Olivia Robinson, September 11th, 2024

Title

Olivia Robinson, September 11th, 2024

Description

In this interview, Olivia Robinson discusses graduating during COVID and entering the work force while the world faced a global health crisis.

Publisher

Detroit Historical Society

Rights

Detroit Historical Society

Language

en-US

Narrator/Interviewee's Name

Olivia Robinson

Interviewer's Name

Taylor Claybrook

Date

9/11/2024

Interview Length

17:23

Transcription

Taylor Claybrook: [00:00:00] Today is September 11th, 2024. My name is Taylor Claybrook, and I'm virtually sitting down with Olivia Robinson. Thank you for doing this interview, Olivia.

Olivia Robinson: [00:00:12] Thank you for having me. I'm so honored.

Taylor Claybrook: [00:00:15] So I'm going to start by asking what was your initial reaction to hearing about Covid?

Olivia Robinson: [00:00:21] My initial reaction to hearing about Covid...I was honestly one of those people at the very beginning that was like, you know, it's not really going to be that big of a deal. We've seen, you know, viruses come and go, but, you know, it's probably going to get handled and it'll kind of go away in the next month or so. And I was a senior in college at that point, and obviously graduation was coming up, and there were rumors around campus that graduation was going to get canceled. And for... For a few days, I was just incredibly skeptical that it was going to turn into the heartbreak and disaster that it ended up turning into. So I would say that my initial reaction to Covid was kind of steeped in a lot of...Just skepticism. I didn't really understand what was happening or how it would really play out, but I had a lot of faith that everything would be just fine and it would kind of blow over. And obviously that's not what happened by any means.

Taylor Claybrook: [00:01:30] And then...So you you were a senior in college. Where... Where were you at school at the time?

Olivia Robinson: [00:01:39] Yeah, I was a senior at Michigan State University whenever Covid started to creep into our lives.

Taylor Claybrook: [00:01:46] Okay. And then your reaction to when everything finally got shut down in March of 2020? What was that like?

Olivia Robinson: [00:01:55] My reaction to everything getting shut down... It was really devastating. Like you said, I was a senior at Michigan State and I was in my senior seminar class and all-- myself and all of the other seniors in the class got a text message on our phones that basically said, go home for two weeks and then come back and everything's going to be okay. But I think in that moment, things got really real for me and it was really devastating to go. I love being around people. I love seeing my friends and being around my family. So I think just having everything get shut down and having to be sent home and having graduation be canceled and not being able to enjoy that time as a young person was really devastating.

Taylor Claybrook: [00:02:42] And what program were you in at Michigan State?

Olivia Robinson: [00:02:46] Yeah, I was in the English program at Michigan State, so I was a student in the English department.

Taylor Claybrook: [00:02:51] Okay. And how was the transition from in-person to online? I know you said you are, you know, very people and community oriented. So what was it like having to take classes online?

Olivia Robinson: [00:03:05] It was really hard because I had never had to do something like that before. Obviously, you know, online classes I think were available, but they just weren't as prevalent as they are now. So I think it was a difficult transition just because I loved being in the classroom and being able to hear and kind of lean on my other classmates. I think there's just like a free flowingness that happens whenever you're in a classroom together that I really missed. Whenever we switched online and everything was just so rushed and there was no way to anticipate it. So from going online to completely virtual just felt really discombobulating. It was really confusing. No one knew how grades were going to be handled, things like that. So it was... It was hard. It was a difficult transition because, like I said, I liked being around the professors and around my classmates. So having to finish up college in our childhood bedroom was just really disappointing.

Taylor Claybrook: [00:04:03] I totally get that. And then when you... Do you mind if I ask you about when you went to Wayne State?

Olivia Robinson: [00:04:11] Yeah, for sure.

Taylor Claybrook: [00:04:12] Okay. So when you and I lived together during Covid, you did go to Wayne State for a semester. So what what was that like in kind of what I'm essentially asking you is how how deeply did the pandemic impact, you know, your decision to not continue at Wayne.

Olivia Robinson: [00:04:33] Yeah, I think, like you said, I was at Wayne State for a semester. I was in a master's program of English, and I think Covid impacted that because I had just so much time to myself and I had so much time just to be alone and really sit with what I wanted for myself. And I knew that I didn't want to continue to pay a lot of money to be taking classes online. And I also knew just by having all that time to myself and quiet time, I had a lot of opportunity to reflect and think about what I really wanted. And so I guess that's one semi-positive thing about the pandemic sort of being forced to isolate and be so self-reflective. I kind of realized that this wasn't the right time or place for me at the moment to be in graduate school, because I'd always dreamed about being in graduate school and being in person and walking around campus and not being able to have that, paying for classes and not getting that experience was hard. And then again, I think Covid kind of impacted that decision because I had just so much time alone to think about what I wanted. And I realized that it just wasn't the time for me to continue school.

Taylor Claybrook: [00:05:51] Yeah, absolutely. And then, what kept you busy? Kind of going back to like the earlier months when everything got shut down. And then you have back home. What did you busy during lockdown?

Olivia Robinson: [00:06:06] Yeah, that's a great question. Well, obviously, I lived with you, Taylor, and we had a ton of fun together. You were in school at the time. And that was really fun whenever you were done with classes. We kind of kept each other busy doing...I remember we would do little crafts or we would just spend time going around Belle Isle or social distancing with your friends in the city that I was getting to know. So I think honestly, what kept me busy was just having you as a roommate to sort of just talk to and spend time with and watch movies with was a really big help. I think we moved in together in August of 2020 and then we would just do a lot of socially distance things in the city. Like I said, go for a drive.

Taylor Claybrook: [00:06:56] And we...we did a lot of driving around at the time. You never realize how much fun driving around is until you're told that you can't do anything anymore.

Olivia Robinson: [00:07:07] No, dude literally drive around get take out, eat it in the car and just little stuff like that was really important.

Taylor Claybrook: [00:07:15] Yeah. So what was it like interacting with people that lived outside of your home? So that can be when you and I moved in together during summer 2020? That can be when you initially went back home to Grosse Pointe in March. Right. I'm just wondering how like what was that like talking to people that you didn't live with?

Olivia Robinson: [00:07:38] It was hard. Do you mean in person or just...

Taylor Claybrook: [00:07:41] No. So, so some people, you know, they would call their family every day. They would do Zoom. They would like talk over socially, you know, like communicating with you and not necessarily seeing them in person.

Olivia Robinson: [00:07:52] Yeah, I see what you're saying. It was kind of scary because I'm really close with my dad, as you know, and he was older. He has a few underlying conditions. So I was initially worried because I knew I would be spending a lot more time with him. And I was just worried about, you know, his own health. And I was a little bit more social than he was. So I never wanted to jeopardize his health. But I think moving out of Hancock and back home during Covid was also just hard because it's just not what I expected. Like, it's just not the vision that I had for myself at all, like having to move back home. And I lost like a job, like a corporate job, at the time. It was just like a lot was happening that I just didn't foresee. On top of a global pandemic made it kind of hard to want to be present at home with my mom and everything because I was just so disappointed that I didn't really want to talk a lot and just kind of wanted to isolate. So it was it was a weird transition. Just so much at once. On top of a global pandemic was just pretty crazy.

Taylor Claybrook: [00:09:00] So yeah, now I totally get it. And so you are you're referring to 2021. Well, yeah. When we had to go back home, so. Yeah. Yeah. And that's good, because a lot of people focus on, like those early months of the pandemic and then it's like you move into 2021 when things are, you know, you can be vaccinated and you can go back outside, but it's still not quite back to normal. So it was it was definitely a different experience in 2021. So yeah, I, I know it was it was hard. It was rough for a lot of people. But how, how was it going back into the world? So one of the previous questions was the transition from in-person to online. And then kind of going from online back, you know, in-person, I guess in your case, just going back into the real world because you weren't in school. So what was that like kind of going from, you know, isolation to being around people again?

Olivia Robinson: [00:10:09] It was so jarring to go from being so isolated to then suddenly everything is, you know, it's okay as long as you have your vaccine card and wear a mask, I'll be perfectly fine. I think for me, it was just so not to be dramatic, but it just felt so traumatizing to be isolated and seeing so much... Just like actually just death and people passing from this disease on the news being inundated with that and then, you know, being isolated for so long to then just suddenly being told, it's you know, it's okay as long as you do, you know, X, Y and Z, it'll be fine. So it was definitely a weird adjustment. At the same time, in 2021, I also moved to Chicago. So it was weird because we were kind of coming out of Covid, but I also wanted to meet my neighbors and meet people in the city. So it was just a weird transition because we had been through this really awful thing and suddenly we were supposed to kind of act like nothing was wrong or if, you know, wear a mask, you know, everything's okay. And it was just it was very jarring. I would say it's like the best words that I could use for it.

Taylor Claybrook: [00:11:24] Yeah, absolutely. And then one of the other questions that I wanted to ask you, how would you say and you kind of already touched on this earlier, but how would you say your sense of community was impacted by Covid? And that can be, you know, an initial lockdown or that could be, you know, where you are today in terms of, yeah, you know, Covid makes you feel like maybe people aren't as talkative as they were before, you know what I mean? So, like, how ...how would you say it's been impacted?

Olivia Robinson: [00:12:00] Personally, I think whenever I initially had to leave school during Covid, my community was just taken away so fast because I anticipated... I didn't anticipate like moving back home. And I think it's, you know, typical whenever you graduate college for people to go their separate ways of being able to or being forced to leave college when like you literally cannot see your friends, like for the foreseeable future was really crazy. So I feel like my community was kind of ripped away. I worked at a museum. Obviously museums were one of the first institutions to kind of go and I had really good friends with my job and we weren't able to see each other much at all. So my community was definitely impacted because we were all so separated. But I think now it's just made me really appreciate a connection a lot more. I think, like you said, like it's, it's funny, like spending that this formative years in your early 20s in isolation and still I feel like there's still like I'm 26 but I feel like I still would want to do stuff and go out and have a good time like I would when I was 23, because those years were just kind of like lost to time. And so the pandemic. So I feel like a lot of the time sometimes I feel like I'm playing catch up for those years and I always feel like I have to go out and, you know, be around people that sometimes I burn myself out because it's like, my God, I remember what it was like when I couldn't be around people and how much that sucks. So I think it's made me appreciate community a lot more, but at the same time, it's still a balance, having a healthy relationship with it. Does that make sense?

Taylor Claybrook: [00:13:49] Yeah, that's a really good response because like a lot of people our age are kind of like, I have to... I do have to go out because when we were 21 and 22, we couldn't do anything like, like we, we were driving around and that was our that was our sole source of entertainment.

Olivia Robinson: [00:14:09] Exactly.

Taylor Claybrook: [00:14:09] So, yeah, like playing catch up and just kind of like, you know, trying to get that time back that was lost to Covid. It's... It's hard. So, yeah, I know that makes, that makes perfect sense. And then the last question that I wanted to ask you is how has Covid shaped where or who you are today? Professionally, Personally. Yeah. You know.

Olivia Robinson: [00:14:38] That's a really good question. How had Covid shaped? Well, it's a really good question. Can I take a second to think about?

Taylor Claybrook: [00:14:47] Yeah, absolutely. I know like whenever I ask that question, people are like, that's so...very, it's a very loaded question, but I feel like you you have to ask people that because it's Covid...was...everybody experienced Covid differently. So, yes, you can you can take a second for that one.

Olivia Robinson: [00:15:05] I think, you know, it's a really good question. I wish I had something like for, I think well, I guess I could start with professionally. It impacted me because I think I hate to repeat myself, but like I said, during lockdown, I had a lot of time to think about what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be and where I wanted to go. So I think at the same time, while it was really jarring that things are starting to open up, I was so anxious to get out and start my life and, you know, get back out there. That kind of really motivated me to think beyond like, you know, where I grew up. And that made me want to apply to jobs in Chicago, where I am now. And I'm absolutely loving it here. It's been amazing. And I just sometimes wonder, like, man, if I had it, you know, where would my life be if, you know, I got a job right after college that was more readily available because, you know, jobs were more prevalent before Covid, like when I had the opportunity to move to Chicago, you know, with that job have been there whenever I was ready to move initially. So I think it just gave me a lot of time with Covid. It gave me a lot of time to reflect on what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be and where I wanted to go. I'm really grateful to be in the city that I love so much. Still I have great friends back in Detroit, so I think that's kind of how it impacted me professionally. I also just think that everything happens for a reason sometimes, sometimes for the good, the bad. But I'm just really glad that, you know, despite everything that I'm healthy and a lot of my friends and family are healthy and that we're still trying to make the most of the time that we have despite all those lost years.

Taylor Claybrook: [00:16:54] Yeah, that's...That's really good, Olivia. Yeah, absolutely. I think I...I covered everything. Do you have any other thoughts or questions that you want to share before I press end on the recorder?

Olivia Robinson: [00:17:11] I think that's it. I'm really happy and honored that you would want to talk to me about my experiences. And yeah, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me.

Taylor Claybrook: [00:17:21] Yeah, absolutely.

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Citation

“Olivia Robinson, September 11th, 2024,” Detroit Historical Society Oral History Archive, accessed February 14, 2025, http://detroit1967.detroithistorical.org/items/show/1077.

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