Item
Madison Morris Oral History, 2020/09/18
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Madison Morris Oral History, 2020/09/18
Description (Dublin Core)
Maddison Morris, freshman at Northeastern University, accounts her expirience of learning about COVID-19, it's severity, and how it affected her life as well as how it will shape the future.
Recording Date (Dublin Core)
09/18/2020
Creator (Dublin Core)
Sophia Press
Madison Morris
Partner (Dublin Core)
Northeastern University
Type (Dublin Core)
audio
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
English
Education--K12
English
Education--Universities
English
Social Distance
English
Events
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
Boston
Massachusetts
graduation
virtual
college
high school
mask
crowd
Collection (Dublin Core)
Lost Graduations
K-12
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
9/18/20
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
10/30/2020
11/19/2020
2/3/21
Interviewer (Bibliographic Ontology)
Sophia Press
Interviewee (Bibliographic Ontology)
Madison Morris
Location (Omeka Classic)
Boston
Massachusetts
United States of America
Format (Dublin Core)
audio
Language (Dublin Core)
English
Duration (Omeka Classic)
00:05:55
Transcription (Omeka Classic)
Sophia Press 0:01
Hi, my name is Sofia Press and the date is September 18, 2020. I'm here with Madison Morris for an interview for the COVID-19 Archive Project. Madison, can you please state your name, the date, and time and whether or not you give consent for the COVID-19 Archive Project?
Madison Morris 0:18
Yep. So my name is Madison Morris, and the date is September 18, 2020. And it is currently 2:28 PM. And yes, I do give consent to be interviewed for the COVID-19 archive project.
Sophia Press 0:33
All right, perfect. Madison, can you tell me what- where you were when you realized that COVID-19 was going to be an issue?
Madison Morris 0:43
Yeah. So I was actually in my AP environmental science class. And we were just sitting around, and my environmental science teacher actually played a video from Wuhan about the Coronavirus and said that she thinks that this is going to be a big problem. And I just remember sitting in the class and thinking “There's no way it'll come over here. You know, we’re the United States, we’re this big, powerful nation, there's no way that the pandemic will make its way over here and have an impact.” I was pretty wrong.
Sophia Press 1:17
And then did that make your school close pretty quickly after that?
Madison Morris 1:22
Yeah. So it was just at first, we were supposed to only be closed for about three days. And we thought it was for the school to just fully clean and then we would come back. And then they changed that to two weeks. And then they changed that two months. And then we never went back.
Sophia Press 1:40
Yeah. And how did this affect your experience like with sports, academics, prom, graduation?
Madison Morris 1:45
Yeah. So I luckily wasn't involved in any sports teams. But with my prom and graduation, they were both canceled. I had- my graduation was virtual, which was really strange, because it was kind of this situation where we would just walked through the gym, and we would get our diplomas and just wave at a camera. And then all the videos were put together into like a virtual format. So that was definitely different and not what I was expecting.
Sophia Press 2:13
Yeah. And then so did you work at all during the pandemic?
Madison Morris 2:17
Yeah, so I actually had a job as a hostess at a little seafood restaurant down the street from my house. And at first, we were completely closed, until Governor Baker said that some restaurants could start reopening. And we opened at first, just for takeout. Um, so that was definitely different to transition from being a fully-fledged restaurant to just doing takeout. And then we were able to open up our outdoor seating. And then finally, we did open our indoor seating, but all the tables were six feet apart. And we definitely had different sanitation policies that we had to put in place. So it was definitely really weird to be at work.
Sophia Press 2:57
Yeah, definitely. And just wanted to talk about, like the state's response. How did you feel about the state's response? And you're from Massachusetts?
Madison Morris 3:07
Yes, yeah. So Massachusetts, I feel like we did a pretty good job handling the pandemic, especially compared to some other states’ responses. We definitely had a pretty big first wave in about, I think, the end of April, we had a ton of cases. And actually, there was a lot of cases specifically in the county that I live in. I live in Essex County. And that had a lot of cases. So that was definitely really intense and really scary for a really long time. But eventually, we really ramped up our testing. And we have so many hospitals around here. So that was really helpful. And I think that we really have it taken care of, at least as well as you can have it taken care of now.
Sophia Press 3:52
Yeah, definitely. And so how do you feel about now kind of trying to get back to normalcy returning to school? How do you feel about that?
Madison Morris 4:00
Yeah, I mean, I'm just happy to be at school. You know, I have a lot of friends that their universities canceled all in-person classes, they're not allowed to come back to their dorms. And that's definitely really hard for them for them, especially given the fact that they're freshmen. So they've never been at college before. And that was kind of how I felt about it. I was just really excited to be able to get to campus at all given the situation and really be able to start my college experience. I think it would have been really different and really hard if I was still from home right now.
Sophia Press 4:33
Yeah. Do you think your family's also just happy that you have the opportunity to be here?
Madison Morris 4:38
Yeah, my family was definitely a bit concerned with me coming to school because, of course, they were worried that I would get COVID. Not as much because they thought that I would die from it or have a severe reaction, but of course, we don't really know that much about it. And we don't know about what the after effects could be down the road. So they were pretty worried about that., but they supported me in the end in my decision to come to school.
Sophia Press 5:01
Yeah, definitely. And then so how do you think that the pandemic will affect your life moving forward and just kind of society?
Madison Morris 5:10
I feel like, it'll definitely be a long time before I feel comfortable, you know, being in a large crowd or not having a mask on, I think that even if we do return to some sense of normalcy, I think that I'll still kind of carry COVID related anxiety with me for a long time after this. And I think that this will always be something that we remember. I think that in the future, I'll probably be telling my children about this. And I think that it'll be in textbooks forever. And this is going to be one of the big things that our generation has lived through.
Sophia Press 5:46
Yeah, definitely. Well, it was really great to speak to you today. Have a great day, Madison.
Madison Morris 5:53
Thanks so much. Have a great day.
Hi, my name is Sofia Press and the date is September 18, 2020. I'm here with Madison Morris for an interview for the COVID-19 Archive Project. Madison, can you please state your name, the date, and time and whether or not you give consent for the COVID-19 Archive Project?
Madison Morris 0:18
Yep. So my name is Madison Morris, and the date is September 18, 2020. And it is currently 2:28 PM. And yes, I do give consent to be interviewed for the COVID-19 archive project.
Sophia Press 0:33
All right, perfect. Madison, can you tell me what- where you were when you realized that COVID-19 was going to be an issue?
Madison Morris 0:43
Yeah. So I was actually in my AP environmental science class. And we were just sitting around, and my environmental science teacher actually played a video from Wuhan about the Coronavirus and said that she thinks that this is going to be a big problem. And I just remember sitting in the class and thinking “There's no way it'll come over here. You know, we’re the United States, we’re this big, powerful nation, there's no way that the pandemic will make its way over here and have an impact.” I was pretty wrong.
Sophia Press 1:17
And then did that make your school close pretty quickly after that?
Madison Morris 1:22
Yeah. So it was just at first, we were supposed to only be closed for about three days. And we thought it was for the school to just fully clean and then we would come back. And then they changed that to two weeks. And then they changed that two months. And then we never went back.
Sophia Press 1:40
Yeah. And how did this affect your experience like with sports, academics, prom, graduation?
Madison Morris 1:45
Yeah. So I luckily wasn't involved in any sports teams. But with my prom and graduation, they were both canceled. I had- my graduation was virtual, which was really strange, because it was kind of this situation where we would just walked through the gym, and we would get our diplomas and just wave at a camera. And then all the videos were put together into like a virtual format. So that was definitely different and not what I was expecting.
Sophia Press 2:13
Yeah. And then so did you work at all during the pandemic?
Madison Morris 2:17
Yeah, so I actually had a job as a hostess at a little seafood restaurant down the street from my house. And at first, we were completely closed, until Governor Baker said that some restaurants could start reopening. And we opened at first, just for takeout. Um, so that was definitely different to transition from being a fully-fledged restaurant to just doing takeout. And then we were able to open up our outdoor seating. And then finally, we did open our indoor seating, but all the tables were six feet apart. And we definitely had different sanitation policies that we had to put in place. So it was definitely really weird to be at work.
Sophia Press 2:57
Yeah, definitely. And just wanted to talk about, like the state's response. How did you feel about the state's response? And you're from Massachusetts?
Madison Morris 3:07
Yes, yeah. So Massachusetts, I feel like we did a pretty good job handling the pandemic, especially compared to some other states’ responses. We definitely had a pretty big first wave in about, I think, the end of April, we had a ton of cases. And actually, there was a lot of cases specifically in the county that I live in. I live in Essex County. And that had a lot of cases. So that was definitely really intense and really scary for a really long time. But eventually, we really ramped up our testing. And we have so many hospitals around here. So that was really helpful. And I think that we really have it taken care of, at least as well as you can have it taken care of now.
Sophia Press 3:52
Yeah, definitely. And so how do you feel about now kind of trying to get back to normalcy returning to school? How do you feel about that?
Madison Morris 4:00
Yeah, I mean, I'm just happy to be at school. You know, I have a lot of friends that their universities canceled all in-person classes, they're not allowed to come back to their dorms. And that's definitely really hard for them for them, especially given the fact that they're freshmen. So they've never been at college before. And that was kind of how I felt about it. I was just really excited to be able to get to campus at all given the situation and really be able to start my college experience. I think it would have been really different and really hard if I was still from home right now.
Sophia Press 4:33
Yeah. Do you think your family's also just happy that you have the opportunity to be here?
Madison Morris 4:38
Yeah, my family was definitely a bit concerned with me coming to school because, of course, they were worried that I would get COVID. Not as much because they thought that I would die from it or have a severe reaction, but of course, we don't really know that much about it. And we don't know about what the after effects could be down the road. So they were pretty worried about that., but they supported me in the end in my decision to come to school.
Sophia Press 5:01
Yeah, definitely. And then so how do you think that the pandemic will affect your life moving forward and just kind of society?
Madison Morris 5:10
I feel like, it'll definitely be a long time before I feel comfortable, you know, being in a large crowd or not having a mask on, I think that even if we do return to some sense of normalcy, I think that I'll still kind of carry COVID related anxiety with me for a long time after this. And I think that this will always be something that we remember. I think that in the future, I'll probably be telling my children about this. And I think that it'll be in textbooks forever. And this is going to be one of the big things that our generation has lived through.
Sophia Press 5:46
Yeah, definitely. Well, it was really great to speak to you today. Have a great day, Madison.
Madison Morris 5:53
Thanks so much. Have a great day.
This item was submitted on September 18, 2020 by Sophia Press using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive
Click here to view the collected data.