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Confidence flowing through my bones
Emotions conveyed through artistic tones

Knots of stress in my back
Relieved by munching on snacks

Dancing away to gain power
Blooming like a flower

Letting everything go to take a nap
Only to awaken through a gentle tap

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Sugar Overload: I have been baking brownies more than ever since the pandemic. It became a really good form of entertainment and fun even if it isn’t healthy for me. However, I also have taken to eating outside with my parents and trying new types of food.

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Today, I am going to write about how the pandemic affected me personally. In a good way, I became more open with my family and religion. In a bad way, I became used to eating home-made food, watching TV all the time, and the easy access to everything. Life became so much easier but much more boring for me. Like when I normally go to school, I would walk from class to class and take PE to exercise. Now, I just sit in the same chair all day, only getting up to eat food or go to the bathroom. Additionally, we had to cancel summer plans. These past two years, we were hoping to go to Australia but things had to change and now we have been visiting Chicago too many times to count. And it's not that Chicago is bad, because it's great, it's just I was really looking forward to Australia. Australia’s desserts by Adriano Zumbo are just to die for. And I love desserts. But anyways, life goes on and I’m still alive even though I’m a tad bit unhappy with how the year went. At least, the year is almost over and hopefully things will become normal again.

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Q: What country do you wish to visit?
A: Germany

Q: What is your favorite book?
A: I don’t like books.

Q: What do you think about the pandemic?
A: Eh. More free time for me.

Q: What do you enjoy doing?
A: Listening to soft rock, hard rock, and indie pop music.

Q: What did you do during the pandemic?
A: I worked out.

Q: What is a major event that occurred during the pandemic?
A: Nothing besides my birthday.

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PRESIDENT ELECTED: Not much of an impact on me individually but it’s a big change for the United States. I felt that it would make it changes in the country and so far there have been changes.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Electoral College decisively confirmed Joe Biden on Monday as the nation's next president, ratifying his November victory in an authoritative state-by-state repudiation of President Donald Trump's refusal to concede he had lost.

The presidential electors gave Biden a solid majority of 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232, the same margin that Trump bragged was a landslide when he won the White House four years ago.

Heightened security was in place in some states as electors met to cast paper ballots, with masks, social distancing and other pandemic precautions the order of the day. The results will be sent to Washington and tallied in a Jan. 6 joint session of Congress over which Vice President Mike Pence will preside.

For all Trump's unsupported claims of fraud, there was little suspense and no change as every one of the electoral votes allocated to Biden and the president in last month's popular vote went officially to each man. On Election Day, the Democrat topped the incumbent Republican by more than 7 million in the popular vote nationwide.

California's 55 electoral votes put Biden over the top. Vermont, with 3 votes, was the first state to report. Hawaii, with 4 votes, was the last.

"Once again in America, the rule of law, our Constitution, and the will of the people have prevailed. Our democracy - pushed, tested, threatened - proved to be resilient, true, and strong," Biden said in an evening speech in which he stressed the size of his win and the record 81 million people who voted for him.

He renewed his campaign promise to be a president for all Americans, whether they voted for him or not, and said the country has hard work ahead on the virus and economy.

But there was no concession from the White House, where Trump has continued to make unsupported allegations of fraud.

Trump remained in the Oval Office long after the sun set in Washington, calling allies and fellow Republicans while keeping track of the running Electoral College tally, according to White House and campaign aides. The president frequently ducked into the private dining room off the Oval Office to watch on TV, complaining that the cable networks were treating it like a mini-Election Night while not giving his challenges any airtime.

The president had grown increasingly disappointed with the size of "Stop the Steal" rallies across the nation as well as efforts for the GOP to field its own slates of electors in states. A presidential wish for a fierce administration defense led to TV appearances early Monday by Stephen Miller, one of his most ferocious advocates, to try to downplay the importance of the Electoral College vote and suggest that Trump's legal challenges would continue all the way to Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.

Late in the day, he took to Twitter to announce that Attorney General William Barr was leaving the administration before Christmas. Barr's departure comes amid lingering tension over Trump's unsupported fraud claims, especially after Barr's statement this month to The Associated Press that the election results were unaffected by any fraud.

In a Fox News interview taped over the weekend, Trump said that "I worry about the country having an illegitimate president, that's what I worry about. A president that lost and lost badly."

On Monday in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - the six battleground states that Biden won and Trump contested - electors gave Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris their votes in low-key proceedings. Nevada's electors met via Zoom because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump's efforts to undermine the election results also led to concerns about safety for the electors, virtually unheard of in previous years. In Michigan, lawmakers from both parties reported receiving threats, and legislative offices were closed over threats of violence. Biden won the state by 154,000 votes, or 2.8 percentage points, over Trump.

Georgia state police were out in force at the state Capitol in Atlanta before Democratic electors pledged to Biden met. There were no protesters seen.

Even with the Electoral College's confirmation of Biden's victory, some Republicans continued to refuse to acknowledge that reality. Yet their opposition to Biden had no practical effect on the electoral process, with the Democrat to be sworn in next month.

Republicans who would have been Trump electors met anyway in a handful of states Biden won. Pennsylvania Republicans said they cast a "procedural vote" for Trump and Pence in case courts that have repeatedly rejected challenges to Biden's victory were to somehow still determine that Trump had won.

In North Carolina, Utah and other states across the country where Trump won, his electors turned out to duly cast their ballots for him. Electors in North Carolina had their temperatures checked before being allowed to enter the Capitol to vote. Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes withdrew as a Trump elector and was in quarantine because he was exposed to someone with COVID-19.

Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom Trump defeated four years ago, were among New York's 29 electors for Biden and Harris.

In New Hampshire, before the state's four electors voted for Biden at the State House in Concord, 13-year-old Brayden Harrington led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. He had delivered a moving speech at the Democratic National Convention in August about the struggle with stuttering he shares with Biden.

Following weeks of Republican legal challenges that were easily dismissed by judges, Trump and Republican allies tried to persuade the Supreme Court last week to set aside 62 electoral votes for Biden in four states, which might have thrown the outcome into doubt.

The justices rejected the effort on Friday.

The Electoral College was the product of compromise during the drafting of the Constitution between those who favored electing the president by popular vote and those who opposed giving the people the power to directly choose their leader.

Each state gets a number of electors equal to its total number of seats in Congress: two senators plus however many members the state has in the House of Representatives. Washington, D.C., has three votes, under a constitutional amendment that was ratified in 1961. With the exception of Maine and Nebraska, states award all their Electoral College votes to the winner of the popular vote in their state.

The bargain struck by the nation's founders has produced five elections in which the president did not win the popular vote. Trump was the most recent example in 2016.

___

Associated Press writer Jonathan Lemire and AP writers across the United States contributed to this report.

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Electoral College makes it official: Biden won, Trump lost

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Electoral College decisively confirmed Joe Biden on Monday as the nation's next president, ratifying his November victory in an authoritative state-by-state repudiation of President Donald Trump's refusal to concede he had lost.

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The pandemic has helped me realize the importance of family and my Hindu culture. Ever since the pandemic occurred, airplane tickets have been cheaper, leading to more visits to Chicago. Chicago is where most of my family lives and there is always something to celebrate there. This past year has led me to realize how much brighter your life can be when spending time with family. And the time with family really lets me dig deep and connect with my Hindu roots. It allows me to better understand my religion and connect with all the festivals. I feel different after each trip to Chicago. I feel more open and grounded to my family and religion. Like my last trip to Chicago was a couple weeks ago and I only stayed there for two days. But it was nice to see my whole family again. Just seeing my younger cousins, older relatives, and smiling faces made my day. There was an indescribable feeling. I don’t really know how much more I can write on this topic. Because a feeling can’t be put in words. Although I will conclude this entry with the fact that never isolate yourself from your family. They are the main part of your life and always come through. You know how there is always something that shines a light in darkness. Well for me, family is that light.

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Online Learning Year-Round

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Today is May 8, 2021. I had a national speech competition today. It determines whether I qualify for semi-final and final. The results haven’t been released yet so I am worried that I might not do well. I mean, I know it won’t be the end of the world if I don’t qualify. But it's something that I have spent so much time preparing for and yet when I went to my rounds, the other competitors were soooo good. Like how?!! It’s just I’m so nervous because it's a big thing. And even worse, I’m double-entered, meaning that I had to memorize two ten minute speeches. All throughout the competition, from 11:30 to 7:30, I was worried if I would forget something, or if my gestures would be too repetitive. There was always a constant worry and even now when the competition is done. I’m still worried but now it's about the results. And to distract myself, I’m going to end this topic now and start writing about these Indian dance classes I started picking up. They have been so energizing. Like at the end I feel so weak but I feel good to release everything. And everything to me includes my emotions, stiffness, and stress. I find it fun to get rid of everything. It’s like your mind becomes a blank piece of paper that can change shape, color, or size any way you want. Anyways, I think that’s enough of sappy and nerve wracking stuff for the day, so bye!

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After we go anywhere or touch anything, we have to sanitize our hands. Like its become part of my daily routine.

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Lately, I have been feeling pretty. Like instead of looking in the mirror and seeing a regular person, I’m starting to find physical attributes in me that I like. Before, I always thought my hair was messy and just eh. But now I feel like it looks amazing. I just want to include this for future me to see and realize that she/I  is/am pretty.

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More time to learn more about my religion!

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Q: What were your first reactions to hearing about COVID-19 when it first became a pandemic last year?
A: “It’s a flu like any other flu. I thought it would disappear like normally. I didn’t think it would turn out to be this dangerous virus.”

Q: How did coronavirus impact your situation at work and working style? How did it limit you at work?
A: “I had to start working at home, 100 percent. It limited in-person communication with colleagues. It isolated me and decreased the balance between home and work.”

Q: How did coronavirus impact your relations with family (outside of Florida)?
A: “That’s the one good thing that happened. I was able to visit my family more often due to the cheap tickets.”

Q: What good advice would you yourself a year ago?
A: “You never know what life is going to bring you next, so enjoy.”

Q: What did you take advantage of during this pandemic?
A: “I learned new recipes. I was able to catch up with the long-distance and international families through zoom calls. Started to improve communication with you (my daughter) about her school. Learned to communicate better on projects for work.”

Q: How did you celebrate the holidays during this pandemic?
A: “We had the time to make some traditional family recipes. We also read up more about the details of our cultural festivals to ground ourselves in our religion.”

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BREAKING NEWS: Covid-19 is Officially a Pandemic!!!!
Coronavirus impacted people in every aspect. For me, it ruined this school year, the summer, and just tarnished a year that was supposed to be normal.

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Updated at 3:20 p.m. ET
The COVID-19 viral disease that has swept into at least 114 countries and killed more than 4,000 people is now officially a pandemic, the World Health Organization announced Wednesday.

"This is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing in Geneva.

It's the first time the WHO has called an outbreak a pandemic since the H1N1 "swine flu" in 2009.

Even as he raised the health emergency to its highest level, Tedros said hope remains that COVID-19 can be curtailed. And he urged countries to take action now to stop the disease.

"WHO has been in full response mode since we were notified of the first cases," Tedros said. "And we have called every day for countries to take urgent and aggressive action. We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear."

Eight countries - including the U.S. - are now each reporting more than 1,000 cases of COVID-19, caused by the coronavirus that has infected nearly 120,000 people worldwide.

"In the past two weeks, the number of cases of COVID-19 outside China has increased 13-fold, and the number of affected countries has tripled," Tedros said.

"In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of affected countries climb even higher."

The WHO is "deeply concerned, both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction" by world leaders in response to the outbreak, Tedros said.

"We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic," he said.

By dubbing COVID-19 a pandemic, the WHO is placing it in a different category than several recent deadly outbreaks, including the recent Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Zika virus outbreak in 2016 and the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. All three of those outbreaks were deemed to be international emergencies.

In the last pandemic, the H1N1 influenza virus killed more than 18,000 people in more than 214 countries and territories, according to the WHO. In recent years, other estimates have put H1N1's toll even higher.

Still, Tedros said that people should not fear the designation and that it should not be taken to mean that the fight against the virus is over.

"Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change WHO's assessment of the threat posed by the virus," Tedros said. "It doesn't change what WHO is doing. And it doesn't change what countries should do."

The WHO had declared the outbreak a global health emergency in January, as cases surged in China, where the novel coronavirus was first detected.

In Italy, more than 630 people have died of COVID-19, and the total number of cases continues to rise sharply. The country now has 10,000 cases, second only to China. There are 9,000 cases in Iran and more than 7,700 in South Korea.

Those four nations are all imposing drastic measures in an attempt to slow the spread of the COVID-19 illness, which has a higher fatality rate for elderly people and those with underlying health conditions.

Those countries also have more than 90% of current cases, Tedros noted, adding that both China and South Korea have had success in reining in their epidemics. Data from China, he said, showed that the number of new cases there peaked in late January and early February.

"We cannot say this loudly enough, or clearly enough, or often enough: All countries can still change the course of this pandemic," Tedros said.

However, the viral disease continues to spread around the globe.

"In the Americas, Honduras, Jamaica and Panama, are all confirming coronavirus infections for the first time," NPR's Jason Beaubien reports. "Elsewhere, Mongolia and Cyprus are also now reporting cases."

As the outbreak has ballooned, so has speculation that the WHO would characterize it as a pandemic. But Tedros said WHO experts had previously determined that the scale of the coronavirus' impact didn't warrant that description. And he noted that calling the outbreak a pandemic would raise the risk of a public panic.

It's now up to other countries to prove they can stop the disease, Tedros reiterated.

"The challenge for many countries who are now dealing with large clusters or community transmission is not whether they can do the same," he said. "It's whether they will."

"People, we're in this together - to do the right things with calm and protect the citizens of the world," Tedros said as he concluded his remarks.

"It's doable."
Coronavirus symptoms and prevention
To prevent the coronavirus from spreading, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends washing hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or using a hand sanitizer if a sink isn't available. The World Health Organization says people should wear face masks only if they're sick or caring for someone who is.

"For most people, COVID-19 infection will cause mild illness; however, it can make some people very ill and, in some people, it can be fatal," the WHO says. "Older people, and those with pre-existing medical conditions (such as cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease or diabetes) are at risk for severe disease."

The most common symptoms of COVID-19, according to a recent WHO report that draws on more than 70,000 cases in China, are the following: fever (in 88% of cases), dry cough (68%), fatigue (38%) and sputum/phlegm production (33%).

Shortness of breath occurred in nearly 20% of cases, and about 13% had a sore throat or headache, the WHO said.

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Coronavirus: COVID-19 Is Now Officially A Pandemic, WHO Says

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Updated at 3:20 p.m. ET The COVID-19 viral disease that has swept into at least 114 countries and killed more than 4,000 people is now officially a pandemic, the World Health Organization announced Wednesday. "This is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing in Geneva.

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Because restaurants were closed during the beginning of the pandemic, we had to eat at home. And since we got bored of the same food, we had to get creative in food choices.

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This was me last year. Like during the summer and the end of last school year, the eating situation was so bad. Because I got bored of the same food at home.

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Justice finally served for George Floyd’s death!!!😃😌
This makes me really happy because it shows justice has finally come through. It makes me think that hopefully this justice will continue in all cases, especially ones relating to murder based on race.

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The jury has found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all the counts he faced over the death of George Floyd. The trial has been one of the most closely watched cases in recent memory, setting off a national reckoning on police violence and systemic racism even before the trial commenced.

Chauvin, 45, has been found guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

With only his eyes visible as the rest of his face was hidden behind a surgical mask, Chauvin watched as the verdict was returned. Judge Peter Cahill thanked the jury members for their "heavy-duty jury service." Chauvin was remanded into custody as the jury was dismissed, and Cahill said sentencing is expected in eight weeks.

State sentencing guidelines recommend 12.5 years in prison for a conviction on unintentional second-degree murder for someone with no criminal history. But prosecutors could seek a sentence up to the maximum of 40 years on that count if Cahill determines there were aggravating factors.

A deputy handcuffed Chauvin and escorted him to a side room.

George Floyd's brother, Philonise Floyd, hugged prosecutor Jerry Blackwell, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and others, according to pool reports from a journalist in the courtroom. Ellison and Blackwell shook hands.

Philonise Floyd had been seen praying in the courtroom. Asked by a pool reporter afterward what he had been praying for, he answered: "I was just praying they would find him guilty. As an African American, we usually never get justice."

There was no noticeable reaction from the jury, according to a pool reporter. The jurors each remained still and quiet, staring at the judge until they were called upon to announce their judgment.

The jury had been deliberating for about 10 hours over two days, following closing arguments.

Floyd's death on Memorial Day 2020 sparked protests in Minneapolis, across the United States and around the world. It prompted calls for police reform and soul-searching on issues of racial injustice.

Floyd was a 46-year-old Black man from Houston who had moved to Minnesota three years earlier. He was a father and brother who idolized his mother, loved making music and had been a star athlete as a young man.

Floyd died after Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd's neckfor 9 minutes and 29 seconds as Floyd lay facedown, hands cuffed behind his back.
The trial
Judge Cahill presided in the case. Known as being fair and decisive, Cahill made the unusual decision to allow the trial to be broadcast live.

The prosecution argued that Floyd died as a direct result of Chauvin's actions: that due to Chauvin's weight on Floyd's neck and back while holding him in the prone position, Floyd died of low oxygen levels that caused a brain injury and arrhythmia, causing his heart to stop.

"He did what he did on purpose, and it killed George Floyd," said prosecutor Steve Schleicher.

Testimony in the case was remarkable in that witnesses for the prosecution included numerous members of the Minneapolis police. Minneapolis Police Department Chief Medaria Arradondo and other members of his department testified that Chauvin's lengthy restraint of Floyd was not reasonable and violated the department's policies on use of force.

"There is an initial reasonableness in trying to get him under control in the first few seconds," Arradondo testified, "but once there was no longer any resistance, and clearly when Mr. Floyd was no longer responsive and even motionless, to continue to apply that level of force to a person proned out, handcuffed behind their back - that in no way, shape or form is anything that is by policy, is not part of our training and is certainly not part of our ethics or our values."

Chauvin's defense, meanwhile, argued that there was a range of potential factors in Floyd's death, including what it said was Floyd's enlarged heart, fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system and possibly carbon monoxide from squad car exhaust.

Above all, defense attorney Eric Nelson strove to inject doubt into the state's case. He framed Chauvin's actions as those of a "reasonable police officer" doing his job under stressful and chaotic circumstances.

The testimony ranged from complex medical and forensic pathology topics to discussion of police training and officers' use of force. There were moments of deep emotion, including from bystander Charles McMillian and the young woman identified in court as Darnella, who was 17 when she took video of the incident.

Hennepin County's medical examiner, Dr. Andrew Baker, testified that Floyd died from cardiopulmonary arrest resulting from "law enforcement subdual, restraint and the neck compression." He said the manner of death was "homicide," meaning that someone else was involved in the death.

Compared with the prosecution, the defense's testimony was brief. Defense attorney Nelson called just six witnesses, including a retired Minneapolis police officer and a retired paramedic who had interacted with Floyd during a 2019 traffic stop.

The defense spent the most time questioning Dr. David Fowler, a retired forensic pathologist who testified that Floyd died from a sudden cardiac event and that opioids and methamphetamine in his system and possibly carbon monoxide poisoning played a role. He disputed the Hennepin County medical examiner's judgment that the manner of Floyd's death was "homicide" and said that it should have been classified as "undetermined," given the number of factors in play.

In the opinion of Baker, the medical examiner, "the law enforcement subdual, restraint and the neck compression was just more than Mr. Floyd could take, by virtue of those heart conditions." While fentanyl and heart disease may have contributed to Floyd's death, they were not the direct cause, Baker said.

Other medical and forensic witnesses called by the prosecution agreed.

"Mr. George Floyd died from a cardiopulmonary arrest. It was caused by low oxygen levels. And those low oxygen levels were induced by the prone restraint and positional asphyxiation that he was subjected to," testified Dr. Jonathan Rich, a cardiologist.

Floyd's brother, Philonise Floyd, described their Houston childhood and told the court about how Floyd "was a leader in our household." Floyd's girlfriend, Courteney Ross, described her affection for him and their mutual struggle with opioid addiction.
The charges
Unintentional second-degree murder is defined as causing death without intent to do so, while committing or attempting to commit a felony offense. The maximum sentence for second-degree murder is 40 years.

Third-degree murder is causing death to an individual by "perpetrating an act imminently dangerous to others and evidencing a depraved mind without regard for human life," but without the intent to cause death. It carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.

Second-degree manslaughter is causing the death of another by "culpable negligence, creating an unreasonable risk" in which the defendant "consciously takes the risk of causing death or great bodily harm to another individual." It carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
The jury
The names of the jurors are not known. But we do know that the jury was significantly less white than Hennepin County itself.

The 12 jurors included four Black people, two people who identify as multiracial and six white people. Two alternates - both of them white women - were dismissed.

The jury reported each day for duty to the Hennepin County Government Center under intense security measures, using a private entrance to enter the court.

The jurors were given a laptop and monitor to review the extensive video footage and exhibits presented during the trial.

"Use your common sense. Believe your eyes. What you saw, you saw," prosecutor Schleicher told the jury.

If the state is "missing any one single element" to meet the burden of proving Chauvin's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt for each of the three counts, "it is a not-guilty verdict," defense attorney Nelson told them.
Beyond the courtroom
On the Sunday before the last week of testimony, another Black man was killed at the hands of police in Hennepin County. Daunte Wright, 20, was fatally shot by Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter during a traffic stop. Potter, who says she mistakenly fired her gun instead of a Taser, resigned from the force and has been charged with second-degree manslaughter.

Major demonstrations have followed Wright's shooting, with protesters gathering outside the Brooklyn Center police station in suburban Minneapolis.

Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama drew a straight line between the deaths of Floyd and Wright: "The fact that this could happen even as the city of Minneapolis is going through the trial of Derek Chauvin and reliving the heart-wrenching murder of George Floyd indicates not just how important it is to conduct a full and transparent investigation, but also just how badly we need to reimagine policing and public safety in this country," they said in a statement.

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Derek Chauvin Found Guilty Of George Floyd's Murder

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The jury has found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all the counts he faced over the death of George Floyd. The trial has been one of the most closely watched cases in recent memory, setting off a national reckoning on police violence and systemic racism even before the trial commenced.

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Saving the world is fun yet boring now!

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LOL

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Since the pandemic, I have started watching multiple shows on Netflix. The ones I mainly watched during the pandemic was The 100 and How to Get Away with Murder. They created excitement during the boring and terrible year. Now, I have started watching a science fiction/fantasy show called Beauty and the Beast.

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I have been visiting family and traveling to Chicago so often due to the cheap airline tickets. I have started meeting more of my family members including distant relatives.