1 00:00:00,210 --> 00:00:00,480 Audrey Carver: Okay. 2 00:00:02,820 --> 00:00:14,849 Audrey Carver: Okay, um, before we start, do you consent to this interview being recorded and donated to the Tufts Digital Collections Archives in order to be made openly available online in the Tufts Digital Library? 3 00:00:15,809 --> 00:00:16,619 Henry Baer-Benson: Yes. 4 00:00:18,060 --> 00:00:18,450 Audrey Carver: Great, thank you. 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:25,440 Audrey Carver: And would you mind introducing yourself and saying your affiliation to Tufts? 6 00:00:26,550 --> 00:00:29,910 Henry Baer-Benson: I'm Henry Baer-Benson, and I'm a Tufts sophomore. 7 00:00:31,740 --> 00:00:32,730 Audrey Carver: What's your major? 8 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:34,140 Henry Baer-Benson: Community Health. 9 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:36,450 Audrey Carver: Cool, cool. Alright. 10 00:00:37,470 --> 00:00:43,320 Audrey Carver: Um, so pretty much, like I said, I'm just going to be asking questions about the Corona closure and what your life is like now 11 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:50,640 to get a better understanding for the Tufts University responsibility and future pandemics. 12 00:00:52,140 --> 00:00:55,590 Audrey Carver: Um so, why don't we start with where you are now? 13 00:00:57,510 --> 00:01:00,540 Henry Baer-Benson: I'm at home in Minnesota. 14 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:02,160 Henry Baer-Benson: Um yep. 15 00:01:03,060 --> 00:01:06,600 Audrey Carver: Okay, how's the online classes and finals going for you? 16 00:01:10,500 --> 00:01:19,230 Henry Baer-Benson: It really depends on the class. Um, there was not really any structure for how that was going to happen. So some of my classes actually improved when they went online because it 17 00:01:19,230 --> 00:01:22,140 Henry Baer-Benson: forced teachers to be more concise and communicate more. 18 00:01:23,670 --> 00:01:24,360 Henry Baer-Benson: But uh. 19 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:30,270 Henry Baer-Benson: Most of them did not improve... um. 20 00:01:31,110 --> 00:01:34,410 Henry Baer-Benson: It's okay. It's just extremely disorganized. 21 00:01:35,130 --> 00:01:39,450 Audrey Carver: Yeah. Um, how is it for you to be working at home? Is that more challenging? 22 00:01:41,700 --> 00:01:44,640 Henry Baer-Benson: Yeah, I mean more challenging in the sense of like... 23 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:51,330 Henry Baer-Benson: It's not... 24 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:57,000 Henry Baer-Benson: I don't know, like, it definitely doesn't feel like being at school. And I think that is 25 00:01:57,570 --> 00:02:03,510 Henry Baer-Benson: goes with the fact that it's just way less organized and wasn't designed to be like, it was a lot of the classes were trying to just do 26 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:14,250 Henry Baer-Benson: the in-person stuff but online and that doesn't really work. And so ends up feeling and like people are more forgiving and stuff and lenient but that makes it seem like uh. 27 00:02:16,350 --> 00:02:24,810 Henry Baer-Benson: Instead of okay, let's let's teach people online, it's like okay, let's just like make do with what we have. Which, so yeah, it definitely wasn't as good. 28 00:02:25,770 --> 00:02:31,950 Audrey Carver: Yeah. Um, and besides schoolwork, what is your daily life like now? What's a day in the life of Henry Baer-Benson? In quarantine? 29 00:02:33,450 --> 00:02:34,560 Henry Baer-Benson: Um. 30 00:02:36,030 --> 00:02:58,440 Henry Baer-Benson: I wake up, I eat breakfast, I do schoolwork, I eat lunch. I do more schoolwork, and then I go outside and play basketball. And then I come play Minecraft and then I maybe read or listen to a book or think about Dungeon and Dragons. And then I go to sleep and eat dinner at some point. Hope that made sense. 31 00:02:59,820 --> 00:03:00,180 Audrey Carver: Okay. 32 00:03:01,980 --> 00:03:04,920 Audrey Carver: And how are the members of your, your family, holding up as well? 33 00:03:06,060 --> 00:03:13,920 Henry Baer-Benson: We're actually fine but it's, yeah, I have all those siblings so they're all going to school like high school and middle school and 34 00:03:13,980 --> 00:03:14,820 Henry Baer-Benson: we're doing fine. 35 00:03:17,100 --> 00:03:31,950 Audrey Carver: Great, thank you. So if you could take me through back in March a little bit, the whole process of Tufts' closure due to Corona, kind of how you found out about it and what the move-out process was like. 36 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:42,150 Henry Baer-Benson: Uhh, I actually found out about it while I was taking a test in my room 37 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:51,840 Henry Baer-Benson: because my chemistry class had made it a virtual test or an online test because they didn't- they wanted to limit exposures. 38 00:03:52,290 --> 00:04:07,560 Henry Baer-Benson: But that meant that I essentially was just in my room taking it, and my roommate came in and like was like, oh yeah, they're closing school while I was taking the test. So I was like what the heck, and had to just like compartmentalize that until I finished and I was terrible. Um, but 39 00:04:09,900 --> 00:04:18,660 Henry Baer-Benson: other than that, I mean, I definitely think it's better that they told us sooner rather than later. Like they definitely shouldn't have waited, I think... 40 00:04:20,370 --> 00:04:21,210 Henry Baer-Benson: that... 41 00:04:23,670 --> 00:04:26,160 Henry Baer-Benson: move-out, there was honestly a lot of support. 42 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:33,060 Henry Baer-Benson: I don't think there was much because like everything was, it was all just focus on like, okay get everyone out. 43 00:04:33,300 --> 00:04:35,910 Henry Baer-Benson: Let's put all our resources into that. And I guess I just wasn't 44 00:04:36,540 --> 00:04:38,550 Henry Baer-Benson: that much organization after that. 45 00:04:40,260 --> 00:04:41,790 Henry Baer-Benson: So I think there was good... 46 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:50,430 Henry Baer-Benson: A lot of good help came from that. And actually, I think that they did a good job of listening to what people needed. Um. 47 00:04:53,130 --> 00:04:53,850 Henry Baer-Benson: I guess. 48 00:04:56,340 --> 00:04:56,880 Henry Baer-Benson: Yeah. 49 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:02,310 Henry Baer-Benson: I'm trying to think, I feel like it would have been harder to make that decision earlier. 50 00:05:02,700 --> 00:05:06,090 Audrey Carver: Yeah. 51 00:05:08,310 --> 00:05:11,280 Audrey Carver: Mhm. Do you wish anything had been done differently? 52 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:21,450 Henry Baer-Benson: Uhh, not strongly. 53 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:27,930 Henry Baer-Benson: I mean, more time would have already been great but since we were leaving for spring break, and um 54 00:05:31,380 --> 00:05:33,960 Henry Baer-Benson: it would have been hard to make that choice earlier that makes sense. 55 00:05:36,090 --> 00:05:36,360 Audrey Carver: Mhm. Okay. 56 00:05:38,250 --> 00:05:53,100 Audrey Carver: So something that I've kind of been asking a lot of people just because we are in... you know, kind of a strange and unexpected time is, what is something that you're doing right now that seems normal or is normalizing that would have seemed strange a couple months ago? 57 00:05:56,460 --> 00:05:57,900 Audrey Carver: Just in terms of daily life. 58 00:06:04,830 --> 00:06:05,460 Henry Baer-Benson: I mean, it's more 59 00:06:08,280 --> 00:06:09,600 Henry Baer-Benson: things that I'm not doing. 60 00:06:10,050 --> 00:06:10,380 Audrey Carver: Hm. 61 00:06:16,980 --> 00:06:23,640 Henry Baer-Benson: If we're looking at the good side, I mean, I've really tried to take advantage of the space that I have in at 62 00:06:24,690 --> 00:06:26,160 Henry Baer-Benson: my house because uh 63 00:06:27,540 --> 00:06:29,640 Henry Baer-Benson: before it was easy to just ignore that. 64 00:06:31,470 --> 00:06:33,810 Henry Baer-Benson: And do things 65 00:06:35,700 --> 00:06:39,180 Henry Baer-Benson: like build rituals online with people. Um. 66 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:55,410 Henry Baer-Benson: And I guess I've had a lot of things like starting in Dungeons and Dragons campaign, like a lot of things that I wanted to do before, but was always like, ah that's- I'd rather do these other things. like I'd rather spend time going climbing or 67 00:06:57,030 --> 00:07:10,530 Henry Baer-Benson: running and biking with my friends or just hanging out. And now, like oh, I might as well devote my time to doing that thing. So that's kind of cool. And I feel like I am lucky in some sense that I can just do that. 68 00:07:12,210 --> 00:07:16,290 Audrey Carver: Yeah. You mentioned um, online rituals. What do those look like? 69 00:07:17,190 --> 00:07:17,700 Henry Baer-Benson: What do you mean? 70 00:07:18,540 --> 00:07:23,760 Audrey Carver: Oh, with your friends- you were saying like, having online kind of spaces that you share with other people. 71 00:07:25,710 --> 00:07:37,740 Henry Baer-Benson: Yeah, so Dungeons and Dragons is one of those. I'm trying to start just doing something where I see my friends every... we get together, we can just like play pretend online, which is 72 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:40,290 Henry Baer-Benson: to take very few resources and then uhh. 73 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:56,280 Henry Baer-Benson: Uh, we're doing something where we all like watch a show with my friends once a week, with my school friends. And I'll read bedtime stories every night. 74 00:07:58,230 --> 00:07:59,370 Henry Baer-Benson: And... 75 00:08:00,780 --> 00:08:01,890 Henry Baer-Benson: I don't know, just like. 76 00:08:05,070 --> 00:08:09,030 Henry Baer-Benson: I can't think of any other- I'll keep in touch. I'm someone who isn't good at keeping in touch. 77 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:12,900 Henry Baer-Benson: And so it's more like when I build in things that 78 00:08:14,130 --> 00:08:29,070 Henry Baer-Benson: are a ritual. Um, it feels less like because I'm someone who- I'm just like, I'll see you when I see ya. But then if we are doing something together, such as like, watching a show or reading or playing a game, then it's, I'm able to see my friends. So, yeah. 79 00:08:29,430 --> 00:08:30,870 Henry Baer-Benson: For me, those rituals look like 80 00:08:31,350 --> 00:08:37,380 Henry Baer-Benson: having a purpose for me- not just like talking but having a purpose- like playing games, too, is another thing that we did a little bit more at the beginning. 81 00:08:38,670 --> 00:08:39,720 Henry Baer-Benson: Like Jack Box instead. 82 00:08:40,620 --> 00:08:46,080 Audrey Carver: Okay, um, like when you were talking about the kind of like, I'll see you when I see you mindset 83 00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:57,510 Audrey Carver: of staying in touch with people- has that changed now that we are not sure exactly when we're going to see people again? Like, are you putting more effort into building those rituals, do you think, or... 84 00:08:59,700 --> 00:09:01,530 Audrey Carver: approaching it, staying in touch, differently? 85 00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:14,550 Henry Baer-Benson: I don't think I'm approaching it differently. I definitely still have the alright, I'll see you when I see you mindset. But I think I'm more likely to want to reach out to someone... 86 00:09:17,430 --> 00:09:20,520 Henry Baer-Benson: every once in a while. Just cause' um... 87 00:09:24,780 --> 00:09:27,000 Henry Baer-Benson: I'm more likely to be lonely. 88 00:09:27,630 --> 00:09:28,710 Henry Baer-Benson: Because there's not 89 00:09:29,370 --> 00:09:34,770 Henry Baer-Benson: like I can't go and hang out with friends here. So it's just as, yeah I guess, that's that's the difference is that 90 00:09:35,460 --> 00:09:47,160 Henry Baer-Benson: it's just about as easy to... I need to talk to someone, you know, and it's just about as easy to reach out to my friends from school while I'm here as it is to reach out for my friends from home while I'm at home. 91 00:09:47,430 --> 00:09:57,270 Henry Baer-Benson: Because we're all spatially isolated. So it's just, everyone is a phone call away so I end up treating them a lot more similarly. Whereas normally I would just hang out with my friends 92 00:09:57,810 --> 00:10:01,230 Henry Baer-Benson: here and that would scratch my social itch. And then, whenever my friends from 93 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:06,570 Henry Baer-Benson: school would message me or call me or whatever, I'd be like yeah, of course. But I just wouldn't think of it as much. 94 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:18,120 Audrey Carver: Okay, yeah, that makes sense. I've been feeling that a lot too in in trying to stay in contact with people and I think 'cause so many of my friends are in this same position where they're like, they have to talk to somebody. 95 00:10:18,570 --> 00:10:20,250 Audrey Carver: So it's actually been pretty easy to find 96 00:10:20,550 --> 00:10:29,940 Audrey Carver: people to talk to. Um, has this changed your family dynamic at all, like strained being in quarantine or 97 00:10:30,450 --> 00:10:43,050 Audrey Carver: um, something that I was thinking about when you were talking was just like that, I'm Zooming with my grandparents a lot. Just 'cause I don't know when I'll be able to see them again. So, you know, is there any kind of new family rituals that are coming out of this? 98 00:10:45,810 --> 00:10:47,640 Henry Baer-Benson: Um, so... we... 99 00:10:51,960 --> 00:11:01,620 Henry Baer-Benson: I mean, so it's definitely straining in some ways, I think less than I expected. We all are able to create our own personal space pretty easily, but it definitely... 100 00:11:03,930 --> 00:11:08,220 Henry Baer-Benson: has caused us to... there's more 101 00:11:09,270 --> 00:11:16,110 Henry Baer-Benson: friction sometimes over things that seem like small and just, especially with younger people in my family. 102 00:11:18,900 --> 00:11:37,110 Henry Baer-Benson: And so I mean, in some ways, it's helped us like learning how to like, express, express our emotions better to each other. But in terms of rituals, we spend every weekend in our cabin together and that's a lot of like forced family fun time. 103 00:11:39,090 --> 00:11:52,800 Henry Baer-Benson: And we had been, yeah also talking to our grandparents more. My parents do Zoom calls with their friends who are far away, which they could have done anyways, but now they're starting to do it like very often. 104 00:11:55,830 --> 00:12:00,450 Henry Baer-Benson: Um, just because I guess they're lonely too, probably similar reason that I'm doing that. 105 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:08,940 Henry Baer-Benson: Other than that... other than that, do we have any other rituals? My siblings and I play a lot of Minecraft together 106 00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:10,800 Henry Baer-Benson: which we wouldn't have done otherwise. 107 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:26,700 Audrey Carver: Nice. So, I'm going to kind of switch back to the logistical questions a little bit. I know Tufts has been doing a lot of outreach and trying to figure out where students are at with internships and jobs 108 00:12:27,570 --> 00:12:34,890 Audrey Carver: since so many things were changed this summer. So, kinda wondering what your summer is looking like, if you're able to do remote work? 109 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:39,150 Audrey Carver: You know, if you could just tell me kind of what's looking ahead from here. 110 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:45,180 Henry Baer-Benson: Yeah. Um, I got super lucky and was all set up with an internship before 111 00:12:45,870 --> 00:13:01,110 Henry Baer-Benson: this happened and that internship is able to do remote, I'm able to do it remotely. And then I applied for the Tufts grant, the summer grant, and so I was able- I was awarded that. So I was able to basically have... 112 00:13:02,610 --> 00:13:13,950 Henry Baer-Benson: my internship the way that I would have wanted it, except for, I guess it's online now. But I wasn't affected too much compared to what could have happened. So I... 113 00:13:14,970 --> 00:13:23,130 Henry Baer-Benson: am not super worried, but I think that if I hadn't already had it lined up, I would have been very concerned, I think, it would have been a lot harder. 114 00:13:24,930 --> 00:13:25,200 Henry Baer-Benson: Yeah. 115 00:13:26,250 --> 00:13:34,590 Audrey Carver: Okay, thank you so much. Um, I only really have one question left that I've been asking all of my interviewees 116 00:13:35,820 --> 00:13:52,770 Audrey Carver: And if you don't have an answer, it's okay. But if you could see any kind of change come out of the situation, you know, whether it's like just for you personally or on a large social scale- you know, something to move forward with differently- is there anything you would want to see? 117 00:13:53,340 --> 00:13:54,510 Henry Baer-Benson: Wait, can you repeat that? 118 00:13:55,140 --> 00:13:59,790 Audrey Carver: Yeah, pretty much is there any change you would like to see come out of this situation? 119 00:14:04,530 --> 00:14:05,760 Henry Baer-Benson: Um... 120 00:14:11,370 --> 00:14:12,690 Henry Baer-Benson: I mean, yes... 121 00:14:21,990 --> 00:14:26,160 Henry Baer-Benson: And I mean, it depends on what level you're asking. 122 00:14:27,510 --> 00:14:35,130 Henry Baer-Benson: You talk a lot about how it will make, hopefully make us have to do healthcare better. 123 00:14:36,630 --> 00:14:37,890 Henry Baer-Benson: But on like a... 124 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:44,400 Henry Baer-Benson: more personal level 125 00:14:45,570 --> 00:14:47,700 Henry Baer-Benson: Or more Tufts-related level, I guess uh... 126 00:14:58,140 --> 00:15:04,620 Henry Baer-Benson: I don't know, because I don't- I wouldn't, I would hope that we don't have to plan for there being online classes in the future, like Tufts shouldn't... 127 00:15:07,650 --> 00:15:11,850 Henry Baer-Benson: Uh, I would hope that this isn't how we have to continue. But definitely, if 128 00:15:13,890 --> 00:15:22,500 Henry Baer-Benson: we do, I would hope that they... I don't know, just become a lot more organized in their classes and specifically design classes for... 129 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:24,330 Henry Baer-Benson: going online 130 00:15:25,350 --> 00:15:26,340 Henry Baer-Benson: which would mean like 131 00:15:29,010 --> 00:15:39,240 Henry Baer-Benson: which would mean like engaging beyond just, like read this thing, watch this thing, write a little thing on the board and then deliver your essay to me. Um, which 132 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:42,390 Henry Baer-Benson: honestly was kind of a nice break in the middle of all this 133 00:15:44,370 --> 00:15:48,270 Henry Baer-Benson: but I think going forward, should not happen. Um... 134 00:15:49,410 --> 00:15:49,740 Henry Baer-Benson: Other than that 135 00:15:51,060 --> 00:15:52,140 Henry Baer-Benson: that was a very broad question. 136 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:58,860 Audrey Carver: Yeah, I know it's broad. I mean, everyone has a different answer so I just thought I'd throw it out there. But, um. 137 00:15:59,970 --> 00:16:08,490 Audrey Carver: That is all that I have prepared and need to ask. So if there's nothing else you want to add, I will end the recording. 138 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:10,230 Henry Baer-Benson: Yeah. 139 00:16:11,250 --> 00:16:13,380 Audrey Carver: Okay, thank you so much.