Starting a 2020 Project: Journal or Capsule to Remember and Reflect

By LILY TINOCO | Reporter

Since I was a kid, I’ve been an avid journal writer. I didn’t know it at the time, but I would grow to appreciate my efforts to memorialize a memory or feeling.

I have stacks of journals in my closet, from the (very unnecessary and cringeworthy) drama of sixth grade to nights of pure frustration while I was in community college, not knowing where my future was headed.

Now, I love revisiting my notes and revisiting this person I used to be—it’s humbling to recognize how far you’ve come, how much you’ve grown and how much you’ve learned.

Since being blindsided by a pandemic, members of the community have looked for ways to capture this moment in time.

Local photographer Robin Aronson kicked off her own spin during the pandemic by launching the Pacific Palisades Front Porch Project, where she invited members of the community to pose for a photo that would wholly capture their time at home, all while raising funds for the Westside Food Bank. She then highlighted some of her work in a series she launched in collaboration with the Palisadian-Post titled “Behind the Front Porch.”

“This project was very important to me,” Aronson shared. “I was looking for a way to continue my photography as well as raise money for a good cause, the Westside Food Bank. During these unprecedented times, I wanted to capture our community.

“ I think of it as a photographic time capsule. As a photographer, I am lucky that I get to capture the celebrations of life. Yet, I also think it’s important to document all aspects of life. Reflecting back upon challenging times is always a great way to grow as an individual, a family, a community and even a nation.”

Aronson’s series in the paper has been one of my favorites to date. Family members posed with their dogs, wine bottles and laptops in hand—some even posed with a pack of toilet paper.

This was an engaging way to memorialize this time in all of our lives, and I invite the rest of the community to take on their own project (you won’t regret it). Whether it be a journal, photography or film, there is no limit.

For starters, there are plenty of journaling ideas to get you through Safer at Home orders. You could take the road down self-discovery, or jot down future plans and places you would like to visit once it’s safe to travel again.

You could create goals to achieve in the upcoming months and track your milestones. You have the freedom to explore and delve into whatever form of expression you’d like.

Some general questions you can ask yourself are:

• How are you feeling today?
• Have the events around you affected you or your view on life? How?
• Have you learned anything from this experience?
  Would you like to?
• How am I connecting
  with my friends and
  family right now?
• What is something you’re grateful for today?
• This way, you can reflect on your personal growth and work through any tough emotions through writing.
• If you’d prefer to be a bit more expressive and creative, you can make your own bullet journal. A bullet journal can be a multitude of things: a planner, calendar, diary, sketchbook, etc.
• A pandemic time-capsule is another keepsake that you can work on from home. It can consist of photos or writings that capture:
• A photo of yourself, you with your family (or both!)
• Who you’re staying home with
• What you love about
  being home
• Things you miss doing or places you miss going because you’re stuck at home
• What does school or working from home look like
• Your furry friends that are keeping you company
• The ways you’re celebrating special occasions
• Anything else you would really like to remember
• Another idea would be to film your day-to-day life, if that’s more fun for you. Creating a YouTube channel or just keeping the videos to yourself, videos are a fun way to document this moment in history.

If you share your videos to a social media platform, it creates a quick and easy way to stay connected and update your friends and family.

Take a break and ground yourself back into reality. We have a choice to make and a chance to cherish these memories—even if they aren’t the ones we had originally planned for 2020.