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Library

Anna Padgett

Location:

Brooklyn, NY

Recorded by

Anna Levy

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Summary:

This interview was conducted with Anna Padgett on March 24, 2022 remotely via Zoom. Anna is a kindergarten educator based in New York City. This interview began with a timestamp for Summer 2020, when narrator Anna Padgett and interviewer Anna Levy first interviewed together. Anna Padgett opened by talking about housing uncertainty, as she recently purchased a new home but suddenly received 25% pay cut at her previous school. Anna changed jobs this school year, partially as a result of these conditions, and emphasized how important truth became for her, even if she didn't align philosophically with the school. She talked about how children's speech and behavior had been affected by over a year of in school interactions and learning with masks on and the inability to see mouths. She gave some examples of kids (5-6 year olds) who articulated what they could now understand about their peers when seeing their mouths. She talked about the Spring, and how it was a defining season the last two years, and reflected a bit on the 'past' of COVID but also the messy reality that some people are ready to move on and others acknowledge it's still here. Finally, she described different periods of the last few years through a few records that she has, and how some songs from her collection became emblematic of those periods.

Themes:
The beginning of lockdown
,
Illness
,
Trauma
,
Teachers
,
Mental health
,
Interviewer Bio:

Anna Levy is a researcher, strategic analyst, educator and oral historian. Most of her work is at the intersection of accountability politics, structural inequality, historical and collective memory, and the role of civilian movements in economic and political transitions. She uses mixed research methods to map out the pressures and incentives guiding complex systems--including the political economy of organizations or cities in crisis, militarized border bureaucracies, or the shifting legal and digital frontlines of collective civic action, among others. Anna uses oral history to bring out the multiple, intersecting experiences that make up the day-to-day of those systems in order to help inform advocacy, policy and power shifts. She teaches on emergency and disaster politics at Fordham University and is an avid capoeirista. Her website is | Jafsadi.works.

Additional Info:
Interview language(s):
English
Audio quality:
Medium

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