Chelsey Jewett

Séana Leece

03-27-2022

Wells College

SPEAKERS: Séana Leece, Chelsey Jewett

LEECE: I'm Seana Leece with the COVID Oral History project at Wells College. Today's date is April 13, 2022; I'm in my dorm room with Chelsey Jewett. This is an unrehearsed record interview. Thank you for joining us today.

JEWETT: Thank you for having me.

LEECE: I'd like to begin by getting to know more about you and your background. Could you start by telling us about yourself, your full name, date of birth, and where you were born?

JEWETT: My name is Chelsey Jewett. I was born July 31, 2000, and I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,at the Einstein hospital and I was adopted when I was a couple days old and then just moved to Vermont.

LEECE: So where did you live growing up?

JEWETT: I lived my whole life in Fraklin Vermont which is a really really tiny town, really close to Canada.

LEECE: What was it like there? Was it similar or different to Aurora?

JEWETT: It was similar in terms of how rural it is and how many people are in it. It's different because although Aroura isn't the most diverse place it's more diverse than the town I grew up in. So that's the difference.

LEECE: Who do you consider to be your family? Could you tell us about your family.

JEWETT: I have so-- In my family I have my mom my step dad my two younger sisters and two older brothers--we were a really close family growing up, we did a lot of just like little family traditions but I--me and my second oldest brother were adopted into the family. So we were the only two black kids in a white family so there was that weird dynamic growing up but we were always really close. Our grandparents lived down the road so our at least immediate family was always super close.

LEECE: Who do you consider your family though? Is it just the family you grew up with or you do conider friends?

JEWETT: Oh! So as I've gotten older I have done more considering my family--my friends family. In some ways or another friends have been there in the ways my family couldn't be. So it's not a lot of friends who I consider family but I have probably like three or four that I consider family.

LEECE: Okay, could you elaborate on some traditions you did as a child? I know 00:03:00you mentioned that you and your family were close and that you guys used to do little traditions. Was it going to the amusement park or going out to dinner?

JEWETT: When I was younger probably until the age of ten we would go on a vacation every winter where we would go to Florida. And we would go to Disney World go to Sea World or whatever. We also just had little traditions where we would open our presents from our family on Christmas Eve and then open presents from Santa on Christmas.

LEECE: [Overlapped]Oh yeah! I do that too.

JEWETT: We--I don't know--we--I guess we camped a lot. Every summer we'd go camping, that was something we always did. We were a very outdoorsy type of family so we fish. We hunted and that was kind of our tradition every kid in my family learned how to fish and hunt at a really young age and just got interested in being outside at a really young age.

LEECE: Thats cool. Could you tell us about the people that you were living with growing up? What were your sisters and brothers and family like and who were you especially close with if you were close with anyone?

JEWETT: I'm the very middle child

LEECE: [Overlapped] Period. I'm a middle child too.

[Both laughs]

JEWETT: I also was the first girl. So I was treated--I don't know me and my siblings we were all really close. I guess I was most close to my oldest brother who is actually ten years older than me. Cuz I got a lot of my interest from him. I would always watch him play videogames or play with him all the time and board games and he just spent a lot of time with us and then he went to college and so me and my younger sister got really close. But we're all, we're all pretty close to be honest I wouldn't say I have a favorite but I can't always say they're all my favorites at the same time.

LEECE: [Overlapped] Same-- Yeah, I can agree me and my brother are about 9-10 years apart and before my sister came along we were really close. Joined by the hip I would always watch him play video games or play with him and board games. He would skate at one point and because he was skateboarding I wanted to skateboard and then he broke his and stopped skateboarding and I was like well I have this skateboard now and you don't skate anymore, so who's gonna teach me? But I can, I can definitely relate to that. What we're you like as a child though? Could you share a special memory if you can remember anything?

JEWETT: In elementary--I--I don't know. I,in elementary school I was very hyper. I was always moving. I don't wanna say I was a trouble maker but I was friends with trouble makers, so I would kind of get that label--

LEECE: [Overlapped] You were in the middle

JEWETT: Middle school and highschool I started to worry more about grades than 00:06:00social life so I got really into focusing on getting good grades and I had, I was, I was never in any I guess group. A lot of my friends were musical theater kids and although a lot of them were my friends and I really liked musical and theater I never was apart of a lot of a lot of shows I only started participating in my senior year but I was always friends with them so I was once again not really a musical thaeter kid but a musical thaeter kid by association. But I did a lot of, I sang I was in the chorus at school. But I was really know as, at least in middle and high school I was known as the smart kid.

LEECE: I could also agree, I feel I was very hype when I was young but started to die down. There-- I had my little thetaer kid stage as well. That's very interesting to hear about.

LEECE: Alright we're gonna jump in--ahead in time to when you started to think about college. When did you start thinking about college or going to college?

JEWETT: As I mentioned before my brother went to college and he finished college and graduated and because he went to college, my mom kind of expected all of us to go to college. So from freshman year on I was in kind of summer program every summer where I would go and spend most of my summer at some college campus. It was college prep so I was getting ready for college since freshman year I changed what I wanted to do and what I thought I wanted to do a lot but I knew I wanted to go to college. Then senior year came and it was actually time to go to college and all the help that I had, had all those years suddenly disappeared and I was on my own trying to figure out how to successfully get into college. I managed to do it but it was, I thought about it and had the resources to go to college freshman sophomore and junior year and the senior year when it really was like okay your going to college, it was like I was by myself again.

LEECE: What expectations did you have for what college would be like even though you went through college prep?

JEWETT: I have no idea. To be honest I had no idea what to expect from college. I knew I wanted to get away from Vermont so that I could "Reinvent" myself. I wanted to go to a place where nobody knew who I was so I could start fresh. 00:09:00Hated highschool, so I wanted to try to find a place to start fresh and for a while it, I was like that's my goal and I knew I didn't want to go to a big school because I don't like having--I like knowing people. I don't know what I expected I didn't really have any expectations I just I wanted to not be known and to stand out I guess.

LEECE: Okay, When did you first hear about Wells College?

JEWETT: My junior year they gave me a scholarship and I had never heard of Wells but in my college search one of my big things was that I wanted a small school and Wells was the small school that I ever heard of. I was like this is literally perfect and I visited my-- for the first time my senior year in march and it was a snowstorm and I got snowed in and trapped here for three days. But that was the first time I where I was like oh Wells college is a thing. Cuz I really had never heard of Wells College before.

LEECE: Yeah I bet that snowed in experience as a senior in highschool was something.

JEWETT: Yeah I was like this is so cool I'm on a college campus granted at the time Wells environment was very different then it is now and so it was like wow this is college and this is so fun, im so excited. I guess that is when I started being like oh this is what I expect from college.

LEECE: You said you--did you mention a scholarship?

JEWETT: Mmhmm

LEECE: Is that what made you decide to come to Wells?

JEWETT: Yes and no I got a really good scholarship and just financial aid package to Well in comparison to the other schools that I applied to. But it was also like I said small and really gave me the vibe that I wanted. It also was familiar in terms of being rural and in a small town. It was also away from home, im six hours away from home and thats far enough for me. I would go farther if I could but expense wise i couldn't and so being six hours away from home and in another state was perfect.

LEECE: I agree that was one of the reasons why I came to Wells. It's five hours away from home, my parents can't literally drive up to see me whenever and just pick at my brain 24/7. So I agree, what was the experience you were----what was the experience you were hoping to have hear at Wells?

JEWETT: I don't know, I was hoping to have, to be honest when I visited Wells I was hoping to have the experience that I saw at Wells so everybody was just, everybody knew everybody, every night, I came on a wednesday and there was 00:12:00people in the Well doing open mic night and it was, there was at least thirty people in there and the bar was open, the people who could drink were drinking and there was music playing and people were just hype.

LEECE: [Overlapped]That sounds like a completely different Wells.

JEWETT: And I was like that's,that's it, And I went in and sang for open mic night and everybody was supportive and as a young black girl who went to a predominantly white school, there was just the front row was just black people and they were cheering me on and that--I was like wow this school is amazing. Unfortunately that's not what im getting now but that's what I expected.

LEECE: What did you plan to study when you started college?

JEWETT: International Studies. Yeah I planned to do International Studies but changed it after my first International Studies class to Sociology.

LEECE: Yeah, I think I survived my first year of college as a International Studies major and then I had to switch.

JEWETT: It was hard. It was hard.

LEECE: What's your current major and year?

JEWETT: Sociology, it's Sociology and Anthropology but im concentrated more on Sociology and I am a Senior.

LEECE: Why have you decided on this major?

JEWETT: Sociology has made me really open minded I will say this always but I think everybody in their life should take some kind of sociology class. It's made me be really open minded it's made me learn how to stop and think before I react immediately to something. I can say 100 percent that I got a lot less judgemental and just mor understanding. I'm also just a soft person in general so learning about different peoples experiences and just how they've gotten through it or why they act a certain way based off of the experiences just really, was really interesting to me and I also just like really knowing why people do the things they do and why people interact with people the way that they do. Sociology is studying society so it was something that was really really interesting to me.

LEECE: Okay that worked pretty perfectly.

JEWETT: Yeah

LEECE: I do agree though I feel as a sociology, a Soc/Anth major sociology definitely opens your sociological eye up to things that you wouldn've known if you didn't take at least one class. What do you plan to do after college? That's the biggest question.

JEWETT: I, My long term plan is hopefully get my masters in social work and go into a social work. If i could do anything i would just try to help, I just wanna help as many people as I can. I know i wanna work in a school, or a hospital specifically with younger kids but my big goal whatever it is job wise 00:15:00is that I just wanna be that person that people remember that was encouraging them to just keep going through a had time. Because sometimes people just need a push and I, my goal is to be that push for a lot of people.

LEECE: Let's turn to the pandemic now, When did you hear about COVID 19 for the first time?

JEWETT: Probably January of 2020 which was my sophomore year. Second semester we had just got back from winter break and we had heard about it but it was in China.

LEECE: [Overlapped] Yeah

JEWETT: And then, so we were chilling for a while and then spring break came and spring break is where everything kinda went down. We--we at least me and my friends we were not paying attention to the pandemic as much as we should have.

LEECE: I agree. What did you think about COVID at that time? You heard that it was in China--

JEWETT: [Overlapped] I...I don't know.

JEWETT: To be honest I was pretty ignorant. I was like okay its in china. Okay its only a disease that really infects those who have bad immune systems or older people. I joked about it alot which i shouldnt have. I got sick, I got really sick and I told myself I wasn't gonna go to the meds center because they probably thought I had COVID when at the time they werent even testing for COVID in America yet. And so it was just, I dont know i was really ignorant and then it came and made us literally shut down and I was like oops.

LEECE: What were people saying around you at this time?

JEWETT: We really didn't talk about it. When it first started, when we came back before spring break we didnt talk about it. We really didnt talk about it and then we started to just hear it on the news and hear that it was getting really bad in China. And we started talking about it more because like I said every time somebody got sick they would be like you probably have COVID. And so we didn't really talk about it like that heavily.

LEECE: What were or how did you feel about these initial conversations that were happening regarding COVID around you since you guys didn't really talk about it much?

JEWETT: I, looking back at it now I feel we shouldve talked about it more but it was also just us being naive and so i feel we were just really being naive and kind of we were college students. And we were also college students on Wells college campus so we were like even if it does come to the United States it's not gonna hit Wells.

LEECE: [Overlapped] Cuz we're in the middle of nowhwere

JEWETT: Were in the middle of nowhere,even if other colleges are shutting down , 00:18:00Wells isnt gonna shut down cuz we're small and we can keep everything compacted. That wasn't really how it went.

LEECE:[Overlapped] Yeah--yeah--no

LEECE: When did you know that COVID was turning into something serious and how did you feel?

JEWETT: So for spring break I went to Canada and when we crossed the border on the way back or on the way there they were like hey are you feeling sick? And we were like no and that was it. On the way back they were like see--have fun in America your not gonna be able to comeback. And we were like okay--and we were like whatever and we came back and when we came back we got an email that was like yeah COVID is really bad, schools are shutting down so we're gonna go virtual. And we were alright, at the time they were like you can stay at Wells and we were like alright thats fine we'll just do the virtual at Wells. And then it got to the point where you couldn't stay at Wells. That was really nerver racking because I had nowhere to go because my grandma had just gotten sick then, so she was having treatments that made her immune system really bad. I couldn't go and expose her so it was just really nerve wracking because I didn't know what was going on. I didn't understand why suddenly we were shutting down. Suddenly we were required to wear mask--it was just really anxiety riddling but not for COVID for all the things that were happening as a result of COVID.

LEECE: Yeah, Where you a student--well you said you were--were you as student at Wells when the pandemic began or was it in Canada that it began and you found out once you came back?

JEWETT: It was--I was in Canada and when I came back it was like oh it's a pandemic now, so leaving spring break and going to Canada it wasn't a pandemic it was just first couple cases have come to America. It's okay whatever and then we came back and it was like no this is a pandemic. Everybody needs to stay in there house. And that,that part the staying--that I don't know just having everything shutdown that was just crazy. That was wild.

LEECE: Yeah, speaking of shutdown though we're gonna talk about lockdown. Where were you when lockdown started specifically?

JEWETT: I ended up staying in Union Springs. When lockdown started I was here but I couldn't stay here so I ended up staying with an alumni in Union Springs. I was in Union Springs from March until May and then I went to the city for the summer.

LEECE: Who did you spend your lockdown with?

JEWETT: I spent it with an alumni and my boyfriend at the time.

LEECE: Okay, How did your life change during lockdown? Tell us about your daily life and routine. What was that like?

JEWETT: I didn't do a lot, I played--I played a lot of games. I was--we did 00:21:00virtual classes but I can tell you that my grades suffered greatly from going virtual. When--before everything really locked down we spent a lot of time outside. There was a little park that I went to alot but then it got to a point where we couldn't sit on park benches or use any of the playground equipment. So it was alot of going outside for walks, trying to get outside but also just being stuck inside. And only being able to get food at certain times and only being able to get groceries and prepare your own food, there was no eating out, it was just--it was just very lonely. It was very lonley.

LEECE:[Overlapped] Yeah.

LEECE: I feel lonely is a word to describe COVID but I feel lonely also isn't the right word to describe it cuz lonely is just one word and COVID--I don't know

JEWETT:[Overlapped]No, no We were literally isolated.

JEWETT: And that--that--we were isolated from each other and wasn't even to the point where we need to stay in our house , it was, if you saw somebody outside and they got too close--

LEECE:[Overlapped] Back up

JEWETT: I remember--I don't--it was during the early pandemic and for some reason I found a Chinese food place that was open but it was you know social distancing. And I remember standing next to this guy and this guy really freaked out on one of my friends that I was with because he didn't think that we were six feet away. He flipped out on us and I just remember being like okay this is what the world is gonna be like now. People are gonna flip out if we're too close and it was just wild.

LEECE: What challenges did you and others face during this time and how did you overcome these challenges?

JEWETT: My biggest challenge was that I couldn't go home to my family and I couldn't go home to my grandma who had just recently been diagnosed with cancer during the time and so I couldn't go home and see her. Like I said before it was just--it was really lonely and I didn't do a lot and physically and mentally I was just drained even tho I wasn't doing a lot. So it was--it was just draining and boring. But it was--it was hard even just school and doing school. School really--that was probably the hardest thing was going virtual when you hadn't been virtual for half the semester and then suddenly going virtual and some professors were not--were not very flexible when it came to being virtual, so that made it difficult.

LEECE: How did you overcome those challenges though?

JEWETT: I have no idea. I--i just--I don't know--I just kept going I guess

LEECE:[Overlapped] You pushed yourself

JEWETT: Yeah and it took a while but thing eventually started to get better. And 00:24:00I was in a place where I was content, im happy I have a place to stay. I'm happy that Im just in an environment that's safe. And so I just--I just pushed through I used the opportunities that I could have because of COVID cuz COVID opened a lot of just things that I could use that I wouldn't have been able to use that really save me. So I just use what I could use and then just floated through cuz that's really all I could do.

LEECE: Where there any unexpected benefits that emerged for you during lockdown?

JEWETT: To be honest I was able to claim unemployment and that helped a lot because I was--I still have to pay for bills. Bills did not stop and so getting that money helped alot. Yeah, I think that was one thing that I was not expecting was being-- having an income kind of for some of lockdown so I could use it for things and that helped alot.

LEECE: When now where gonna jump into being a college student. In what ways did the pandemic impact you as a college student?

JEWETT: It--in the beginning it really messed up just my flow. Like I said before

LEECE: Now were gonna jump into being a college student. In what ways did the pandemic affect you as a college student?

JEWETT: It, in the beginning it really messed up just my--my flow. I like I said before very much am a big grade person and the pandemic--the semester that the pandemic started was probably my worst semester and I blamed everything except for COVID. So I really blamed myself for it when it was literally a pandemic. So thats the big thing and now that weve gotten less--more back to kind of normal I realized that I could no longer use COVID as an excuse. So--balancing when things are hard and when I just am being a bad student I guess

LEECE: No I feel--the same can be said for alot of students on campus because we're, like you said we're slowly going back to normal and you cant really blame any--like your grades or anything your doing on COVID anymore cuz, at this point we're what?,two--three years in so I do agree I feel--each student can,can also say the same. So challenges, as a student challenges you faced would probably be academics right?

JEWETT: Yeah and just--professors certain--professors not being flexible with the fact that we were going through a pandemic.

LEECE: Were you able to meet these challenges--were you able to resolve--

JEWETT: I was--for the professors it was luckly Wells had it so that we could 00:27:00take alot of pass fails and pass fails saved my GPA--and that is--I probably would--I have not used passed fails since. I should! But--that was the only time that I really used passed fails and that--saved me from failing a class and so that--thats kind of how I got over my academic challenges.

LEECE: Okay, as a student did any unexpected benefits or opportunities emerge as a result of the pandemic?

JEWETT: Okay so this is also gonna be money related but we got-- pandemic relief as college students and that was great!

LEECE:[Overlapped] Yeah agreed--agreed

JEWETT: That's, that's really it to be honest. I guess-- I don't know--COVID was weird and I can't say that it positively impacted my academic carrer besides getting money during college.

LEECE: Yeah, you just sat there and got a paycheck

JEWETT:[Overlapped] Yeah!

LEECE: Yeah no I agree, It definitely helped me out alot. Can you compare what Wells was like prior to COVID to what Wells was like during the pandemic?

JEWETT: I--COVID crushed Wells. My freshman and sophomore year were,it was just--livley. Alot of people got out,there was always something happening all the time, and then COVID happened and we went virtual. Then when we came back we were basically virtual except on campus and so, there was no interactions. Coming in my junior year I didn't know the first year class at all because they didn't leave there rooms because it was COVID and they couldn't do anything. And everything that we did do was virtual so, it really made the vibe of Wells die down and it's getting back to normal a little bit but it really took a damper on the-- just the moral at Wells.

LEECE: What do you make of those differences though?

JEWETT: I don't know I feel--it says alot about our community and we learned alot about ourselves over COVID as a Wells community. For the good and bad I think the changes that we saw between COVID Wells and Pre COVID Wells is just people who are trying to make Wells a good place. Cuz even when COVID was at Wells and made Wells really poopy,there were still people on campus who tried to make it fun. And, there were still people on campus who reached out to people and tried to just get people out of their rooms and so, it taught us alot about our community in terms of-- are we really a community? And who actually plays a role as a community member when it's situations like these where--our moral and 00:30:00just our integrity are really questioned.

LEECE: In what ways did Wells and life at Wells change over the course of the pandemic? And what did you think of those changes?

JEWETT: When--so when I became an RA at the very beginning of COVID and so I, I was in a position where I had to shut down alot of the things people did to try to have fun. And that made life weird at Wells because like I was saying people were trying to make the best out of what they could and there was also the issue of safety and I was kind of put in the position of evaluating whether its safety pritoritises fun. And in most times it does but--it was just really difficult to be thrown into that position with virtually no benefits--no benefits or further compensation for the fact that I was being thrown into a pandemic and having to shut down what people wanted to do as college students. So that--that was a big thing.

LEECE: Yeah I couldn't imagine. That's--that seems like a hard place to be in. Wells has many traditions but how were they impacted during the pandemic? And what did you think of all of these changes?

JEWETT: Alot of the traditions stopped which was really bad--was really sad. I do know--Odd/Even, I was part of the people who--brought that shit back up because we were not supposed to have it because it was--COVID. And so we did alot of working around COVID regulations to get Odd/Even--alive and still alive during COVID. But that was one of the only traditions at least my junior year which was huge and alot of people not only me but alot of people can say that COVID messed up alot of the traditions. Just with the fact that--even if we had the traditions most of our attendance at traditions were Alumni and Alumni couldn't come on campus and if we went out most of our events had to be outside and theres only a certain amount of time of the school year where it's gonna be nice enough to be outside. So it just shut down alot of traditions that people would've done.

LEECE: I do agree that COVID definitely took a toll on traditions at Wells because at least for me me my freshman year I got to get a lil glimpse of what Wells could've been before COVID. So Odd/Even my freshman year seemed like it was poppin cuz, you know we had some of the seniors, some Alumni now that were--on the team. They just had high energy, they were going crazy, there were decorations, there were events and as COVID came, as you said there were people 00:33:00that were trying to--continue these tradition and your a coach for Evenline so it made sense that you would want to continue this tradition. But yeah COVID--COVID definitely messed that up and I feel--the students attending now aren't gonna get nearly a glimpse of what we got for traditions here at Wells. I barley got tradition--you know a glimpse of traditions here at Wells. Did you notice differences in perception of the pandemic between the community at Wells and your community back at home? And how did these difference impact you?

JEWETT: There is alot of people at Wells who dont wanna wear mask. And there were alot of people at Wells that didn't wanna wear mask when we really needed to wear mask and that shocked me. That was something that really was like oh, because--we came back and wearing mask was an issue when we were literally in the middle of a pandemic and that was mind blowing to me because--we were coming back to a bunch of people that are from different areas and then--these people when its still fresh--are like "I dont wanna wear a mask". That--that was mind blowing to me because its about the safety of others and--theres alot of selfish people at Wells.

LEECE: As scientists learned more about the virus, government officials began to impose mandates. What did you think of-- when the mask mandate began?

JEWETT: At first I didnt like it but then again I also knew it was about safety. And so I always wore a mask when needed to. I think just--with scientist learning more about it and more regulations coming out it was really difficult because people wanted answers and the school couldn't give answers until they got answer--things from the government and so things would change alot regulation wise in the government so things would change alot here and people didn't like that it wasnt--it was a constant change or there were answers they wanted to know but didn't have to so.

LEECE: What were your thoughts when the vaccine was announced

JEWETT: That--I hate shot so I--I personally if I had my own choice I was going to wait a bit to get my vaccine but then it became a requirement and I had no choice and I got it but if I wasn't--didn't have to require it I would've waited. Because I personally during the time that the vaccine was being developed and mask mandate was being held I was doing everything I needed to be safe and to make sure that others around me were being safe. So--I was afraid of 00:36:00the vaccine, I had my reasons to be afraid of it and I did end up getting it and I--in the end everybody virtually got it and thats--thats really all I can say about it.

LEECE: You mentioned it, but what did you think of the vaccine mandates?

JEWETT: I understood it--

[LOUD THUNDER]

LEECE: Wow thats alot of thunder

JEWETT: Yeah. I understood it,I also understood why people were against it, but I was also was not about it for people who were against it for no reason just because they thought that they were putting a microchip into you. I--I know there's, we have--to come to college or even just--go to a different country you need to get certain shots and so it was--literally it was--that. It was like okay this is another shot I'm gonna have to get it to go to college. This is another shot I'm gonna have to get to leave the country. And so--it was just--whatever to me to be honest. I did not have--I--it was either get this vaccine or not come to Wells--that was--really--I dont know and, Wells never kicked anybody off for not having the vaccine but I also didn't have,at the time when they required the vaccine was you need to have the vaccine or a medical or religious exmpt and i didn't have either of those and so I was like I'm either gonna get the vaccine or I going to not go to Wells.

LEECE: I feel like I feel the same. I wanted to wait as long as I could just because I feel--everything was very rushed. I don't thin anyone really liked the masked mandate. I just--it just wasn't the vibe but as far as the vaccines, I definitely wanted to try to wait as long as I could but once it became a mandate--you had to get it in order to come back to Wells. I was--I'm not staying home, I'm not doing this virtually again absolutely not so I got what I--you know I needed to do what I needed to do. And not just for school for wor too, I had two nieces to worry about that I couldn't really get to see through COVID and as it started you know--we got those mandates I got to see them again because i got vaccinated so, I didn't like it but you know I did what I needed to do just like you did what you needed to do. What did you make of the controversy that emerged over these mandates?

JEWETT: To be honest I really just think people are ignorant. I--certain--certain conspiracies were ignorant and others were very justified. I know in the black community there was alot of fear simply just because of the reletionship that black people have with the government and so that kind of conspiracy I understood the stem of it. But then there were just--other people 00:39:00who were just really-- didn't want their rights infringed upon and even if it meant the safety of the whole country was--at risk and so--I just, the conspiracies and all that just really made me--and with the person who was controlling our government at the time egging it on and making it so that COVID didn't seem like that big of a deal really made it--made me realize, just how ignorant and selfish our country is and the people in are country are--yeah.

LEECE: It sucked. The government provided stimulus checks during this time. What did you think of that decision? And how did the stimulus checks impact you and your family?

JEWETT: I thought it was a great, great thing that the government shouldve done. I felt like the government shouldve done more however I did not receive one cuz I was a college student which was really poopy, and my family received one but my mom does not claim me as a dependent so she did not receive any money for me. Therefore she did not give me any money from said stimulus checks. So at the time--I was--its great that their doing it I was bummed out that I didnt get one but I was also getting unemployment so I was--whatever. And then fun fact literally this year when I filed my taxes they were like did you get the stimulus check and I was like no and they were like well here you go and I got it. And I was like thats cool that there still doing that for people who missed out on it and still like the fact that where still basically in a pandemic so--yeah.

LEECE: Okay,everal political protests took place during this period. Many had to do with COVID, but others were associated with Black Lives Matter and other social movements. Did you or others around you participate in these protests? Can you tell us about that experience?

JEWETT: I--I would have but my family and just the people I was staying with were not comfortable with me doing it because of safety. But I--I saw alot of at least in Aurora, at least in the Aurora area that I stayed I saw alot of advocacy alot of black lives matter flags but I think my difficult part was just how Wells handled it because despite us not being on campus thers a good amount of people of color who go on campus and--this,that--everything that happened during COVID just shows that like even though we are in a pandemic and even though we were on "lockdown"...there's still problems and issues that people go through and I think Wells didn't do the best job at addresing that. We have people who are also going through, who are going through the pandemic who are also going through the pandemic of racism and all that, and so people like you and me we're going through not only literally COVID but the fact that people 00:42:00were saying that our lives didn't matter.

LEECE: And we're living through protest that our ancestors fought for-- our grandparents--

JEWETT:[Overlapped] We're seeing just people who are--theres--there was literally people who were saying that our lives didn't matter

[Loud thud from upstairs neighbor]

Jewett: That, that was just wild to me and coming back and seeing that the atmosphere kind of also carried to Wells was just horrible.

LEECE: It was a lil weird. It was a weird atmosphere when came back. I couldn't participate because of the same reasons. My mother knew how bad I was itching to leave the house because they were having protest by Barclay's and that's really not to far from my house. My cousins had went live when they were protesting with and I was like "yo please be safe, im out there with you at heart" but I really wish I could. She almost let me go towards the one of their last protest because she, she just was like "I can't go out there because I have too many risk but you, I'll let you go if you really really want to. And I want you to be out there apart of this movment because its important. But it gave me chills because one night these protesters were passing my block and to just see all the support in a big crowd, it was like a parade and there just screaming with signs and I just was, I caught chills, Im catching chills just rethinking seeing it. I remember sitting on my porch crying and shouting with them, how am I living through this, this is isane. But why was it important for you to get involved? Why is it important?

JEWETT: Well I grew up not being able to explore my black identity and often have my black identity be deminished and just not seen as important and coming to Wells I met people who really showed me that being black and my black identity was really important and something that I should embrace and I did and I have and just seeing that people--I never ever understood somebody not liking somebody based off of something they can't control let alone the color of their skin and so I've always been one for advocacy in terms of anything and so my big thing was one I'm apart of this community and this is things that are happening to people in my community and things that it can very well happen to me. And so I needed to advocate because if things don't change my life is going to be hard and its about time that our government cares about us we are actually citizens. And that was just a big thing was, I am trying--I live in America right now this stuff should not be happening to me, I should not be feeling this way and even, I would even feel local racism not I guess,I never experienced, I'm blessed to 00:45:00never experience police brutality but even locally I would experience racism and even local racism isn't okay. So if there's literally national racsim, that's gonna--that's gotta stop. We start big and go small I guess but its just crazy.

LEECE: I completely agree, I feel it was a very vulnerable tome for the African American community you knoe people of color because like I said it's something that our ancestors fought specifically hard for it not to happen to us in the future and here it is happening to us, but I feel social media in a way was good because it got the truth out but in a way it was bad because we all know that people were in the crowd just tryna instigate. But yeah I agree with everything you said. You said it very eloquently cuz I could never get it out like that. The pandemic was a factor in your decision as to why couldn't participate in the black lives matter protest or any protest for that matter so we answered that question. Were--were you engaged in these discussions or topics in other ways outside of protesting?

JEWETT: Definitely, I got into alot of social media arguments with people who were just ignorant and I was sick of being silent to ignorance so I got into alot of just little social media fights. I had some pretty serious talks with my family because my family's white and often times they do not acknowledge their privilege and so I had alot of interesting talks with my family and just, there was alot of, even if everything came up on Wells I made sure that I always said something if it had anything to do with racism or just discrimination or intolerance in general. But I was always make--I always made sure to just make sure people knew how I felt. But im also not a very confrontational person so im very much somebody who will do it via social media more than in person.

LEECE: I feel, before maybe I wasn't as much of a confrontational person but seeing that really brought another side out of me and so I was just itching and ready for someone to start something with me on Wells, on campus when we got back after everything happened I was--I want you to say something stupid so I can really--I could just tear you to shreds right now. [Overlapped the mic being moved over]But my family and I would participate in conversations as such. [Recording starting again due to an interruption]And yeah my family and I would participate in conversations about what was going on. My mom, growing up my mom always tried to make sure that all her kids knew, your black--you know the history, you know where your coming from. Same thing-- because im mixed so for example Puerto Rico we're Puerto Ricans but Puerto Ricans are made up of Taino 00:48:00Indians, African Americans and Spainairds. So there's a mix but I always claim that I am black because that is what I present as that is what I identify as so its,im always comfortable, ive been comfortable in my skin but during the pandemic she really was just--you need to know what your talking about,this heres the facts heres this that and the third. She would give us history lessons,I would even talk to my cousin cuz he was stuck with us and we'd just have big family discussions and I felt it was very helpful to just spread knowledge even if it is your community and you may think you know whatever whatever whatever. But yeah now i'd like--[Overlaped is me snapping to gather my sentence] head on over to your personal experience with COVID these questions will focus on illness and possibly bring up a grief or grieving and other challenges--challenging topics. I cannot english right now. Remember we skip any questions that makes you uncomfortable. I'm not gonna pressure you to answer something you dont want to answer but did illness impact you and your family?

JEWETT: Illness did but not COVID.

LEECE: Okay, Would you mind sharing these experiences with us if you have any?

JEWETT: So my,my grandma right before the COVID pandemic happened was diagnosed with cancer and so during the entire COVID pandemic she was going through chemo which was really scary beacuse chemo makes your immune system really weak and so she was going to hospitals that were being filled with COVID 19 patients to get chemo and luckly she didn't get COVID and none of my family memeber got COVID cuz we were really safe but we were affected by cancer during COVID.

LEECE: How did this personal experience with COVID impact your outlook on the pandemic? So your grandma was in a vulnerable state around people who had COVID. How did that impact your outlook?

JEWETT: I didn't see my grandma for a long time just because I was going to college and she just wasn't in any state for me to go and see her safely and so I--and so I--I was--that really impacted me just not able to see my famly because of it. Also it was just really horrible timing and it just, it was really difficult because cancer's cancer. Its a really big thing, whatever but at the time most nurses and doctors and whoever was in the hospital was focused on these COVID 19 patients.

LEECE:[Overlapped] Yeah they had their hands caught up.

JEWETT: And so it was really difficult because there would be times when my grandmas appointments would be cancelled because COVID 19 was overrun in the hospital so it was just wasnt safe for her to be in that enviroment or people had to come to her house instead, but it was just--it was, it was a wild time.

LEECE: Looking back on those experiences, what do you take away from them?

JEWETT: I value my time and my family more and just my time with people in general more. I also am thankful that despite there being a pandemic none of my family members got COVID. I'm thankful that I didn't get COVID and I am just thankful--I've--I've--I've just been more thankful I guess.

LEECE: So you got a sense of gratefulness and thankfulness out of it okay. Now going back to normal now that vaccines are available and cases are decreasing, life is closer to how things were prior to the pandemic. How do you think that transition is going? How do you feel the transition going back to "normal" is?

JEWETT: I don't know cuz to be honest I feel--COVID is going to be something similar to the flu and so I just I, I feel COVID is something thats always going to be here. And we're not ever going to back to normal normal.I guess its,I hate--I,I think this is a bad comparison but its like the great depression happened and after we were starting to get back to normal from the great depression it wasn't normal. It was things that changed because of the great depression. And so there's things that chancged becaused of COVID. There's still going to be people that wear mask for the rest of their lives,theres still--it, it made me realize just how dirty we are. And just how unhygienic we are as a species but I, It's made me just be more aware of my hygiene and just health in general. And so I think it'll get back to normal but there'll be things that will remind us hey its not really back to normal because we did go two years through a pandemic.

LEECE: I do agree, I feel this pandemic brought to light how we could be very very much more hygienic. Theres countries that are way more hygienic than America so I feel even though we're transitioning back to normal theres gonna be stuff that we take from COVID and into this new normal. So, washing your hands which shouldve been a thing, this shouldve been a thing forever but I mean we found out people dont wash their hands. Hopefully we don't have fights about toilet paper anymore that was crazy. But how will you make decisions about masks and such when the mandates are completley lift? Well they are lifted now in New York City.

JEWETT: I will wear a mask when I, I don't know thats a, thats a--I dont know how I feel about the mask mandate in general because I'll wear a mask if im 00:54:00asked to wear a mask. If I am not asked to wear a mask I probably won't wear a mask. I will wear a mask also out of my comfortability so if im in a croud of people I dont know over probably ten I'll wear a mask. For a bit I'll probably, if I go to any inside kind of show/venue thing I might wear a mask but, outside probably not. With my friends probably not but, I think im just gonna go with how im feeling. I wore a mask cuz I needed to keep people safe and keep myself safe and if I have to wear a mask to keep myself safe another people safe I will. But as it dies down I think it really just based on my comfortability.

LEECE: I agree I feel--for me i just need to get out of the mindset cuz we--the mask mandate has been lifted in New York City it has been for a month two months now. I just--I'm still stuck in the mindset of I need to keep it on even though we don't need too and I just got my booster so Im just--yeah I don't necessarily need to anymore but as you said as you mentioned if im inside or if im in a crowd full of people i dont know im gonna put that on for sure because yeah sure its not a thing anymore but i dont know you and we just we just got out of a pandemic and we're still kinda still getting out of this pandemic. Its not completely gone kind of like the spanish flu but wit more technology now, so I completely agree with what your saying.

LEECE: We're gonna jump into the future now. What lessons or knowledge have you gained over the past three years of the pandemic that you will take with you into the future?

JEWETT: Don't like people, That I think my biggest thing is that people are selfish but I can't let selfish people affect me and also, I can get through alot--we really went through world history and are making it out. I can get through alot and so I think big things are that people are selfish but I'm stronger than I thought I was and people can get through alot. If they were together.

LEECE: I do find it kind of bizarre and mind blowing that events that we lived through are going to probably most likely be in history books and younger generations or future generations are gonna be reading about what we had to go through in textbooks.

[Overlapped recording starting again]

Leece: Alright As we conclude this interview, are there any topics you expected or hoped that we would cover but that we haven't addressed today?

JEWETT: No

LEECE: Are there any topics in our conversation that you would like to revisit?

JEWETT: No

LEECE: Okay, well thank you for sharing your experiences with us. It was wonderful

JEWETT: Thank you for having me.

Transcription: Séana Leece 5-2-2022