“I think people can quickly forget that the reason that they’re able to live comfortable lives is because of the dedication of working-class people that are there every day, 40 hours a week, almost every week of the year providing that service. And I think that people take a lot of that for granted. And the pandemic, for a short period of time, showed that that was something that was essential.”
My memories of 2020 are shaped by ongoing conversations with a loved one, whose stories of working at a bulk grocery chain kept me tuned into a sense of daily, public life – even through distance and isolation – and whose impressions of the year I therefore wanted to capture for this project. In our interview we discussed the early days of COVID-19 lockdown in Oregon, the politicization of medical recommendations, the tensions and heightened anxieties of daily life during this year, and the importance of work as well as the burdens borne by workers in difficult times.
This narrator is interviewed by Claire Vulliamy.