Tag: oral history

Journalist Alisyn Camerota is the anchor of New Day: CNN’s morning news show. She has lived in Westport for seven and a half years with her husband, three children (ages 13, 15 and 15), and Savi, their beloved longtime nanny/house manager, who helps control the chaos. 

While the family is following stay at home orders, as a journalist, Alisyn is considered an essential employee and gets a special dispensation from the city to go into Manhattan to do her job. 

“COVID-19 has certainly impacted my work. Our New York City office looks like a ghost town as we all are forced to keep our distance from each other. My producers, writers, bookers, camera crews, and makeup artists are no longer in the building.  My co-anchor and I are normally share an anchor desk, but now we’re both alone in individual studios. It’s strange. I continue to work and report on the situation, hoping that my reporting is helpful and my daily morning presence is comforting to viewers.  

When reporting on this story, it would be impossible for me to pretend that it isn’t hitting close to home. I don’t feel the need to try to insert artificial distance. My town has been hard hit. I’m talking to neighbors everyday who are anxious and confused. I think the proximity to the story gives me more understanding and makes me a better reporter.  It reminds me of reporting from Ground Zero after 9/11. There was no way not to feel close to the story and I accepted that it was ok to feel personally frightened and devastated but still able to get facts and information out.

Westporters seem to be heeding the warnings to “socially distance” from each other. Even walking our new dog, neighbors stop to say, ‘Hello,’ but stay six feet apart.  Shopping and dining out have ended. The library is closed. I think that once Westport realized it was a hotspot, residents became vigilant about trying to flatten the curve here. 

To read more of the museums long lens oral histories please visit the Westport In Focus page.

Diane Lowman is a yoga instructor who has lived in Westport for 23 years. Last July, Diane was named Westport’s Poet Laureate and shares observations of daily life through the haiku she posts on Instagram. Unlike a lot of people, she’s self-quarantined completely alone—“no pets, no people, no nothing”   

I didn’t like feeling of being at home alone, but now I’ve learned to make friends with it.

“I noticed that before this I spent a lot of time outside of my house because I didn’t like feeling of being at home alone, but now I’ve learned to make friends with it. I’m practicing yoga at home, and making meals for myself. I’m trying to create structure and learning to appreciate the process of making peace with myself.  

My sister lives in town as do my ex-husband, his wife and their 10 year old son. My  25-year-old son has also come to live with them. I have a lot of family around me and earlier in the social distancing process, my ex and his family have been gracious about having me over. My sister has had an autoimmune condition so I’m careful about not being with her. I fully feel what it’s like to be alone– but it’s not all negative. There are times when I crave conversation that isn’t electronic, or the casual touch of a hug or saying hi.  

 This time in isolation and dealing with crisis reminds us that we are more similar than different. It reminds me of 9/11 and how differences dropped and we felt united. I’m seeing this every day. I hope that feeling  lasts–including having us all pitch in to help so many of us who aren’t fortunate. My biggest fear is what will happen to folks who are less able, financial, mentally, emotionally, physically, socially. How will we work to get them through this? I know that the economy will come back but I worry about those who will slip through the cracks until it does. 

Writing poetry now is different for me. Over time my haiku has evolved as a journal for me. It’s triggered by what I see which may or may not have to do with how I’m feeling. But now it’s very introspective, in terms of isolation and the larger situation. I have store of photographs that I’ve taken for years even when I was living in abroad and some resonate so well with the feelings of today—like gargoyles from church carvings–that didn’t have a sentiment before but now really work.   

There are silver linings in all this – the slowing down. The kindnesses. Things seem very broken right now but this is finite and while the world will be different it will mend  

To read more of the museums long lens oral histories please visit the Westport In Focus page.

Nathalie Laitmon has lived in Westport for 15 years. The writer and mom of three contracted COVID-19 at “The Party”.  One of the earliest sufferers of a mild to moderate version the illness which she describes as “still being like the worst flu feelings one has ever had at once”, Nathalie came forward on social media to share real information about her experience to try to allay community fears. She has already donated her blood plasma for researchers at Mt. Sinai Hospital working on treatments and vaccines for COVID-19.  

“Westport has an air that is big enough that you don’t have to come forward to say anything private, but small enough for me to feel incredible responsibility to the town. I never once thought about keeping information to myself especially since the real-time misinformation without context or hindsight is creating a cognitive dissonance with the reality we are used to experiencing.  I feel like I’m on a virtual frontline in terms of sharing information and trying to be an advocate. I’ve had a lot of very private conversations with people I will probably never speak to again just to give reassurance. 

Even though I’m an extremely private person, I felt incredible responsibility to constantly check in with people who were at that party. I felt we had a collective illness and if someone pulled through that raised the spirits of everybody and made it seem it more likely that everybody would pull through. 

That being said, people who were quarantined didn’t want to come forward with false hope until they cycled through all their symptoms. The backlash we saw in these Facebook groups talking about the party was a little scary, and off-putting. There is an undercurrent of fear and panic but it’s up to us to reassure one another.  

It’s feels like we’re in an old-fashioned era for which you are not prepared except for watching Little House On The Prairie reruns. I feel like this is all something we’ve read in history books about tuberculosis and scarlet fever when the fear was unprecedented. 

Doctors told me to assume it’s been through my house completely now. There were many, many days where we had to wait for tests and we were still learning about social distancing. During that time everyone in my home had symptoms. We were ahead of the curve of what everyone will be going through in the next few months. I’m most concerned about the idea that there are asymptomatic carriers out there. I wonder if people are really listening to their bodies. [For example] now it’s being reported that losing smell and taste is a sign. I had been talking about [my experience with that] for weeks with doctors and no one had an idea of what I was talking about. 

Part of me wants to abandon this responsibility and focus on my household and homeschooling my kids–but it’s just not possible for me to see people panicking and not have a conversation with them. 

This is a real exercise in being present. This is a reality check for everyone on planet.

I think that the reality of the world has changed and I’m hoping for my town that social distance doesn’t mean emotional distance. In my opinion the “end of the world” is a mindset and not an event. The time I spent worried, I’ll never get back. This is a real exercise in being present. This is a reality check for everyone on planet. Before this, I was complaining about all of my sport and dance mom responsibilities. I hope some people can ease the panic, resist feeding into the drama and instead force themselves to enjoy their time with their kids.  

We could all take a lesson from the kids right now, I think we are all surprised with how amazing our kids are through all of this. They are programed to care, which is something I, as a parent couldn’t not have done on my own–the educational system of Westport creates a genuine desire to be good students and good citizens.” 

To read more of the museums long lens oral histories please visit the Westport In Focus page.