Junior Year Writing, NatSci 387, Lecture 7, Group 4:
Hannah Korte (Natural Resource Conservation), Emily Lawrence (Animal Sciences), Kyle Webb (Environmental Sciences)
FINAL PROJECT TRANSCRIPT (April 27, 2020)
Hi, I’m Hannah Korte, I’m an NRC (Natural Resource Conservation) major here at UMass and I’m Emily Lawrence, I’m an Animal Science major. I’m Kyle Webb, I’m Environmental Science.
Hannah– we’re going to be talking about our experiences during the Corona virus and how we have to stay home and everything and how it’s affecting our lives and the sources from other places. So our first question that we’re gonna be talking about is. How has this pandemic affected you personally?
Kyle– Yeah, I think it’s just been a big adjustment, really just getting out of like my routine that I was used to that really kind of threw me in a loop, especially with classes. Keep it on track.
There is one class that I’ve hardly looked at even, I’m way behind in there so now I’m kind of piling on work since the last semester. Also, my activity levels have just dropped significantly from not being able to leave the house. I also put on like 10 pounds or something, a little wild, but noticing a lot more drinking in myself and people around me. I think that it’s pretty common in most people right now because it’s kind of just like the weekend comes around and this is like one of the ways you can go.
Emily– Yeah, I’ve also lost like a lot of structure I had from having six classes at school, like I really relied on having a schedule every day to get everything done and now that I don’t really have one. It’s just very hard to complete everything I need to do because I am just lacking a lot of motivation and I’m also like putting some classes on the back burner, like I’m just putting off the work for them and hopefully I’ll get back on track.
Kyle– Yeah, that reminds me, I have no such huge decrease in the amount of information I’m actually learning in my classes. I finding myself doing like much more just to kind of complete assignments, but it’s really difficult to learn without tutors, office hours. I mean, face to face with someone and then a few. My classes don’t even have like lectures anymore so you’re just trying to learn from a PowerPoint and it’s really just a mess.
Well, I guess, paying full tuition right now for online classes and then on top of that having a lease at school and stuff. I’m still paying.
Hannah– Yeah, this is definitely been pretty hard for me. I’ve had a lot of trouble staying motivated and staying awake, my lectures, especially in the morning, I find myself kind of laying in bed somewhat listening. I’ve not taken in as much information as I would if I was actually in the class and I’ve been trying to stay as active as I can working out but it’s definitely hard on days when you have a lot of homework to do and you’re trying to do it all and you just don’t move at all. But when you’re at school, you have to walk between your classes. It’s hard, it’s like I don’t know if I’m actually getting more exercise because I’m not actually walking to classes as I would when I’m at school because our campus is huge. So it feels like three miles when you’re walking to your classes or whatever.
Kyle– Yes, So if I really even like the difference between the walk into the fridge and walking to the dining hall to get food you have to walk far at school. It is definitely a big part of it.
Hannah– Yeah and my mental health has been pretty interesting. So I suffer from depression and this actually hasn’t really been helping. I’ve been trying to stay as happy as I can, but it’s hard when I’m stuck in a room, not really doing much besides homework that kind of stresses me out. So I’ve been dealing with that a little bit, but I’ve been trying to stay positive and find free time for myself to craft or watch Netflix or go for a walk with my mom or work out even though I don’t love working out, but somehow make me feel better in the end. So I’ve been trying to stay as active as I can and just find time for myself but it definitely is hard because it feels like our professors are giving us still a lot of homework to do during this time.
Emily– Yeah, I feel like especially for some of my classes, I’m getting like twice the amount of work I usually do and I don’t know why. Just like it feels like that or you’re actually giving me more assignments. But yeah, trying to get away from it is really important just to do like go for a walk or something or just read a book but again, it does feel difficult to find the time to do that but yeah, you really have to try.
Hannah– I mean, two of my professors took away the final exams and I’m still just like there’s so much to do.
Kyle– That’s kinda nice. They just found out that there are no final exams.
Hannah– But it’s weird that we don’t have final exams. But I’m still like I’m stressed, even though.
Kyle– Yeah, its still the end of the semester.
Hannah– Still a lot.
Kyle– As far as getting distracted. It’s like a weird one too, because just everything reminds you of it. So if you’re not, you know, if you go for a walk or something, you see everywhere in masks, it’s like, oh, right back to it. Once you distract yourself or if you’re watching TV or listening to the radio or something, every ad is these uncertain times.
Emily– So it’s kind of impossible for you to get away from it.
Kyle– Yeah, it’s definitely weird.
Emily– So our next question is What are you noticing that people around you?
Hannah– so I’ve noticed that more people have been going on hikes around me in a way, and I think that’s good that people are getting outside and I’ve been trying to go on hikes, but I don’t go on hikes in like busy parks or anything. So if there’s too many cars where I’m planning on going, I find somewhere else to go for a hike, because I don’t want to be around a lot of people because of this whole thing and I don’t think that many people are doing that properly because when I do go by, there are a lot of cars in certain places and some of these trails aren’t super wide or anything and I notice that when I do go on hikes me and my mom completely get out of the way of someone and it’s weird because were crawling into the woods a little bit and then they have to go by.
So it’s just like weird that like suddenly weird when you go by people because you’re trying to get away from them in like move out of their way when you usually would just walk by them before. Also, my mom is working from home too. She works with highly functioning Asperger students and they’re older. They’re like in their twenties and stuff and she does like life skills and everything with them and she’s found it really hard to do because she has to motivate them to, like, clean their room, she had to watch them exercise, she has to watch them cook and talks to them about what they’re going to cook for dinner and she finds it really hard to, like, motivate them to do these things, too, when it’s just over a computer in their home and their parents are listening and it’s weird for her. She’s not really enjoying it because she just sits at the dining room table in an uncomfortable chair and has to do this for eight hours a day or longer.
Kyle– So, yeah, my girlfriend works with kids with autism as well. It’s like a lot of the same stuff that you do it online trying to keep these kids focused like through the video is pretty much impossible like the day she had a parent come in and start yelling at the teachers over the zoo meeting because I couldn’t keep the kids focused. It’s like we’re not there to do anything.
Hannah– Yeah, it’s definitely a really weird time for everyone to have to be working from home and doing classes from home and everything.
Emily– Yeah, my mom teaches a CNA program too. So she had to move all of her material to google classroom when she’d never used it before and she doesn’t really use technology a lot really for her teaching. So I basically had to help her like everyday to just figure out how to post her assignments, like find videos for her to teach her class to like I take blood pressure and stuff like that and just like create quizzes and just she basically has to rewrite her whole curriculum and it’s it’s a lot of work and I’ve been just trying to balance that with her and it’s hard seeing her struggle with that. So, yeah, my dad’s also going to work a few days a week now and I don’t know, I just it’s a big change.
Kyle– Yeah, that’s what I’m saying it’s kind of weird. I’m noticing everyone around me is kind of working more hours right now. Do it online when they’re taking cuts and stuff like that. It is interesting to see how the change translates to like a few extra hours a day of work. Yeah I relate to like trying to help your parents with technology like half the time I wake up early. It’s just like I have a zoom meeting, I have a zoom meeting get me in.
Hannah- Yeah, my mom needed some help in the beginning of working to help with her students and stuff and that’s interesting. I mean someone’s like that hasn’t really changed a lot in my life is my boyfriend’s. He still works in a grocery store and his life hasn’t changed a ton because he is still going to work and sleeping and playing video games like he always did. So he kind of still has the same structure, but he does have to wear a mask at work now, he has to be so much more careful. There’s like glass, like sheets of like Plexiglas or whatever, like over the deli. So like, there’s not as much germs coming in and the store has cut down their hours a little bit and they’re definitely trying to be as grateful, like the owners and managers are trying to be as grateful as they can for their workers and trying to give them days off, often telling them they can take a break but it’s just hard because there’s people that can’t go to work right now that are at higher risk and I’m proud of my boyfriend for working in the grocery store because he’s young and healthy and I hope it stays that way.
Kyle– So yeah back to what you said about him playing video games that’s something I’ve noticed a lot is generally my male friends are handling it a lot better than my female friends because guys have video games. So it’s still kind of like a hang out.
Hannah– I mean, my boyfriend just goes to his dad’s house and plays again with his brother’s friends in his town. I mean, I try to facetime with my friends from home and from school, but it’s just hard because everybody has so much schoolwork to do. But then it’s just tough. I haven’t talked to my friends a ton, but I’ve been trying to see one of my best friends that also goes to UMass, but also lives really close to me.I went to high school with her and we’ve been going on food dates, but sitting in our cars each other through our cars. So it’s been interesting. But that’s just a way that I’ve been trying to stay sane, not stuck in my house all the time. So that’s kind of helped. But it’s still really weird to not be able to actually really hang out with her. It’s also kind of no store. And the people around me, just a lot of extremes of just people that don’t care at all.
Kyle– And I think it’s a thing that people are just taking it way too far. Just thinking that they like literally can’t step outside their house. It’s just like I’m not noting a whole lot of reasonable concern.
Hannah– Yeah, it’s weird when I go out and I see people like going into the grocery store today, I went to Dunkin Donuts with my mom just to get breakfast and someone just like wasn’t wearing gloves or a mask or anything and just went in. And I find it kind of disrespectful to the workers to not be wearing a mask at this point, like, you know, cause you’re risking their safety, too. Yeah think it’s kind of dumb for this dude, as I said, I find disrespectful to the workers that have to be wearing masks right now and you’re going into their workplace because they have to keep working without protecting.
Kyle– Then I’ve even seen on social media abundantly like widely spread videos of people saying, you’re an idiot if you’re wearing a surgical mask, like it’s not protecting you at all. It just circulates like crazy. And then it’s like the point isn’t really for you.
Hannah– Yeah, there’s just so much uncertainty in this whole time. Things nobody knows. Nobody knows if we’re gonna have classes, like in-person classes next semester. Nobody knows that they have a job this summer. How am I going to be making money for college next year. And like I said, if it’s online classes next semester, I’m taking a semester off. Like I can’t do it. It’s been really, really hard for me. Most people I’ve talked to have said they’re not going to do it if tuition costs that same paying a full semester for really just like way lower caliber learning.
Kyle– Yeah. Like I’ll just work somewhere. I’ll work at like Target or CVS. Try to make money because I have rent to pay.
Emily– And if this whole situation lasts until next semester, this is really going to hurt colleges and universities. I want to know what they’re doing for the future if this continues.
Hannah– Yeah. I mean high schoolers can’t go on like college visits their first semester, college will just be online. I’ve been seeing a lot of stuff advising graduating seniors just to take gap years. Start fresh next year. Once like we know, we have this under control.
Kyle– For seniors you want to do a fifth year. You want to just finish up like it’s going to take a semester off. And then when we get back to actual classes, I will finish off my senior year.
Hannah– Honestly, I’m OK with that. I’d rather take a semester off and now with a few classes, get it done personally. I’d talk to my parents about that too, how I just didn’t want to do it again. And they’re now on board now. My mom was like, that’s smart. I learn by being in the place rather than just someone speaking to me through a screen.I didn’t sign up for this, I need to be in that environment.
Kyle– Our next question is what do you think we can get out of this situation and learn from it?
Hannah– I think that, like, we can learn kindness between other humans. I hope because I know I’m not the only one dealing with mental illness, obviously, and mental health. And I know there’s plenty of other people dealing with it. One of my friends from school, he deals with depression and he actually just shaved his head and raised money for some kind of cause to help with that. I think raising awareness for men with depression, because men don’t really talk about it much.
And it’s kind of seen as a negative thing all around. So I just hope that people kind of become more loving with each other during these times.
Emily– I hope we can learn just how to cooperate and listen to what the CDC and just scientists in general are saying, just like listen. Don’t listen to politics no matter what side you’re on. Just listen to actual science and follow what they are saying and follow the guidelines because I feel like if everyone has the same mindset and wants to get this thing over with and let it die out. We can all just cooperate and all the precautions we take. And eventually it’ll go away and hopefully we can learn and yeah, just have some policy set in place on how to deal with pandemics.
Hannah– Oh, yeah. And I hope there’s more love for the environment after this. I’ve still seen a lot of people throwing their masks and gloves out the window. Luckily, I haven’t seen anybody throw it out the window, but I’ve seen masking gloves, laying around on my walks just in the street and stuff. I think they created a regulation or a law that said that there is a fine for that now. Yeah, because it’s ridiculous that people would be throwing their stuff out the window when it’s just easy enough to put in your car trash or your home trash like sorry that you don’t want to bring it home because it could have the corona virus on it. Just use some Lysol or something like it’s gonna you’re most likely gonna be OK if it’s just in the trash. I think that ties into like we could also learn a lot about just caring about each other beyond just ourselves. That’s just the ultimate selfish move to throw your potentially infected dirty stuff out the door for someone else to pick up because you don’t want to deal with it. You know how this virus works is if you cared about the community, then it goes away faster than if you’re worried about yourself.
Kyle– I think we can learn about this is just how fragile our whole society is. We have all these these factors hanging over our head like pandemics, volcanoes, meteoroids that we just don’t have a plan for any of them. Yeah, and it’s just ridiculous because it’s human nature to think, well, we haven’t seen it in a while, so it’s not going to happen. These things do exist. We need to have a plan for it. And also. Just like, you know, nothing is guaranteed. Sounds like a good reminder. Like when everyone goes back out there to do what you love, live a happy life.
But just it’s too fragile to be doing something that you hate all the time and just not to take things so for granted and in a way.
Hannah– I definitely took some things for granted before this. I like being able to actually hang out with my boyfriend, hang out with my friends, go out to eat, go for walks and see people around that I wouldn’t have to avoid them when I’m alone. It’s also taking college for granted in a way, cause I mean, all three of us are very lucky to have the opportunity to even go to school, college and have housing and have somewhere to live. And we’re all pretty lucky right now to be home with our families and have a roof over our heads. So no matter how annoyed I get with my family, I know I’m super grateful for having food and a house. I really wish I could donate to more things that are going on during this pandemic, but I as a college student don’t have enough money, you shouldn’t be giving it to other people right now either. And I just wish that there was more love because it’s hard to see even hateful things going on right now. Like there was vandalism that happened at UMass. I think it was Holocaust day.
Emily– Holocaust day of remembrance
Hannah– I think that is unbelievably disturbing. During this time we should all be trying to support and love each other.
So a quote that is from an article that I wrote about. The article is called, ‘All of this panic could have been prevented’, Author Max Brooks on COVID-19. Max Brooks said, “what is not being talked about enough or what needs to be talked about are the people who are still going to die of cancer, of accidents, of other diseases, because they simply cannot get into the hospitals because the hospitals are choked with coronavirus patients”. I think that was really interesting because it is true.
One of my mom’s friends has cancer again and she was able to get a transplant or something like that and she can’t right now and her cancer is really, really bad. And that was one of the only things that probably could have saved her life. And my mom has been struggling with that a lot right now too because she doesn’t want her friend, her college friend, to pass away. And I think it’s hard because I don’t think a lot of people realize that during these times, unless you have someone that you know that probably has cancer or has gotten into an accident. So I think it’s tough. And of course, I want people that have corona to also survive. But I think it’s hard that people with other preexisting conditions or are getting into accidents should be able to be treated. But I think it’s hard because the hospitals are so overloaded. It’s also scary for the cancer patients to go into a hospital or not to because they’re more immunocompromised, so it’s harder.
Kyle– My friend’s dad just got diagnosed with stage four lung cancer during this. So they’re literally having to decide is it worth it to treat it and expose him to the coronavirus, which will wipe them out fast? Because chemo is going to make you extremely immunocompromised. So it’s kind of like a question of, do we risk killing them now or do we wait? There’s no good outcome for that right now, and there’s a lot of people that just can’t get the treatment that they need. So I’ve been hearing a bunch of people just saying like there’s no shot I’m going to a hospital right now.
Hannah– Yeah. So definitely tough, because even if your family member does get admitted to the hospitals, like you can’t visit them like people that are having babies. IIf someone gets very, very sick, even if it’s not the coronavirus, they can’t have people visit them. So it’s just hard in general because there are obviously people dying from other conditions like cancer that are probably stuck in the hospital and a family can’t actually say bye to them. I think it’s very tough. And I think all three of us so far right now are lucky that we don’t know anyone hopefully really, really close, because I don’t really know my mom’s college friend that well. But it still affects me because it makes my mom really upset and I don’t like seeing my mom upset. So it’s definitely an interesting and sad and weird situation that people can’t visit their family members or best friends in the hospitals during these times.
Emily– Yeah, I agree. And hopefully if everyone follows the proper social distancing and just take overall precautions so that less people will get sick and the hospitals will open up more space, and soon hopefully people can go get the treatments they need.
Hannah– I can’t say that I should have went to Dunkin Donuts today. I probably shouldn’t have but my mom needed to grab stuff from the pharmacy and I just sat in the car and I just wanted something to eat. There’s like a happy medium too, but I’m not going into a crowd of people. That’s the biggest thing as far as spreading this. Like, you know, you’re still doing the things that you can do. You still go for walks. Get your support from local businesses. And I don’t run on that stuff.So I don’t always go. I don’t run on dunkin. So this is like the second time I went to Dunkin during this whole thing and the first time was literally in the beginning, the beginning of this when I was looking at my boyfriend and me.
Emily- it’s important to have like some normal aspects of your lifestyle, though so you cant really beat yourself up for that
Kyle– Going out to get fast food at a local restaurant for takeout is like relatively low risk
Hannah– Like I mean, it’s different if you go like every day. You don’t need dunkin coffee every day. You can buy a bag of the coffee and go home.
Kyle– It’s like a popular thing to be like, oh, who cares about the economy right now? But it’s like we need it.
Hannah– I mean somebody needs some money.
Kyle– You need some money. You need your house. You need food. That’s all the economy so we need to stimulate it somewhat
Hannah– Yeah, I’m going back to something though, I guess that we could learn is we could learn to also support local businesses more and I saw something that said that we could support American made products, which is interesting. But I think that supporting local businesses and like people’s farm stands after this. They’re like vegetables and flowers and stuff I think is a really good idea, because even though they’re not doing it right now after their pandemic, they will hopefully and they’re obviously, I think everybody suffering no matter what during this time to some extent, except that really, really rich people. But I mean, they’re still losing money somewhat probably. But they’re still okay. Like the celebrities, they’re still living in their mansions. Well, local business are definitely important to support, I think, because some people make a living like,
Kyle– yeah, like when you can just go to a local place instead of going to some huge company like that 30-cent difference isn’t a big deal to you but it’s a big difference for the local place
Hannah– like I don’t want to pay my rent but like my landlord, it’s just him and his wife or just. They’re just teachers out of high school. That’s how they make their living. They have like three houses in, like, Amherst. Which is how they make their living. And I can’t just be like bye no money for you because then I’m just, you know, like I’m just putting them at risk and stuff of not having enough money and I don’t really want to do that to them. But eventually maybe we’ll have to figure something out and talk to them about it if I don’t go back next year. Who knows if I’ll work in Amherst all next year, if it’s just remote for the first semester or something, really depends on what I’m doing but I might have to find a subletter or something, but I don’t want to leave them high and dry during this thing.
Kyle– I can talk a little about what I discussed with my sister. I asked her two of our questions. She works in a primary care office, so like people get sick they go to her first. She actually had the coronavirus too. She ended up catching it, But I asked how it affected her personally. She said a big thing was she knew once this started there was that she wasn’t going to be seeing our family or her friends and that’s just kinda a huge hit to moral because everyone needs some human contact beyond just work and then I asked her what the biggest issue to be exposed by this and she said how underprepared we were and she said she and her coworkers were just not protected at all, they had a few surgical masks to deal with this that’s as far as they were protected, and everyone in her office that came in contact with the patient that tested positive ended up catching it and that’s such a fragile way to do things and she noted the news coverage and people living out of fear was a huge issue because she’s trained to help people with this, and when she would give people information on how to help with the virus they just wouldn’t listen to her because they heard something different on the news that this work, this works, this works, with no real medical backing to it so a lot of her patients weren’t handling it the right way when they were sick
Hannah– Yeah, I also relate to it in a way because my sister works in a hospital in virginia and she works in a NICU with babies but she was pulled into the ICU because they needed help, she just says it’s crazy down there. It’s hard for me to imagine kinda because I don’t see all of that craziness in my house and I don’t think there’s been too many more cases where I live and there’s really no masks, so they have to reuse them every day and I‘ve seen pictures of doctors and nurses being exhausted on the internet and its disrespectful to not be wearing masks when we go out because these people are risking their lives and some people are dying from it.
Kyle– yeah that was another thing that she said, the other day my mom was talking to my sister about states reopening and my sister was like I don’t believe this it’s everywhere how do people not see this like I’m sending patients to go die alone in the hospital and this is the difference between a normal person’s perspective and a health care providers like just because you’re stuck at home and you’re not seeing it doesn’t mean it’s not happening its just difference of perspective
Hannah– We are gonna end with a quote to maybe cheer everyone up a little.
Emily– It’s a quote by Marie Curie and it goes “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”
REFERENCES
Gross, T. (2020, March 24). ‘All of this panic could have been prevented’: Author Max Brooks on
COVID-19. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2020/03/24/820601571/all-of-this-panic-could-have-been-prevented-author-max-brooks-on-covid-19?fbclid=IwAR2JFjQtPDXsTAWTaNfNlRwv-2yX0ysAmQy2NW6e72hDY2fNxUDyczOZivc
Webb, J. (2020, April 25). Personal communication
Allen, D. (2020, March 27). Inspirational quotes to get us through the coronavirus shutdown.
CNN health, https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/26/health/inspirational-quotes-coronavirus-wisdom-project-wellness/index.html