Item
Charles Redbird Oral History, 2020/05/11
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Charles Redbird Oral History, 2020/05/11
Description (Dublin Core)
Charles Redbird, a chef from Osseo, Wisconsin, reflects on his experience being laid off and filing for unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a single father to a two-year-old boy, Charles shares his frustrations with delayed processing times and bureaucratic red tape as his financial savings dwindled during the initial months of Wisconsin’s stay-at-home order. Charles describes the steps taken by the Ho-Chunk Nation to ensure economic stability and longevity among tribal members and employees. Citing increased time spent with his child and the opportunity for personal growth, Charles shares positive aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic that are often overlooked. Additionally, Charles notes the positive impact of internet celebrities and charitable giving, specifically mentioning the work of David Dobrik and h3h3. Comparing the experience of working as a chef before and during the pandemic, Charles provides insight into the changes that restaurants have implemented to ensure health and safety. Looking ahead, Charles expresses a belief that the social isolation experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic will improve his familial relationships in the future.
This is part of the Chippewa Valley COVID-19 Project. Students of the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire are interviewing residents of the Wisconsin Chippewa Valley to document their life experience during the pandemic.
Recording Date (Dublin Core)
05/11/2020
Creator (Dublin Core)
Isaiah Steig
Charles Redbird
Event Identifier (Dublin Core)
Chippewa Valley COVID-19 Project
Partner (Dublin Core)
University of Wisconsin Eau Claire
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
English
Economy
English
Food & Drink
English
Home & Family Life
English
Social Distance
English
Labor
English
Government State
English
Social Issues
English
Social Class
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
cook
chef
restaurant
unemployment
fatherhood
Ho-Chunk Nation
Wisconsin
Chippewa Valley
lockdown
isolation
closed
native
Collection (Dublin Core)
Foodways
Indigenous POV
Service Industry
Unemployment
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
07/14/2020
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
10/21/2020
11/17/2020
02/23/2021
03/08/2021
05/13/2022
Date Created (Dublin Core)
05/11/2020
Interviewer (Bibliographic Ontology)
Isaiah Steig
Interviewee (Bibliographic Ontology)
Charles Redbird
Location (Omeka Classic)
54758
Osseo
Wisconsin
United States of America
Format (Dublin Core)
Video
Language (Dublin Core)
English
Duration (Omeka Classic)
00:32:34
Bit Rate/Frequency (Omeka Classic)
53 kbps
Transcription (Omeka Classic)
IS: And just like that, we're live. All right, so I'm gonna read off some stuff quick.
CR: Okay.
IS: It is 9:18pm right now, I am in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and the total number of coronavirus cases right now is 1.38 million, and 81,378 deaths, and 219,000 people have recovered so far. So, yeah. All right. So, Charles, won't you—won't we start off by just having you talk about who you are and what you do.
CR: All righty. Well, I'm Charles Redbird, I'm a cook, and I'm a single father to a two-year-old boy named Cameron. I—I guess that's really just all that I got on me, so far as introductions. [laughs]
IS: Yeah, man. No worries, man. Do you want to talk about how your job as a cook and like how working in the restaurant industry has changed over the last couple months? How that's affected you?
CR: Oh, yeah, yeah. So, it was—it was just—it was difficult. It was weird. It was a very quick switch. It was—I quit my job before this, because it was just not a good work environment in general, and I figured I'd get a new job and then I ended up working for a total of, I think five days. And then I ended up getting laid off because of all this. It was very sudden. I—I didn't know it was gonna be this bad. It was—it was—it's not a big deal one week to pretty much stay at home, you're probably gonna die, you know. And [laughs] everyone just kind of was like, "Oh, I don't know. I don't know what to do. I don't know what I'm doing." Everyone just said, or I mean, you know, there's the stay at home order and closing restaurants and everything. So, it ended up shutting us down and then bringing me to a point where I was jobless.
IS: Yeah.
CR: And after I ended up losing my job, I mean, that was—that was a weird period in my life. I was like, "Oh, cool, I guess I don't have a job anymore." And everyone's like, "Oh, that's crazy. Ha-ha-ha." You know. I was the only one to lose my job out of anybody in my family group and my social group too. So, I mean, outside of you guys, you know. Also, my coworkers at the Garage there.
IS: Yeah.
CR: And yeah.
IS: Yeah, what was your—do you want to talk a little bit—a little bit about what your financial situation was before you got laid off and like before everything compared to like what you were going through during, when you were unemployed?
CR: Right. So, my financial situation when it came to all this was—I guess I had just gotten the job, so I wasn't making much money, obviously. But before that, working at the Nook, I was making a decent amount bi-weekly to get myself by, and along with being able to have money to spend on stupid things that I was just impulsively buying, along with things for my son. So, it was good. It was—it seemed like it was normal, and then all of a sudden, it just made a switch to, "Okay, you don't have a job anymore." And I just didn't know how to take that with everything going on. I was like, "Oh, okay, I have money to ride on," you know. "I've got stuff saved up," and I was like, "I'm sure it's not gonna be that bad." Plus, at the beginning of May, end of April, I was getting the stimulus check along with my Ho-Chunk per capita, so I was like, "You know what, if anything, I might go broke for a little bit in between my last paycheck and that point, but I'm sure I'll be fine in between there." And I didn't know when I was gonna run out of money. I wasn't budgeting or anything like that, because I've never had to. And I thought I was just good enough where I was. And I didn't know. I guess I wasn't thinking too hard along how long this would have lasted.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And I might have underestimated how long it was going to last then with my funds, you know.
IS: Yeah.
CR: So, I went from being independent with my own money and being able to do my own things, you know, to being broke for two weeks and trying to rely on my parents and what they were buying for groceries and being like, "Oh, yeah, I'll pay you back. I'll pay you back on this and that." You know, I had debt build up along with—I—I actually helped pay bills a little bit and do things like that and buy groceries every week for the house. So usually that rounds up to like $160 to $100 a week for the household in general.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And then it turned into me having to owe them money afterwards and all this. Oh, it just—it became super difficult.
IS: Yeah.
CR: For a stretch of two weeks and then all the way up until May, and then that's when I got my—more money. Now I'm doing just fine.
IS: Yeah. Did you have any trouble filing for unemployment? Like, how long did it take for you to receive any money? Did you...
CR: I—when it came to unemployment, that was incredibly difficult, because when I lost my job, I tried filing immediately afterwards. And then I was reading things in the news along with like, you being able to hand me information. Like, "Oh, yeah, they're changing things up for unemployment now." So, the—the—the things are changing, and you don't have to do this but then they're gonna send you this and you'll be able to—you know, it was just a weird turnaround and all that. So, then I was like, "Okay." So, I applied for it. And then, from what I was understanding, I didn't have to do the job search, I didn't have to sign up for that, because obviously, no one's gonna be hiring.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And I was able to mark myself as affected by COVID. And then one week, they tell me like, "Oh, yeah, we need more information on your employer." So, then I go and get them that and they're like, "Oh, we need more information—information on your previous employer." And I was like, "Okay, so I'll help you with that." And then I helped them with every kind of information they needed, along with ridiculous questions like, "Oh, were you related to the owner? Did you have any specific personal relations that would affect your job and the way you do things?" I was like, "No." And they were like, "Okay." So, I waited a week, and then I go back but—and they're like, "Fill out a job search app." I go, "I was told in reading that I wasn't supposed to because that's just not are you doing now." So, then they were like, "Okay, yeah. Sure, we'll look into it more, and we'll see what the problem is." And then I go and wait another three, four days. And then after that, I think this is by week four now of staying inside and doing all this, and I'm like, "Okay, I need money because I'm getting low, and I don't know what's going on. It's been a month, and I've been trying to get this thing done." And I'm trying to let them do their best and push things through with people. You know, I'm not trying to be one of those people that are pushy about things, because I understand that they're backed up. And I was like, "You know, my turn will come around." And then by the time it came to me, they're—they were telling me that I didn't make enough at my new job to be able to qualify for unemployment.
IS: Really?
CR: So, then I was like, "Oh?" Yeah. I was like, "Oh, really?" And then unemployment was telling me "Oh, yeah, and just in case you're paying child support. So, this is the amount that we're going to be taking out of your paycheck, if you are gonna get unemployment for child support." And at—due to the amount of money I was making, [clears throat] they were projecting that I was gonna make around $300 a week for unemployment, and then child support was gonna be $97 out of that. So, I was gonna get a little above $200 a week for my wellbeing and stuff.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: But then they denied me. And then I—I sent them back a complaint like, "Hey, you know, I deserve money, and I don't get why I'm being treated like this." And they told me, "Well, you have to reapply again." And I go to reapply, and they're like, "Oh, you already sent an application in, so that one's invalid."
IS: So, you never actually received any unemployment?
CR: And I didn't know what to do with unemployment. No, not at all. They just spun me in circles. They gave me three different reasons as to why I was never able to get it, and I sent them emails, and I was calling to see what the hell's going on, but I didn't have time to sit around and call them for five hours straight to get someone on the phone with me, you know. So, I had to follow my son around and do—carry on with my life—
IS: Yeah.
CR: As best as I could.
IS: Yeah, yeah. What was it like? I mean, how has—how has being a parent and stuff, like how—how has that changed since you've been home a lot more often, and you've—you know, like with all this craziness going on?
CR: Oh, it—it changed for somewhat the better, definitely. Because with me and his mom being separated, it was always an unsettled work schedule between us too, because it would either be her schedule's not set, and then my schedule would not be set for a while, and then, you know, I was just figuring out stuff like that. And then when COVID happened, it turned into both of us having so much free time like just to do things, so we would switch off with him for extended periods of time. Instead of me getting him only two days, I would get him four to three days in a row. And then we'd switch based on just how he felt, and if we were asking the other parent. I would get every four days, then every three days, and if she got busy, then I would take him, you know. If she had something come up, I would take him. And—although, it was just a lot of good time to spend with my son outside of this weird kind of financial situation that I had going on.
IS: Yeah, yeah. And I know—I'm sorry, go ahead.
CR: No, no, no, no, no, don't worry about it. I was just throwing some bullshit on top of that, I guess.
IS: [laughs]
CR: [laughs]
IS: Well, I did want to ask you, I know—I know you mentioned, for your financial situation, you also mentioned a Ho-Chunk per capita. Do you want to kind of explain what that is to the people?
CR: Oh, yeah. [dog barks] So, the per capita is basically just, from my understanding, the extra income that you're gonna get out of the earnings from the casinos that we own. And it's pretty much extra money, and just something that they can give us as a bonus, you know. So, I get—or, you know, everyone I guess gets $1,200 a year, or no $12,000 a year, sorry. I don't—I don't mean that. I mean, it's $12,000 basically all year. It happens quarterly if you're not gonna mess with it, otherwise you can sign papers, and get it sent to you monthly. So, you get basically $1,000 a month out of per capita.
IS: Nice.
CR: And you do pay taxes on that, so you can set up the paperwork so that, you know, it comes out when you get it or you can just kind of like let it be and then when tax season comes around, you file and then you pay however much you owe—
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: From your total earnings of the year, you know.
IS: Yeah.
CR: Stuff like that. And that's what I do. I don't have a payment plan set up to throw money at them every time I do it. So...
IS: I gotcha, I gotcha.
CR: But since everything's been closed, you know, what the hell—the casinos aren't making much money because people don't go. They can't go. They're not allowed to go. So, they've been slowly saving money, cutting budgets in different departments for Ho-Chunk Nation. And then it came down to the fact that they're going to keep, like, people working for the Nation, and stopping per capita, unknown amount of time until we can get our revenue back to where we can actually get people paid.
IS: I gotcha, I gotcha. So—so is that—is that something that happened recently then? Like, what—do they actually stop—stop monthly payments temporarily?
CR: I don't think—I don't know about the monthly payment situation. I mean, I'm sure I could ask a family member that has that setup. But this May was the last per cap that we're going to get for an indefinite amount of time.
IS: Oh, wow.
CR: Simply because they're just keeping jobs open instead, you know. Functionality of the tribe versus, you know, throwing money at people, giving them extra things, you know.
IS: Yeah, they'd rather have people keep their jobs. Yeah.
CR: That's pretty much what that is.
IS: Yeah, yeah. Is there anything else you can think of—of how—of how this whole situation has like affected you and like—and like the Ho-Chunk Nation and like other like indigenous peoples like in a way that's like maybe different from like—like me?
CR: I think it's different in the—in a way that I haven't really fully understood, but I've seen plenty of articles recently about like the Navajo Nation struggling with it in a very difficult way, because they don't have the proper health care that they need to stay ahead of it. And they don't have the proper medical equipment to deal with it. And it—it might just be a fake article or something or it might be real.
IS: No, it's real.
CR: And it's sad.
IS: It's real, yeah. My teacher actually shared that with me just today.
CR: Right, that article of like the—the Navajo Nation asking for medical supplies.
IS: Yep.
CR: And instead of medical supplies, they get sent body bags.
IS: Yep.
CR: And that just—that was it. That's all they got. So now they have celebrities and whoever else to campaign for getting them money so they can pay for stuff like that.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And then one of the—one of the plains tribes, I can't remember the name, I think Dakota, had roadblocks on every road towards the—the reservation, so that they can check people and see if they're sick or not, and be able to gain access to the reservation. And I think that the governor of that state is trying to sue them over the fact that they're doing that. And they're shutting down road traffic because they don't want sick people being in their communities. They're trying to protect their communities, you know.
IS: Yeah.
CR: With stopping sick people from entering, and now the governor wants to sue them, because they're not allowing people to enter through the reservation. And I think that's just ridiculous.
IS: Yeah, yeah. Because like it should be totally within their right to have their own standards for like health and like safety and stuff in—in their own land and community and stuff.
CR: Right.
IS: Compared to like the state because it's not part of the state.
CR: Right.
IS: But...
CR: They're their own sovereign nation. All of us are, you know.
IS: Yeah, yeah, yeah. How—how have you felt about the—about the—I mean, I guess both our state's response, and I guess, and then—and then the federal government's response to everything? Do you think it's been enough? Or do you think they should change something? What do you think?
CR: I think it's—it seems unorganized, definitely. And it seems like they're just paused or, you know, they're hesitating a lot on doing things and then by the time what they should have done mattered, that time has already passed. But, you know, it's—it's—it's coming late, you know. They're like, "Oh, right now we should stop people from going their stores," and then a week later, they'll finally pass something that—that stops people—people from doing that. Or then they're—they're putting weird—like different states are going on full lockdown where you can't leave your house or you need a signed permission slip as to why you're leaving and all that and then versus you know, Wisconsin, we don't have that. You just have the, "Hey, you should stay at home." [burps] And no law enforcement is going to enforce you to stay at home or stop you because you're not at home.
IS: Yeah.
CR: I can't—I don't know what specific states are doing that I remember, but I just know that it was happening for some point.
IS: Yeah. You just think it's kind of weird that like different states have like totally different like methods of like doing things? And then there—there's no uniform—
CR: Right.
IS: Policy, you think?
CR: Yeah. I would think that there should be a uniform policy for all 50 states, you know, about what we should and shouldn't be doing.
IS: Yeah.
CR: And I think it's ridiculous that people are willing to protest that, you know. They're willing to sacrifice other Americans' health, or even their family's health over the fact that they're like, "You know what? It's just—it's gonna happen at some point, you know, throw it away and just open up everything back again, and we'll get everybody sick. It doesn't matter." You know, it's—I don't think that's a smart idea.
IS: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't think that people should—you don't think that people's rights are being as infringed upon as—as—as they claim to be?
CR: Yeah, yeah. Like, I think that's just dumb. I think they're dumb. [laughs]
IS: Yeah.
CR: I think anyone protesting this is just dumb.
IS: Yeah, yeah. You think—what kind of regulations do you think they should impose to like make—really improve the situation? Do you think like maybe we should like require masks everywhere? Or like what do you think?
CR: I think—I think requiring masks everywhere would be definitely a good thing.
IS: Yeah.
CR: But I also think that if they were very serious about it, they should be able to—everyone should have like access to that, you know. So just like what's going on now is all shelves are always empty because people are always buying them up right away, and there's no—there's not a lot of increased production on, you know, medical supplies that you would need or everyday household items that do come in handy, like bleach and other things that keep you safe.
IS: Yeah.
CR: You know, like easily it's things that just sell out quick that they're just not increasing production on because they don't want to, I guess. I don't know much about that situation.
IS: Yeah, yeah. I gotcha.
CR: But I do think that there should be things that are made more available to the American public so that they can keep themselves safe.
IS: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And do you feel like the—do you feel like the State of Wisconsin has done a good job so far with keeping things contained? Or do you think they should—like more should be done in that department? So far, I guess.
CR: I'm—I'm thinking that maybe more things should be done on Wisconsin's part for keeping people home and safe and keeping everybody, you know, where they should be. Along with, behind the—behind the scenes finding ways to open the economy without just letting people run amuck, I guess. You know, like just doing—going about things as if none of this is happening, you know.
IS: Yeah.
CR: Because it's like they're treating it like, "Oh, you catch it one time, and you can't get sick ever again with the damn thing." Like, catching it one time doesn't make you immune, you know.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: This thing is constantly changing and being able to mutate into something else after it's been with somebody for an extended amount of time.
IS: Yeah.
CR: So, you might be immune to one strand of it, you know. But obviously, you know, just give it time and enough people, it's gonna change, and you won't be immune to whatever it changes into.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And people just don't seem to understand that. They think it's one—one box fits all, and once you get through it, it's never gonna come back to you.
IS: Yeah, yeah. I—I think a lot of it—
CR: It'd be nice, you know.
IS: Yeah, yeah. No, yeah. I think a lot of it comes down to wishful thinking, you know. I think people just want to believe—
CR: Yeah.
IS: I mean, people want to go back to normal but, you know, they—they want to deny reality a little bit just to feel, you know, more personally comforting—
CR: Right.
IS: And not really thinking about the public health. Yeah, yeah. Do you feel like—
CR: That's exactly what I'm thinking.
IS: Yeah. I mean, do you know if the state like or the federal government has done anything that's affected like—like—like—like your tribe or anything like so far? Like, as far as support for your organizations or anything like that? Like, do you know of anything that's tangibly affected like—like your community's standing with anything? Or has it not seemed like—like help or focus on you guys?
CR: I don't think there's a lot of focus on my community in general, but I can see why there wouldn't be because it's—everything seems so unorganized.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And everyone's just kind of grabbing at straws and help, and, you know, plugging holes with fingers at this point, you know.
IS: Yeah.
CR: It's just whatever one's closest. And even though one might be more urgent than the other, you're already—you have your hands full with things that I guess you found important for the moment, you know. It's like first come, first serve.
IS: Yeah.
CR: You know.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: Not a lot of situations. So, it's the same thing with a job too, you know. Like them getting a grant after so long of us being shut down—
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: To be able to open up and be able to pay us again, to get our jobs back.
IS: Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, I guess I want to shift gears a little bit. Do you—do you remember when the first time you actually heard about the coronavirus was? Like, do you remember seeing it on the news or like—like what your initial thoughts on it were back in like February or whenever it was?
CR: I'm—if I'm gonna be honest, yeah, I think it was around January when I first heard of it through Twitter in like a meme.
IS: Oh.
CR: Because people were talking about—some people were getting sick with a—some type of virus called corona, and I was like, "Oh, what the hell's that?" And then people were making memes on that and showing people like—like sick people with like the—the beer label on their forehead. You know, Corona and all that other bullshit.
IS: Oh, gosh.
CR: And I thought it was funny at first, you know. I was like, "Oh, that's so funny, you know. We have a new disease around. Ha-ha-ha." And then—and then later on in February, it came to light that it's such a big, you know, it's a new strand of a virus that we hadn't seen, and we're not immune to it, you know. And...
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: I was kinda like, "Oh, that's weird." But you didn't know like people's symptoms right away, you know. None of us knew what was going on or how it affects people. And I didn't learn about how it affects people and how it spreads until March, you know. Like, that's when the CDC was releasing things and people were able to release things based on how it spreads. And they're like, "Oh, yeah, and by the way, it went from being isolated in like Wuhan, China to in China to just already over here, and it's pretty much right next door." In like a day or two, it went from like being over there to like right here, right now. And that was pretty weird. And then there was weird fake articles of like, "Oh, someone found a cure." You know, it's just a lot of that going around. I think that was really weird, but I think that was all back in March. March was the craziest time for all this, for us.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And then April passed by so quick. I don't—I think—I feel like April was like a week, because it was just days blended together.
IS: Yeah.
CR: There was no strict timeline on what was happening.
IS: Yeah.
CR: And I'd be like, "Oh, I miss my son. I haven't seen him for like..." Yeah, yeah. March was strictly 10 years long. It was so long. There was so many things going on then.
IS: Mm-hmm. Yeah. How do you feel like the—how do you feel like the—the flow of information has been like? Do you feel like—like—like—like the government and like the media has done a good job informing people about what this thing is? Or do you think that like information out there—there's so much fake information as real ones that it's kind of hard to figure out what's real and what's not? Like, how do you feel about like just the knowledge around this thing and how to deal with it?
CR: I think that right now, there is an abundant amount of like information that you're able to access that's accurate, you know.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: Versus, you take it back a month ago, there was half very unreliable to have reliable, you know.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And then take it back a month before that, there was almost no reliable sources. It was all fake. It was all a joke. And it was just something that was a hoax apparently, you know.
IS: Yeah.
CR: Like, it was just something we shouldn't be taking serious. Like, it's—it's their problem. Yeah, it's their problem, it's the flu, it's a common cold, and it's not us. You know, we're strong people, we'll live. You know, it's that stupid shit.
IS: Yeah. [laughs]
CR: And then—and then it turned into just it's killing my neighbors, it's killing my family, it's killing my grandparents, and there's nothing I can do about it because it's other people, it's not me.
IS: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Oh, gosh. I think we're starting to wind down a little bit, but I do want to ask you a couple more questions. I guess—I think you kind of touched on this a little bit. But can you think of anything that like really made you happy like from all these crazy changes? Like, is there anything you saw on the news that like, made you feel good? Like—like something people did for each other in this time, or like something that you experienced that made you happy?
CR: Okay.
IS: In this time, yeah.
CR: Well—
IS: Good news.
CR: It was like—good news. Some good news, yeah. I think some of the best things that came out of it were celebrities being able to give back to random people in the world, just like, you know, giving them money to help them get through things. Like, I—to a specific example, like David Dobrik, he does stuff like that. He was doing very good stuff like that. And I—I'm a big fan of him. So, you know, it was just like watching stuff like that. And, what was it, h3h3 is doing something like that now, where it's—they help people daily for like 100 days, giving out like, I think, on average $1,500 a day just to random people.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And I think there's a lot more than—that I cannot think of, but I mean, like, you know, there's a lot of people doing some good things that are helping people, you know.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: People without jobs, families that are struggling, even if they have jobs, you know. And I think that's pretty cool.
IS: Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah, yeah. Actually, speaking about jobs, I—I did want to ask you about this, but I forgot earlier. How has—since you've been back to work now, how has work changed for you now that you're back in the restaurant business, but we're still in this thing? So how—how has work changed now compared to before?
CR: I guess it's really just—it's weird being in the restaurant without people being in the restaurant.
IS: Yeah.
CR: You know what I mean? Without seeing customers, you know. I get to—since me being a kitchen person, I'm always able to just sit inside and be with like the same four people all day. And that's all different now, I guess. Like, I guess it was just, before all this, I wanted to be alone. I wanted to not see people, you know, all the time. And then after this, I'm like, "Can I just please see a new face? Can I see them like—like six feet away from me be able to talk to somebody new, like just someone I don't know?"
IS: Yeah.
CR: Too much now. [laughs]
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And then the whole mask thing. Oh, that kind of kills me sometimes in the kitchen, that really does, honestly.
IS: Yeah. You have to wear a mask all—all the time, right?
CR: Yeah. And then along with like after you take it off, my nose decompresses, like I feel like blood is flowing right back into it and like my face—my head gets like—it's hilarious. I'm like—I get lightheaded from taking the mask off. [laughs]
IS: Yeah. All right. All right, man. Okay, so—so one of the final questions, I think. Is there anything else you want to add to the history books to the digital archive thing? The floor is yours if you want—have anything else left you want to say that people should know about this crazy time.
CR: It really makes you think about all the things that you never had time to think about. It gives you time to do things that you didn't have time to do before, you know. It really made me appreciate the fact that I'm able to go see family and see friends as much as I want to when this wasn't happening, you know. I was taking a lot of my social life along with my family life and relations for granted.
IS: Yeah.
CR: Like, I live really close to my brother, like an hour and a half away, you know. I never wanted to see him, but now I want to see him so bad. I want to see him like every day. And like, I'd never get to see my mom, and now finally I decided to just come down and see my—my family for the Mother's Day and, you know, a birthday party and stuff like that. I just decided to do that because I miss them. You know, it went almost like two months without seeing them.
IS: Yeah.
CR: And I guess with all this alone time too, it gives you a lot of time to—to build yourself and to be able to rethink where you are in life and what you want to do because of the free time, you know. I mean, it's just really like—is—like you can stop from your job that you're running every day and running circles and chasing your tail around and be able to sit down and be like, you know, "What is my goal for my family, my life at home, for everybody else? What are things that I want to achieve that I could possibly be working on in the time off of regular routine?" And that's what's been super nice about this. That's what I've been doing at least.
IS: Yeah, yeah. So, you think you'll be—you'll be—you'll be living a bit different then once things get back to normal, you think?
CR: Right. Yeah.
IS: You changed your perspective?
CR: I won't be taking a lot of things for granted, along with—along with just a change of perspective on, I guess, health, public health.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And how things work like that.
IS: Yeah, I gotcha. Gosh. All right, man. Oh, geez. I think you did a really good job. I think we added a whole bunch of good stuff in here for the future people to study. So, yeah. Man, I really appreciate your perspective. I think it was really awesome, and I really appreciate—appreciate you for doing this.
CR: Yeah, thanks, man. It's an honor, honestly.
IS: Yeah. All right. Thanks, brother. I will stop recording then, all right?
CR: Yeah. Yeah, okay.
IS: Thanks a lot.
CR: All right, man. Yeah.
IS: Sounds good.
CR: Okay.
IS: It is 9:18pm right now, I am in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and the total number of coronavirus cases right now is 1.38 million, and 81,378 deaths, and 219,000 people have recovered so far. So, yeah. All right. So, Charles, won't you—won't we start off by just having you talk about who you are and what you do.
CR: All righty. Well, I'm Charles Redbird, I'm a cook, and I'm a single father to a two-year-old boy named Cameron. I—I guess that's really just all that I got on me, so far as introductions. [laughs]
IS: Yeah, man. No worries, man. Do you want to talk about how your job as a cook and like how working in the restaurant industry has changed over the last couple months? How that's affected you?
CR: Oh, yeah, yeah. So, it was—it was just—it was difficult. It was weird. It was a very quick switch. It was—I quit my job before this, because it was just not a good work environment in general, and I figured I'd get a new job and then I ended up working for a total of, I think five days. And then I ended up getting laid off because of all this. It was very sudden. I—I didn't know it was gonna be this bad. It was—it was—it's not a big deal one week to pretty much stay at home, you're probably gonna die, you know. And [laughs] everyone just kind of was like, "Oh, I don't know. I don't know what to do. I don't know what I'm doing." Everyone just said, or I mean, you know, there's the stay at home order and closing restaurants and everything. So, it ended up shutting us down and then bringing me to a point where I was jobless.
IS: Yeah.
CR: And after I ended up losing my job, I mean, that was—that was a weird period in my life. I was like, "Oh, cool, I guess I don't have a job anymore." And everyone's like, "Oh, that's crazy. Ha-ha-ha." You know. I was the only one to lose my job out of anybody in my family group and my social group too. So, I mean, outside of you guys, you know. Also, my coworkers at the Garage there.
IS: Yeah.
CR: And yeah.
IS: Yeah, what was your—do you want to talk a little bit—a little bit about what your financial situation was before you got laid off and like before everything compared to like what you were going through during, when you were unemployed?
CR: Right. So, my financial situation when it came to all this was—I guess I had just gotten the job, so I wasn't making much money, obviously. But before that, working at the Nook, I was making a decent amount bi-weekly to get myself by, and along with being able to have money to spend on stupid things that I was just impulsively buying, along with things for my son. So, it was good. It was—it seemed like it was normal, and then all of a sudden, it just made a switch to, "Okay, you don't have a job anymore." And I just didn't know how to take that with everything going on. I was like, "Oh, okay, I have money to ride on," you know. "I've got stuff saved up," and I was like, "I'm sure it's not gonna be that bad." Plus, at the beginning of May, end of April, I was getting the stimulus check along with my Ho-Chunk per capita, so I was like, "You know what, if anything, I might go broke for a little bit in between my last paycheck and that point, but I'm sure I'll be fine in between there." And I didn't know when I was gonna run out of money. I wasn't budgeting or anything like that, because I've never had to. And I thought I was just good enough where I was. And I didn't know. I guess I wasn't thinking too hard along how long this would have lasted.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And I might have underestimated how long it was going to last then with my funds, you know.
IS: Yeah.
CR: So, I went from being independent with my own money and being able to do my own things, you know, to being broke for two weeks and trying to rely on my parents and what they were buying for groceries and being like, "Oh, yeah, I'll pay you back. I'll pay you back on this and that." You know, I had debt build up along with—I—I actually helped pay bills a little bit and do things like that and buy groceries every week for the house. So usually that rounds up to like $160 to $100 a week for the household in general.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And then it turned into me having to owe them money afterwards and all this. Oh, it just—it became super difficult.
IS: Yeah.
CR: For a stretch of two weeks and then all the way up until May, and then that's when I got my—more money. Now I'm doing just fine.
IS: Yeah. Did you have any trouble filing for unemployment? Like, how long did it take for you to receive any money? Did you...
CR: I—when it came to unemployment, that was incredibly difficult, because when I lost my job, I tried filing immediately afterwards. And then I was reading things in the news along with like, you being able to hand me information. Like, "Oh, yeah, they're changing things up for unemployment now." So, the—the—the things are changing, and you don't have to do this but then they're gonna send you this and you'll be able to—you know, it was just a weird turnaround and all that. So, then I was like, "Okay." So, I applied for it. And then, from what I was understanding, I didn't have to do the job search, I didn't have to sign up for that, because obviously, no one's gonna be hiring.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And I was able to mark myself as affected by COVID. And then one week, they tell me like, "Oh, yeah, we need more information on your employer." So, then I go and get them that and they're like, "Oh, we need more information—information on your previous employer." And I was like, "Okay, so I'll help you with that." And then I helped them with every kind of information they needed, along with ridiculous questions like, "Oh, were you related to the owner? Did you have any specific personal relations that would affect your job and the way you do things?" I was like, "No." And they were like, "Okay." So, I waited a week, and then I go back but—and they're like, "Fill out a job search app." I go, "I was told in reading that I wasn't supposed to because that's just not are you doing now." So, then they were like, "Okay, yeah. Sure, we'll look into it more, and we'll see what the problem is." And then I go and wait another three, four days. And then after that, I think this is by week four now of staying inside and doing all this, and I'm like, "Okay, I need money because I'm getting low, and I don't know what's going on. It's been a month, and I've been trying to get this thing done." And I'm trying to let them do their best and push things through with people. You know, I'm not trying to be one of those people that are pushy about things, because I understand that they're backed up. And I was like, "You know, my turn will come around." And then by the time it came to me, they're—they were telling me that I didn't make enough at my new job to be able to qualify for unemployment.
IS: Really?
CR: So, then I was like, "Oh?" Yeah. I was like, "Oh, really?" And then unemployment was telling me "Oh, yeah, and just in case you're paying child support. So, this is the amount that we're going to be taking out of your paycheck, if you are gonna get unemployment for child support." And at—due to the amount of money I was making, [clears throat] they were projecting that I was gonna make around $300 a week for unemployment, and then child support was gonna be $97 out of that. So, I was gonna get a little above $200 a week for my wellbeing and stuff.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: But then they denied me. And then I—I sent them back a complaint like, "Hey, you know, I deserve money, and I don't get why I'm being treated like this." And they told me, "Well, you have to reapply again." And I go to reapply, and they're like, "Oh, you already sent an application in, so that one's invalid."
IS: So, you never actually received any unemployment?
CR: And I didn't know what to do with unemployment. No, not at all. They just spun me in circles. They gave me three different reasons as to why I was never able to get it, and I sent them emails, and I was calling to see what the hell's going on, but I didn't have time to sit around and call them for five hours straight to get someone on the phone with me, you know. So, I had to follow my son around and do—carry on with my life—
IS: Yeah.
CR: As best as I could.
IS: Yeah, yeah. What was it like? I mean, how has—how has being a parent and stuff, like how—how has that changed since you've been home a lot more often, and you've—you know, like with all this craziness going on?
CR: Oh, it—it changed for somewhat the better, definitely. Because with me and his mom being separated, it was always an unsettled work schedule between us too, because it would either be her schedule's not set, and then my schedule would not be set for a while, and then, you know, I was just figuring out stuff like that. And then when COVID happened, it turned into both of us having so much free time like just to do things, so we would switch off with him for extended periods of time. Instead of me getting him only two days, I would get him four to three days in a row. And then we'd switch based on just how he felt, and if we were asking the other parent. I would get every four days, then every three days, and if she got busy, then I would take him, you know. If she had something come up, I would take him. And—although, it was just a lot of good time to spend with my son outside of this weird kind of financial situation that I had going on.
IS: Yeah, yeah. And I know—I'm sorry, go ahead.
CR: No, no, no, no, no, don't worry about it. I was just throwing some bullshit on top of that, I guess.
IS: [laughs]
CR: [laughs]
IS: Well, I did want to ask you, I know—I know you mentioned, for your financial situation, you also mentioned a Ho-Chunk per capita. Do you want to kind of explain what that is to the people?
CR: Oh, yeah. [dog barks] So, the per capita is basically just, from my understanding, the extra income that you're gonna get out of the earnings from the casinos that we own. And it's pretty much extra money, and just something that they can give us as a bonus, you know. So, I get—or, you know, everyone I guess gets $1,200 a year, or no $12,000 a year, sorry. I don't—I don't mean that. I mean, it's $12,000 basically all year. It happens quarterly if you're not gonna mess with it, otherwise you can sign papers, and get it sent to you monthly. So, you get basically $1,000 a month out of per capita.
IS: Nice.
CR: And you do pay taxes on that, so you can set up the paperwork so that, you know, it comes out when you get it or you can just kind of like let it be and then when tax season comes around, you file and then you pay however much you owe—
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: From your total earnings of the year, you know.
IS: Yeah.
CR: Stuff like that. And that's what I do. I don't have a payment plan set up to throw money at them every time I do it. So...
IS: I gotcha, I gotcha.
CR: But since everything's been closed, you know, what the hell—the casinos aren't making much money because people don't go. They can't go. They're not allowed to go. So, they've been slowly saving money, cutting budgets in different departments for Ho-Chunk Nation. And then it came down to the fact that they're going to keep, like, people working for the Nation, and stopping per capita, unknown amount of time until we can get our revenue back to where we can actually get people paid.
IS: I gotcha, I gotcha. So—so is that—is that something that happened recently then? Like, what—do they actually stop—stop monthly payments temporarily?
CR: I don't think—I don't know about the monthly payment situation. I mean, I'm sure I could ask a family member that has that setup. But this May was the last per cap that we're going to get for an indefinite amount of time.
IS: Oh, wow.
CR: Simply because they're just keeping jobs open instead, you know. Functionality of the tribe versus, you know, throwing money at people, giving them extra things, you know.
IS: Yeah, they'd rather have people keep their jobs. Yeah.
CR: That's pretty much what that is.
IS: Yeah, yeah. Is there anything else you can think of—of how—of how this whole situation has like affected you and like—and like the Ho-Chunk Nation and like other like indigenous peoples like in a way that's like maybe different from like—like me?
CR: I think it's different in the—in a way that I haven't really fully understood, but I've seen plenty of articles recently about like the Navajo Nation struggling with it in a very difficult way, because they don't have the proper health care that they need to stay ahead of it. And they don't have the proper medical equipment to deal with it. And it—it might just be a fake article or something or it might be real.
IS: No, it's real.
CR: And it's sad.
IS: It's real, yeah. My teacher actually shared that with me just today.
CR: Right, that article of like the—the Navajo Nation asking for medical supplies.
IS: Yep.
CR: And instead of medical supplies, they get sent body bags.
IS: Yep.
CR: And that just—that was it. That's all they got. So now they have celebrities and whoever else to campaign for getting them money so they can pay for stuff like that.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And then one of the—one of the plains tribes, I can't remember the name, I think Dakota, had roadblocks on every road towards the—the reservation, so that they can check people and see if they're sick or not, and be able to gain access to the reservation. And I think that the governor of that state is trying to sue them over the fact that they're doing that. And they're shutting down road traffic because they don't want sick people being in their communities. They're trying to protect their communities, you know.
IS: Yeah.
CR: With stopping sick people from entering, and now the governor wants to sue them, because they're not allowing people to enter through the reservation. And I think that's just ridiculous.
IS: Yeah, yeah. Because like it should be totally within their right to have their own standards for like health and like safety and stuff in—in their own land and community and stuff.
CR: Right.
IS: Compared to like the state because it's not part of the state.
CR: Right.
IS: But...
CR: They're their own sovereign nation. All of us are, you know.
IS: Yeah, yeah, yeah. How—how have you felt about the—about the—I mean, I guess both our state's response, and I guess, and then—and then the federal government's response to everything? Do you think it's been enough? Or do you think they should change something? What do you think?
CR: I think it's—it seems unorganized, definitely. And it seems like they're just paused or, you know, they're hesitating a lot on doing things and then by the time what they should have done mattered, that time has already passed. But, you know, it's—it's—it's coming late, you know. They're like, "Oh, right now we should stop people from going their stores," and then a week later, they'll finally pass something that—that stops people—people from doing that. Or then they're—they're putting weird—like different states are going on full lockdown where you can't leave your house or you need a signed permission slip as to why you're leaving and all that and then versus you know, Wisconsin, we don't have that. You just have the, "Hey, you should stay at home." [burps] And no law enforcement is going to enforce you to stay at home or stop you because you're not at home.
IS: Yeah.
CR: I can't—I don't know what specific states are doing that I remember, but I just know that it was happening for some point.
IS: Yeah. You just think it's kind of weird that like different states have like totally different like methods of like doing things? And then there—there's no uniform—
CR: Right.
IS: Policy, you think?
CR: Yeah. I would think that there should be a uniform policy for all 50 states, you know, about what we should and shouldn't be doing.
IS: Yeah.
CR: And I think it's ridiculous that people are willing to protest that, you know. They're willing to sacrifice other Americans' health, or even their family's health over the fact that they're like, "You know what? It's just—it's gonna happen at some point, you know, throw it away and just open up everything back again, and we'll get everybody sick. It doesn't matter." You know, it's—I don't think that's a smart idea.
IS: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't think that people should—you don't think that people's rights are being as infringed upon as—as—as they claim to be?
CR: Yeah, yeah. Like, I think that's just dumb. I think they're dumb. [laughs]
IS: Yeah.
CR: I think anyone protesting this is just dumb.
IS: Yeah, yeah. You think—what kind of regulations do you think they should impose to like make—really improve the situation? Do you think like maybe we should like require masks everywhere? Or like what do you think?
CR: I think—I think requiring masks everywhere would be definitely a good thing.
IS: Yeah.
CR: But I also think that if they were very serious about it, they should be able to—everyone should have like access to that, you know. So just like what's going on now is all shelves are always empty because people are always buying them up right away, and there's no—there's not a lot of increased production on, you know, medical supplies that you would need or everyday household items that do come in handy, like bleach and other things that keep you safe.
IS: Yeah.
CR: You know, like easily it's things that just sell out quick that they're just not increasing production on because they don't want to, I guess. I don't know much about that situation.
IS: Yeah, yeah. I gotcha.
CR: But I do think that there should be things that are made more available to the American public so that they can keep themselves safe.
IS: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And do you feel like the—do you feel like the State of Wisconsin has done a good job so far with keeping things contained? Or do you think they should—like more should be done in that department? So far, I guess.
CR: I'm—I'm thinking that maybe more things should be done on Wisconsin's part for keeping people home and safe and keeping everybody, you know, where they should be. Along with, behind the—behind the scenes finding ways to open the economy without just letting people run amuck, I guess. You know, like just doing—going about things as if none of this is happening, you know.
IS: Yeah.
CR: Because it's like they're treating it like, "Oh, you catch it one time, and you can't get sick ever again with the damn thing." Like, catching it one time doesn't make you immune, you know.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: This thing is constantly changing and being able to mutate into something else after it's been with somebody for an extended amount of time.
IS: Yeah.
CR: So, you might be immune to one strand of it, you know. But obviously, you know, just give it time and enough people, it's gonna change, and you won't be immune to whatever it changes into.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And people just don't seem to understand that. They think it's one—one box fits all, and once you get through it, it's never gonna come back to you.
IS: Yeah, yeah. I—I think a lot of it—
CR: It'd be nice, you know.
IS: Yeah, yeah. No, yeah. I think a lot of it comes down to wishful thinking, you know. I think people just want to believe—
CR: Yeah.
IS: I mean, people want to go back to normal but, you know, they—they want to deny reality a little bit just to feel, you know, more personally comforting—
CR: Right.
IS: And not really thinking about the public health. Yeah, yeah. Do you feel like—
CR: That's exactly what I'm thinking.
IS: Yeah. I mean, do you know if the state like or the federal government has done anything that's affected like—like—like—like your tribe or anything like so far? Like, as far as support for your organizations or anything like that? Like, do you know of anything that's tangibly affected like—like your community's standing with anything? Or has it not seemed like—like help or focus on you guys?
CR: I don't think there's a lot of focus on my community in general, but I can see why there wouldn't be because it's—everything seems so unorganized.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And everyone's just kind of grabbing at straws and help, and, you know, plugging holes with fingers at this point, you know.
IS: Yeah.
CR: It's just whatever one's closest. And even though one might be more urgent than the other, you're already—you have your hands full with things that I guess you found important for the moment, you know. It's like first come, first serve.
IS: Yeah.
CR: You know.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: Not a lot of situations. So, it's the same thing with a job too, you know. Like them getting a grant after so long of us being shut down—
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: To be able to open up and be able to pay us again, to get our jobs back.
IS: Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, I guess I want to shift gears a little bit. Do you—do you remember when the first time you actually heard about the coronavirus was? Like, do you remember seeing it on the news or like—like what your initial thoughts on it were back in like February or whenever it was?
CR: I'm—if I'm gonna be honest, yeah, I think it was around January when I first heard of it through Twitter in like a meme.
IS: Oh.
CR: Because people were talking about—some people were getting sick with a—some type of virus called corona, and I was like, "Oh, what the hell's that?" And then people were making memes on that and showing people like—like sick people with like the—the beer label on their forehead. You know, Corona and all that other bullshit.
IS: Oh, gosh.
CR: And I thought it was funny at first, you know. I was like, "Oh, that's so funny, you know. We have a new disease around. Ha-ha-ha." And then—and then later on in February, it came to light that it's such a big, you know, it's a new strand of a virus that we hadn't seen, and we're not immune to it, you know. And...
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: I was kinda like, "Oh, that's weird." But you didn't know like people's symptoms right away, you know. None of us knew what was going on or how it affects people. And I didn't learn about how it affects people and how it spreads until March, you know. Like, that's when the CDC was releasing things and people were able to release things based on how it spreads. And they're like, "Oh, yeah, and by the way, it went from being isolated in like Wuhan, China to in China to just already over here, and it's pretty much right next door." In like a day or two, it went from like being over there to like right here, right now. And that was pretty weird. And then there was weird fake articles of like, "Oh, someone found a cure." You know, it's just a lot of that going around. I think that was really weird, but I think that was all back in March. March was the craziest time for all this, for us.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And then April passed by so quick. I don't—I think—I feel like April was like a week, because it was just days blended together.
IS: Yeah.
CR: There was no strict timeline on what was happening.
IS: Yeah.
CR: And I'd be like, "Oh, I miss my son. I haven't seen him for like..." Yeah, yeah. March was strictly 10 years long. It was so long. There was so many things going on then.
IS: Mm-hmm. Yeah. How do you feel like the—how do you feel like the—the flow of information has been like? Do you feel like—like—like—like the government and like the media has done a good job informing people about what this thing is? Or do you think that like information out there—there's so much fake information as real ones that it's kind of hard to figure out what's real and what's not? Like, how do you feel about like just the knowledge around this thing and how to deal with it?
CR: I think that right now, there is an abundant amount of like information that you're able to access that's accurate, you know.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: Versus, you take it back a month ago, there was half very unreliable to have reliable, you know.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And then take it back a month before that, there was almost no reliable sources. It was all fake. It was all a joke. And it was just something that was a hoax apparently, you know.
IS: Yeah.
CR: Like, it was just something we shouldn't be taking serious. Like, it's—it's their problem. Yeah, it's their problem, it's the flu, it's a common cold, and it's not us. You know, we're strong people, we'll live. You know, it's that stupid shit.
IS: Yeah. [laughs]
CR: And then—and then it turned into just it's killing my neighbors, it's killing my family, it's killing my grandparents, and there's nothing I can do about it because it's other people, it's not me.
IS: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Oh, gosh. I think we're starting to wind down a little bit, but I do want to ask you a couple more questions. I guess—I think you kind of touched on this a little bit. But can you think of anything that like really made you happy like from all these crazy changes? Like, is there anything you saw on the news that like, made you feel good? Like—like something people did for each other in this time, or like something that you experienced that made you happy?
CR: Okay.
IS: In this time, yeah.
CR: Well—
IS: Good news.
CR: It was like—good news. Some good news, yeah. I think some of the best things that came out of it were celebrities being able to give back to random people in the world, just like, you know, giving them money to help them get through things. Like, I—to a specific example, like David Dobrik, he does stuff like that. He was doing very good stuff like that. And I—I'm a big fan of him. So, you know, it was just like watching stuff like that. And, what was it, h3h3 is doing something like that now, where it's—they help people daily for like 100 days, giving out like, I think, on average $1,500 a day just to random people.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And I think there's a lot more than—that I cannot think of, but I mean, like, you know, there's a lot of people doing some good things that are helping people, you know.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: People without jobs, families that are struggling, even if they have jobs, you know. And I think that's pretty cool.
IS: Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah, yeah. Actually, speaking about jobs, I—I did want to ask you about this, but I forgot earlier. How has—since you've been back to work now, how has work changed for you now that you're back in the restaurant business, but we're still in this thing? So how—how has work changed now compared to before?
CR: I guess it's really just—it's weird being in the restaurant without people being in the restaurant.
IS: Yeah.
CR: You know what I mean? Without seeing customers, you know. I get to—since me being a kitchen person, I'm always able to just sit inside and be with like the same four people all day. And that's all different now, I guess. Like, I guess it was just, before all this, I wanted to be alone. I wanted to not see people, you know, all the time. And then after this, I'm like, "Can I just please see a new face? Can I see them like—like six feet away from me be able to talk to somebody new, like just someone I don't know?"
IS: Yeah.
CR: Too much now. [laughs]
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And then the whole mask thing. Oh, that kind of kills me sometimes in the kitchen, that really does, honestly.
IS: Yeah. You have to wear a mask all—all the time, right?
CR: Yeah. And then along with like after you take it off, my nose decompresses, like I feel like blood is flowing right back into it and like my face—my head gets like—it's hilarious. I'm like—I get lightheaded from taking the mask off. [laughs]
IS: Yeah. All right. All right, man. Okay, so—so one of the final questions, I think. Is there anything else you want to add to the history books to the digital archive thing? The floor is yours if you want—have anything else left you want to say that people should know about this crazy time.
CR: It really makes you think about all the things that you never had time to think about. It gives you time to do things that you didn't have time to do before, you know. It really made me appreciate the fact that I'm able to go see family and see friends as much as I want to when this wasn't happening, you know. I was taking a lot of my social life along with my family life and relations for granted.
IS: Yeah.
CR: Like, I live really close to my brother, like an hour and a half away, you know. I never wanted to see him, but now I want to see him so bad. I want to see him like every day. And like, I'd never get to see my mom, and now finally I decided to just come down and see my—my family for the Mother's Day and, you know, a birthday party and stuff like that. I just decided to do that because I miss them. You know, it went almost like two months without seeing them.
IS: Yeah.
CR: And I guess with all this alone time too, it gives you a lot of time to—to build yourself and to be able to rethink where you are in life and what you want to do because of the free time, you know. I mean, it's just really like—is—like you can stop from your job that you're running every day and running circles and chasing your tail around and be able to sit down and be like, you know, "What is my goal for my family, my life at home, for everybody else? What are things that I want to achieve that I could possibly be working on in the time off of regular routine?" And that's what's been super nice about this. That's what I've been doing at least.
IS: Yeah, yeah. So, you think you'll be—you'll be—you'll be living a bit different then once things get back to normal, you think?
CR: Right. Yeah.
IS: You changed your perspective?
CR: I won't be taking a lot of things for granted, along with—along with just a change of perspective on, I guess, health, public health.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CR: And how things work like that.
IS: Yeah, I gotcha. Gosh. All right, man. Oh, geez. I think you did a really good job. I think we added a whole bunch of good stuff in here for the future people to study. So, yeah. Man, I really appreciate your perspective. I think it was really awesome, and I really appreciate—appreciate you for doing this.
CR: Yeah, thanks, man. It's an honor, honestly.
IS: Yeah. All right. Thanks, brother. I will stop recording then, all right?
CR: Yeah. Yeah, okay.
IS: Thanks a lot.
CR: All right, man. Yeah.
IS: Sounds good.
Date Accepted (Dublin Core)
2020/05/21 11:50:54 AM AST