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Collected Item: “Peter Brooks Oral History, 2022/08/22”

Title

Peter Brooks

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

Kit Heintzman

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

Peter Brooks

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?

#6January2021, #abuse, #activist, #capitalism, #fatherhood, #greed, #Indigenous, #Maryland, #media, #NativeAmerican, #pets, #race, #racism, #rape, #reparations, #vaccination

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.

Havre de Grace, Maryland

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.*

(he, him, his)

What is the age of the interviewee?

55 to 64

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.*

Unknown

Describe the oral history.

Some of the things we discussed include:
Father fighting in WWII.
Teaching a class for stress reduction.
First having health insurance in the 1970s; being in and out of health insurance; marriage and health insurance.
Trauma from Trump’s 2016 election.
Financial stress and a strained relationship.
Reinventing oneself during the pandemic; thinking about legacy.
Comparisons between grandfather’s work in newspapers and the current communication through Facebook.
The pandemic gives excuses to blow things off.
The pandemic bringing up historical trauma around disease among Indigenous communities; 9/11 and historical trauma; AIDS starting in Africa.
Feeling like one will be a target of terrorist threat.
Visiting the nursery and psych wards at hospitals.
Vaccination resistance; healthcare and social economic status.
Family members choosing to die at home rather than in hospital.
Son going through high school during the pandemic; difficulties engaging in masculine bonding; taking on a fatherly position with young people.
Racism and the murder of children: unmarked children’s graves at Residential Boarding schools; Black babies used as alligator bait.
The ongoing genocide of Black people.
Clarence Thomas ruling on the Cheyenne River Sioux.
The abolition of currency.
Platonic touch.
Contemporary intertribal fighting.
Zoonotics and domesticated animal; human-animal relationships and disease.
Telling the story of bat, frog, and spider; thinking about bats during the pandemic.
Media giving a platform to “insane” people; Trump ratings and entertainment.
Sensational trauma; rape fantasies.
Cultural references: McDaniel College, CPAC Conference, the television show House (2004-2012), YouTube, Bitcoin, Leonard Peltier, Bill Cosby, Hillary Clinton, Melania Trump, Bill Gates, Kizzmekia Corbett, 6 January 2021, Senator McCarthy, Krishna

See also:
https://goci.maryland.gov/maryland-commission-on-indian-affairs/
https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MDVA/2022/07/28/file_attachments/2230399/Peter%20Brooks%20classes.pdf
https://www.udemy.com/course/4-things-you-can-do-to-control-your-emotions/
https://insighttimer.com/pbfromdc/guided-meditations/thanksgiving-address-with-bowl-and-rattle
https://nativestories.org/peter-brooks-urban-indian-history-from-east-north-america/
https://www.espeakers.com/marketplace/profile/42335/peter-brooks

On what date did you record this oral history?

2022-08-22T20:20
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