Joe Gaines, Choctaw from SE Oklahoma and member of Rebrand Washington Football and No Stadium, No Name Change, speaks with interviewer Kai Walther at Malcolm X Park for the Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration. He discusses learning about and challenging narratives from family and school about Christopher Columbus and the police. He calls for people to do something with this information once they learn about it, and how events such as Indigenous Peoples Day and more visibility and conversations around Native issues can help bring positive change.
Julia Renkly is a current high school senior at the Harlan Community High School (HCHS) in Harlan, IA. Located in rural western Iowa, the Harlan Community is feeling the effects of the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic. In this interview, Julia discusses her experiences as HCHS was forced to shut down at the beginning of the pandemic, going online for the rest of Spring 2020, returning to school in Fall 2020, and her plans to become a scientific illustrator in the future.
Michaela Fehn interviews Katie Moon over TheirStory about her upbringing, engagement with the conservative movement and Turning Point USA, ideology, Donald Trump's election, and the growing voice of conservatism on college campuses.
Kelcy is a transfer student at American University, currently a third-year anthropology major. COVID has had affected her in a number of ways, one of those being the death of a family member. Additionally, Kelcy had to move back in with her mom instead of moving to DC, and she hasn't seen her dad in over a year because of restrictions on international flights. Despite these challenges, Kelcy credits her parents with getting her through the crisis, as well as her partner. Her goal of getting into law school has helped her to stay motivated in school. She hopes that people grow to understand the importance of community from this pandemic, especially because the government is not providing needed support. Ideally, she says the government should listen more to people and offer free access to treatment and testing. Finally, she hopes that society moves away from capitalism, which has shown itself to be unsustainable.
Marc Minsker, a D.C. Public Schools high school teacher, talks about the impact of COVID, specifically on the Class of 2020. He shares how he thinks the pandemic will shape the personal histories of all 3.5 million high school seniors in America: how they were deprived the right to celebrate their graduations, and face a considerable amount of uncertainty. Marc thinks that while other students and teachers will have time to adjust going into next year, for the Class of 2020, high school is over. He does, however, hope that they will meet the future with optimism and a collective sense that "we got this." He ends by reminding us that behind every mask is a face and a story. This video is part of the Humanities Truck's From Me To You: A Covid-19 Oral History Project. https://humanitiestruck.com/frommetoyou/
Nicholas Anderson is a current high school senior at the Harlan Community High School (HCHS) in Harlan, Iowa. Located in rural western Iowa, the Harlan Community is feeling the effects of the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic. In this interview, Nicholas discusses his experiences as HCHS was forced to shut down at the beginning of the pandemic, returning to school in the spring, and his plans to become a lineman in the future.
Sheena Styles works at a public school in Washington DC teaching 4th grade math and science. In this interview we discuss her early experiences with education, how she became a teacher. She discusses the significance of teaching demographics and how systemic shifts in DCPS have increased the amount of white women in teaching and reduced the number of teacher of color. She also discusses the kind of impact the national Black Lives Matter protests had within her classroom and the importance of anti-racist teaching practices. She tells her story of how the Covid-19 virus shut down her school, how the school addressed issues with equity, and the ways she has had adapt to teaching virtually. She shares her thoughts on teacher and student safety in the face of Covid-19 and the importance of teaching as a profession and the significant work teachers do within society.