Dear reader,
How are you?
We are three days into the second month of the year — a year that’s already felt like 365 days. You too?
One bright spot has been Clubhouse. I’ve been obsessed. If you’re not familiar, Clubhouse launched last year and reminds me of early internet chat rooms. Chatting on Clubhouse though is all audio. You can create a profile and follow people to build a network, but other than that, it’s a listening experience with the option to participate.
I love Clubhouse because I love meeting new people and I’m an auditory learner. It’s amazing what I can discover by dropping into different rooms.
I bring up Clubhouse tonight because what I experience there is what I hope to accomplish here: to introduce you to someone new and to help you hear their voice.
Tonight that someone is Matt in Indiana and I’m also trying something new with his story.
Instead of rewriting our interview in first person as I’ve been doing, I’m publishing it as a condensed and edited Q&A. Let me know what you think.
Matt and I spoke in May of last year. He had just moved back from Japan and was working as a bouncer at a bar in Evansville when the pandemic hit.
While he was earning $100 a night, Matt was also applying to bomb squad jobs overseas — specifically demining operations in Cambodia.
The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia in the 1970s in a brutal regime that left nearly 2 million dead from genocide, starvation, and hard labor. Matt was in the U.S. Navy for six years working in EOD, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, prior to graduating from Columbia, where we met.
“They put millions of land mines all over,” Matt said. “And once land mines are put in place, you either conduct demining operations or people get blown up.”
Matt still wants to make it to Southeast Asia after the pandemic gets under control. But for now, he’s adapted to life back in the states, in a town without a traffic light.
I hope you enjoy meeting him and reading his story.
Take care of yourself, as always. And others, if you can,
Hope
Post #3: Matt, from Owensville, Indiana
I’m thankful I was here when it hit because I can’t imagine living in one or two rooms like my friends who are in cities. I’m also thankful I’m living with my mom so I can be there for her.
When did you get laid off?
The order in Indiana came the day before St. Patrick’s Day which I was super, super pissed about because I had my kilt ready and they were like NOPE.
How did they lay you off?
I found out through the news. The manager happens to be one of my best friends. We were texting about what was going on, then we said well — now we’re not working.
What was your initial reaction?
We obviously saw the writing on the wall. Indiana was not the most severely hit. We knew the governor was making an announcement and we assumed that might be very well part of the announcement so whenever he came out and said it, none of us were surprised. Honestly, I was more pissed about not being able to go out than not working.
How did the town react?
We don’t have a very large, densely packed population. At that time, Indianapolis, the capital in the center of Indiana, had a decent amount of cases. We had zero cases so everyone was kinda pissed that they were making blanket rules for what was happening in Indianapolis.
We have since come around. My county has 4 cases now.
[Also,] there was a country music artist who died, Joe Diffie. I really liked his music. His death made it real. He was 61-years-old, relatively healthy. He found out he had it and was dead one week later. That’s when I started taking it more seriously and restricted my mom from going out in public.
My mom is 61.
Did you know what you had to do immediately when you lost your job?
I’m not eligible for unemployment insurance. I get paid under the table, I don’t get shit.
What did you think to yourself?
I have a little bit of money saved up. Because of my situation, living at home with my mom, I don’t have many expenses.
How do you feel right now a few months in versus the first days?
I’m very hopeful that things will get back to normal and that jobs will be hiring again and I can start looking for work again. My plan is to look for jobs I had been looking for.
Where do you stand on opening up the economy quickly?
I think that any opening that is done needs to be safely done and done in a way that is more precise for the sake of safety. Take Indiana for example. The governor recently announced a five-phased plan to open up the economy. I don’t think that a blanket statement for the entire state is what needs to happen. Opening stuff up in the more remote areas — totally. But if you do it too soon in Indianapolis for example, densely populated places, you’re running the risk of having a second wave.
Americans don’t self-restrict. When I was living in Japan, they didn’t have to lock down because they just say ‘your neighbors are gonna get sick’ and then nobody goes out.
Here, when they hear neighbors are gonna get sick, they say ‘Fuck you, I’m gonna go out to the park.’ Opening up the economy would be a great thing if Americans could self-restrict.
What would you like, and what do you need, in your every day?
Honestly, I’m OK right now.
My niece is giving me an air hug. My brother-in-law is dropping off something. [Matt was talking to me from his yard.]
How worried are you about the future?
I’m a hopeful person. I don’t think that I am that worried. America has seen lots of troubles before. And we always make it through.
I firmly believe we will bounce back from this — much like 9/11 changed how we operate.
Something else I hope to see from the government after this is that they have a better emergency response. After 3/11 in Japan and the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan went from not very prepared to very prepared.
I’m very hopeful about the future, that we’ll be able to move forward and live our lives the way we want.
How are you staying positive?
I’m trying to stay busy. I mentioned to you before I have a few projects going on right now. I’m also making things around here better. I’ve worked on the landscaping. I planted a garden. People wished me luck when I said I wanted a garden in New York.
What will you do after this?
Well hopefully get a job. [He laughs.]
Whenever things start getting back to normal, I plan to take up the same pursuits I had previously. This hasn’t changed my plans for the future.
The land mines in Cambodia are still there. Coronavirus isn’t going to take care of them. Bomb squad work pays very well … I’ll start my own business [one day].
One thing I’m looking forward to when this is all over is my friend’s wedding. It’s in New York. My friend James was supposed to get married this Friday.
— Matt from Owensville, Indiana, May 6, 2020 1:00 pm ET