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Library

Rachel O'Connor

July 1, 2017

|

Hudson, NY

Song

Recorded by

Jallicia Jolly

This interview is available in-person only. Please get in touch if you would like to listen.
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Summary:

This interview with Rachel O’Connor was conducted on July 1, 2017 in Hudson, NY.  Rachel is a homemaker and factory worker who has lived in Hudson for 15 years. In the interview, she discusses her daily activities as a mother and wife, her past involvement in childcare within her community and her relationship with Hudson. She describes her experiences balancing multiple responsibilities and referenced her role as a soccer mom driving with her children and the neighborhood’s children to and from school and sports. Rachel also reflects on how her past and current circumstances shape her personal well-being and future visions before discussing the meaningful relationships that have taught her how to prioritize tasks.  She describes her immersion in a friendly and communal Hudson in the early 2000s and references the dramatic shifts in Hudson’s real estate trends and demographics.  Rachel notes these early experiences contrasts largely from the isolation, elitism, and unfriendliness that characterize Hudson today.

This interview may be of interest to those who want to learn about motherhood and family life; social life in Hudson from the early 2000s until now; the impact of the changes in Hudson on women; and the development of home life following major political, social, and economic upheavals.

Themes:
Motherhood
,
Caretaking
,
Youth
,
Sports
,
Change and Gentrification
,
Housing
,
Development
,
Parenting
,
Interviewer Bio:
Jallicia Jolly

Jallicia Jolly is a writer and researcher of race, gender, sexuality, and HIV/AIDS. She is a Ph.D. Candidate in American Culture at the University of Michigan where her doctoral interests include reproductive justice, illness and sexual politics, and grassroots health activism. She is interested in using oral history to document the intersectional health experiences of HIV-positive Black women in the Caribbean and the United States. Jallicia is also committed to publicly engaged, cross-cultural work that energize her interests in health humanities, arts activism, and the use of oral historical research an intervention.

Additional Info:
Interview language(s):
English
,
Audio quality:
High

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Permissions: 

This interview is hereby made available for research purposes only. For additional uses (radio and other media, music, internet), please click here to inquire about permissions.

Part of this interview may be played in a radio broadcast or podcast.

Oral history is an iterative process. In keeping with oral history values of anti-fixity, interviewees will have an opportunity to add, annotate and reflect upon their lives and interviews in perpetuity. Talking back to the archive is a form of “shared authority.”

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