Item
Morgan Kallenbach Oral History, 2020/12/09
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Morgan Kallenbach Oral History, 2020/12/09
Description (Dublin Core)
Morgan Kallenbach was born and raised in Hudson, Wisconsin. She works as a childcare teacher for Grace Lutheran Communities. In this interview, Morgan shares her experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as her thoughts on the pandemic as a whole. She discusses what is like to work during this pandemic as well as her home and social life. Morgan goes on to talk about her experiences with information and news as well as her take on the politics of the situation.
Recording Date (Dublin Core)
Creator (Dublin Core)
Contributor (Dublin Core)
Partner (Dublin Core)
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
Collecting Institution (Bibliographic Ontology)
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Curatorial Notes (Dublin Core)
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
12/13/2021
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
05/04/2023
05/31/2023
Date Created (Dublin Core)
12/09/2020
Interviewer (Bibliographic Ontology)
Joseph Stratton
Interviewee (Bibliographic Ontology)
Morgan Kallenbach
Location (Omeka Classic)
54701
Eau Claire
Wisconsin
United States of America
Format (Dublin Core)
Video
Language (Dublin Core)
English
Access Rights (Dublin Core)
1/1/2021
abstract (Bibliographic Ontology)
Morgan Kallenbach, a student at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a childcare teacher, discusses her experiences during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to the present day in which the interview takes place. This interview covers a variety of topics from how Morgan’s family, friends and community were affected by COVID-19 to how she is optimistic for the future due to the creation of a COVID vaccine.
Transcription (Omeka Classic)
Joe Stratton 00:03
Hello, I am Joe Stratton, and it is December 9th of 2020. Nationally, we have just hit 15,038,182 cases, and 285,081 confirmed deaths. For this oral history today, I'll have Morgan Kallenbach. Morgan want to introduce yourself?
Morgan Kallenbach 00:30
Yeah. So just like Joe said, my name is Morgan Kallenbach, and I am 20 years old, and I'm currently a third year student at the University here in Eau Claire, and my race is white. My ethnicity, I would say, is mainly German. Yeah.
Joe Stratton 00:54
Okay, so, if you're good there, we'll just dive right into some of the first questions. So what are the primary things you do on a day-to-day basis, like activities, school extracurriculars?
Morgan Kallenbach 01:09
Um, lately, my day-to-day is basically been either doing lots of homework, Zoom classes, things like that. And then, on top of that, I'm a childcare worker, so I'm putting in a lot of hours working with kids and helping them with their homework and figuring out their Zoom classes and everything like that, so those are the two big categories that fill up a lot of my time.
Joe Stratton 01:38
Okay, and where do you live?
Morgan Kallenbach 01:43
I currently live in Eau Claire as a student, but originally, I'm from Hudson, Wisconsin.
Joe Stratton 01:50
And how would you describe either place?
Morgan Kallenbach 01:55
Either place, I feel like they're very similar. Um, I feel like they are very homely, and I feel like pretty liberal and typical Wisconsin towns. There's lots to do in both, a decent amount of people in both. Yeah.
Joe Stratton 02:22
So hop in right into COVID-related things, when you first learned about COVID-19, what were your thoughts about it?
Morgan Kallenbach 02:32
I feel like I was scared at first, I feel like I remember being at my last house that I lived out when I first saw stuff on social media about it. And I guess, you know, when it comes to social media, you don't really know what to believe. And a lot of things aren't made up, but I feel like when I first heard about it, I wasn't too nervous. I feel like until schools and restaurants and everything started to get shut down and starting to hear people's stories of getting it and just seeing how it was impacting other countries, I feel like that was when it started to get really scary.
Joe Stratton 03:16
So have your thoughts changed at all since the beginning?
Morgan Kallenbach 03:20
I feel like they've stayed the same. I feel like I'm still scared. I feel like especially for this past school year, you know, with everything, especially being in a college town with college kids, they don't really make the smartest choices, so I feel like that makes it even scarier because you see it impacting a lot more people in your personal life, but I feel like it's still super scary seeing how other places have, you know, decreased cases by a ton, whereas the United States, I feel like we're still struggling.
Joe Stratton 03:57
For sure. What issues have most concerned you about the pandemic since the beginning?
Morgan Kallenbach 04:05
Um, I feel like mental health is one that's been pretty scary, and I feel like that's been pretty prevalent that a lot of people have talked about because, you know, with isolation and quarantine and everything. I feel like that's impacted people in a lot of different ways. And people haven't been able to go do their normal day-to-day activities, and I feel like everyone's life has been impacted. So I feel like that's been pretty, pretty scary, and I feel like that's been a pretty big topic with it all, but yeah.
Joe Stratton 04:44
So you had mentioned earlier that you're in child care, has COVID affected your job at all?
Morgan Kallenbach 04:50
Yes, my job has been impacted a lot because originally, I started last February, so basically right before everything started to close down and everything, so originally my job title was just it was just a before and after school care that we had. So kids would come before school for a couple hours, and then after school for a couple hours, and that was it. But then, right when COVID hit, we opened like an emergency all day care where kids would come all day, and we'd watch them, and it was basically like I said earlier, we would have to help them with all their schoolwork, and we've basically become their replacement teachers. So it's changed a ton; we're working a lot more, we have a lot more work to do within our job with these kids. So it's, I'd say it's changed pretty drastically from what the job title started out as to what it is now because looking at it now, we have Monday through Friday, we're open 6am to 6pm for all these kids from different schools, so it's changed tremendously.
Joe Stratton 06:10
So you said you started like emergency care, and all these things have changed quite a bit, so would you say it's changed your employment status?
Morgan Kallenbach 06:22
I feel like... I feel like it's stayed pretty much the same. I feel like if anything, we deserve a higher title now and a higher status, but it's definitely stayed the same just like as an assistant teacher and everything. But yeah, I feel like our status has stayed pretty much the same, even though we're doing five to ten times more work than we were before.
Joe Stratton 06:59
Oh, boy. So then what concerns do you have going forward about the effects of COVID on employment?
Morgan Kallenbach 07:09
I feel like it's pretty scary, and I feel like especially since the time last year when it was getting really serious when jobs were being cut for a lot of people, and I feel like I'm not really scared for that to happen again. I mean, I am for people's financial purposes, and all of that stuff, but I feel like at the same time, stuff kind of has to start start shutting down again to get to where we need to be. But I guess like employment wise, I, I feel like I could see in the near future, a lot of people having to be either laid off for a while or work from home or things like that. So I feel like employment wise, that's going to impact people in a lot of different ways, but at the same time, I think in the long run, it's going to be good from the pandemic aspect.
Joe Stratton 08:10
So now kind of moving on to the next range of topics, how has COVID-19 affected you and your families or your family's day to day activities?
Morgan Kallenbach 08:27
It's impacted our day-to-day activities because, I mean, when I think of like my sisters, they're currently seniors in high school in Hudson, and, you know, it's their senior year, and that's, you know, it's your last year of high school, you have to do a lot of fun things, but I mean, so far that's taken a lot of fun things away from them; they don't really get to hang out with their friends as much as they used to, so it's sad seeing that. When it comes to my mom, she still goes to work and everything. She works in St. Paul for a public housing company, and so she still loves that, but she does that on her own time, and she makes that choice, but she also works a lot from home. So that's changed a lot for her, and my dad, last year before everything happened, he had quit his job he was unhappy with and then when quarantine hit, my cousin, who lives in Indianapolis, introduced him to DoorDash, so that's his main source of fun and income nowadays because he is at that age where he just kind of wants to be doing something laid back and fun. So I guess that's changed a lot, but he enjoys it, and my sisters will go along with him a lot and everything, but you know, we used to go visit my grandma who lives in Richmond a lot, but we don't really go to see her very often anymore because, you know, she's older you don't want to put her at risk or anything, so that's changed. We're huge with shopping. We don't do that very often anymore. It's very, it's rare when we do do it, because, you know, I feel everyone's seen online shopping is way more prevalent nowadays, but yeah, I feel like we're definitely just way more homebodies now than anything.
Joe Stratton 10:29
For sure. Has COVID affected how you associate and communicate with friends and family, would you say?
Morgan Kallenbach 10:41
I would say so. I feel like with communication, I feel like I text a lot of my family members more, and I stay in touch more. I FaceTime my sisters, my parents, a lot obviously since we don't live in the same city. Um, so I guess like what I said earlier, like, we, my whole family used to go visit my grandma a lot, and that was like our main form of communication, we'd go visit her on like, Sundays or weekends a lot. And that was just kind of a time where we'd all get to just like, catch up and hang out, and we don't do that anymore. So um, yeah, a lot of it is just with technology, so I'm thankful for that, but yeah.
Joe Stratton 11:32
Makes you think it'd be wild if this happened 30, 40 years earlier?
Morgan Kallenbach 11:38
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Joe Stratton 11:42
So, then, let's see. What do you think has been some of the biggest challenges you faced during this outbreak?
Morgan Kallenbach 11:54
I would say the biggest challenge I faced was my grandma passing away; she was in a nursing home, and you know, with COVID and everything, we got to visit her, but it was only window visits. And she just she already wasn't in a very good place, and so at the start of everything, we moved her to Hudson so she could be closer to us, we could go take her to restaurants and do all these fun things with her, but then of course, a couple months after moving here when she was in assisted living, then quarantine and everything happened, and COVID got worse, and she had an incident where she fell, and we had to take her to the hospital so that when she came back we had switched her from the assisted living building to the nursing home. And I would say mental health-wise, it went down very, very quickly for her, and I feel like you could see that with just like a lot of people there. I mean, it was just like, I loved going to visit her and talk to her, but at the same time, it was just sad being there because you would see all the other families on different windows talking to like their loved ones. So I feel like that was like the most challenging, and then like when she passed away only a certain, only my dad and his sister could be in the building with her, so none of us got to say goodbye or anything, and then funeral-wise it was just obviously very, very small; it was just like my family and my grandma's kids, so my aunt and uncle's. So it was just a very different case scenario than it would have been if COVID did not exist now, but I would say overall that was probably the most challenging part
Joe Stratton 14:02
So, what have, in the past, verging on a year now, what have you, your family, or friends done for recreation during this to try to keep busy?
Morgan Kallenbach 14:18
Well, I hang out with the same three people, and I mean, poker has become a new thing. And I don't know, I feel like we just, I feel like it's we don't really plan things, but we just like hang out and try to find fun stuff along the way. I mean, me and my best friend, Anna, we go for a lot of walks, so that's helpful, just get out of the house and almost just like a little therapy sessions. We use it to rant and talk about whatever the whole walk, but other than that, I mean, I feel like for a lot of us, work and school has consumed a lot of time. So I feel like it's really hard to think about things that we do recreationally to pass time. I feel like a lot of Netflix and YouTube, that usually passes the time, but other than that, it's just those things.
Joe Stratton 15:37
It seems like we've had to come up with a million different ways to reinvent 24 hours.
Morgan Kallenbach 15:43
Yeah, basically, I couldn't agree with more with that.
Joe Stratton 15:48
So kind of now moving on to the next topic, how has the COVID-19 outbreak affected your community?
Morgan Kallenbach 15:59
Um, it's affected my community a ton. I guess for Eau Claire, it's different because even though I've been here for three years now, I feel like I, I've never really like submerged myself into the community. So linking it back to Hudson, I was an ambassador, my junior year of high school, for my town of North Hudson, and so we have Pepper Fest, which is a whole festival that takes up a weekend in August, where everyone gets together and just, you know, celebrates the Italian history that North Hudson has, and it's, it's massive, it's huge, and it's a big deal. And like, last year, we weren't able to have it, so what took place is like they just made a ton of different like little small events that like a certain amount of people could attend to, so I felt like it was really sad for me in that aspect because Pepper Fest plays a huge part of my life, but I wasn't able to go or do any of that. So you know, our community isn't really able to get together and do the things that we do and see the people we don't get to see very often. And I think about now during Christmas time, I mean, Hudson always has this beautiful setup where you can go meet Santa, and it's like, it's such a beautiful setup, and you know, I feel like a lot of places you go to you're kind of like, "oh my gosh, this is super cheesy and fake," but the one we go to, the one people go to in Hudson is so nice, and everyone goes there to get pictures taken and everything. And we have a light up the night where everyone just stands outside of downtown Hudson, and you sing Christmas songs, and then you do a countdown and all of the Christmas lights turn on. And you know, I think how that's not gonna happen at all this year, but I feel like at the same time a lot of like the small businesses downtown have done a lot with like sales and providing like different opportunities for people to like come together in the community and still do stuff, but it's it's definitely tough, and I feel like a lot of it has been diminished.
Joe Stratton 18:28
So how are people around you, friends, family, responding to the pandemic?
Morgan Kallenbach 18:37
I feel like overall, my family is responding well to it. I mean, they take all precautions into consideration and everything, and mentally they're doing good, and I feel like they definitely have their positive outlets for getting through everything, so I feel like they're responding very well to it. But you know, I feel like, in general, definitely everyone's at the end of their wits with it, and everyone's just kind of anticipating for what's going to happen next and when it's going to be done in everything. I feel like people I go to school with are not responding well to it because I feel as though college kids do not care, I guess not really to group everyone together, but I feel like there's definitely a big chunk of college kids that just choose not to care about it. so they kind of respond in a way where they just don't care to recognize what's going on and are okay with trying to put people at risk and putting themselves at risk. So I feel like a lot of them aren't responding well to it, but yeah.
Joe Stratton 20:01
So, have you seen people around you change their opinions, or change their day-to day-activities, or just what they do, in response to the pandemic, or for a lot of people has their day-to day remainedthe same?
Morgan Kallenbach 20:17
Um, luckily, I feel very thankful that I am surrounded by a lot of people who take it very seriously, so I feel like, in a lot of the cases, the people who are closest to me have cut down a lot of this stuff that they usually do - seeing their family so often, going out, you know, just cutting out a lot of different things. So like I said, I feel very thankful that I'm surrounded by people who do take it into consideration and put other people into their own consideration, too. So, I guess, overall, I feel like everyone's had to change how they live, and change the activities that they do, whether that be for personal reasons, for caring about other people, or just because they simply can't do it, because of the pandemic, but I feel like it's changed a lot of people's recreational time and everything.
Joe Stratton 21:30
So has COVID changed your relationships with family or friends at all, would you say or...?
Morgan Kallenbach 21:48
COVID, I feel like has not changed my relationship very much. I feel like I take them, not more seriously, but I put more effort into them because of COVID because, you know, it's like you never, no one ever expected this to happen. And, you know, we don't get to see our loved ones as much as we used to, so since quarantine and everything, and just COVID in general, I feel like I've communicated with my family a lot more, so it's made our bonds almost stronger, in a sense. And me and my boyfriend started dating when COVID started, so I mean I feel like that strengthened that relationship a lot. But other than that, I feel like with my friends, it's stayed the same, if not anything made us stronger, because we've bonded over a lot of the same things related to COVID, which is how we feel about it, how it should be treated and just things like that. So overall, I feel like relationship-wise, it's been very positive for me, which I'm very thankful for because I know that's not the case for a lot of people.
Joe Stratton 23:05
I think it's a... it's become kind of an eye opening thing where you see who takes it serious, who doesn't, who cares about other people, so it's good in that respect for sure.
Morgan Kallenbach 23:18
Yeah.
Joe Stratton 23:19
Kind of moving on to the next thing now. Have you or anybody you know, gotten sick during the outbreak?
Morgan Kallenbach 23:28
I'm very thankful I have no one that I know personally that has gotten sick from COVID or anything. I mean, obviously, my grandma was sick during COVID but not with COVID, and then, um, none of my friends have gotten it. I've had co-workers that have gotten it, but luckily I've never worked with those co-workers before anything. And I never knew of anyone in my classes that had it, so luckily I feel like I always hear stories of like, friends of friends and everything who have gotten it, but I'm very thankful I have no one that I'm close to that's gotten sick with it, family or friends.
Joe Stratton 24:15
It always seems like there's these little pockets like you hear of someone, their whole entire family got it, and then the next person, none of their family got it.
Morgan Kallenbach 24:24
Yeah.
Joe Stratton 24:27
So in what ways do you think COVID is affecting people's mental or physical health?
Morgan Kallenbach 24:34
So I guess I kind of, I said that at the beginning, I feel like you know, I feel like anxiety and depression are two major things that have... we've seen a lot more prevalently in people, not even thinking about COVID, just in general, and so I feel like with COVID and people having to quarantine, or be in isolation, and everything. You know, I feel like that it makes it even worse, and I feel like maybe even people who don't know they have it could end up coming out with it and everything. So in that retrospect, I feel like it's very easy to see how COVID has impacted mental health. Physical health, I feel like it's gone one of two ways for a lot of people or as like what I've seen on just social media on things, and in like, my personal life, I feel like people have either been taken advantage of their time and have been motivated to, like physically work out and get in shape and eat the right things, or it's just kind of been like, "whatever I'm in a pandemic, I do not care to do any of that, that is at the bottom of my list of concerns," so me being one of them, I feel like I,as hard as it is to admit, I feel like I just, I haven't really been putting a lot of work into my self during COVID, but I feel like mental health has definitely been a struggle for a lot of people.
Joe Stratton 26:23
And I think the biggest things with like physical health will be, we'll see in time with a lot of after effects and...
Morgan Kallenbach 26:32
Yes,
Joe Stratton 26:34
...like resonating occurrences with mental health. And a lot I've heard there's a lot of latent effects with COVID to people that are asymptomatic, but I have a heart issue later and different things like that, so that'll be interesting to see how that unfolds.
Morgan Kallenbach 26:51
Yeah, I guess I don't even think about that, either. I feel like that will be a pretty big thing.
Joe Stratton 26:58
Yeah. It should be interesting to see.
Morgan Kallenbach 27:02
Oh, yeah.
Joe Stratton 27:05
So on to next topic. What have been your primary sources of news during the pandemic?
Morgan Kallenbach 27:14
I feel like my primary sources of news have honestly been my friends. I'm not good with keeping up with news or anything, and I feel like whenever I even try to like look anything up, I just click on like the first tab of something. I'm not really hyper aware, and I feel like thankfully, I feel like a lot, and I guess our university sends out a lot of emails too, so I do get a lot of news from that. So I get a lot of news from family and friends, I keep up with it because I'm absolutely horrible with that personally. But yeah, because I feel like a lot of news lately has been, I feel like really like a big topics that matter, and so I feel like when information does come out about it, I feel like a lot of places say the same thing if it's like, I don't know, but yeah, if that if that makes any sense.
Joe Stratton 28:30
Yeah. So I guess have your news sources changed during the course of a pandemic or have they remained pretty much the same?
Morgan Kallenbach 28:42
I would say they've remained pretty much the same. I mean, I do, I look at Apple news a lot too, and everything, so I guess that's really the only thing that's changed is because I just, I got a MacBook not too long ago, and it gives me updates now with everything, and so I feel like it's... I feel like that's intrigued me more to look at the news and everything and get better ideas of what's going on, but other than that, I mean I feel like a lot of it has stayed the same and getting emails from the university like crazy, that's the same, but yeah, other than that, nothing new.
Joe Stratton 29:31
Okay. So what do you think are important issues that the media maybe is coveringor maybe isn't?
Morgan Kallenbach 29:40
I feel like a lot of it is, I feel like a lot of news is covering way more politics than actual COVID stuff. Um and I feel like when it came to Trump, I feel like that could be the reason why because I feel as though a lot of it had to do with,
Morgan Kallenbach 30:14
like, I don't know, just how the country should be run and everything, and it didn't really focus so much on like, the scientific part of it. So I feel like that was a struggle in a sense, but yeah, I feel like they're not really they don't really put much emphasis on, like how people are doing or scientific part of it. I mean, you know, I've been seeing a lot more stuff about a vaccine coming out and everything, but I feel like that was just kind of like, abrupt, like, you know, you would hear people talking about it, but now all of a sudden, I like, go in, and they're like, "okay, but we're gonna have a vaccine," and I'm like, "okay, I heard about this, but like, where the heck does this come from?" And everything but, yeah.
Joe Stratton 31:19
Yeah, in kind of response to what you said, it feels like COVID and public and national health crisis has taken a backseat to politics, like, just this morning, I saw the news, Supreme Court rejects Trump's bid to overturn Pennsylvania, and by the way, we have 15 million cases, like in little print at the bottom, so it feels like everything's almost not to scale of what it should be.
Morgan Kallenbach 31:49
I agree, and I feel like people are just so used to it at this point, that they're kind of like, "oh, I feel like we can put that kind of stuff on the back burner because like, whatever, this is nothing new, we've been dealing with this for so long now," but yeah.
Joe Stratton 32:08
So on to one, one of two of our last topics here now. So how have municipal and government officials in your community responded to the outbreak?
Morgan Kallenbach 32:24
I feel like at the start, they all had very good intentions to try and solve the issue. And I feel like with politics and with stuff like that, I feel like it's more talk than do, and so I feel like when you think about like Tony Evers, I guess like when the timing at the end of last school year, when it was starting to get serious and everything with like, stuff shutting down, I feel like we were seeing positive things come out of it, COVID-wise, and then people started complaining about it and everything. And I feel like within a blink of an eye, everything felt like it was almost semi back to normal. And now, you look at Wisconsin, and we have some of the highest amounts of cases, and you're like, "how did this happen? Like, why?" And I feel like you look at it, and it's like, you know, you've seen other countries that have gone on a strict lockdown, and they're down to like, very, very few cases. And I feel like with us at the beginning, I feel like that kind of stuff was semi taken into consideration and was talked about but wasn't really effectively put into use. So I feel like our government officials and everything even in like the community have just kind of been like, kind of just like willy nilly with it and haven't really, I feel like, haven't really put any major like actual ideas out into the light or put anything really into place that will actually stick and where we can see cases go down.
Joe Stratton 34:34
I think it's such an issue too, because I think people are scared to try to really implement something because they're scared of the backlash...
Morgan Kallenbach 34:44
Yeah.
Joe Stratton 34:44
...but then when they do try to implement something people go "well, it's my right, it's..." and they see what they want to see and not the totality of it all.
Morgan Kallenbach 34:54
Yeah, exactly. I agree.
Joe Stratton 34:59
So do you have any thoughts on how local state or federal leaders are responding to the crisis differently?
Morgan Kallenbach 35:09
Um, I feel like... I feel like I'm looking at the country-wise, I feel like I am, I'm ready for Biden to come into office just because I feel as though he's actually going to put science first, like he says, and implement lockdown that's going to actually stick and be effective for everyone. I feel like, when it comes to how Trump dealt with it, it wasn't... it was almost, I feel like it was just kind of seen as a joke, honestly. And I feel like the number of cases don't even bother him at this point, so I feel like, and I feel like when it comes to statewide, I feel like a lot of people right now are looking up to the President and are relying what they want to do off of that, I guess I'm not not saying for every state, but I feel like a lot of states are just in such confusion where they're like, "wait, I don't know, what's everyone else doing? Like, what should I do?" Which is totally understandable because no one in this lifetime, has dealt with a pandemic, like there's a majority of people, and so everyone's just kind of like, "what are you gonna do? If you do that, I'll do that." Or it's just, I feel like everyone right now is just in such a state of confusion because they're like, looking, looking outward at the rest of the world. I feel like we need to look at what they're doing because obviously, there are countries that have very few cases, like I said, so I feel like we need to listen to them, and obviously take into consideration what they did, because they knew how to get rid of it, so it's time for us to be like, "okay, now, what ways can we implement that you use so we can get rid of it too?" And I feel like, you're not always going to have a consensus with everyone agreeing on what to do, but I think in this case, like, we have to have a solution to implement just across the country as a whole, and I feel like that's the only way we're gonna actually come to any type of solution, because I feel like everyone's just in a state of confusion right now, which again, is totally understandable; I get it, but...
Joe Stratton 37:46
For sure. Um, so onto the last thing here. Has your experience transformed how you think about your family and friends or your community?
Morgan Kallenbach 37:59
Yes, because I felt like with what you said earlier, how this is very eye opening, it is. I feel like it's opened my eyes to so many more things. I feel like I said, I've made stronger bonds and relationships with the people I'm closest to in my life, it's allowed me to spend more time with them because obviously, I stay in my same small group of friends, I work with my best friend for work, and so you know, it's like, all of us are always just doing the same thing, and so I'm able to spend more time doing that. And then when it comes to my family members, obviously, I feel like I get in touch with them more, I call them more FaceTime and more. And I feel like community-wise, I feel like it's, it's almost like brought them closer together than they have been because I feel like even though we're not given the same social gathering opportunities that we were before, my community back home in Hudson has always just been super strong when it comes to literally anything that we face, so I feel like they've just found so many different ways, like with restaurants, like the people who own the restaurants just in downtown Hudson, they'll share other people's businesses and show that they got food from a different place and put their name out there. And I feel like there's just been so much more support for helping other people, and you can definitely tell just in my community, people had been putting other people before themselves, which is so awesome to see. So I feel like even though the pandemic has done a lot of negative in the world and for a lot of people, I feel like there are so many positives that have come out of it too for a lot of people, relationships, communities, family and a lot of that.
Joe Stratton 40:14
It feels as though as some people have split away from the community kind of in a sense and done their own thing for themselves, it feels like somewhat, the community itself has become a little more tight knit and stronger, and those bonds of friendship have gotten a lot closer. So knowing what you know, now, what do you think that individuals, communities, or governments need to keep in mind for the future?
Morgan Kallenbach 40:46
I feel like in the future, people just need to put other people before themselves. I feel like right now is the best time for like individuals and political leaders and everything to actually focus on the good of the people, and what's best for them because I feel like there are just so many other agendas in the world that people are worried about. but I feel like at the end of the day, it's important how people are treated, if they're getting the right things that they need, the resources they need to be successful with what they're doing. Yeah, I feel like people just need to care about other people more at the end of the day.
Joe Stratton 41:43
So one last bonus question.
Morgan Kallenbach 41:45
Yeah.
Joe Stratton 41:47
So knowing now that the first doses of the vaccine have been given out in the last day or two, with many more on the way, how optimistic are you are for the future?
Morgan Kallenbach 42:02
I feel pretty optimistic; I feel like the vaccine is definitely going to be a very interesting to follow along with to see how effective it is, how it impacts a person's body, and I feel like there's a lot of variables that scientists and stuff have had to take into consideration. And I feel as though if we do see this as something that is successful, I feel like it is going to help us tremendously, and I feel like as long as we find a way to implement it in the right way and provide it to people who need it the most, in near future times, I feel like then I'll be pretty optimistic. I feel like for a little while I'm gonna be a little on edge about it all just because I mean, like there's so many unknowns, like when it comes to COVID, the pandemic, and adding a vaccine into that, you know, I feel like you don't know until you see what happens. So, you know, I feel pretty confident about it, you know, it's not easy to make a vaccine, so especially for something like this, so if it pans out how it's supposed to then yeah, like I said, I will be super optimistic for everything.
Joe Stratton 43:34
We're not quite in the homestretch yet...
Morgan Kallenbach 43:36
Exactly
Joe Stratton 43:36
...but you can almost see a little light at the end of the tunnel.
Morgan Kallenbach 43:38
Yes, exactly because I feel like vaccines have been such a talk for so long, and now to finally like hear about this and to see it actually being implemented, it's crazy. So yeah, it is like what you said it is, almost like you see a small light at the end of the tunnel.
Joe Stratton 44:00
Well, I think that's all the questions that I have. Thank you for doing this.
Morgan Kallenbach 44:09
Thank you.
Joe Stratton 44:11
And be safe.
Morgan Kallenbach 44:14
Yes, for sure, you too.
Hello, I am Joe Stratton, and it is December 9th of 2020. Nationally, we have just hit 15,038,182 cases, and 285,081 confirmed deaths. For this oral history today, I'll have Morgan Kallenbach. Morgan want to introduce yourself?
Morgan Kallenbach 00:30
Yeah. So just like Joe said, my name is Morgan Kallenbach, and I am 20 years old, and I'm currently a third year student at the University here in Eau Claire, and my race is white. My ethnicity, I would say, is mainly German. Yeah.
Joe Stratton 00:54
Okay, so, if you're good there, we'll just dive right into some of the first questions. So what are the primary things you do on a day-to-day basis, like activities, school extracurriculars?
Morgan Kallenbach 01:09
Um, lately, my day-to-day is basically been either doing lots of homework, Zoom classes, things like that. And then, on top of that, I'm a childcare worker, so I'm putting in a lot of hours working with kids and helping them with their homework and figuring out their Zoom classes and everything like that, so those are the two big categories that fill up a lot of my time.
Joe Stratton 01:38
Okay, and where do you live?
Morgan Kallenbach 01:43
I currently live in Eau Claire as a student, but originally, I'm from Hudson, Wisconsin.
Joe Stratton 01:50
And how would you describe either place?
Morgan Kallenbach 01:55
Either place, I feel like they're very similar. Um, I feel like they are very homely, and I feel like pretty liberal and typical Wisconsin towns. There's lots to do in both, a decent amount of people in both. Yeah.
Joe Stratton 02:22
So hop in right into COVID-related things, when you first learned about COVID-19, what were your thoughts about it?
Morgan Kallenbach 02:32
I feel like I was scared at first, I feel like I remember being at my last house that I lived out when I first saw stuff on social media about it. And I guess, you know, when it comes to social media, you don't really know what to believe. And a lot of things aren't made up, but I feel like when I first heard about it, I wasn't too nervous. I feel like until schools and restaurants and everything started to get shut down and starting to hear people's stories of getting it and just seeing how it was impacting other countries, I feel like that was when it started to get really scary.
Joe Stratton 03:16
So have your thoughts changed at all since the beginning?
Morgan Kallenbach 03:20
I feel like they've stayed the same. I feel like I'm still scared. I feel like especially for this past school year, you know, with everything, especially being in a college town with college kids, they don't really make the smartest choices, so I feel like that makes it even scarier because you see it impacting a lot more people in your personal life, but I feel like it's still super scary seeing how other places have, you know, decreased cases by a ton, whereas the United States, I feel like we're still struggling.
Joe Stratton 03:57
For sure. What issues have most concerned you about the pandemic since the beginning?
Morgan Kallenbach 04:05
Um, I feel like mental health is one that's been pretty scary, and I feel like that's been pretty prevalent that a lot of people have talked about because, you know, with isolation and quarantine and everything. I feel like that's impacted people in a lot of different ways. And people haven't been able to go do their normal day-to-day activities, and I feel like everyone's life has been impacted. So I feel like that's been pretty, pretty scary, and I feel like that's been a pretty big topic with it all, but yeah.
Joe Stratton 04:44
So you had mentioned earlier that you're in child care, has COVID affected your job at all?
Morgan Kallenbach 04:50
Yes, my job has been impacted a lot because originally, I started last February, so basically right before everything started to close down and everything, so originally my job title was just it was just a before and after school care that we had. So kids would come before school for a couple hours, and then after school for a couple hours, and that was it. But then, right when COVID hit, we opened like an emergency all day care where kids would come all day, and we'd watch them, and it was basically like I said earlier, we would have to help them with all their schoolwork, and we've basically become their replacement teachers. So it's changed a ton; we're working a lot more, we have a lot more work to do within our job with these kids. So it's, I'd say it's changed pretty drastically from what the job title started out as to what it is now because looking at it now, we have Monday through Friday, we're open 6am to 6pm for all these kids from different schools, so it's changed tremendously.
Joe Stratton 06:10
So you said you started like emergency care, and all these things have changed quite a bit, so would you say it's changed your employment status?
Morgan Kallenbach 06:22
I feel like... I feel like it's stayed pretty much the same. I feel like if anything, we deserve a higher title now and a higher status, but it's definitely stayed the same just like as an assistant teacher and everything. But yeah, I feel like our status has stayed pretty much the same, even though we're doing five to ten times more work than we were before.
Joe Stratton 06:59
Oh, boy. So then what concerns do you have going forward about the effects of COVID on employment?
Morgan Kallenbach 07:09
I feel like it's pretty scary, and I feel like especially since the time last year when it was getting really serious when jobs were being cut for a lot of people, and I feel like I'm not really scared for that to happen again. I mean, I am for people's financial purposes, and all of that stuff, but I feel like at the same time, stuff kind of has to start start shutting down again to get to where we need to be. But I guess like employment wise, I, I feel like I could see in the near future, a lot of people having to be either laid off for a while or work from home or things like that. So I feel like employment wise, that's going to impact people in a lot of different ways, but at the same time, I think in the long run, it's going to be good from the pandemic aspect.
Joe Stratton 08:10
So now kind of moving on to the next range of topics, how has COVID-19 affected you and your families or your family's day to day activities?
Morgan Kallenbach 08:27
It's impacted our day-to-day activities because, I mean, when I think of like my sisters, they're currently seniors in high school in Hudson, and, you know, it's their senior year, and that's, you know, it's your last year of high school, you have to do a lot of fun things, but I mean, so far that's taken a lot of fun things away from them; they don't really get to hang out with their friends as much as they used to, so it's sad seeing that. When it comes to my mom, she still goes to work and everything. She works in St. Paul for a public housing company, and so she still loves that, but she does that on her own time, and she makes that choice, but she also works a lot from home. So that's changed a lot for her, and my dad, last year before everything happened, he had quit his job he was unhappy with and then when quarantine hit, my cousin, who lives in Indianapolis, introduced him to DoorDash, so that's his main source of fun and income nowadays because he is at that age where he just kind of wants to be doing something laid back and fun. So I guess that's changed a lot, but he enjoys it, and my sisters will go along with him a lot and everything, but you know, we used to go visit my grandma who lives in Richmond a lot, but we don't really go to see her very often anymore because, you know, she's older you don't want to put her at risk or anything, so that's changed. We're huge with shopping. We don't do that very often anymore. It's very, it's rare when we do do it, because, you know, I feel everyone's seen online shopping is way more prevalent nowadays, but yeah, I feel like we're definitely just way more homebodies now than anything.
Joe Stratton 10:29
For sure. Has COVID affected how you associate and communicate with friends and family, would you say?
Morgan Kallenbach 10:41
I would say so. I feel like with communication, I feel like I text a lot of my family members more, and I stay in touch more. I FaceTime my sisters, my parents, a lot obviously since we don't live in the same city. Um, so I guess like what I said earlier, like, we, my whole family used to go visit my grandma a lot, and that was like our main form of communication, we'd go visit her on like, Sundays or weekends a lot. And that was just kind of a time where we'd all get to just like, catch up and hang out, and we don't do that anymore. So um, yeah, a lot of it is just with technology, so I'm thankful for that, but yeah.
Joe Stratton 11:32
Makes you think it'd be wild if this happened 30, 40 years earlier?
Morgan Kallenbach 11:38
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Joe Stratton 11:42
So, then, let's see. What do you think has been some of the biggest challenges you faced during this outbreak?
Morgan Kallenbach 11:54
I would say the biggest challenge I faced was my grandma passing away; she was in a nursing home, and you know, with COVID and everything, we got to visit her, but it was only window visits. And she just she already wasn't in a very good place, and so at the start of everything, we moved her to Hudson so she could be closer to us, we could go take her to restaurants and do all these fun things with her, but then of course, a couple months after moving here when she was in assisted living, then quarantine and everything happened, and COVID got worse, and she had an incident where she fell, and we had to take her to the hospital so that when she came back we had switched her from the assisted living building to the nursing home. And I would say mental health-wise, it went down very, very quickly for her, and I feel like you could see that with just like a lot of people there. I mean, it was just like, I loved going to visit her and talk to her, but at the same time, it was just sad being there because you would see all the other families on different windows talking to like their loved ones. So I feel like that was like the most challenging, and then like when she passed away only a certain, only my dad and his sister could be in the building with her, so none of us got to say goodbye or anything, and then funeral-wise it was just obviously very, very small; it was just like my family and my grandma's kids, so my aunt and uncle's. So it was just a very different case scenario than it would have been if COVID did not exist now, but I would say overall that was probably the most challenging part
Joe Stratton 14:02
So, what have, in the past, verging on a year now, what have you, your family, or friends done for recreation during this to try to keep busy?
Morgan Kallenbach 14:18
Well, I hang out with the same three people, and I mean, poker has become a new thing. And I don't know, I feel like we just, I feel like it's we don't really plan things, but we just like hang out and try to find fun stuff along the way. I mean, me and my best friend, Anna, we go for a lot of walks, so that's helpful, just get out of the house and almost just like a little therapy sessions. We use it to rant and talk about whatever the whole walk, but other than that, I mean, I feel like for a lot of us, work and school has consumed a lot of time. So I feel like it's really hard to think about things that we do recreationally to pass time. I feel like a lot of Netflix and YouTube, that usually passes the time, but other than that, it's just those things.
Joe Stratton 15:37
It seems like we've had to come up with a million different ways to reinvent 24 hours.
Morgan Kallenbach 15:43
Yeah, basically, I couldn't agree with more with that.
Joe Stratton 15:48
So kind of now moving on to the next topic, how has the COVID-19 outbreak affected your community?
Morgan Kallenbach 15:59
Um, it's affected my community a ton. I guess for Eau Claire, it's different because even though I've been here for three years now, I feel like I, I've never really like submerged myself into the community. So linking it back to Hudson, I was an ambassador, my junior year of high school, for my town of North Hudson, and so we have Pepper Fest, which is a whole festival that takes up a weekend in August, where everyone gets together and just, you know, celebrates the Italian history that North Hudson has, and it's, it's massive, it's huge, and it's a big deal. And like, last year, we weren't able to have it, so what took place is like they just made a ton of different like little small events that like a certain amount of people could attend to, so I felt like it was really sad for me in that aspect because Pepper Fest plays a huge part of my life, but I wasn't able to go or do any of that. So you know, our community isn't really able to get together and do the things that we do and see the people we don't get to see very often. And I think about now during Christmas time, I mean, Hudson always has this beautiful setup where you can go meet Santa, and it's like, it's such a beautiful setup, and you know, I feel like a lot of places you go to you're kind of like, "oh my gosh, this is super cheesy and fake," but the one we go to, the one people go to in Hudson is so nice, and everyone goes there to get pictures taken and everything. And we have a light up the night where everyone just stands outside of downtown Hudson, and you sing Christmas songs, and then you do a countdown and all of the Christmas lights turn on. And you know, I think how that's not gonna happen at all this year, but I feel like at the same time a lot of like the small businesses downtown have done a lot with like sales and providing like different opportunities for people to like come together in the community and still do stuff, but it's it's definitely tough, and I feel like a lot of it has been diminished.
Joe Stratton 18:28
So how are people around you, friends, family, responding to the pandemic?
Morgan Kallenbach 18:37
I feel like overall, my family is responding well to it. I mean, they take all precautions into consideration and everything, and mentally they're doing good, and I feel like they definitely have their positive outlets for getting through everything, so I feel like they're responding very well to it. But you know, I feel like, in general, definitely everyone's at the end of their wits with it, and everyone's just kind of anticipating for what's going to happen next and when it's going to be done in everything. I feel like people I go to school with are not responding well to it because I feel as though college kids do not care, I guess not really to group everyone together, but I feel like there's definitely a big chunk of college kids that just choose not to care about it. so they kind of respond in a way where they just don't care to recognize what's going on and are okay with trying to put people at risk and putting themselves at risk. So I feel like a lot of them aren't responding well to it, but yeah.
Joe Stratton 20:01
So, have you seen people around you change their opinions, or change their day-to day-activities, or just what they do, in response to the pandemic, or for a lot of people has their day-to day remainedthe same?
Morgan Kallenbach 20:17
Um, luckily, I feel very thankful that I am surrounded by a lot of people who take it very seriously, so I feel like, in a lot of the cases, the people who are closest to me have cut down a lot of this stuff that they usually do - seeing their family so often, going out, you know, just cutting out a lot of different things. So like I said, I feel very thankful that I'm surrounded by people who do take it into consideration and put other people into their own consideration, too. So, I guess, overall, I feel like everyone's had to change how they live, and change the activities that they do, whether that be for personal reasons, for caring about other people, or just because they simply can't do it, because of the pandemic, but I feel like it's changed a lot of people's recreational time and everything.
Joe Stratton 21:30
So has COVID changed your relationships with family or friends at all, would you say or...?
Morgan Kallenbach 21:48
COVID, I feel like has not changed my relationship very much. I feel like I take them, not more seriously, but I put more effort into them because of COVID because, you know, it's like you never, no one ever expected this to happen. And, you know, we don't get to see our loved ones as much as we used to, so since quarantine and everything, and just COVID in general, I feel like I've communicated with my family a lot more, so it's made our bonds almost stronger, in a sense. And me and my boyfriend started dating when COVID started, so I mean I feel like that strengthened that relationship a lot. But other than that, I feel like with my friends, it's stayed the same, if not anything made us stronger, because we've bonded over a lot of the same things related to COVID, which is how we feel about it, how it should be treated and just things like that. So overall, I feel like relationship-wise, it's been very positive for me, which I'm very thankful for because I know that's not the case for a lot of people.
Joe Stratton 23:05
I think it's a... it's become kind of an eye opening thing where you see who takes it serious, who doesn't, who cares about other people, so it's good in that respect for sure.
Morgan Kallenbach 23:18
Yeah.
Joe Stratton 23:19
Kind of moving on to the next thing now. Have you or anybody you know, gotten sick during the outbreak?
Morgan Kallenbach 23:28
I'm very thankful I have no one that I know personally that has gotten sick from COVID or anything. I mean, obviously, my grandma was sick during COVID but not with COVID, and then, um, none of my friends have gotten it. I've had co-workers that have gotten it, but luckily I've never worked with those co-workers before anything. And I never knew of anyone in my classes that had it, so luckily I feel like I always hear stories of like, friends of friends and everything who have gotten it, but I'm very thankful I have no one that I'm close to that's gotten sick with it, family or friends.
Joe Stratton 24:15
It always seems like there's these little pockets like you hear of someone, their whole entire family got it, and then the next person, none of their family got it.
Morgan Kallenbach 24:24
Yeah.
Joe Stratton 24:27
So in what ways do you think COVID is affecting people's mental or physical health?
Morgan Kallenbach 24:34
So I guess I kind of, I said that at the beginning, I feel like you know, I feel like anxiety and depression are two major things that have... we've seen a lot more prevalently in people, not even thinking about COVID, just in general, and so I feel like with COVID and people having to quarantine, or be in isolation, and everything. You know, I feel like that it makes it even worse, and I feel like maybe even people who don't know they have it could end up coming out with it and everything. So in that retrospect, I feel like it's very easy to see how COVID has impacted mental health. Physical health, I feel like it's gone one of two ways for a lot of people or as like what I've seen on just social media on things, and in like, my personal life, I feel like people have either been taken advantage of their time and have been motivated to, like physically work out and get in shape and eat the right things, or it's just kind of been like, "whatever I'm in a pandemic, I do not care to do any of that, that is at the bottom of my list of concerns," so me being one of them, I feel like I,as hard as it is to admit, I feel like I just, I haven't really been putting a lot of work into my self during COVID, but I feel like mental health has definitely been a struggle for a lot of people.
Joe Stratton 26:23
And I think the biggest things with like physical health will be, we'll see in time with a lot of after effects and...
Morgan Kallenbach 26:32
Yes,
Joe Stratton 26:34
...like resonating occurrences with mental health. And a lot I've heard there's a lot of latent effects with COVID to people that are asymptomatic, but I have a heart issue later and different things like that, so that'll be interesting to see how that unfolds.
Morgan Kallenbach 26:51
Yeah, I guess I don't even think about that, either. I feel like that will be a pretty big thing.
Joe Stratton 26:58
Yeah. It should be interesting to see.
Morgan Kallenbach 27:02
Oh, yeah.
Joe Stratton 27:05
So on to next topic. What have been your primary sources of news during the pandemic?
Morgan Kallenbach 27:14
I feel like my primary sources of news have honestly been my friends. I'm not good with keeping up with news or anything, and I feel like whenever I even try to like look anything up, I just click on like the first tab of something. I'm not really hyper aware, and I feel like thankfully, I feel like a lot, and I guess our university sends out a lot of emails too, so I do get a lot of news from that. So I get a lot of news from family and friends, I keep up with it because I'm absolutely horrible with that personally. But yeah, because I feel like a lot of news lately has been, I feel like really like a big topics that matter, and so I feel like when information does come out about it, I feel like a lot of places say the same thing if it's like, I don't know, but yeah, if that if that makes any sense.
Joe Stratton 28:30
Yeah. So I guess have your news sources changed during the course of a pandemic or have they remained pretty much the same?
Morgan Kallenbach 28:42
I would say they've remained pretty much the same. I mean, I do, I look at Apple news a lot too, and everything, so I guess that's really the only thing that's changed is because I just, I got a MacBook not too long ago, and it gives me updates now with everything, and so I feel like it's... I feel like that's intrigued me more to look at the news and everything and get better ideas of what's going on, but other than that, I mean I feel like a lot of it has stayed the same and getting emails from the university like crazy, that's the same, but yeah, other than that, nothing new.
Joe Stratton 29:31
Okay. So what do you think are important issues that the media maybe is coveringor maybe isn't?
Morgan Kallenbach 29:40
I feel like a lot of it is, I feel like a lot of news is covering way more politics than actual COVID stuff. Um and I feel like when it came to Trump, I feel like that could be the reason why because I feel as though a lot of it had to do with,
Morgan Kallenbach 30:14
like, I don't know, just how the country should be run and everything, and it didn't really focus so much on like, the scientific part of it. So I feel like that was a struggle in a sense, but yeah, I feel like they're not really they don't really put much emphasis on, like how people are doing or scientific part of it. I mean, you know, I've been seeing a lot more stuff about a vaccine coming out and everything, but I feel like that was just kind of like, abrupt, like, you know, you would hear people talking about it, but now all of a sudden, I like, go in, and they're like, "okay, but we're gonna have a vaccine," and I'm like, "okay, I heard about this, but like, where the heck does this come from?" And everything but, yeah.
Joe Stratton 31:19
Yeah, in kind of response to what you said, it feels like COVID and public and national health crisis has taken a backseat to politics, like, just this morning, I saw the news, Supreme Court rejects Trump's bid to overturn Pennsylvania, and by the way, we have 15 million cases, like in little print at the bottom, so it feels like everything's almost not to scale of what it should be.
Morgan Kallenbach 31:49
I agree, and I feel like people are just so used to it at this point, that they're kind of like, "oh, I feel like we can put that kind of stuff on the back burner because like, whatever, this is nothing new, we've been dealing with this for so long now," but yeah.
Joe Stratton 32:08
So on to one, one of two of our last topics here now. So how have municipal and government officials in your community responded to the outbreak?
Morgan Kallenbach 32:24
I feel like at the start, they all had very good intentions to try and solve the issue. And I feel like with politics and with stuff like that, I feel like it's more talk than do, and so I feel like when you think about like Tony Evers, I guess like when the timing at the end of last school year, when it was starting to get serious and everything with like, stuff shutting down, I feel like we were seeing positive things come out of it, COVID-wise, and then people started complaining about it and everything. And I feel like within a blink of an eye, everything felt like it was almost semi back to normal. And now, you look at Wisconsin, and we have some of the highest amounts of cases, and you're like, "how did this happen? Like, why?" And I feel like you look at it, and it's like, you know, you've seen other countries that have gone on a strict lockdown, and they're down to like, very, very few cases. And I feel like with us at the beginning, I feel like that kind of stuff was semi taken into consideration and was talked about but wasn't really effectively put into use. So I feel like our government officials and everything even in like the community have just kind of been like, kind of just like willy nilly with it and haven't really, I feel like, haven't really put any major like actual ideas out into the light or put anything really into place that will actually stick and where we can see cases go down.
Joe Stratton 34:34
I think it's such an issue too, because I think people are scared to try to really implement something because they're scared of the backlash...
Morgan Kallenbach 34:44
Yeah.
Joe Stratton 34:44
...but then when they do try to implement something people go "well, it's my right, it's..." and they see what they want to see and not the totality of it all.
Morgan Kallenbach 34:54
Yeah, exactly. I agree.
Joe Stratton 34:59
So do you have any thoughts on how local state or federal leaders are responding to the crisis differently?
Morgan Kallenbach 35:09
Um, I feel like... I feel like I'm looking at the country-wise, I feel like I am, I'm ready for Biden to come into office just because I feel as though he's actually going to put science first, like he says, and implement lockdown that's going to actually stick and be effective for everyone. I feel like, when it comes to how Trump dealt with it, it wasn't... it was almost, I feel like it was just kind of seen as a joke, honestly. And I feel like the number of cases don't even bother him at this point, so I feel like, and I feel like when it comes to statewide, I feel like a lot of people right now are looking up to the President and are relying what they want to do off of that, I guess I'm not not saying for every state, but I feel like a lot of states are just in such confusion where they're like, "wait, I don't know, what's everyone else doing? Like, what should I do?" Which is totally understandable because no one in this lifetime, has dealt with a pandemic, like there's a majority of people, and so everyone's just kind of like, "what are you gonna do? If you do that, I'll do that." Or it's just, I feel like everyone right now is just in such a state of confusion because they're like, looking, looking outward at the rest of the world. I feel like we need to look at what they're doing because obviously, there are countries that have very few cases, like I said, so I feel like we need to listen to them, and obviously take into consideration what they did, because they knew how to get rid of it, so it's time for us to be like, "okay, now, what ways can we implement that you use so we can get rid of it too?" And I feel like, you're not always going to have a consensus with everyone agreeing on what to do, but I think in this case, like, we have to have a solution to implement just across the country as a whole, and I feel like that's the only way we're gonna actually come to any type of solution, because I feel like everyone's just in a state of confusion right now, which again, is totally understandable; I get it, but...
Joe Stratton 37:46
For sure. Um, so onto the last thing here. Has your experience transformed how you think about your family and friends or your community?
Morgan Kallenbach 37:59
Yes, because I felt like with what you said earlier, how this is very eye opening, it is. I feel like it's opened my eyes to so many more things. I feel like I said, I've made stronger bonds and relationships with the people I'm closest to in my life, it's allowed me to spend more time with them because obviously, I stay in my same small group of friends, I work with my best friend for work, and so you know, it's like, all of us are always just doing the same thing, and so I'm able to spend more time doing that. And then when it comes to my family members, obviously, I feel like I get in touch with them more, I call them more FaceTime and more. And I feel like community-wise, I feel like it's, it's almost like brought them closer together than they have been because I feel like even though we're not given the same social gathering opportunities that we were before, my community back home in Hudson has always just been super strong when it comes to literally anything that we face, so I feel like they've just found so many different ways, like with restaurants, like the people who own the restaurants just in downtown Hudson, they'll share other people's businesses and show that they got food from a different place and put their name out there. And I feel like there's just been so much more support for helping other people, and you can definitely tell just in my community, people had been putting other people before themselves, which is so awesome to see. So I feel like even though the pandemic has done a lot of negative in the world and for a lot of people, I feel like there are so many positives that have come out of it too for a lot of people, relationships, communities, family and a lot of that.
Joe Stratton 40:14
It feels as though as some people have split away from the community kind of in a sense and done their own thing for themselves, it feels like somewhat, the community itself has become a little more tight knit and stronger, and those bonds of friendship have gotten a lot closer. So knowing what you know, now, what do you think that individuals, communities, or governments need to keep in mind for the future?
Morgan Kallenbach 40:46
I feel like in the future, people just need to put other people before themselves. I feel like right now is the best time for like individuals and political leaders and everything to actually focus on the good of the people, and what's best for them because I feel like there are just so many other agendas in the world that people are worried about. but I feel like at the end of the day, it's important how people are treated, if they're getting the right things that they need, the resources they need to be successful with what they're doing. Yeah, I feel like people just need to care about other people more at the end of the day.
Joe Stratton 41:43
So one last bonus question.
Morgan Kallenbach 41:45
Yeah.
Joe Stratton 41:47
So knowing now that the first doses of the vaccine have been given out in the last day or two, with many more on the way, how optimistic are you are for the future?
Morgan Kallenbach 42:02
I feel pretty optimistic; I feel like the vaccine is definitely going to be a very interesting to follow along with to see how effective it is, how it impacts a person's body, and I feel like there's a lot of variables that scientists and stuff have had to take into consideration. And I feel as though if we do see this as something that is successful, I feel like it is going to help us tremendously, and I feel like as long as we find a way to implement it in the right way and provide it to people who need it the most, in near future times, I feel like then I'll be pretty optimistic. I feel like for a little while I'm gonna be a little on edge about it all just because I mean, like there's so many unknowns, like when it comes to COVID, the pandemic, and adding a vaccine into that, you know, I feel like you don't know until you see what happens. So, you know, I feel pretty confident about it, you know, it's not easy to make a vaccine, so especially for something like this, so if it pans out how it's supposed to then yeah, like I said, I will be super optimistic for everything.
Joe Stratton 43:34
We're not quite in the homestretch yet...
Morgan Kallenbach 43:36
Exactly
Joe Stratton 43:36
...but you can almost see a little light at the end of the tunnel.
Morgan Kallenbach 43:38
Yes, exactly because I feel like vaccines have been such a talk for so long, and now to finally like hear about this and to see it actually being implemented, it's crazy. So yeah, it is like what you said it is, almost like you see a small light at the end of the tunnel.
Joe Stratton 44:00
Well, I think that's all the questions that I have. Thank you for doing this.
Morgan Kallenbach 44:09
Thank you.
Joe Stratton 44:11
And be safe.
Morgan Kallenbach 44:14
Yes, for sure, you too.