Hello, my fellow quarantiners, my name is Michael and I am a sophomore History and PoliSci double major, from the land of the potatoes (Boise Idaho). I am still unsure what I want to focus on within the discipline of History, however, I am particularly interested in Political and Intellectual European History. My connection to public history started during my senior year of high school when I volunteered at the Boise Old Idaho Penitentiary. During my time at the penitentiary, I served as an assistant curator for weapons collection, where I spent most of my time talking to visitors and organizing some of the records of the penitentiary. This is my first term taking Historians for Hire and I couldn’t be happier to finally take the class, even though I thought I would be working on a completely different project. I am thrilled to be part of this great team recording these chaotic times.
Currently, I am quarantined in Idaho. This experience has shaken my understanding of the world and left me feeling like a stranger in this new world. Idaho has been relatively lightly hit by the pandemic; however, a 6.5 earthquake rocked the state on March 31st. Luckily nobody was injured but the experience has left an even deeper sense of loss of familiarity with the world. I am interested in exploring how the pandemic is affecting the strangers amongst us and especially the people who are exiled and have no place to call home. I am purposely using the word stranger to illuminate the struggle these people face and how society purposely limits their freedom. There are many different types of strangers, however, I am planning more so to limit my conversation on refugees, asylum seekers, and people with disabilities. The strangers within our communities are significantly impacted by the pandemic, and if we do not highlight their struggles and challenges, we would be allowing their stories to disappear into the yawning mouth of time.
I hope to include a wide range of mediums that will convey the tales of strangers and exiles. I believe a diversity of these mediums is key in capturing the full extent of the crisis we are all living through. Only by preserving these stories of the strangers can we preserve their memory and learn from their experiences.
I am glad you are safely home and have survived the earthquake Michael! I am really interested in your project and I think your focus on people who have been marginalized long before this crisis is a crucial aspect of the history of this year. Despite rhetoric about Coronavirus as ‘the great equalizer,’ access to resources, including safe and permanent single-family shelter for social distancing, is by no means ubiquitous and we fail the many people living on what you term the shadows by omitting their circumstances in our conceptions of this crisis.