Items
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Vermont
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09/30/2020
Joseph Spataro Oral History, 2020/09/30
This interview consists of a perspective of a white male from Vermont living in Florida for the school year, whom has experienced COVID from the rural suburbs of Vermont, to the maskless warzone that is Florida. His perspective is one from a gamer, only knowing the interviewer though playing videogames together. -
2021-04-28
Allison Oskar Oral History, 2021/04/28
This oral history focused on how smaller communities tackled the COVID-19 pandemic. The interview discusses how hospitals tackled the pandemic, and it goes into depth about what it was like to work for a hospital during this time. Also discussed were the ways in which the pandemic affected mental health and how it proved to be beneficial in some ways. There was a large focus on the ways in which COVID-19 affected the 'work life' balance of the interviewee. -
2020-11-16
Pandemic speeds up influx of remote workers to small cities
This story, which also appears on NPR, talks about how smaller cities like Burlington, Vermont are experiencing an increase of new "remote workers". They're escaping the big cities for multiple factors, many exacerbated due to the Covid-19 pandemic. -
2020-08-15
Campaigning in The Time of COVID - Nick Cook, Suffolk University
(note: nothing written here represents the views of the candidates or parties represented here - this is solely the personal memoir of one Nick Cook) Volunteering for a political campaign even during the best of times is a weird experience. Your day to day mission is to knock on the doors of—or call on—complete strangers (or at best someone you have a vague memory of seeing at a rally some time ago) and ask them if they can take a moment out of their complicated and hectic lives to hear from the gospel of whichever chosen candidate you're preaching, in the hope that, in about a week or two they'll still remember enough of your spiel to fill in that person's bubble. The coronavirus has not made that any easier. I do feel, however, that it has created a weird sense of camaraderie in those of us who are still trying to push the gears of democracy in this plague year, or whatever name you media types have christened it. I personally am not the type of person who supports campaigns that can afford to have their faces splashed across TV screens and names plastered on billboards. Doorknocking and trying to love thy neighbor is—to me—still the best way to do the business of democracy. I entered politics because I wanted to have some sense of control of my life and community. To make the lives of the people around me just a little easier and a little less anxiety free. So that maybe one day no kid is going to have to come home to an empty refrigerator and no one will ever have to experience the pain of living paycheck by paycheck again. Seeing that lightbulb on people's faces when I talk to them about a candidate or that little smile on their face as I wave goodbye and thank them for their time is why I do this. It's knowing that maybe I made a little change for the day. So coronavirus taking that away from me was hard. I'd like to say that my doubts about campaigning digitally were actually wrong and one day I had a really fulfilling phone call with a voter where we both connected with each other in these lonely times or I had an incredibly amazing Zoom session that changed everything. But I didn't. It's just been a very taxing time that I'm pushing through because I can't stand sitting alone at the house with my thoughts anymore. In the week or so leading up to the election, I got the chance to do at least a little in-person campaigning. Waving and holding signs on street corners, putting literature in doorways, that kind of thing. As well as the chance to stand socially-distanced outside of polling places on primary election day. The people I met on the campaign trail here were just as tired and ready for things to change as I was. One State House candidate compared this campaign season to running for office in a cave and that about summed it up for me. Seeing Tanya Vyhovsky, a social worker and therapist, win her primary election to represent my neighboring town of Essex was also the first real-time I felt joy. Someone who comes from that background and experience and isn't just another lawyer or landlord and has a truly transformative vision for society winning is always great to see. Similarly my home state of Vermont also likely elected Taylor Small, our first transgender lawmaker, and someone who shares that vision. Seeing these victories and meeting everyone who pushed for them along the way has renewed me with a new sense of life in the political realm. Campaigning in the age of COVID has also begun to truly impart on me the lesson that democracy doesn't just come from the ballot box but needs to be expanded into our workplaces, community gatherings, and social lives. However, this is a story for another time. (Join your local union and mutual aid society!) -
2020-05-22
Can You Gather With God Over Zoom?
This article describes how several Quaker meetings (including the one my family attends), which involve mostly silent, communal contemplation, have altered their practices for social distancing. -
2020-06-06
I See You
A silent vigil held in Vergennes, Vermont to protest police brutality after the killing of George Floyd and others. Participants were asked to wear masks and remain six feet apart.