Collected Item: “Frank Lee Oral History, 2021/11/27”
Title
Interview with Frank Lee
Who conducted the interview? List all names, separated by comma.
Kit Heintzman
Who was interviewed? List all names, separated by commas.
Frank Lee
Email Address(es) for all interviewers. Separated by comma.
kheintzman@gmail.com
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your oral history. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#6Jan2021, #anxious, #Asian, #AsianAmerican, #biologist, #Boston, #Chinese, #climatechange, #dancing, #democracy, #disability, #engineer, #environmentalism, #fear, #freetime, #GeorgeFloyd, #hope, #hygiene, #masks, #Massachusetts, #modelminoritymyth, #monoclonalantibodies #Obama, #partnership, #podcast, #popularscience, #quarantine, #race, #racism, #roommates, #socialmedia, #Somerville, #TheGreatResignation, #Trump, #vaccine, #zoonotics
What is the format of your recording?
Audio
In what ZIP code is the primary residence of the interviewee? (enter 5-digit ZIP code; for example, 00544 or 94305)? In what city/town/village does the interviewee live? In what country does the interviewee live? All comma-separated.
Somerville, MA
What is the gender of the interviewee? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their gender in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a gender identity to interviewees.*
identifies as male, uses he/him
What is the age of the interviewee?
45 to 54
How does the interviewee describe their race or ethnicity? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their race/ethnicity in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a racial or ethnic identity to interviewees.*
East Asian/Chinese
Describe the oral history.
Hello Kit,
I've noted my edits below in [brackets]. Thanks so much for all your work towards preserving the human experience.
Can you send me a link to the audio as well once you've posted it?
Frank
On Jan 19, 2022, at 12:53 PM, Kit Heintzman <k.heintzman@gmail.com> wrote:
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Kit Heintzman <k.heintzman@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jan 19, 2022 at 7:28 AM
Subject: Interview annotations for approval
To: <h.hurie.ranvig@gmail.com>
Hi Frank,
Here are my annotations for your interview that I'd like you to look at and let me know what you'd like changed before I hit send.
thank you kindly,
kit
Self-description:
“I consider myself a young professional even though I’m middle aged, in my 40s. I work in technology. Specifically, I’m a chip designer. I design chips that go into power supplies and battery chargers. I’m in the process of transitioning fields; learning to become a biologist. Studying biology at a DIY biomarker space, since there are such things now. It’s really awesome. My inspiration for doing that is to work on climate change mitigation, [for] which my intuition says biology will be very important. I’m fairly certain that we’re going to get the zero carbon grid, I feel that there are many smart people working on that and that we will absolutely get there, even though it will be hard, but I don’t see enough people working on getting rid of all the extra carbon dioxide we’ve put into the atmosphere since 1750, since the [Industrial Revolution, half] of which I believe we’ve put in the atmosphere since 1980, kind of scary. So that’s where I come from. Since I’ve been a professional, I’m a higher earner than the average person. That gives me a lot more time and flexibility to pursue other things.”
Some of the things we discussed included:
The pandemic as a test run for handling a crisis in the context of climate change
The pandemic as a prison without bars and unclear rules
Going through health insurance switches
Noticing signs about a Coronavirus in airports at the earliest stage of the pandemic
Early expectations that this virus would be comparable to SARS and MERS, and either die out quickly or be limited in spread
Changing financial decisions due to the market volatility
Living with roommates during the pandemic, and suspicion about threat between people
Pandemic hygiene and uncertainty about dangers associated with surfaces
Polyamorous roommates and negotiating safety with them and multiple partners
Living with a woman in her 70s and her vulnerability. Worrying about losing parents
Resource scarcity early on and rationing: masks, bleach
How the Czech Republic’s early masking policies and messaging influenced the decision to start masking
Worries about divisive politics in the USA and democracy
Working in a field dominated by older white men and not realizing how representative their conservatism is of the American population; that there are two Americas
Feeling like a foreigner in USA after Trump was elected in 2016, even as a citizen
White people’s entitlement to a certain ease of life and feeling like that privilege was being threatened
Model minority stereotyping: privilege as a “Asian nerd” in hiring or “Asian homebuyer” when shopping for mortgage loans
The impact of George Floyd’s murder on understanding how different a Black person’s experiences might be from one’s own; taking up reading about race
COVID dangers and political disagreement dangers
“We wish you good health” as a greeting in the family, valuing health above wealth
The imperative of busyness in American life and its impact on health
Pausing, perspective, and being able to envision a future; the importance of free time; re-evaluating the difference between productivity and being busy
Housing, rent, and gas costs in Boston
Using podcasts to better understand developments in COVID-19; knowledge as power
An older friend with lung disease getting breakthrough COVID
Monoclonal antibodies
Efficacies of different vaccines
Respecting the decisions others are making for their body
The pandemic taking away physical and social contact, like hugs and dancing and music jams
Thanksgiving with enhanced safety from rapid testing
The security and reassurance that comes from being vaccinated
Balancing avoidance of COVID with the mental health consequences of isolation
How the awareness that COVID moves between species changed perspective on the future of the pandemic
Worrying that the slow pace of a vaccine for HIV would predict the speed of developing a COVID vaccine
The inevitability of infection with COVID-19, and likely multiple reinfections
Understanding of immune response to vaccines and natural infection
The hope that all 7.9 billion humans could learn to work together for a common goal
The emotional impact of father’s memory loss
The Great Resignation
Other cultural references: CVS, YouTube, Czech Masking PSA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_WxtSavZR4), This Week in Virology podcast ( https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/), Zoom, Signal, Slack, Discord, contra dancing, Frank Ostaseski’s book The Five Invitations (2017)
See also: My online laboratory notebooks at https://notebooks.ElectrifiedResearch.com/home/franklee and https://notebooks.ElectrifiedResearch.com/boslab
I've noted my edits below in [brackets]. Thanks so much for all your work towards preserving the human experience.
Can you send me a link to the audio as well once you've posted it?
Frank
On Jan 19, 2022, at 12:53 PM, Kit Heintzman <k.heintzman@gmail.com> wrote:
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Kit Heintzman <k.heintzman@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jan 19, 2022 at 7:28 AM
Subject: Interview annotations for approval
To: <h.hurie.ranvig@gmail.com>
Hi Frank,
Here are my annotations for your interview that I'd like you to look at and let me know what you'd like changed before I hit send.
thank you kindly,
kit
Self-description:
“I consider myself a young professional even though I’m middle aged, in my 40s. I work in technology. Specifically, I’m a chip designer. I design chips that go into power supplies and battery chargers. I’m in the process of transitioning fields; learning to become a biologist. Studying biology at a DIY biomarker space, since there are such things now. It’s really awesome. My inspiration for doing that is to work on climate change mitigation, [for] which my intuition says biology will be very important. I’m fairly certain that we’re going to get the zero carbon grid, I feel that there are many smart people working on that and that we will absolutely get there, even though it will be hard, but I don’t see enough people working on getting rid of all the extra carbon dioxide we’ve put into the atmosphere since 1750, since the [Industrial Revolution, half] of which I believe we’ve put in the atmosphere since 1980, kind of scary. So that’s where I come from. Since I’ve been a professional, I’m a higher earner than the average person. That gives me a lot more time and flexibility to pursue other things.”
Some of the things we discussed included:
The pandemic as a test run for handling a crisis in the context of climate change
The pandemic as a prison without bars and unclear rules
Going through health insurance switches
Noticing signs about a Coronavirus in airports at the earliest stage of the pandemic
Early expectations that this virus would be comparable to SARS and MERS, and either die out quickly or be limited in spread
Changing financial decisions due to the market volatility
Living with roommates during the pandemic, and suspicion about threat between people
Pandemic hygiene and uncertainty about dangers associated with surfaces
Polyamorous roommates and negotiating safety with them and multiple partners
Living with a woman in her 70s and her vulnerability. Worrying about losing parents
Resource scarcity early on and rationing: masks, bleach
How the Czech Republic’s early masking policies and messaging influenced the decision to start masking
Worries about divisive politics in the USA and democracy
Working in a field dominated by older white men and not realizing how representative their conservatism is of the American population; that there are two Americas
Feeling like a foreigner in USA after Trump was elected in 2016, even as a citizen
White people’s entitlement to a certain ease of life and feeling like that privilege was being threatened
Model minority stereotyping: privilege as a “Asian nerd” in hiring or “Asian homebuyer” when shopping for mortgage loans
The impact of George Floyd’s murder on understanding how different a Black person’s experiences might be from one’s own; taking up reading about race
COVID dangers and political disagreement dangers
“We wish you good health” as a greeting in the family, valuing health above wealth
The imperative of busyness in American life and its impact on health
Pausing, perspective, and being able to envision a future; the importance of free time; re-evaluating the difference between productivity and being busy
Housing, rent, and gas costs in Boston
Using podcasts to better understand developments in COVID-19; knowledge as power
An older friend with lung disease getting breakthrough COVID
Monoclonal antibodies
Efficacies of different vaccines
Respecting the decisions others are making for their body
The pandemic taking away physical and social contact, like hugs and dancing and music jams
Thanksgiving with enhanced safety from rapid testing
The security and reassurance that comes from being vaccinated
Balancing avoidance of COVID with the mental health consequences of isolation
How the awareness that COVID moves between species changed perspective on the future of the pandemic
Worrying that the slow pace of a vaccine for HIV would predict the speed of developing a COVID vaccine
The inevitability of infection with COVID-19, and likely multiple reinfections
Understanding of immune response to vaccines and natural infection
The hope that all 7.9 billion humans could learn to work together for a common goal
The emotional impact of father’s memory loss
The Great Resignation
Other cultural references: CVS, YouTube, Czech Masking PSA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_WxtSavZR4), This Week in Virology podcast ( https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/), Zoom, Signal, Slack, Discord, contra dancing, Frank Ostaseski’s book The Five Invitations (2017)
See also: My online laboratory notebooks at https://notebooks.ElectrifiedResearch.com/home/franklee and https://notebooks.ElectrifiedResearch.com/boslab
On what date did you record this oral history?
2021-11-27T20:27