Oral Histories
Oral histories and community responses to the pandemic were documented by CU Special Collections & Archives students Ben Ehrmantraut, Drew Gaines, Aaron Rodriguez, Catherine Schaefer, Emma St. Lawrence, and Jade Zimmerman. These accounts will form an important role in documenting the effects of COVID-19 on our campus and communities.
Gaine's, Zimmerman's and Schaefer's contributions to the oral history of pandemic and quarantine among the CU Boulder community and beyond are featured here.
Drew Gaines
Drew Gaines, for example, interviewed Emma Shelby, who is pursuing a B.A. degree in the flute studio, in CU Boulder's College of Music. Her audio interview addresses CU's shift to remote learning and her adaptations to that shift in the spring of 2020.
Jade Zimmerman
Jade Zimmerman, for example, interviewed Lacey Porter, a graduating senior, Spring, 2020 and CU Libraries student employee. Changes in the Everyday: Discussing Work, Transportation, and Life highlights Porter's transition to remote learning. Jade Zimmerman graduated from CU in the Spring of 2020 with a double major in Anthropology and Classics. She worked in Archives, Rare and Distinctive Collections and in Preservation for two years as a Student Archivist and Conservation Lab Assistant.
Catherine Schaefer
Catherine Schaefer recorded numerous interviews beginning in the spring of 2020. Schaefer is a graduating senior in the fall of 2020 (B.S. in Integrative Physiology and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology), who has worked as a CU Boulder Libraries student employee in Archives, Rare and Distinctive Collections and as an editor for the Stainforth Library of Women Writers project. In addition to sharing her own experience with the virus, she spoke with CU Boulder students, alumni, faculty, staff, retirees, and community members. Below are featured brief excerpts from longer audio interviews.
CU Impressions of Campus and Community
CU student, alumni, faculty, and staff reflect on the changes to their lives, their campus, and their communities.
Michael, CU Boulder, class of 2018
Michael spoke of the early weeks of the outbreak and the first appearance of Covid patients in the U.S., noting that, “...at first, I didn’t think it would jump to the US, because my news sources compared it to the 2003 epidemic which was SARS, and at the time and if the numbers were reported correctly, which I believe was around 8000 or more, it seemed pretty isolated... I don’t remember the exact date, I believe it was mid February, there was some talk around my work, some formal news was passed around that this guy who went to Wuhan, China, for vacation, came back and he was reported to have Covid, which was kind of scary. He was no further than 20 minutes north of where I am, staying in the hospital 20 minutes north of where I am. What’s even more unnerving, I was talking to one of my coworkers who said his partner works at the same hospital where this patient was. It was no more than 3 degrees of separation.”
Catherine, CU Boulder Graduate, Fall, 2020
Writing of her own experience with the illness, Catherine shared: ".. the most difficult part of dealing with Covid-19 is the recovery. It is long and difficult ... . A friend of mine found a good way to describe it: “it's as if you are wearing a lead apron” and it’s all the time you are moving, sitting, breathing ... Covid -19's danger lies not in how bad the illness itself was, but in how long it takes to fully recover. Only those with the strongest constitutions have enough "resources" to be able to face it."
Matt, CU Boulder, class of 2018
For Matt, the closure of campus brought "... a different atmosphere, it was something new, different, and because of that we were in high spirits ... But it was a disappointment when the graduation day came around and all my friends and I were thinking that we’d be doing so much fun stuff together if graduation happened as usual.”
Daisey, CU Boulder, class of 2018
Regarding the cancellation of the traditional graduation ceremony for the class of 2020, Daisey shares “... Instead of looking back at a happy “oh my God, I graduated college” it was “I was experiencing Covid.” It’s not a nice memory to think of, so I think it really sucks for those individuals who were finishing this year. They weren’t able to celebrate that accomplishment. You work so hard in college, so not be able to walk and to share that is a bummer.”
David, Archivist
David noted that "my weekend routine consisted of breakfast at a local diner (Dot’s or Foolish Craig’s), and coffee shop (Trident) for more tea and crosswords (again, not since March). Also, I have a fairly busy orchestral and chamber music concert schedule (all concerts postponed or cancelled). I also go out to dinner sometimes with friends to Chez Thuy or other Chinese places – again, ended. I ate out or spent time in coffee shops much of the time. So when the city closed down, I ended almost all of my social life that was not online. Some days, or for days at a time, unless I talk to myself, I never utter a word. When I go out, I hike to the grocery store, again, evading people in sort of a game of long distance evasion, tag, or Marco Polo."
Heidi, Senior Instructor, CU Boulder
Heidi, like many others, missed the classroom: "... I cannot stress it enough, [it is] much more enjoyable to be in the classroom with the students. I like to engage with my students, I like to see their faces, I like to answer questions in real time during the lecture and with the online format it isn’t the same…"
Makinzie, CU Boulder doctoral student and bartender
For Makinzie, "... I actually was at a liquor store couple of days ago and I saw these CU students and they were buying literal pallets of beer, hundreds of cases of beer, like it couldn't fit in a car. I think they had 3 pallets of beer. I asked them, what are you guys doing, and they were like, oh, Saint Paddy's Day party for a frat... I think a lot of people are having quarantine parties with friends, like if we are not in public, it's okay, or if our friends are healthy, or we think they are healthy, then it's okay ... I know that all of our lives are severely impacted and disrupted, and of course it's not fun to stay at home by yourself, but it's not about us, it's about protecting the vulnerable, and we have a choice, but people are making the wrong choices, which is really sad and unfortunate."
Christine, Collections Manager, retired
On precautions, Christine noted the spotty and occasionally humorous local compliance - or non-compliance - with masking policies: “One guy who did wear it, I don’t think he was thinking about it, he’s got a mask, and when he was within 4 feet of somebody he’d pull it up and then when he backed away a couple of feet he’d pull it down. It was back and forth, so he’s constantly touching his face, the mask, the surface where he’s sitting down and then back up again. At least he was trying, but the others, I didn’t catch all of it, but they thought it was silly to be wearing masks.”
Community Reflections
Local community members reflect on the many changes to their professions and their lives.
Dr. Marina, dentist
Dr. Marina notes that "dentists are worried about their patients, because with the limitations imposed by the CDC, we can’t use some of our equipment ... I’m also worried that if I’m wearing a hazmat suit the patients will be scared and walk away, because most people are scared of the dentists as is. With the hazmat equipment we have to now wear it’s even scarier and especially the pediatric dentists."
Ferdinand, nurse
Of the front lines, Ferdinand shares that “ ... things changed when our hospital decided to switch our unit to be admitting just Covid patients. So our floor is getting Covid patients, unless they are sick enough to require ICU care, for example people who need a ventilator go to the ICU. At first we didn’t know much about it, since we didn’t have any cases in Colorado, but the hospital was getting prepared, they started doing learning modules about what Covid is and the protective equipment. At first, it came as a surprise and we weren’t testing the people with flu-like symptoms for Covid. I wish they were more transparent at the beginning, early on, but there’s been a delay from the upper levels, the President down to us, so it was the same cascade of not taking things seriously. The more cases we started having, the more we started thinking about the disease seriously."
Brian, Tango instructor and RTD bus driver
Regarding driving for RTD and teaching Tango, Brian recounts that " ... now I’m working only 17 hours a week, only mornings, and I love it. I am recovering my health, I am recovering my good mood ... I enjoy thinking that this is happening to other people, that they are sort of growing roots into their own lives, that eluded them before, because of the running around. All we can do is keep our hearts open, share compassion when we can, try to be smart, caring, and loving at the same time. The challenge here will be to stay awake to all that is happening."
Maria, restaurant owner
The restaurant industry has been particularly hard hit. Maria describes that “there was a big shock when my husband came back from the restaurant and told me that it will be closed down. This is our only source of income and we sometimes had a difficult time, but it has never been closed down before, except for events like renovation and some holidays and it never lasted longer than a day or two, but those were planned events. This time, we were not prepared at all ... Later, it was not only the restaurants that had to close down, everything happened very quickly.”