My name is Rebecca and I’m an off-phase senior English major. After this year, I only have the fall term of next year and it feels so excitingly close! I thankfully finished my comps last term before these chaotic times. I’m from small town in West Virginia where the population is approximately 400 people. I live on a farm and among the many things we do, one is propagating June apple trees which are getting exceedingly rare.
I will be examining generational divides and inequalities surrounding the spread of COVID-19. If time allows, I am particularly interested in how the consequences of generational divide differ between cultures that focus mainly on the nuclear family and cultures that promote multigenerational living. I believe that in looking at these cultural variations, questions of socioeconomic status would arise as well since the nuclear family is a more prominent concept in the majority culture of our country.
I think this topic sounds really fascinating! If you would like more sources, I may be able to get Zoom interviews with some folks at my church communities in Northfield and Easton, PA. This would capture an older demographic and add geographically diversity.
This seems like a really great and pertinent topic. Like you said in class there’s sort of a stereotype right now that young people are not taking this seriously and refusing to take appropriate safety measures to keep the older generation safe. And while I’m sure this is true of some people, it’s also true of some older people. My whole family has been doing a really good job of self isolating and having as little contact with people as possible except for my younger brother who is 19 and doesn’t think the rules apply to him and my 71 year old grandfather who owns his own business and also doesn’t think the rules apply to him. While it wouldn’t be ideal, he very much has the ability to not be going into work or to only go in very sparingly and yet he’s insisting on going in every day putting both him and my grandmother at risk. Both he and my brother don’t seem to understand that yes, they could both very much catch and/or spread the illness.
To go along with Carolyn if you were looking for ways to get in contact with a geographically diverse older demographic, I bet many of the people in the class would be willing to contact older relatives and family friends and set up Zoom interviews. I have a lot of 60+ contacts here in South Dakota as well as throughout the country as my family is pretty spread out that I would be happy to contact with some questions for your group or get you in contact with.