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Collected Item: “Tracy Lynn Dice Oral History 2022/03/23”

Title

Mambo Liz

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

Kit Heintzman

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

Mambo Liz

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?

#activist, #ancestors, #aquarius, #astrology, #Black, #BLM, #climatechange, #Columbus, #divination, #elderberry, #hospital, #joy, #LGBTQ, #magic, #masking, #medicalracism, #microaggression, #mother, #nails, #Ohio, #onlineteaching, #pagan, #priestess, #psychic, #race, #racism, #rootwork, #smallbusiness, #socialmedia, #spirituality, #trauma, #travel, #vaccine, #Voodoo, #WWIII

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.

Columbus, Ohio

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.*

She/Her

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.*

Black

Describe the oral history.

Self-description:
“I’m a Voodoo Priestess. I’m a spiritual worker. I’m a small business owner, a mother, and instructional designer of online courses; so, you can imagine what my life has been like the last couple of years. And, you know, community servant. You know. I do the things I do, not just to help myself, but to help the other people in my community spiritually.”

Some of the things we spoke about included:
Opening a business in May 2019, managing shutdowns, and reopening in 2021; business thriving
Having worked at home for 12 years
Growing closer with some family and further from others
Bug Out Bags
Getting vaccinated, masking, and social distancing
The dangers of anti-science perspectives and anti-vaxxers
The economic status of many esoteric practitioners
BLM
Being pro-Black; the strength of the Black community and Black spiritualists; Black joy
Learning about the pandemic and preparing for the first lockdown
Daughter’s lost graduation and redirecting of post-graduation plans
Daughter not seeing partner for an extended period of time during lockdown
Loss of physical fellowship and shared spiritual spaces
The foreign feeling of going into a restaurant and nail salon again; getting braver without becoming foolish
Attending a pandemic wedding
Social media and privacy
Conducting divinations with people who’d lost people to COVID; burning out
Astrology having predicted the pandemic and 20-year cycles; the Age of Aquarius
Capitalism; the great resignation; colonial and patriarchal labor expectations
Ancestral and generational trauma and pain
Pursuing art and crafting
Lakewood, Denver shooting spree in December 2021
African cosmologies; mind-body-spirit
Gardening, smoking, exercising, eating
Laws about pregnancy, abortion
An exodus from conservative Black churches
Having been hospitalized with sepsis during the pandemic
Considering healthcare providers’ COVID-19 safety policies
Medical racism in the USA
Environmental destruction
Learning about community, like Italians singing arias to each other from their balconies

Other cultural references include: Kroger’s grocery, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, 9/11, Lowes, Netflix, Hersey’s Kisses, Ivermectin, Trader Joe’s, Henrietta Lacks

See also:
https://www.biglizconjure.com
https://player.fm/series/spirituality-motherhood/spirituality-and-motherhood-episode-12-mambo-liz-ruth-part-1

On what date did you record this oral history?

2022-03-23T11
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