into a National Geographic spread, a Discovery Channel documentary, the foundation for an updated take on Arnetts theories.