1
250
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https://omeka.madisonpubliclibrary.org/files/original/4fa580692b487b152cf50b0e80bee397.mp3
7e9fa085db0b7ddc16f8a795d97e637a
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Recollection Wisconsin
Sound
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Original Format
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Sound recordings
Duration
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00:07:12
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Identifier: covid19-042<br />Narrator Name: Brian Lee Huynh<br />Interviewer Name: N/A<br />Date of Interview: Spring 2020<br /><br />Brian Lee Huynh: What was once mundane is now exciting to me, was once normal is now a distant memory from a time I might never return to. Since the start of spring break, I’ve been at home in Milwaukee, roughly eighty miles away from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I expected to finish off the remainder of my sophomore year. Of course, that didn’t happen (sighs). <br /><br />Instead of roaming around campus trying to find a quiet place to cram for finals, inevitably ending up in either Memorial Library or some hidden cove in one of the unions, I struggled to find the motivation to study for open-book online exams in my parents’ basement. Finals week didn’t feel like finals week. Clicking “Submit” on my last exam wasn’t as satisfying or as stressful as scrambling to jot down my final thoughts in a lecture hall packed with people who I’d seen all semester, and those who only showed up when their grades depended on it.<br /><br />I’ve come to find that it’s these little details that have made my college experience memorable thus far. And though I was reluctant to admit it at first, the more I think about it, my memories of Madison always bring me back to people, for better or worse. And it’s funny in its way, because I’ll be the first one to tell you that I’m an introvert with enough social anxiety to make large crowds feel like war zones where it’s me against the world. And yet, the thing I miss the most about school and the way things used to be is the people.<br /><br />Now don’t get me wrong—the first week or so of online learning was great. I could sleep at 4 a.m. and wake up at one in the afternoon without being late. I could learn at my own pace without dealing with obnoxious people interrupting class. But after a while, the monotony kicked in, and I would have given anything to have someone enter halfway through a lecture and choose the most inconvenient seat possible, just to remind me that I wasn’t alone, sitting behind the screen during a pandemic.<br /><br />I never thought I would say this, but social distancing is hard, even for introverts. For me, being on the periphery of campus life was mostly a choice, and I enjoyed people watching, looking from afar at strangers I might meet someday and those with paths that would never intersect with mine. It made me feel like I was a part of something, that I wasn’t the only small fish in a gigantic pond of other college students trying to figure out what it all means. The greatest realization that I’ve come to in this time away from others is that technology is not advanced enough, nor will it ever be, to replace human interaction. <br /><br />My most memorable learning experiences involve people in one way or another. Even an introvert like myself is forced to admit that I miss the hustle and bustle of campus life. I miss laughing with people in crowded spaces, I miss trying to stay awake in lecture halls that are always either too hot or too cold, regardless of the time of year. I miss the communal feeling of exhaustion that fills the air during finals season, as well as the shared feeling of relief upon turning in semester-long projects. Isn’t it horrible how we learn to miss things only when they’re gone? I heard somewhere that you can’t miss someone if they won’t go away, and I think I had to learn that one the hard way.<br /><br />My older sister, Linda, graduated from Madison this year, and she also came home to isolate with our parents. You can imagine how little time we’ve spent with them in the last few years, with us both going to college in a different city. I was there when my mom unsuccessfully fought back tears in the long car ride home after leaving Linda in her dorm four years ago. I remember her calling me every day during my freshman year to make sure I was taking my vitamins and wasn’t being too stupid. I owe my mom and dad an apology for every call I never picked up, every message I left unread for weeks. Out of all of the foolish decisions I’ve made in the last two years, the dumbest thing I’ve done in my college career is think I was too busy for my family. We drifted apart. Even back then, technology was not enough to replace human interaction.<br /><br />This time at home has given us a chance to rediscover who we are and to rebuild the bonds that were wearing thin. So, while the coronavirus may have distanced the world, it’s also brought my family back together. We don’t argue as much as we used to. We laugh more often than not, and it kind of feels like we’re kids again. I bother my sister until she punches me while my mom and dad tell jokes and make sure we never go hungry.<br /><br />And while technology is still an incredibly fickle thing, I have to give it credit. It’s also brought the rest of my family closer together. Every day the silence is broken by group calls with family from across the globe, so the house is always buzzing with laughter and new family gossip. Even family we rarely hear from are calling to see how we’re doing.<br /><br />My mom always seems to be the one orchestrating these video calls, which is rather fitting, seeing as she’s always been the one trying to hold things together. She’s always been the type to shoulder every burden without complaining, to go to work before the sun rises and come back just before midnight and still find a way to make dinner. It never occurred to me that my mother is just a human being. Her face is finally starting to show the wrinkles of time that mark the passing of countless birthdays. Bags under her eyes tell the story of her restlessness, most likely from worrying about Linda and me over the years. When she smiles, I can see the creases from the decades of laughter and struggle that have come before. I had to acknowledge for the first time that she’s not getting any younger, and neither are we. Linda’s twenty-three. I’m turning twenty in June. My dad’s hair count is nearing the single digits. <br /><br />The pandemic has made me address truths that I’ve been too afraid or too oblivious to face. In this time away from the countless distractions of the world, I’ve been forced to stand at the periphery of my own life and look inward, at the past, present, and what it means for the future. And I can’t help but worry. When this eventually ends and we start to reclaim bits and pieces of what once was our normal lives, will I fall back into my old ways? Will we drift apart once more? And will it take another earth-shattering loss for me to appreciate what I have? (Sighs.) As with everything these days, I don’t know.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
COVID-19 story by Brian Lee Huynh, 2020
Subject
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College students
Epidemics
College campuses
Social distance
Family relationships
Rights
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Copyright 2020, Brian Lee Huynh. All rights reserved. For more information, contact Madison Public Library.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Huynh, Brian Lee
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020-05-06
Description
An account of the resource
Brian Lee Huynh shares a story about his experience finishing the 2020 academic year at home, due to social distance measures in place in Wisconsin. Brian reflects on how being at home with his family has helped them reconnect and become closer at this time.<br /><br />This story was recorded for the Madison podcast, <em>Inside Stories</em>. To hear the full episode and to subscribe to the podcast, click here: <a href="https://inside-stories.simplecast.com/episodes/inside-stories-covid-19-6">https://inside-stories.simplecast.com/episodes/inside-stories-covid-19-6</a>
Coverage
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Madison, Wisconsin
Language
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en
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
covid19-042
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Jane Wolff
cat-education
cat-family
cat-inside_stories
covid19
covid19-042
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https://omeka.madisonpubliclibrary.org/files/original/826251326440419633237306588a73fe.mp3
2c720f33ae32953645bb7b5327bd7706
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Recollection Wisconsin
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Sound recordings
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:29:37
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Identifier: covid19-048<br />Narrator Name: Christa Parmentier<br />Interviewer Name: Danny Atwater<br />Date of interview: 5/14/2020<br /><br />Index<br />[00:00:00] - Start of interview<br />[00:01:31] - What have the past few weeks looked like for you<br />[00:05:24] - What does distance learning look like for your kids<br />[00:09:09] - What does heading off to college look like for your older kids<br />[00:10:24] - What was it like when the library closed, and how has work shifted over time<br />[00:17:54] - How has work changed to offering public services again<br />[00:19:29] - Is there a reference question that jumps out as being memorable<br />[00:22:11] - How has curbside service been going so far<br />[00:22:37] - Are there any news stories, images, moments that stand out to you<br />[00:25:36] - What sorts of things are you doing for your own mental wellbeing<br />[00:26:32] - What positive changes do you hope will have resulted from this experience<br />[00:28:38] - Is there anything else that you want to discuss<br />[00:29:32] - Thank you <br /><br />[START OF RECORDING]<br /><br />[00:00:00]<br />Interviewer: My name is Danny Atwater, and I am a library assistant for Madison Public Library. This interview is being recorded as part of the Madison Living History Project: Stories from a Distance series. Today’s date is Thursday, May 14th, 2020, and this interview is being conducted via the video conferencing software Zoom. I’ll have our storyteller introduce themselves; please tell us your first and last name, and describe your connection to Madison.<br /><br />Christa Parmentier: Hi, my name is Christa Parmentier, and right now I am at home on the east side of Madison, in the Darbo-Worthington neighborhood. I’ve lived here, in this house, for about eight and a half years. I moved to Madison in 1990 when I was starting high school. I had an older sister who was in school here, and my family moved here from Milwaukee. And I’ve more or less lived here since then—with some jaunts elsewhere in the country. My mom had a business on the east side of Madison for over twenty years; it was a little cafe, and I worked with her there. That was about my whole adult life before I started working for the Madison Public Library, which is where I work now. I work at the South Madison location on Park Street. I’ve been there for about two years and I really love working for the library. I feel like I’ve found my home.<br /><br />[00:01:31]<br />Interviewer: Well, thank you for joining us, Christa, and for being willing to share your story. What have the past few weeks looked like for you, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Safer at Home order that was issued by the governor?<br /><br />Christa Parmentier: Well, it has certainly been a dynamic time. I remember very vividly the last day that I worked in the library was March thirteenth. It was a Friday, and I actually had a plan to visit New York City with my seventeen-year-old daughter. My brother-in-law lives in Brooklyn, and we were going to go for her spring break and just live it up in New York. And, you know, that last week, before the shutdown, things were just kind of, like, slowly but inexorably moving forward, and I think that I was in a state of, just like, complete and utter bewilderment. Like, what was happening, and I was still thinking that I was going to go to New York, even as late as Friday morning. And I was at work Friday morning and, you know, my supervisor came in and she was telling us, you know, what might be happening with the city in terms of closures and with the libraries, and I remember her saying that if the school district closed schools, the library would almost certainly close. So, it was like, just all these little pieces sort of just one by one falling. And my brother-in-law called me that morning and he said that he had just been to the store in Brooklyn to try and get some supplies for our trip, and he said that there was nothing on the shelves and he went to five different stores. And he said that he didn’t think it was a good idea for us to come. And, you know, that whole week it was like, while everything was happening I still had my sights set on that trip, we were so excited about it. And, you know, Broadway shut down. We were going to go see Stephen Colbert, and that was done. So, it was like, little by little, it was just eroding. And then, that was that. It was over. And then, that weekend, things just kind of played out slowly with the library and finally, the beginning of the following week, we shut down. <br />Anyway, so (laughs) that was like, that was the beginning. It was, it was just, I think it was like this for everybody. We just were so disbelieving of what was happening, and how it was going to affect us personally. And I was, you know, holding on to this vision of normal and then it was just poof. It was gone and we were in our homes and, gosh, it seems like so long ago now. And it is! And, yeah, I guess I would say, like, over the course of these last nine weeks, you know, my family has—I have three kids that are home with me, and my husband. I’ve got a nineteen-year-old, and a seventeen-year-old, and a ten-year-old. So they’re all, you know, at different stages with school; they’re all in school, but, like, my older kids (laughs) have really struggled to adapt to going to school online, and I could go on and on and on. (laughs) I don’t know how much you want to hear about that.<br /><br />[00:05:24]<br />Interviewer: Actually, that would be great to talk about: if you could tell us a little bit about what distance learning looks like for your kids, especially their different age levels right now.<br /><br />Christa Parmentier: Sure, yeah. I mean, it’s really different for my older kids and my youngest. So, my youngest, she’s in fourth grade. She loves school and once they figured out, once the school district figured out the online learning and they started to introduce, you know, they have Zoom meetings, they have online lessons that they do for various programs; she was really excited and eager to do all that work. And she loves to read, and she hasn’t had, really, any difficulty with, sort of, performing the tasks that the kids are being asked to do right now, and I think she’s got a great teacher who’s doing a beautiful job of taking care of the kids distantly and keeping them connected with bi-weekly Zoom meetings and fun things to do. So, she’s doing pretty well with school. <br />My older kids are—(laughs) It’s just been sort of impossible, I think, for them to perform. I think that they feel a lot of anxiety, and it makes sense to me. You know, thinking about myself at that age, I was so eager to get out in the world and explore and have adventures, and it’s like the opposite for them. Their reality is that they have to just be at home, and not see their friends. And so, I think it’s really hard on them, and also, you know, the world already felt really kind of dire. (laughs) You know? There’s so many intensely pressing problems facing this generation, and I think it was bad enough. And now, with this pandemic, I think that sense of uncertainty about the future for the teenagers is just, it’s kind of unimaginable. I mean, I think they really feel like we’re in the end of the world. And it’s hard for them to focus on school. (laughs) You know, like, what’s the motivation there? I don’t know. So, I’ve been, as a parent, trying to just support their well being and their mental health and emotional health. And honestly, whatever they can or can’t do as far as school performance, I’m not going to worry about it because it’s just—if it's too much for them, I think that’s okay. And sometimes I have to push them. Like, okay, you didn’t do any of your work this semester, but could you just email your professor so they know that you’re still out here? And, you know, maybe they’ll pass you. (laughs) I don’t know. (sighs) I don’t know. It’s rough.<br /><br />[00:09:09]<br />Interviewer: You said your oldest is nineteen, I think.<br /><br />Christa Parmentier: Right.<br /><br />Interviewer: Are they looking at heading off to college? And, what does that look like?<br /><br />Christa Parmentier: Yeah, he actually is at Madison College. And my seventeen year old, she is technically a junior in high school, but she’s in the STEM program, which is a partnership with Madison College and Madison Metropolitan School District. So, she’s in this cohort of kids that are going to school at Madison College, taking the regular college-level classes, but also completing their high school credits at the same time. So, it’s really a great program, but I think the drawback for her is that, you know, she’s in college but she’s in high school; her high school friends are, you know, doing their own thing with all the social aspects of being in the same place—well, before COVID. Anyway, so, they’re both in school at Madison College, my older kids, and, I mean, they both want to continue with school, but (laughs) yeah, we’re just kind of waiting and seeing what’s going to happen.<br /><br />[00:10:24]<br />Interviewer: Let’s go back to your work with Madison Public Library. You talked a little bit about what it was like leading up to the closure; could you tell us more about when the closure happened? And then, what work began to look like, if there was work, and how that shifted over the course of time. <br /><br />Christa Parmentier: Yeah, so, if I can remember clearly, when the library did finally close—I mean, it was a real hard pivot because we were so excited about the opening of new Pinney, and that was exactly when the pandemic unfolded, and they had to shut everything. We shut down, and what the managers did is they directed staff to professional development. We were given access to a whole bunch of resources, webinars to participate in. And then, you know, we started to connect over email and via Zoom and develop, like, projects. Okay the library’s closed now; what can we do? (talking aside to child) So then it became sort of exciting, in the sense of, we had a little bit of a pause, like, here’s something to do while we figure out what to do long term, or however long this term is going to be, because everything’s just so unknown. But, what I found really awesome and exciting was that we have this organization that’s full of really creative people, and really resourceful people, and people who desire so much to serve our community. And, so everybody turned their focus on well, how can we do that if we can’t open to the public? What can we do to improve our organization? And so, people just started generating ideas! It was a really neat thing too because we do sort of have a hierarchy in our organization where we’ve got the higher-ups that sort of make decisions about what’s going to happen, but, in this time, what I’ve seen is that people have really been given an opportunity to have a voice, to participate in conversations in a really real way about how we can improve our services.<br />One of the workgroups that I’m in, in normal MPL life, is the Employee Engagement Team, so as Engagement Team met over Zoom to talk about, like, how can we help staff stay engaged and connected when we’re all in our homes? One of the ideas that came up was how this time is particularly impactful for people, like myself, who are parents and caregivers, as we adjust to working from home. And so we formed a workgroup, and I guess because that was my idea I got (laughs) to be in charge of it. So the parent/caregiver support team was born. So that’s been some of the work that I’ve really enjoyed a lot. There’s been a lot of interest in it, and once I put out a call for, you know, for help, basically—because it was just me to begin with—a lot of people stepped up and we talked about ways to support staff. We put out a survey to staff like, What supports would be useful to you? And a couple of the things that were most requested were a discussion forum, and also resources for staff. And so what I’m talking about, when I say parents, that’s pretty obvious, but caregivers is, I think, also really important because there are a lot of us who have aging parents. Like myself, my mom is seventy-five and her health is not super robust, and she, fortunately, lives really close by to me, so I’m able to give her a lot of support. But, you know, at the same time, the more (laughs) you’re doing for other people, it takes a toll. So we wanted to support people in situations like that. I also have a brother who has a disability and I’m a support person for him, and I know that there are others in our organization who are in similar situations. It’s just a lot to keep afloat when you’re working and looking after a lot of people, so we wanted to sort of curate resources and have that connection point, that discussion forum. <br />We were able to get the support from Madison Public Library to work on that. Our wonderful digital librarian, Jake Ineichen, developed a platform for us to do that digitally. I feel like it’s my baby; I’ve been watching it grow. The forum and the resources are located in one spot on our MPLnet, so people can subscribe to it. We’ve got, like, thirty-three members right now, and people were a little shy to post at first. Then I was just like, Okay, I’m going to keep on posting things (laughs) to sort of try to, you know, fish for responses, and— Like I posted a parenting haiku challenge, and that’s been fun to watch that discussion thread grow with parenting haikus. Anyway, I feel like, Okay, it’s on its own legs now; it’s walking. It’s been really great and rewarding to see that.<br />The other thing that our team has done is the teen Zoom sitting. A couple of us on the support group have teenagers and this felt like a really cool way to sort of give them something to do because—you know how I was talking about them feeling, like overwhelmed, and lost, and maybe hopeless? So this is, like, we’re giving them an opportunity to do something positive, and we’re serving people. So, what the teen Zoom sitting is, is we’ve got a couple of teens who are offering a Zoom meeting with, like, a focus; like, one coworker’s son did an origami project, and my son did a storytelling and drawing thing. So, this was the first week we did it. The response has been really great, and we’re going to continue offering it. And I actually got two more teen recruits, so we’re going to expand our teen Zoom sitting offerings. So, MPL staff with kids can sign up for one of these sessions, and maybe get a break; maybe just go make dinner while somebody is engaging with their kids, and it’s a teenager so that’s kind of fun. (laughs)<br /><br />[00:17:54]<br />Interviewer: As Wisconsin shifts a little bit more towards opening, with the Badger Bounceback Plan, and, you know, various restrictions being slowly dialed down, how has work begun to change from these workgroups to offering public services again?<br /><br />Christa Parmentier: Yeah, definitely. So, a couple weeks ago we started offering the phone reference service. There has been a reference email throughout this closure, but we’re very aware that there are thousands of people in the city that don’t have access to the internet, that don’t have a computer at home, so we created this system where people can call a number—315-5151—to reach a phone reference person. This is something that staff are able to connect to from home, so we’re not having to leave the house to go and offer this service; we can do it from our computers. So, when people call they reach a reference librarian, and they can ask whatever kinds of questions they’ve got, and people have all sorts of different questions: sometimes they’re looking for a person that they don’t have their address or their phone number; sometimes they want to find out about a resource or, like, is a business open, or, gosh, I mean, there’s a million different things. So, it’s kind of awesome because anybody with any kind of question can call and someone (laughs) will answer and try to answer it. <br /><br />[00:19:29]<br />Interviewer: Is there one question that jumps out as being very memorable to you during this time?<br /><br />Christa Parmentier: (laughs) I don’t know. There was a lady that called who wanted to know if the arboretum was still open, and she was really looking forward to this time of year when the arboretum is really lovely; there’s blooming crabapples and lilacs; it’s very fragrant and beautiful, and she didn’t know if she could get there, if it was going to be open or not. And that’s also a place that I love, so I got to connect with this lady about our mutual love for that beautiful place at this time of year. And yes, it is open. (laughs) And then, we were sort of wrapping up, and then she started to tell me about how her rearview mirror had fallen off of her car, and she had gotten it fixed, but she wanted to know what she could do to prevent that from happening again (laughs) in the future. So, that’s like one of those pretty fun reference questions where you're like, I have no idea what the answer to this question is, but I’m going to look it up and—yeah, that was a good one.<br />The other service, obviously, that started this week is curbside pickup. In Madison, the libraries have opened up for people to be able to get items from the library. There’s a whole process that they have to go through to place holds online or over the phone, that number that I mentioned earlier, and then they have to call and schedule a pickup time. And I think a lot of people are probably pretty accustomed to processes like this, because curbside pickup is sort of the norm now for restaurants and grocery stores and you name it. So that started this week and it’s really, really, really nice to be able to serve people. Like, in the first several weeks of Safer at Home, we were focusing on how we can improve our services within the library for when we do, eventually, reopen; now we’re sort of incrementally offering services to the public again, and I know that I’m not alone in feeling really gratified that we can do that. It’s also really hard, and it’s really stressful. And, you know, like everyone else, you’re out in the world in a new way, and we’re wearing masks, and that’s odd, and we have to keep apart from each other, and that’s odd. I mean I think, little by little, we’re adjusting, but it’s difficult.<br /><br />[00:22:11]<br />Interviewer: How has the curbside service been going so far? <br /><br />Christa Parmentier: So far, so good. I think that people are really, really excited to be able to get new library materials. They’re really excited that we have something for them. And, I would say, I haven’t encountered anybody that’s been less than grateful, you know, that they can do that again.<br /><br />[00:22:37]<br />Interviewer: Just thinking about this time period in general, are there any particular, perhaps, news stories, or images, or moments, even personal moments, that stand out to you?<br /><br />Christa Parmentier: Well, it’s definitely been a roller coaster. I mean, there’s been a lot of beautiful things like, I think, a lot of people being able to spend more time with their families, if they have families, you know, that’s always mixed, but it’s lovely. Oh, I’m listening to my daughter and my husband argue right now. That’s a thing. (laughs) Like, being at work but also, (laughs) you know, having that listening ear for, What else is going on in this household? So that’s, that’s a big thing. I don’t know. <br />I think the toll on people is not to be underestimated. Like, one thing that really does stand out to me was a couple weeks into the Safer at Home, I was over at my mom’s house doing some yard work, and we were, like, bagging up leaves, you know, we had raked, and we were bagging up the moldy old leaves from last year, and I think I started to have an allergic reaction, and then that triggered an anxiety, or, what’s it called? A panic attack. I’d never had a panic attack before. I didn’t know what was happening, but I started to feel like I couldn’t breathe, and so naturally I was like, Oh, I’ve got COVID! I’m dying! So that really stands out to me as a real climax of all the stress and fear of this time. Experiencing that in my body in a way that had never happened to me before. I was holding my husband’s hand, like, We got to make a plan if I die! You know, like, we hadn’t had that conversation ever. Like, What are you going to do if I die? And so, you know, thank God I had someone to help me through that time. I mean, he just stayed with me and reminded me to breathe, and eventually, I kind of came down and I was okay, but it was terrible. And I know that that kind of anxiety and fear are, I mean, everybody’s feeling it to some degree right now. So, I feel for people. And I feel for people that don’t have somebody to hold their hand.<br /><br />[00:25:36]<br />Interviewer: What sorts of things are you doing for your own mental wellbeing?<br /><br />Christa Parmentier: Getting outside is probably number one for me. It’s such a beautiful time of year, and I love to go on bike rides and walks, and doing that with my family is super awesome, super fun. I went on a late night walk with my husband one night, and we just kind of rambled. We never had done that before, way past bedtime. (laughs) So, that’s always, always, always helpful to me. And, what else? Like, connecting with friends over Zoom, or in whichever way we do it, like, you know, standing on somebody’s porch and talking. That’s been super helpful too.<br /><br />[00:26:32]<br />Interviewer: At some point in the future this will be behind us. What positive changes do you hope will have resulted from this experience that we all went through? <br /><br />Christa Parmentier: Well, I certainly hope that all of the dysfunction in our society that has been really laid bare in this time, with people having unequal access to health care, or, you know, just the deep inequities in our economy. The fact that there are millions of people that are out of work and—I don’t know what I’m trying to say. I mean, I know what I’m trying to say. You know, we have a really, really unequal distribution of wealth in our society, and so the way that this pandemic affects people absolutely correlates to where they stand with their income level, or with their race. And so, what I hope is that those realities being so magnified right now will have a lasting impact in how we move forward as a society in trying to achieve equity, and in caring for members of our society, people we may or may not know. Like, I think that that’s something that exists, that sort of loving your neighbor thing. I think we have that, but I think that our policies and our structure doesn’t really reflect that. And so, yeah, I hope we move forward in that way. Yeah. <br /><br />[00:28:38]<br />Interviewer: Is there anything else that you want to discuss that didn’t come up in this time? <br /><br />Christa Parmentier: I don’t know. I hope that other people like me have gotten an opportunity to connect with people in a new way, in a more authentic way. I think it’s so ironic that we have—you know, we’re talking to each other in Zoom meetings. I mean, we are. I don’t know what other people are doing, but we are, and there’s just something kind of neat about being with a person in their home. You know, we don’t have to have our masks on in the same way that we do as we move about the world, in the normal pre-COVID world. There’s just been a really neat, new way of connecting that I think is really cool, and I hope that other people have gotten to experience, too.<br /><br />[00:29:32]<br />Interviewer: Christa, thank you for taking the time to share your story with us today.<br /><br />Christa Parmentier: Thanks, Danny.<br /><br />[END OF RECORDING]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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COVID-19 story by Christa Parmentier, 2020
Subject
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Epidemics
Public libraries
Social distance
Distance education
Rights
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Copyright 2020, Christa Parmentier and Madison Public Library. All rights reserved. For more information, contact Madison Public Library.
Creator
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Parmentier, Christa
Contributor
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Atwater, Daniel
Propheter, Nicholas
Glaeser, Colleen
Date
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2020-05-14
Description
An account of the resource
Christa Parmentier describes her and her family's experiences during the social distancing measures in Madison, Wisconsin in spring 2020. Christa talks about the emotional challenges facing her children as they navigate distance learning in the midst of a pandemic and existing social pressures. Christa describes remote library work, especially her work on the Parent and Caregivers Support Group, which is designed to offer different kinds of forums and support for library staff that are parents or caregivers for family members.
Coverage
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Madison, Wisconsin
Language
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en
Identifier
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covid19-048
cat-education
cat-family
cat-work
covid19
covid19-048
-
https://omeka.madisonpubliclibrary.org/files/original/1edc55cd004f817a1acadcdaea1c51ce.mp3
5edff1f7eae107990539482492b4ae03
Dublin Core
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Title
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Recollection Wisconsin
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sound recordings
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00:23:58
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Identifier: covid19-053<br />Narrator Name: Mouna Algahaithi<br />Interviewer Name: [Laura Damon-Moore - though not stated in interview itself]<br />Date of interview: 6/12/2020<br /><br />INDEX<br />[00:00:00] - Start of interview<br />[00:00:51] - Topic that narrator wanted to share - celebrating Ramadan during a pandemic<br />[00:07:17] - Takeaways from this year that you will take with you into future years<br />[00:08:55] - How the pandemic has changed the ways that Muslims around the world are using social media and other platforms to share their experiences<br />[00:10:44] - Planning for the new mosque in Madison<br />[00:13:08] - Where is the new mosque located?<br />[00:13:07] - What does work at Wisconsin Public Television look like for you<br />[00:19:58] - What does this time mean for the future of education and learning<br />[00:23:38] - Is there anything we have not talked about yet<br /><br /><br />[START OF RECORDING]<br /><br />Interviewer: It’s Friday, June 12, 2020. I'm here for the Madison Public Library's Stories from a Distance project. Our narrator will introduce themselves and share their connection to Madison.<br /><br />Mouna Algahaithi: Hi everyone. My name is Mouna Algahaithi, and I am an education engagement specialist at PBS Wisconsin, and I have spent the last five years in Madison. I moved back to Madison to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison where I graduated with a degree in education policy studies and with a certificate in criminal justice. And other than that, my major connection with Madison is just that my mom was born and raised here, and so I feel like I had easier access to Madison rather than moving to a different place for school.<br /><br />[00:00:51]<br />Interviewer: Thank you so much, Mouna, for taking the time to share your story today. I believe that you had a particular topic that you wanted to talk about, so feel free to take that away.<br /><br />Mouna Algahaithi: Okay. So one unique thing that's happened ever since the pandemic hit is celebrating Ramadan from a distance. And what Ramadan typically looks like is it's a month of fasting for Muslims worldwide. And so Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, and it's a month of reflection, of spiritual rejuvenation, a month of charity, and it's really a time to gain deeper relationships with yourself, with God, and with your community. And typically what a regular Ramadan might look like is going to the mosque frequently, so several times a week, if not every night, because people will be breaking fast together, and we will be doing night prayers together, and it's really a time of celebrating, right? You fast all day but you're continuing your regular work life and your regular social life, but then you notice how different that changes when you can't drink anything and you can't eat anything. And so the time of breaking fast, which is called iftar, is a really special time to be with friends and to be with loved ones and to be able to kind of celebrate that together. And when the initial Safer at Home began on–I think it was March 16–we were told that we would, you know, be out of the office for two weeks. And while I had a feeling it would be longer than that, I knew that Ramadan wasn't going to begin until April 24, and so I thought, Hey, I think we'll be back to normal before then, and then there was kind of this–um, I kind of stopped thinking that. I, I-it's almost like I couldn't comprehend that Ramadan would be different this year, and so I kept pushing that thought off, taking things day by day because I was struggling in my own way with even adapting to working from home and being, you know, socially isolated from people that I loved and cared about, and so I kind of just kept pushing it off, that Ramadan was so close. <br /><br />And then, I think it was about a week beforehand–I think it was like four days beforehand–and I was like, Oh my goodness! This is happening. Ramadan's happening and we're not even allowed at the mosque. And that was really difficult. I struggled, thinking about how am I going to attain the same level of spiritual rejuvenation, of spiritual connectivity with myself and my fellow Muslims in Madison without being able to be with them, without being able to go to the mosque and engage in that worship? And I was really interested to see the way that different Muslims from around the country were reacting to Ramadan in the pandemic. And it was really helpful to see a lot of spiritual leaders use social media platforms to answer so many questions that people had, right? How do we offer the night prayers at home? How do we find and access spirituality without a community? And what was really beautiful was this reminder that part of the beauty of spirituality in Islam is that you don't need anyone else to achieve that connection with God. It starts with yourself. It's–you know, our prayers are unique because while we may be encouraged to pray in congregation, it's still an individual act that's happening, right? So there's that collective worship, there's that collective benefit, but at the same time it's my intimate conversation, my one-on-one conversation with God. And so, it was really beautiful to get to spend the month cultivating spirituality within my own home, not having to leave to find it, and to do different practices in my home that I normally wouldn't do, things that I would normally seek out at the mosque, and so my husband and I would pray the night prayers here together and it was–it was actually really beautiful. There weren't, you know, screaming children running around and, you know, all the chaos that comes with being surrounded by a lot of different people. <br /><br />And so, it really turned into a month of more intentional introspection, and actually ended up being one of my favorite Ramadans, and now that it's been several weeks since Ramadan has passed, I actually find myself missing it, missing that intentional space that was created because I knew that if I didn't put anything into the month, then I wouldn't get anything out of it. If I just continued to do everything regular–you know, waking up, working from home, yada yada, it wouldn't feel like Ramadan except I'd be hungrier than normal. I'd be thirstier than normal. And so, it was definitely unique to see the ways that people adapted to not being able to be together, so I saw people doing virtual iftars, right? So, being on Zoom but breaking fasting together. And it's like, You can't try what I'm eating, but you can see me eat it. And finding that connection there. One of my friends did an iftar drop-off, so she brought a whole meal to my house and just left it in the trunk of her car, and then my husband went and grabbed it, and so it was, you know, a no-contact delivery. And that was so sweet! And even seeing different social media influencers use their platforms, whether it was Instagram or even TikTok to talk about spiritual topics, but in a really engaging way that connects with the younger Muslims today. So it was really amazing to see the way that the Muslim community still found a way to be together, even from a distance.<br /><br />[00:07:17]<br />Interviewer: Mouna, thank you. Yeah, thank you for that picture, that image. Thank you. Are there takeaways, do you think, from this particular year's celebration for you that you feel like even once things are open, even in a non-pandemic year, that you will take with you into the future because of this unique situation that we've found ourselves in?<br /><br />Mouna Algahaithi: Yeah, so typically Ramadan, if I don't go to the mosque or night prayers, I kind of feel guilty, and I'm like, Oh, come on, Mouna, this is a special month. You should really be there, at the mosque, doing your prayers. And one thing that I learned this year is that even the prophet--Peace be upon him, the prophet Muhammed, peace be upon him--is somebody that we look up to for guidance on how to practice Islam--the prophet Muhammed wouldn't pray every night during Ramadan at the mosque, right? He would pray the first few nights, and then would pray the rest at home. And looking to that example as a way to cultivate spirituality in your own home was really special for me, because something that I'm going to be bringing to future Ramadans is–I guess something I won't be bringing is that guilt of not going to the mosque for every single night for Ramadan, knowing that I can still have iftars with friends, have these experiences with my family, but also really be intentional about creating that space at home, was something that I'll definitely be carrying into future Ramadans.<br /><br />[00:08:55]<br />Interviewer: Amazing. Would you say that it is–you know you talked about, like, there being more of a social media--that platforms were being used in a different way. Yeah, do you think that there is, you know, in recent years has that been more of a space for Muslims around the world to share their experiences, or is it typically more of a localized, in-person community and--yeah, and how, I guess, what has that looked like immediately previous to the pandemic and then with this year--you know, you touched on that.<br /><br />Mouna Algahaithi: Absolutely. So typically things are very localized, right? I mean, we have, you know, world-wide scholars who will do a seminar or a lecture that you can watch on YouTube, and that's been happening for a while, but there are definitely these localized components that because of the pandemic we've had access to. So, for example, in Madison we don't have a lot of programming that goes on for Muslims. It's something that we're working on, but when I would travel to other Muslim communities in Boston, or in California, I would notice how active they were, how many different activities were being hosted for people of all ages, all different types of backgrounds, and I really wished that was something that we had in Madison. But it was kind of closed off; it’s like, unless you're in Berkeley, you're not going to be attending that, that discussion with other Muslim sisters on that, you know, topic. And so, that was one beautiful thing that came out of this, was that things that were happening in Berkeley, or in Austin, Texas, or in New York were now available for somebody in Madison, Wisconsin, to be chiming in to and to be building community with.<br /><br />[00:10:44]<br />Interviewer: That’s amazing. Thank you. So just on a sort of related, well, related topic, can you tell us a little bit about the new–the efforts around planning for the new mosque here in Madison and just sort of where that process is and where the Madison Muslim community is in terms of generating support for that project?<br /><br />Mouna Algahaithi: Yeah, we are really excited about the new mosque. We have certainly outgrown our--we, there are currently three mosques in Madison. There's one on the east side, the west side, and downtown. And the one on the west side is the one that I go to most often, and it's most convenient for me. And people–they've had to institute, you know, two Friday prayers because one would fill up too much and there wouldn't be space for others to pray, right? And that just speaks to the level of engagement with the Muslim community, but there's also so many of us here in Madison, and we need a bigger space to pray, to congregate. We need an intentional space, too, that has an office so that we can have different types of programming for youth or people who convert to Islam. I remember in a lot of the work that I do when it comes to sharing--spreading awareness on Islam, people would come and say "Where is an Islamic resource center, where can I go in Madison to learn more about Islam or to meet other Muslims?" Currently there isn't something that's that easy to access, and so I'm so excited about the new mosque that's being built because it will have those things. It will have a community room, it will have office space, it will have a huge men and women's section. There will be a kid room, and that is just going to completely change the way that the Muslim community can interact with each other and with non-Muslims in the community. And so the exterior of the building has already been built, which is really exciting--so I think that was a part of Phase 1--and now they're working on installing, you know, electricity and plumbing. So we're pretty close to it being open, but we do have a lot more [unintelligible] and so that's kind of the biggest thing that's happening right now, is getting that money that we need to complete the building of the mosque so that we can finally have those doors opened and build community together that way.<br /><br />[00:13:08]<br />Interviewer: Thank you. Where is the new mosque located?<br /><br />Mouna Algahaithi: It’s going to be on the west side, kind of near the west side Woodman's.<br /><br />[00:13:07]<br />Interviewer: Okay, great, thank you. And, Mouna, I'm wondering if you would actually, because you, you know, you said you work for Wisconsin Public Television and in working with early literacy and family education and things like that, would you be willing to share a little bit about what work looks like for you. You know, at the beginning of this, you know, sort of pre-Safer at Home and then now during Safer at Home, and just what that experience has been like for you.<br /><br />Mouna Algahaithi: So at PBS Wisconsin, I have the privilege of getting to work with young learners and their families and educators around the state. A lot of my work has been, um, within these last two years has been focused in the areas of Westby and Cashton, which are two rural communities that we selected to kind of have a deep connection with, and more of a deeper partnership with, in terms of influencing activities. And, before the pandemic hit, I had, between February and June, weekly activities planned, so we had weekly events planned, where I would be traveling to Westby or Cashton, which is a two-hour drive from Madison, and then we would be putting on different fun events that are, you know, connected to PBS Kids characters, but involve, you know, this multimedia approach of reading a book, watching an episode, sharing a meal together, and then build a hands-on activity that relates to the media that we interacted with. And it's a super fun, educational way to connect with families, and that's kind of what that looked like is–and what my schedule looked like is that weekly we had, we had those scheduled, so I was going to be busy. I was set for several months in terms of traveling and driving and getting my fair share of mileage (laughs) accrued. <br /><br />Once the pandemic hit it was suddenly all of these events that we had planned were canceled, and so it was quite the experience looking at my calendar and just deleting all of these events that we had spent months planning for. I actually visited the office recently, and it was really weird to walk into the office and see three totes labeled with the dates and activities and events and looking at them and thinking, Those never happened. And now they're just sitting there, ready to be used, right? These materials are ready to be in the hands of kiddos and their families, and so it was really difficult for me when Safer at Home first began because I thought, What can I do now? How do I continue to serve early learners and their families? And I saw a really powerful Mr. Rogers quote about whenever something scary happens, look for the helpers, and I thought, How am I a helper right now? What can I do to be a helper? <br /><br />I am so fortunate to have gotten to work with One City Schools, which is a charter school here on the south side of Madison, and I actually was an assistant teacher there before I started my job at PBS Wisconsin, so I had that connection with students and with some of the families there and the teachers. I had already in January done a weekly series, a weekly STEM series, at One City as part of their school day. They have academies, which are basically an opportunity for organizations to come in and organize an activity with kids. And so, I got to spend each week in January with kiddos doing different STEM experiments. And so with my current role at PBS Wisconsin I had gotten to kind of establish a partnership with One City Schools and I reached out to my friend at One City. Her name is Lucy, and I said, Hey, what are the chances that we could facilitate something virtual for these kiddos, that we could continue the excitement that so many kids had at those STEM in-person workshops, virtually. And one thing I love about Lucy is she's very willing to give things a try. She was like, "Hey, why not? Let's do it. Let's start next week." And I'm like, Let's do it! Yes! And that was exactly the type of energy that I needed because one thing that came with this pandemic, I think, especially when it comes to the workforce, is a greater acceptance of failure, a greater acceptance of risk. And knowing that we're in a time where we can't really plan and what might happen, right? We're experimenting a lot--with new technology, with new ways of connection, with new ways of communicating. And so, knowing that we're kind of in–during a time where risk is needed to try new things, right? That's, I think, kind of the impetus for innovation, is taking a risk for something new, and so Lucy kind of gave me the go-ahead and said, "Hey, let's, let's do this. Let's try it out. We'll have a weekly PBS Kids Science Lab. We'll see how many kids show up. We'll make it half an hour, so it's, you know, it's very accessible." And, I thought, Okay, half an hour is a very short amount of time. What is something we can do that's meaningful? And so the way that we had it set up, we actually just had our last one this week. We ended up doing eight weeks of this weekly program. And what we did is, we would watch a PBS Kids episode, we would listen–we would learn the vocabulary from that episode, and then we'd extract a hands-on experiment from that episode. So, for example, in one of the episodes we saw Nick, Sally, and Cat in the Hat trying to test out different bridges, and then kids got to build their own bridges. And then what they would do is they'd have the week to do the challenge of the week and then on Friday they would show and tell, they could come and show the thing that they had created. And what I heard from Lucy is it was the highlight of virtual learning. The engagement was incredibly high. Children loved attending and seeing a PBS character that they already love, that they might already be watching, but with a different lens, because now they're doing it knowing that, Hey, I'm looking for this particular theme, I'm looking for this specific vocabulary word and I'm going to be applying this to my own creation pretty soon. And so it was a really beautiful way to blend learning and fun in a hands-on way with connecting students that I already had relationships with.<br /><br />[00:19:58]<br />Interviewer: Thank you. You definitely spoke to this but I wonder, I am so interested in this idea of risk and experimenting and having the pandemic be this impetus for that. As somebody who works in that education space, can you reflect a little bit on what this time might mean for the future of education and learning, family learning, early childhood learning, things like that. Can you just reflect on that a little bit?<br /><br />Mouna Algahaithi: Mm-hmm. I think that as we move forward with whatever format schools are going to be taking in the next year--which will likely be either an experiment, of hey, let's just go back and try to do some socially distant activities and seating and whatnot, or let's create some sort of hybrid, where we'll do some things online and some things in person. I think what people are going to get more comfortable with is the virtual format, and I think that now more than ever is an incredibly important time for parents and for teachers to recognize the role that technology can play in learning. I think so often the conversation is about screen time is bad, you know, technology is bad, we need to focus on workbooks and, you know, I don't know–not fully relying on technology. And I completely agree. I do not think we should ever be fully reliant on technology, but I think that in the world we're living in, technology is playing a role in your student or child's life whether, we want it to or not. But we, kind of as media mentors--whether we're librarians, teachers, administrators, parents–we get to decide, we get to kind of help guide what our children's interaction with technology is going to look like. And by showing kids high quality digital media experiences, it will helpfully inform their interaction with that different type of media, right? If children know that they can go to PBSKids.org and watch their favorite show and then they can play some games, that's fun for them, but as the media mentors, we're knowing that with those PBS Kids there are learning goals associated with each of those episodes, so we know that they're having fun, but there's also an educational basis behind it. And so that's why I am such a fan of public media and that's why I love PBS so much. Not because I'm just spouting something because it's my role, but it's because I fully believe in the power of public media, and especially educational media, that children are either going to open YouTube and watch a silly video that might be entertaining but might not have anything concrete behind it. That's okay sometimes. But we as media mentors, whether we signed up for this or not as caregivers, or educators, or whatnot, we kind of have to know, and play around with and accept that being online is going to be something that is inevitably increasingly more a part of our future, and we have to decide what type of education and what type of interaction with technology and with digital media we're going to be introducing and allowing and making paths for for our kids.<br /><br />[00:23:38]<br />Interviewer: Thank you so much for that perspective. Mouna, is there anything we have not talked about yet that you want to mention or bring up?<br /><br />Mouna Algahaithi: (sighs) No, I don't think so.<br /><br />Interviewer: Thank you so much for being with us.<br /><br />Mouna Algahaithi: Yeah, no problem! Thank you for having me.<br /><br />[END OF RECORDING]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
COVID-19 story by Mouna Algahaithi, 2020
Subject
The topic of the resource
Epidemics
Social distance
Ramadan
Islam--Customs and practices
Public television--United States
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright 2020, Mouna Algahaithi and Madison Public Library. All rights reserved. For more information, contact Madison Public Library.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Algahaithi, Mouna
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Damon-Moore, Laura
Witkins, Romelle
Glaeser, Colleen
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020-06-02
Description
An account of the resource
Mouna Algahaithi shares a story about her experience celebrating Ramadan during a time of social distance measures in Madison, Wisconsin. Mouna talks about the differences between Ramadan in 2020 compared with her experiences of the celebration in years previous, and what things she'll carry on in future years. Mouna talks about her work with PBS Wisconsin and the impact that the Safer at Home order had on the outreach work and learning activities she typically does with Wisconsin communities.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Madison, Wisconsin
Language
A language of the resource
en
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
covid19-053
cat-education
cat-work
covid19
covid19-053