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Collected Item: “Jennifer Margulis Oral History, 2021/01/13”

Title

Interview with Jennifer Margulis

Who conducted the interview? List all names, separated by comma.

Kit Heintzman

Who was interviewed? List all names, separated by commas.

kheintzman@gmail.com

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?

#ableism, #actism, #author, #bigpharm, #child, #children, #COVIDpositive, #daughter, #education, #fear, #groceries, #healthfood, #homeschool, #hygiene, #kindness, #masks, #masking, #media, #medicalracism, #mother, #news, #NYC, #Oregon, #OSHA, #restrictions, #rural, #school, #sciencewriting, #somatics, #Taiwan, #tolerance, #USA, #VitaminC, #Vitamins

What is the format of your recording?

Video

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.

Southern Oregon

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.*

Female

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.*

Jewish

Describe the oral history.

Self description:
“I’m a investigative journalist and a science writer. I’ve been researching and writing about issues related to health topics for over 15 years. And I have written, or co-written 8 books, I just submitted my 9th manuscript to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. I’d want people to know that I'm an avid researcher. I do have a PhD, but my PhD is in the humanities. And that I’m very well versed in issues that have to do with health.”

Some of the things we discussed included:
The different impacts of the virus in urban and rural Oregon
Governor Kate Brown’s policies
Brother’s different experience in NYC
Learning about the COVID-19 after returning home from a family vacation
Having a fuller household with adult children moving back in and navigating those relationships
Having a daughter studying public health in South Africa flying home in March 2020
Daughter catching COVID circa March 2020, losing senses of taste and smell
The body’s reactions to sensational news and fear
Turning off news media as selfcare
Building a clubhouse in the backyard for homeschooling local children
Boycotting a local health food store
How introverts and extroverts responded to working from home differently
Billionaires and corporate greed
The harms of the pharmaceutical industry and for-profit health care in the USA
Glysphosate in roundup and Red Dye #40
Narratives that call people who don’t wear masks “murderers”
Restrictions
Pandemic hygiene: the loss of access to public bathroom, nose bleeds, toxins
Facial expressions and child development
Believing that quarantines should not impact the healthy

Other cultural references include: CNN, Fox News, BBC, NPR, and the film Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead (2010)

See also:
https://www.jennifermargulis.net [website taken down recently]

On what date did you record this oral history?

2021-01-13T13:15
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