Summary(2:00) Unemployment status pending, time for personal projects -- (3:10) Finances dwindling, formerly worked at Amazon books -- (4:40) Questions about Amazon reopening, retail environment -- (5:38) Worry about financial future, introversion no longer a choice -- (6:36) Unemployment process unpredictable, caseworkers are overwhelmed -- (7:40) Comparable experience: 2004 Florida's hurricane Ivan -- (8:40) Navigating clinical depression -- (9:40) Connecting with friends, family in Florida Panhandle: rural, different conditions -- (11:18) Building, streets eerily quiet -- (12:20) Neighbors moving away, others moving in -- (14:30) Recently arrived in NYC -- (16:14) Crisis found us politically divided, unprepared -- (17:50) Hopes for better response in future -- (18:52) Memory needed to prevent repeating mistakes -- (20:09) Personal contacts outside of NYC ignorant of situation in city.
NoteAudio interview conducted on May 1, 2020, by Adwoa Adusei. Collected for the Covid-19 Oral History Project through Our Streets, Our Stories, an oral history project of Brooklyn Public Library. This project is a partnership with Services for Older Adults and the Brooklyn Collection.
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TitleOral history interview with Kelby Merchant on 2020 May 1.