Adrianne Rae

Adrianne Rae is a 34-year-old artist living in Akron. She sits on the sidewalk in front of an apartment building texting and listening to music, and is about to go on a walk. 

When news started to pour in about the Coronavirus, Adrianne started to work harder. “I had severe anxiety at first, but I went into business mode and I was like, ‘Ok, time to get a million things done’,” she says.

Adrianne lost her job and is worried about losing her house if she doesn’t have the money to pay rent. According to an article posted the second week of April by Business Insider, the Department of Labor reported there have been more than 700,000 job losses in the United States, with almost 60% of those losses being experienced by women. By the end of the week of April 25, Vox reported that data released by the Department of Labor showed 3.8 million people filed initial unemployment insurance claims, bringing the number of people applying for benefits to more than 30 million in the United States. 

Although there have been tangible hardships, Adrianne has experienced perspective shifts as well. “I did begin to forgive my parents more so than ever for their shortcomings that I’ve struggled with for my whole life and I got really sad thinking about if this was my last chance to talk to everyone I know what would I say? And I don’t have any beef or outlying work with individuals other than my mom, specifically. I feel like I was able to spiritually come to a different understanding of accepting her which was really good,” she says.

Adrianne’s also been giving things away that she doesn’t need, “I just feel like I should share everything that I own because if I’m not using it and someone else can use it- like I literally just want to get rid of all my stuff,” she says.

“So there’s been some positive things and there’s also been some extreme challenges to say the least. I was sort of expecting something like this to happen for a long time so being alone wasn’t that hard for me but yah, so many mixed emotions and terrible dreams,” she adds.

Because of the adjustments she’s had to make and the inner work she’s experienced, Adrianne says she feels different. “I feel like I’ve expanded but I don’t know if that’s lighter. I just have increased my understanding of my piece in her [her mother] relationship and just with everybody. I just feel like a new layer has opened,” she says.

Serena Shortridge

Between two towering trees in Highland Square, a hammock lay strung and sagging. Artist Serena Shortridge, 21, was lying inside, reading a book.

Serena spends a lot of time doing her own thing and though she hasn’t been deeply impacted by the current pandemic and its circumstances, she’s still aware of the everyday shift it’s caused, “I’m a very introverted person so I have a lot of hobbies to put my time into. But just the loss of routine, I guess, and normalcy, in some aspects can kind of wear on you, you know?” she says.

Serena’s a student and didn’t have a job to lose at the time that Governor DeWine’s mandatory lockdown commenced, but the people in her life have had different experiences, “A lot of my friends right now are out of jobs, so I know that’s super stressful. Like my roommate right now- she works at a bakery and they’re closed down right now. I’ve just been watching it have a lot of effect on people I know in my personal life. I go to Akron for school and we’re doing online classes until the end of the semester so that’s pretty weird, too,” she says.

In March, Akron businesses were forced to close their doors, some not knowing if they are ever going to reopen. Many are able to do curbside pickup and while it may not be enough to keep some of the businesses afloat until the lockdown is lifted, the surrounding community has been ordering food and drinks to go to show their support. Serena admires the comradery of her community.

“In certain aspects, it’s a kind of a ‘we’re all in this together’ kind of feeling, you know, so that’s kind of nice. I’ve also seen the community pull together and try to save Angel Falls for a bit. People were donating money. In some ways I think it’s cool to see the community come together and try to make things happen for the businesses,” she says.

Anna Yoho

Anna Yoho, 26, is sitting on her porch in Highland Square, drinking a beer with her friend Brandon Craddock who is 25. Her son, Jeremiah, is playing nearby. “I’ve been out of a job since they closed the restaurants. We’re just antsy. It’ll be interesting to see what happens, to see what people do and how people will respond,” she says. 

Anna hasn’t been able to pay rent because of her job loss. 

“As far as it goes here, I’m taking care of kids, whoever needs me to. We’re out here a lot, just outside at least. [We] go out on walks. I used to serve 50 hours a week and now I’m standing still,” she says.

Anna has had a lot of anxiety surrounding the loss of her job due to the pandemic and walks a lot to quell her nerves. “What else can we do? No one has answers. You keep looking at people, plus the government, and everyone’s going, ‘Just sit’ — OK, thanks. I haven’t sat in nine years, but OK,’” she says. 

Jeremiah, Anna's son, plays with his cars on the sidewalk in front of their home in Highland Square, Akron.

Anna’s son, Jeremiah, who is six and a half, is making his rounds up and down the porch stairs, chiming in to the conversation sweetly here and there. He’s on the spectrum, Anna explains. Through tears, she tells me, “It’s hard. It’s sad to raise him in this.” 

However, she adds, “It is what it is. There’s worse things it [the pandemic] could do. I’m a stay-at-home mom now,” she said.

When asked how it’s been having his mom home, Jeremiah said it’s been “Perfect. [We] built some puzzles and right now I’m just playing with my cars.”

Though Anna’s grateful to be with her son, there are adjustments to get used to. “I’m home with him, but it’s just — we’re used to a routine,” Anna said.

Brandon Craddock, 25, hasn't been detrimentally affected by the pandemic, but wonders what's to come.

Her friend, Brandon, says his life hasn’t changed nearly as much. Not being able to get pizza has been the most he’s been affected by the pandemic. “I do Postmates, and my life is fine right now. My rent’s paid, everything’s good. But I make music and I couldn’t go into my studio,” he said. The owner of the apartment where his studio is located said they couldn’t have anyone else there besides those who live in the complex. “It’s not fun, but it’s really not that bad,” Brandon says, and adds that he’s been sleeping a lot better. 

“The only time I really got worried is when I went to Walmart and they didn’t have ramen. So like that’s probably the start of the civil unrest, you know what I’m saying? I don’t know how bad this is going to get,” he says. 

Danny Hamilton

With the stay-at-home mandate implementation, and the weather warming, front porches have been the go-to hang out spaces for many residents in Akron. 

Danny Hamilton, 30, was sitting on his porch, looking at his phone on Thursday, March 26, when the temperature hit 60 degrees. 

Like many people, Danny’s been impacted by the pandemic, socially and employment-wise. 

“Besides being cooped up in the house, my hours at work have been cut drastically, but I’m one of the lucky ones — I’m a salary contract employee so I still get paid, thankfully,” Danny says. “Other than that, it’s just going stir crazy at home.”

Though he recognizes his blessings, Danny is also thinking about what he’s missing out on.

“Just being able to see friends, family. My dad’s got a compromised immune system so I can’t really see him too much,” he says. 

Danny thinks some good is coming out of the sudden change in lifestyle, however. “I guess we’re kind of all appreciating things a little bit more than before this all happened,” he says. “I guess you could say we won’t take things for granted as much anymore.”

Tiffany Roper

Tiffany Roper, 35, waits to pick up food outside of Upper Crust pizza in Highland Square.

“Today is the first day we’ve been out in about 10 days,” she said. 

“I work for a government agency and right now we’re on administrative leave, so I’ve been at home for about a week and a half. I have two kids. They’re both in school and they’re off of school, so we’re just trying to right now find a new normal, and a new normal is staying indoors,” she said. 

Though they have four rooms in the home, she says it’s still difficult to have enough space during this quarantine given the limited areas they can go. 

“We’re just trying to find a balance between being close to one another but also needing our personal space. So it’s been a challenge, because everyone kind of itches to get away from one another and it’s just really difficult when you only have four walls,” she said.

The family takes a lot of naps, hangs out outside, and Tiffany still does work from home. Though it can be challenging to be at home with their small children all day, Tiffany is grateful to get to be part of their education, teaching them things they might not necessarily learn in school. “We’re really grateful and fortunate to have what we do have, but it is challenging when you have a life that is very social,” she said. 

Life as an isolating extrovert is proving difficult for Tiffany, who has a birthday coming up. “It is going to be a challenge for me because I love to celebrate life. I love having parties. I love getting together. And to know that we’re going to have to celebrate not only my birthday, but my friends’ birthdays, and different milestones for people apart and getting creative with virtual meetings — getting together virtually is now more important than ever,” she said.

Because Tiffany’s on administrative leave, she is still receiving an income, but finds herself thinking of those who aren’t so lucky. “We are fortunate enough that we’re still paid, but to see other people be laid off, and to see other people struggle with being unemployed, it’s tough to see. And we’re wondering, you know, how long is this going to last for us not knowing how we’re going to move forward with work. I work for a grant-funded program so are they going to end the grant? And then I will be out of a job. It’s just challenging to know what to do next. We don’t really know where any of us are going once this is over, where the economy is going. So there’s a lot of unknowns,” she said.

Though news outlets like the New York Times are citing that domestic violence has nearly doubled in China since the lockdown, and Vox has reported a rise in anti-asian xenophobia, Tiffany hasn’t been exposed to any negative or violent behavior in Akron associated with the virus. “I think, in my experience, people have been really kind to each other. The one time I did have to go to the grocery store to kind of stock up, everybody was just so polite and courteous, and I know that’s not always the case but it’s so nice to see America just be all Americans at the end of the day. We need to come together, and I hope that continues outside of this crisis,” she said.

Robin Allison

“I don’t want to have contact. I want to be able to be just as safe as the people who are at home in quarantine and I don’t get that option. I think people need to understand that not everyone who’s working right now really wants to be there.” Robin Allison is a postal worker in Akron struggling with anxiety as an essential employee. 

“I do a lot of praying and I just have to really try to stay positive because I’ve caught myself a few times being angry, like ‘Why are you [customers] here? Is it important?’” 

Three X’s are marked in red tape on the post office floor signaling exactly six feet of distance between patrons.

Because of the pandemic, Robin’s been pushing for more safety in the office she works at. “This counter is of six feet so that’s why I always sit back. I begged for the x’s on the floor, and then they finally did it three days later. I begged for a sign- I wrote a sign- and they were like that’s not good, and then two days later they wrote their own.”

To further reduce potential infection, Robin thinks there should be a slim down of actual person to person contact. “I told them the other day I may need to go speak to EAP. I told my supervisor, ‘You don’t get the opportunity to tell me how to feel, because I’m the one on the front line.’ I even deal with more people than the carriers. They say, ‘Well we touch 800 mailboxes,’ and I say ‘Yah, but I’d rather right now be touching mailboxes than handling people and face to face contact,’” she said.

Robin prepares to put on gloves, but the customer, who is standing on the red X only has a question, no package to be transferred.

Though Robin has a mask, gloves, disinfectant and is already a heavy cleaner, she’s not convinced for her safety or the safety of others. “The fact that we don’t know enough scares me. We don’t know how long it lives on surfaces, for real. We hear a lot of things. We don’t know how long it lives on packages, from anywhere in the country or in the world.”

Like many of us, the invisibility of the virus makes Robin anxious, “Just thinking- all the activity I deal with, it won’t show up for weeks in me or may not show up at all. But that one elderly lady who needs her two stamps- she could get it from me. And I just wish people would stay home, if it’s not important or dire or essential. The tensions are high. I kept thinking ‘Ok am I being paranoid, cause I have a headache’ and I think its my own psychosomatic process of dealing with it. The fear of thinking that you feel a tickle, the fear of coughing just to clear your throat, is what people deal with now that we didn’t before. I think that paranoia is beating us up. I don’t know how you deal with it.”

To help herself and her kids, Robin’s stocked the house with more vitamins and has been saving money. She’s worried because she knows a lot of businesses aren’t going to be able to survive this, so she and her fiancé have been ordering their meals out, “I order out my food every day, I didn’t use to but I do it now because I feel like I’m helping someone.”

Robin said her fiancé has been very positive but she’s realistic, “I agree with it. But being positive and being sincere about how you feel are two different things. So I can be positive and smile and try to encourage the people around me and customers to be safe, but in my mind there’s a part of me that is saying, ‘This is scary, this is some real stuff and you don’t want to walk in fear, live in fear, but this can be the turning point for us as Americans. And maybe I’m thinking like 'Ok what if this is our new norm? What if this becomes a thing that you have to stay conscious of.’ I think it’s a wake up call for us as a country.”

This interview has been condensed.