Item
Chris Twing Oral History, 2020/07/09
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Chris Twing Oral History, 2020/07/09
Description (Dublin Core)
This is an interview with Chris Twing describing her life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chris lives with her husband and her teenage son, and her mother lives in an attached home. In this interview Chris discusses her unhappiness with government response to COVID-19, her hopes and worries, and describes her community’s response to the pandemic.
Recording Date (Dublin Core)
07/09/2020
Creator (Dublin Core)
Chris Twing
Emma Garcia
Partner (Dublin Core)
Arizona State University
Type (Dublin Core)
Audio
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
English
Biography
English
Home & Family Life
English
Health & Wellness
English
Education--K12
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
Leander
Texas
suburb
family
homeschool
illness
game development
Linked Data (Dublin Core)
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
07/23/2020
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
10/21/2020
03/01/2021
03/30/2021
05/01/2021
08/31/2022
09/09/2022
03/07/2023
Interviewer (Bibliographic Ontology)
Emma Garcia
Interviewee (Bibliographic Ontology)
Chris Twing
Location (Omeka Classic)
Leander
Texas
United States of America
Format (Dublin Core)
mp3
Language (Dublin Core)
English
Duration (Omeka Classic)
00:28:35
abstract (Bibliographic Ontology)
This is an interview with Chris Twing describing her life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chris lives with her husband and her teenage son, and her mother lives in an attached home. In this interview Chris discusses her unhappiness with government response to COVID-19, her hopes and worries, and describes her community’s response to the pandemic.
Transcription (Omeka Classic)
Emma Garcia 0:17
Hello, we are going to do an oral history here. Thank you for being here. Uh, this is Chris Twing with, as the narrator and Emma Garcia is the interviewer, uh, and we'll be discussing COVID. It is 12:33pm in California and 2:33 in Texas where Chris is, and we're are online. Thank you for being here.
Chris Twing 0:48
Sure.
Emma Garcia 0:50
Um, okay. So, I'm going to ask you questions and I'm not really going to respond too much to your answers to, so that I get your, uh, your thoughts. And um, alright, let's uh, let's go. Um, first of all, what do you do on a day to day basis?
Chris Twing 1:16
Um, so I usually spend a couple hours in school, a couple hours or at my own school, a couple hours schooling my son, a couple hours getting ready for his next school year. And then just taking care of all the household stuff. Because now that we're all home, there's lots and lots of cooking and cleaning.
Emma Garcia 1:42
Mhm. All right, uh, where you live in, where do you live and what's it like to live there?
Chris Twing 1:50
So, I'm in Leander, Texas, which is a northern, Northwest suburb of Austin. So, I'm in Central Texas. Um, which Texas is right now a republican state, though the nearest big city Austin, is very democratic. Out in the suburb, it's very Republican. Um, and now that we're into summer, our high this weekend is like 106. So it's hot, where I live. [laughs]
Emma Garcia 2:21
Oof. All right, um...when you first learned about COVID, what were your thoughts on it and have those thoughts changed since then?
Chris Twing 2:31
So, I actually first heard about COVID, umm, one of the last weekends in January I was at a genealogy conference in Salt Lake City. And I wasn't watching the news because I was in a conference, um, stuff all day and my husband was telling me about this and I was like, ”what are you talking about?” And I was like, yeah, that'll be like ebola or any of these other crazy diseases, you know, that happened elsewhere in the world, but they don't ever come here. Um, so initially I thought, okay, well, that's bad, but not a big deal. I live in the US. And now obviously, we know that to not be true.
Emma Garcia 3:18
Okay, um, what issues have most concerned you about the pandemic?
Chris Twing 3:25
The fact that, you know, initially when a disease something like this shows up, nobody knows what to do. But in short amount of time, it's studied, experts get some information and, you know, all levels of government, and just people in general then learn what to do and act on that. And this time that has not been the case. Um, the general public is very split on what they should and shouldn't do or have and don't have to do, as well as every level of government seems to not be doing a whole lot.
Emma Garcia 4:16
Um, how has COVID affected your job? I know you're homeschooling your son, um, how has that been impacted?
Chris Twing 4:27
So, it didn't affect his homeschooling too much as far as his academic parts go. But what people, most people that don't homeschool, don't know is that you're never home very much your home to do some bookwork now and then, but you're often you know, at an event um, you know, so usually we would be home in the morning and then we would be out, you know, most afternoons or maybe three afternoons a week. And we can't do any of those outside activities. And my son does take one his English class is, um, done in a small group setting with a teacher. So he normally goes one day a week, and then they do all of their work at home. But those all moved to online. And then my husband uh, works in the game industry and luckily, they very quickly sent them, I think he's been home since March 13th, they sent them home and as of the latest one, I know they're not going back until at least October, November, and they pretty much said they could work from home indefinitely.
Emma Garcia 5:45
Okay, um, has it changed your employment status or I guess..?
Chris Twing 6:54
So it didn't change mine, obviously.
Emma Garcia 5:56
Mhm.
Chris Twing 5:57
And my husband has been lucky enough that he is in a field that not only has survived this, but it's thriving, because...
Emma Garcia 6:05
Mhm.
Chris Twing 6:06
People are stuck at home and need entertainment. So the games that he works on are things they can do from home. Um, my brother works in the game industry, but he works on physical, he works making physical slot machine games, and he was laid off and just went back about two weeks ago.
Emma Garcia 6:34
Okay, uh, what concerns do you have about the effects of COVID-19 on your employment and the economy more broadly, I guess on your husband's employment?
Chris Twing 6:44
So we're one...[internet connection falters].
Emma Garcia 6:51
Uh oh, sorry, you're cutting out a little bit.
Chris Twing 6:53
Oh, um, what I was saying was I know that we're one of the lucky people but that's not most people. And I worry about poverty and social justice anyway, and this just makes all of that worse.
Emma Garcia 7:16
Mhm. Um, has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the employment of people, you know, and in what ways?
Chris Twing 7:23
Yeah. My mom works in a grocery store. So, it was first there was, you know, everybody loved grocery workers because they were feeding America and they were heroes, and now that Texas has instituted mandatory mask it's a constant fight for her at work. People don't want to stand on the dots they put on the floor. They get mad because they have to wear masks. They get mad because they have to wait.
Emma Garcia 8:04
Okay, how has COVID-19 affected you and your family's day to day activities?
Chris Twing 8:11
We took the stay-at-home order very seriously and stayed home entirely. Um, in the first several weeks, we went to do curbside pickup for groceries and that was it. Um, we didn't go out to eat, not even curbside or anything. Um, we did go for a walk some, but you know if we saw that people would cross the street, that kind of thing. Um, I would say probably the middle of May we started doing curb side, you know, [internet cutting out]often probably two to three times a week, plus our curbside grocery. But aside from that, and we went to a park I think three times we figured in the four months we've been home. Um, but again, we stayed far away from people, went at an off time, things like that. So we've, we've stayed home a lot.
Emma Garcia 9:17
How are you managing day to day activities in your household?
Chris Twing 9:22
Well, since I have a teenager, he likes to stay in his room. And my husband luckily has an office so he can work in there. So that leaves me the rest of the house to kind of putter through and you know, work on this thing or that thing or the other thing.
Emma Garcia 9:42
Okay, what have been the biggest challenges that you've faced during the COVID-19 outbreak?
Chris Twing 9:50
I never before, you know, immigration has been a big thing politically here for ever. And definitely Donald Trump in office, it's really become big again, you know, he stands that we shouldn't let people in and it doesn't matter how terrible things are. And I look at them as
human. And you know, have often thought, Well, what if I was the one that needed to get out of
my country and go somewhere else? And now that's something I seriously consider because
he's doing nothing. And if he were reelected in November, I, you know, people joke about it all
the time, but I've seriously considered it as an option come November, but the [laugh] problem
is, is that the borders are closed. We can't go anywhere, because we're such a hotspot.
Emma Garcia 10:51
Mhm. What have you or your family and friends done for recreation during COVID-19?
Chris Twing 10:59
We take drives from time to time just to get out of the house. Um, but that keeps us away from people. I volunteer with the local Historical Commission. And so we're going to take pictures of historical markers and things to put on the website. That's like our new excitement. [laughs]
Emma Garcia 11:24
Okay, and how about your community? How has the COVID-19 outbreak affected your community?
Chris Twing 11:34
Well, we don't go out a lot, so I'm relying on Face-, you know, Facebook posts and other social media and what I see from my car when we go to get curbside [internet connection cuts out]
Emma Garcia 11:49
Uh oh, you cut out a little bit.
Chris Twing 11:51
Okay. Um, initially people were good at staying home and then once the Texas Governor opened the state at the beginning of May and then opened very, very quickly. And our numbers were not that high in Texas. Everybody was like, Okay, well, no big deal. We're just gonna go back to normal. And I think that's why we are a hotspot now.
Emma Garcia 12:21
How are the people around you responding to the pandemic?
Chris Twing 12:27
Uh, like the people in my house?
Emma Garcia 12:29
Like, um, yeah, I guess your neighborhood, your, your, your neighbors and your
community, uh?
Chris Twing 12:38
Yeah, so we take walks now and again. Now that it's really hot we've stopped, but, um, initially, it was kind of mixed like some people you know, we would be at the mailbox getting our mail, which is not by our house, and somebody would come walking around the corner, and I'm like, wait, you have to stop. We can't move. We're getting our mail. You have to wait. You know? But they will just keep walking. So I felt like I really needed hurry. And I felt weird to say like, “hey, you need to stop and wait”. But at the same time, that's, you know, what I wanted them to do um.
Emma Garcia 13:13
Mhm.
Chris Twing 13:14
And it quickly, you know, that I have little girls that live next to me and there's about six of them on the street and they run around together and initially, they were playing together a whole bunch, and then they stopped for a little while and now they're all together again.
Emma Garcia 13:36
Um, have you seen people around you change their opinions, day to day activities, or relationships in response to a pandemic?
Chris Twing 13:45
[sighs] Most people, you know, stick to what they think. There aren't many people that, that changed their attitude. You know, they either seem to be, this is no big deal and get on with it or they seem to be this is a big deal and do everything they can. I saw one person that kind of changed their tune when Disney closed.
Emma Garcia 14:17
Hm, how, how did they change their tune?
Chris Twing 14:21
Well, they were still planning summer vacations, um, and still pretty much intending to do everything they had, you know, were going to do and once Disney closed, then they started taking it seriously. Um, and I've seen this kind of ebb and flow as the days have progressed. Um, once Texas opened, they started doing a few more things, um, taking their kids, bowling tournaments and, you know, eating out like in the restaurant and things. And then when things started to get bad again, they backed way off.
Emma Garcia 15:12
Um, have you or anybody you know gotten sick COVID-19?
Chris Twing 15:16
My brother did, um, he does. He works for an architect. He does CAD drawings and things. And when Texas went into lockdown, they sent them all home and they were working from home. And the impression I got was that they could continue to work from home but they really wanted everybody in the office. And so they brought everybody back in in May, wants to stay opened back up. And he was sick I think within two weeks, there were four people in his office that got sick, and he was sick for five weeks total. He just got a clear test day before
yesterday. Um, he had a lot of headaches and body aches, he did not have trouble breathing.
But he had symptoms that sort of seemed like heart attacks. So he went to the hospital for that
once and then he went twice because, um, that, like his appendix or what you would normally
think of it as appendicitis symptoms he was having problems with. And they did a couple of
CAT scans and things and said his app- appendix was enlarged from COVID, but it didn't need
to be taken out. And you know, just kind of deal with it. So he did.
Emma Garcia 16:43
And he's doing better now?
Chris Twing 17:22
Yeah. Oh, and then, um, before that the lady across the street from us, um, she's 63 and she died. Now her, she went to the hospital on a Sunday uh, with flu like symptoms. And then they tested her and it was negative and by Wednesday, she had a cardiac event and it was put into a coma, um, like a medically induced coma. And by that Saturday, she had no brain function and they pulled her off life support. So I'm pretty sure that was COVID [laughs].
Emma Garcia 17:28
Oh my gosh. Um, did you know her well?
Chris Twing 17:28
I didn't know her very well, but the gaggle of little girls that play outside, one of them, um, is her granddaughter.
Emma Garcia 17:35
Hm.
Chris Twing 17:36
And so I was really worried about all those little girls. Because her son actually lives two doors down from us too. She-, they live across the street from each other.
Emma Garcia 17:56
What ways do you think that COVID-19 is affecting people mental and our physical health?
Chris Twing 18:03
Terribly. I'm not a super exerciser person anyway, but I've still gotten way more sedentary. Um, and so definitely on the physical side for things like that. Um, I know there are also people that because they're unemployed or because their kids are not at school, they're not getting food that they need so their nutrition is very low. Um, and mentally, it's really hard on everybody. Even if you have a good support system and have all your physical needs met and are not stressing on surviving as far as food, clothes, shelter, you know, you have enough money and things it's still stressful because humans are not meant to be locked up in a box, um. And we do pretty well I would say about once every week or 10 days, I have a day, that I'm just like, what the hell? And I can't do this anymore. And this is never gonna end. You know, and that's largely [laughs] because seems like people in charge aren't doing anything.
Emma Garcia 19:27
Mhm. Um, what have been your primary sources of news during the pandemic?
Chris Twing 19:32
Um, CNN is kind of the daily, but we know, I mean, I'm a liberal person anyway, and they're liberal news outlet, but I know they spin really hard. At times, I think they push it too
far. So we, I always listen, I'm an NPR podcast listener.
Emma Garcia 19:52
Mhm.
Chris Twing 19:53
So I get that which is a little more centrist and then from time to time, we'll watch BBC because are getting, you know, an outside the country view and get some news about what's going on in the rest of the world.
Emma Garcia 20:12
Have your news sources changed during the course of the pandemic?
Chris Twing 20:16
Uh, initially, it was just CNN and NPR and then we added the BBC.
Emma Garcia 10:26
Let's see, what do you think are important issues that the media may- uh, is or is not covering?
Chris Twing 20:36
They seem to only be able to focus on one thing at a time when [sigh] seein things out there that need to be covered. I agree the pandemic is, definitely deserves the most time but they don't seem to be able to talk about anything else at the same time, rather than you know, spending the first 15 minutes of an hour on the pandemic and then spending another 45 minutes on all the things that are happening. They just spend an hour, you know, and essentially 24 hours talking about the same facts with, you know, a different expert or a different pundint. Um, and that was really evident when George Floyd was killed and all the Black Lives Matter, protests happened. It was like the pandemic no longer existed. Um, they even had different, uh, like, screen backgrounds and edges that they've had on for all the pandemic news. And those completely went away, the counters, the case and death counters weren't there anymore. And they focused on the protest, which was fantastic. But then we started seeing spikes of, in the south, especially in the west, and they went to focus on that and now they're not focusing at all on the protests that are still happening or anything else.
Emma Garcia 22:055
Um, all right, and let's talk about the government. How have municipal leaders and government officials in your community responded?
Chris Twing 22:17
Hey, [internet connection issues] -lee, um you know, as most of the country shut down schools and did a stay at home order those things happened. And people are were okay with that for a little while. Once the governor reopened the state, then all bets were off. People did whatever they wanted, including, you know, the local leaders didn't do much. Um, the mayor of Austin has done a little more. Um, and generally once Austin, or Travis County where Austin is, does something, it trickles into my area but uh like last [night] was a city council meeting and they had 140 people signed up to comment during the public comment time. And they said,
okay, well, that was on a Thursday, we're going to move all the public comment time Tuesday
instead. And then on Tuesday, they cancelled it.
Emma Garcia 23:23
So they never heard back from those people?
Chris Twing 23:25
They never had public comment time [laughs]. And their excuse was that the governor put out, um, a mandatory mask order, and has basically said he will not shut the state back down and will not allow the localities to shut the state to shut themselves down. So there was no point in hearing any of the comments.
Emma Garcia 23:47
Okay, um, do you have any thoughts on how local state and federal leaders are responding differently?
Chris Twing 23:59
I think they're all doing bad. [laughs] I would like the grown-ups to come back.
Emma Garcia 24:11
Alright, and let's see, how about the future? Has your experience transformed how you think about your family, friends, and community, and in what ways?
Chris Twing 24:23
Um, to a degree, it just added to my thought that most people don't care about other people that most people are selfish. And, the only people that really matter to me are my husband and my son. You know, even my, you know, parents, brothers, things like that, like, I don't know. You just shouldn't really count on people, they mostly suck.
Emma Garcia 25:03
Okay, and then we're getting to the last few questions here. How does your pan-, how does this pandemic compare to other big events that have happened in your lifetime?
Chris Twing 25:14
So 9/11 was big, the Challenger explosion was bi[g], the 2008 recession was big, but this is a whole different level of big. And I think if we were in the situation that much of Europe is in where, you know, the pandemic arrived, it was horrible, they learned, they put things into place, and they've watched cases slow down, and they've resumed a more normal life. It wouldn't seem like a whole different level of big.
Emma Garcia 26:00
Uh, what do you imagine? Your life will be like in a year?
Chris Twing 26:06
I'm hoping that in a year we might be starting to go back to normal. [_____???] -st and amount of time to get there.
Emma Garcia 26:19
Okay, what do you hope your life will be like in a year?
Chris Twing 26:26
I just would like to be able to have people over and go places again. Um, like most parents, I worry that my kid's isolation is really going to hurt him. Uh, he is an introvert and likes to be online anyway. So he's still connecting with his friends that way. And even before the
pandemic, you kind of have to force him to go out and be with human beings in real life. And
he's realized that he does need that so maybe that'll actually be better and he'll be more willing
to go out.
Emma Garcia 27:08
And knowing what, this last question, uh, knowing what you know now, what do you think the individuals, communities, or governments need to keep in mind for the future?
Chris Twing 27:19
So it kind of goes along with our last presidential election. I don't know if it's my age that I just became more aware or, uh, you know, it's reality is that people have a view of history and government that is not based in reality. And I would really like to see civic education and history education. You know, be better so that when things like 'you need to wear a mask' come up it doesn't become politicized and a point of,' you're taking away my liberty and my freedom by making me wear a mask', because we make you wear pants and that seems to be okay. Um, so.
Emma Garcia 28:15
Mhm. All right. Well, thank you very much for your time. Is there anything else you'd like
to add?
Chris Twing 28:21
No, I think this was good because I got to kind of yell about all the things that have bothered me. [laughs]
Emma Garcia 28:28
[laughs] All right. Well, thank you very much for your time.
Chris Twing 28:30
Thank you.
Emma Garcia 28:31
We're gonna end here.
Hello, we are going to do an oral history here. Thank you for being here. Uh, this is Chris Twing with, as the narrator and Emma Garcia is the interviewer, uh, and we'll be discussing COVID. It is 12:33pm in California and 2:33 in Texas where Chris is, and we're are online. Thank you for being here.
Chris Twing 0:48
Sure.
Emma Garcia 0:50
Um, okay. So, I'm going to ask you questions and I'm not really going to respond too much to your answers to, so that I get your, uh, your thoughts. And um, alright, let's uh, let's go. Um, first of all, what do you do on a day to day basis?
Chris Twing 1:16
Um, so I usually spend a couple hours in school, a couple hours or at my own school, a couple hours schooling my son, a couple hours getting ready for his next school year. And then just taking care of all the household stuff. Because now that we're all home, there's lots and lots of cooking and cleaning.
Emma Garcia 1:42
Mhm. All right, uh, where you live in, where do you live and what's it like to live there?
Chris Twing 1:50
So, I'm in Leander, Texas, which is a northern, Northwest suburb of Austin. So, I'm in Central Texas. Um, which Texas is right now a republican state, though the nearest big city Austin, is very democratic. Out in the suburb, it's very Republican. Um, and now that we're into summer, our high this weekend is like 106. So it's hot, where I live. [laughs]
Emma Garcia 2:21
Oof. All right, um...when you first learned about COVID, what were your thoughts on it and have those thoughts changed since then?
Chris Twing 2:31
So, I actually first heard about COVID, umm, one of the last weekends in January I was at a genealogy conference in Salt Lake City. And I wasn't watching the news because I was in a conference, um, stuff all day and my husband was telling me about this and I was like, ”what are you talking about?” And I was like, yeah, that'll be like ebola or any of these other crazy diseases, you know, that happened elsewhere in the world, but they don't ever come here. Um, so initially I thought, okay, well, that's bad, but not a big deal. I live in the US. And now obviously, we know that to not be true.
Emma Garcia 3:18
Okay, um, what issues have most concerned you about the pandemic?
Chris Twing 3:25
The fact that, you know, initially when a disease something like this shows up, nobody knows what to do. But in short amount of time, it's studied, experts get some information and, you know, all levels of government, and just people in general then learn what to do and act on that. And this time that has not been the case. Um, the general public is very split on what they should and shouldn't do or have and don't have to do, as well as every level of government seems to not be doing a whole lot.
Emma Garcia 4:16
Um, how has COVID affected your job? I know you're homeschooling your son, um, how has that been impacted?
Chris Twing 4:27
So, it didn't affect his homeschooling too much as far as his academic parts go. But what people, most people that don't homeschool, don't know is that you're never home very much your home to do some bookwork now and then, but you're often you know, at an event um, you know, so usually we would be home in the morning and then we would be out, you know, most afternoons or maybe three afternoons a week. And we can't do any of those outside activities. And my son does take one his English class is, um, done in a small group setting with a teacher. So he normally goes one day a week, and then they do all of their work at home. But those all moved to online. And then my husband uh, works in the game industry and luckily, they very quickly sent them, I think he's been home since March 13th, they sent them home and as of the latest one, I know they're not going back until at least October, November, and they pretty much said they could work from home indefinitely.
Emma Garcia 5:45
Okay, um, has it changed your employment status or I guess..?
Chris Twing 6:54
So it didn't change mine, obviously.
Emma Garcia 5:56
Mhm.
Chris Twing 5:57
And my husband has been lucky enough that he is in a field that not only has survived this, but it's thriving, because...
Emma Garcia 6:05
Mhm.
Chris Twing 6:06
People are stuck at home and need entertainment. So the games that he works on are things they can do from home. Um, my brother works in the game industry, but he works on physical, he works making physical slot machine games, and he was laid off and just went back about two weeks ago.
Emma Garcia 6:34
Okay, uh, what concerns do you have about the effects of COVID-19 on your employment and the economy more broadly, I guess on your husband's employment?
Chris Twing 6:44
So we're one...[internet connection falters].
Emma Garcia 6:51
Uh oh, sorry, you're cutting out a little bit.
Chris Twing 6:53
Oh, um, what I was saying was I know that we're one of the lucky people but that's not most people. And I worry about poverty and social justice anyway, and this just makes all of that worse.
Emma Garcia 7:16
Mhm. Um, has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the employment of people, you know, and in what ways?
Chris Twing 7:23
Yeah. My mom works in a grocery store. So, it was first there was, you know, everybody loved grocery workers because they were feeding America and they were heroes, and now that Texas has instituted mandatory mask it's a constant fight for her at work. People don't want to stand on the dots they put on the floor. They get mad because they have to wear masks. They get mad because they have to wait.
Emma Garcia 8:04
Okay, how has COVID-19 affected you and your family's day to day activities?
Chris Twing 8:11
We took the stay-at-home order very seriously and stayed home entirely. Um, in the first several weeks, we went to do curbside pickup for groceries and that was it. Um, we didn't go out to eat, not even curbside or anything. Um, we did go for a walk some, but you know if we saw that people would cross the street, that kind of thing. Um, I would say probably the middle of May we started doing curb side, you know, [internet cutting out]often probably two to three times a week, plus our curbside grocery. But aside from that, and we went to a park I think three times we figured in the four months we've been home. Um, but again, we stayed far away from people, went at an off time, things like that. So we've, we've stayed home a lot.
Emma Garcia 9:17
How are you managing day to day activities in your household?
Chris Twing 9:22
Well, since I have a teenager, he likes to stay in his room. And my husband luckily has an office so he can work in there. So that leaves me the rest of the house to kind of putter through and you know, work on this thing or that thing or the other thing.
Emma Garcia 9:42
Okay, what have been the biggest challenges that you've faced during the COVID-19 outbreak?
Chris Twing 9:50
I never before, you know, immigration has been a big thing politically here for ever. And definitely Donald Trump in office, it's really become big again, you know, he stands that we shouldn't let people in and it doesn't matter how terrible things are. And I look at them as
human. And you know, have often thought, Well, what if I was the one that needed to get out of
my country and go somewhere else? And now that's something I seriously consider because
he's doing nothing. And if he were reelected in November, I, you know, people joke about it all
the time, but I've seriously considered it as an option come November, but the [laugh] problem
is, is that the borders are closed. We can't go anywhere, because we're such a hotspot.
Emma Garcia 10:51
Mhm. What have you or your family and friends done for recreation during COVID-19?
Chris Twing 10:59
We take drives from time to time just to get out of the house. Um, but that keeps us away from people. I volunteer with the local Historical Commission. And so we're going to take pictures of historical markers and things to put on the website. That's like our new excitement. [laughs]
Emma Garcia 11:24
Okay, and how about your community? How has the COVID-19 outbreak affected your community?
Chris Twing 11:34
Well, we don't go out a lot, so I'm relying on Face-, you know, Facebook posts and other social media and what I see from my car when we go to get curbside [internet connection cuts out]
Emma Garcia 11:49
Uh oh, you cut out a little bit.
Chris Twing 11:51
Okay. Um, initially people were good at staying home and then once the Texas Governor opened the state at the beginning of May and then opened very, very quickly. And our numbers were not that high in Texas. Everybody was like, Okay, well, no big deal. We're just gonna go back to normal. And I think that's why we are a hotspot now.
Emma Garcia 12:21
How are the people around you responding to the pandemic?
Chris Twing 12:27
Uh, like the people in my house?
Emma Garcia 12:29
Like, um, yeah, I guess your neighborhood, your, your, your neighbors and your
community, uh?
Chris Twing 12:38
Yeah, so we take walks now and again. Now that it's really hot we've stopped, but, um, initially, it was kind of mixed like some people you know, we would be at the mailbox getting our mail, which is not by our house, and somebody would come walking around the corner, and I'm like, wait, you have to stop. We can't move. We're getting our mail. You have to wait. You know? But they will just keep walking. So I felt like I really needed hurry. And I felt weird to say like, “hey, you need to stop and wait”. But at the same time, that's, you know, what I wanted them to do um.
Emma Garcia 13:13
Mhm.
Chris Twing 13:14
And it quickly, you know, that I have little girls that live next to me and there's about six of them on the street and they run around together and initially, they were playing together a whole bunch, and then they stopped for a little while and now they're all together again.
Emma Garcia 13:36
Um, have you seen people around you change their opinions, day to day activities, or relationships in response to a pandemic?
Chris Twing 13:45
[sighs] Most people, you know, stick to what they think. There aren't many people that, that changed their attitude. You know, they either seem to be, this is no big deal and get on with it or they seem to be this is a big deal and do everything they can. I saw one person that kind of changed their tune when Disney closed.
Emma Garcia 14:17
Hm, how, how did they change their tune?
Chris Twing 14:21
Well, they were still planning summer vacations, um, and still pretty much intending to do everything they had, you know, were going to do and once Disney closed, then they started taking it seriously. Um, and I've seen this kind of ebb and flow as the days have progressed. Um, once Texas opened, they started doing a few more things, um, taking their kids, bowling tournaments and, you know, eating out like in the restaurant and things. And then when things started to get bad again, they backed way off.
Emma Garcia 15:12
Um, have you or anybody you know gotten sick COVID-19?
Chris Twing 15:16
My brother did, um, he does. He works for an architect. He does CAD drawings and things. And when Texas went into lockdown, they sent them all home and they were working from home. And the impression I got was that they could continue to work from home but they really wanted everybody in the office. And so they brought everybody back in in May, wants to stay opened back up. And he was sick I think within two weeks, there were four people in his office that got sick, and he was sick for five weeks total. He just got a clear test day before
yesterday. Um, he had a lot of headaches and body aches, he did not have trouble breathing.
But he had symptoms that sort of seemed like heart attacks. So he went to the hospital for that
once and then he went twice because, um, that, like his appendix or what you would normally
think of it as appendicitis symptoms he was having problems with. And they did a couple of
CAT scans and things and said his app- appendix was enlarged from COVID, but it didn't need
to be taken out. And you know, just kind of deal with it. So he did.
Emma Garcia 16:43
And he's doing better now?
Chris Twing 17:22
Yeah. Oh, and then, um, before that the lady across the street from us, um, she's 63 and she died. Now her, she went to the hospital on a Sunday uh, with flu like symptoms. And then they tested her and it was negative and by Wednesday, she had a cardiac event and it was put into a coma, um, like a medically induced coma. And by that Saturday, she had no brain function and they pulled her off life support. So I'm pretty sure that was COVID [laughs].
Emma Garcia 17:28
Oh my gosh. Um, did you know her well?
Chris Twing 17:28
I didn't know her very well, but the gaggle of little girls that play outside, one of them, um, is her granddaughter.
Emma Garcia 17:35
Hm.
Chris Twing 17:36
And so I was really worried about all those little girls. Because her son actually lives two doors down from us too. She-, they live across the street from each other.
Emma Garcia 17:56
What ways do you think that COVID-19 is affecting people mental and our physical health?
Chris Twing 18:03
Terribly. I'm not a super exerciser person anyway, but I've still gotten way more sedentary. Um, and so definitely on the physical side for things like that. Um, I know there are also people that because they're unemployed or because their kids are not at school, they're not getting food that they need so their nutrition is very low. Um, and mentally, it's really hard on everybody. Even if you have a good support system and have all your physical needs met and are not stressing on surviving as far as food, clothes, shelter, you know, you have enough money and things it's still stressful because humans are not meant to be locked up in a box, um. And we do pretty well I would say about once every week or 10 days, I have a day, that I'm just like, what the hell? And I can't do this anymore. And this is never gonna end. You know, and that's largely [laughs] because seems like people in charge aren't doing anything.
Emma Garcia 19:27
Mhm. Um, what have been your primary sources of news during the pandemic?
Chris Twing 19:32
Um, CNN is kind of the daily, but we know, I mean, I'm a liberal person anyway, and they're liberal news outlet, but I know they spin really hard. At times, I think they push it too
far. So we, I always listen, I'm an NPR podcast listener.
Emma Garcia 19:52
Mhm.
Chris Twing 19:53
So I get that which is a little more centrist and then from time to time, we'll watch BBC because are getting, you know, an outside the country view and get some news about what's going on in the rest of the world.
Emma Garcia 20:12
Have your news sources changed during the course of the pandemic?
Chris Twing 20:16
Uh, initially, it was just CNN and NPR and then we added the BBC.
Emma Garcia 10:26
Let's see, what do you think are important issues that the media may- uh, is or is not covering?
Chris Twing 20:36
They seem to only be able to focus on one thing at a time when [sigh] seein things out there that need to be covered. I agree the pandemic is, definitely deserves the most time but they don't seem to be able to talk about anything else at the same time, rather than you know, spending the first 15 minutes of an hour on the pandemic and then spending another 45 minutes on all the things that are happening. They just spend an hour, you know, and essentially 24 hours talking about the same facts with, you know, a different expert or a different pundint. Um, and that was really evident when George Floyd was killed and all the Black Lives Matter, protests happened. It was like the pandemic no longer existed. Um, they even had different, uh, like, screen backgrounds and edges that they've had on for all the pandemic news. And those completely went away, the counters, the case and death counters weren't there anymore. And they focused on the protest, which was fantastic. But then we started seeing spikes of, in the south, especially in the west, and they went to focus on that and now they're not focusing at all on the protests that are still happening or anything else.
Emma Garcia 22:055
Um, all right, and let's talk about the government. How have municipal leaders and government officials in your community responded?
Chris Twing 22:17
Hey, [internet connection issues] -lee, um you know, as most of the country shut down schools and did a stay at home order those things happened. And people are were okay with that for a little while. Once the governor reopened the state, then all bets were off. People did whatever they wanted, including, you know, the local leaders didn't do much. Um, the mayor of Austin has done a little more. Um, and generally once Austin, or Travis County where Austin is, does something, it trickles into my area but uh like last [night] was a city council meeting and they had 140 people signed up to comment during the public comment time. And they said,
okay, well, that was on a Thursday, we're going to move all the public comment time Tuesday
instead. And then on Tuesday, they cancelled it.
Emma Garcia 23:23
So they never heard back from those people?
Chris Twing 23:25
They never had public comment time [laughs]. And their excuse was that the governor put out, um, a mandatory mask order, and has basically said he will not shut the state back down and will not allow the localities to shut the state to shut themselves down. So there was no point in hearing any of the comments.
Emma Garcia 23:47
Okay, um, do you have any thoughts on how local state and federal leaders are responding differently?
Chris Twing 23:59
I think they're all doing bad. [laughs] I would like the grown-ups to come back.
Emma Garcia 24:11
Alright, and let's see, how about the future? Has your experience transformed how you think about your family, friends, and community, and in what ways?
Chris Twing 24:23
Um, to a degree, it just added to my thought that most people don't care about other people that most people are selfish. And, the only people that really matter to me are my husband and my son. You know, even my, you know, parents, brothers, things like that, like, I don't know. You just shouldn't really count on people, they mostly suck.
Emma Garcia 25:03
Okay, and then we're getting to the last few questions here. How does your pan-, how does this pandemic compare to other big events that have happened in your lifetime?
Chris Twing 25:14
So 9/11 was big, the Challenger explosion was bi[g], the 2008 recession was big, but this is a whole different level of big. And I think if we were in the situation that much of Europe is in where, you know, the pandemic arrived, it was horrible, they learned, they put things into place, and they've watched cases slow down, and they've resumed a more normal life. It wouldn't seem like a whole different level of big.
Emma Garcia 26:00
Uh, what do you imagine? Your life will be like in a year?
Chris Twing 26:06
I'm hoping that in a year we might be starting to go back to normal. [_____???] -st and amount of time to get there.
Emma Garcia 26:19
Okay, what do you hope your life will be like in a year?
Chris Twing 26:26
I just would like to be able to have people over and go places again. Um, like most parents, I worry that my kid's isolation is really going to hurt him. Uh, he is an introvert and likes to be online anyway. So he's still connecting with his friends that way. And even before the
pandemic, you kind of have to force him to go out and be with human beings in real life. And
he's realized that he does need that so maybe that'll actually be better and he'll be more willing
to go out.
Emma Garcia 27:08
And knowing what, this last question, uh, knowing what you know now, what do you think the individuals, communities, or governments need to keep in mind for the future?
Chris Twing 27:19
So it kind of goes along with our last presidential election. I don't know if it's my age that I just became more aware or, uh, you know, it's reality is that people have a view of history and government that is not based in reality. And I would really like to see civic education and history education. You know, be better so that when things like 'you need to wear a mask' come up it doesn't become politicized and a point of,' you're taking away my liberty and my freedom by making me wear a mask', because we make you wear pants and that seems to be okay. Um, so.
Emma Garcia 28:15
Mhm. All right. Well, thank you very much for your time. Is there anything else you'd like
to add?
Chris Twing 28:21
No, I think this was good because I got to kind of yell about all the things that have bothered me. [laughs]
Emma Garcia 28:28
[laughs] All right. Well, thank you very much for your time.
Chris Twing 28:30
Thank you.
Emma Garcia 28:31
We're gonna end here.
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